Nikk Ogasa

Nikk Ogasa

Staff Writer

Nikk Ogasa is a staff writer who focuses on the physical sciences for Science News, based in Brooklyn, New York. He has a master's degree in geology from McGill University, where he studied how ancient earthquakes helped form large gold deposits. He earned another master's degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His stories have been published in Science, Scientific American, Mongabay and the Mercury News, and he was the summer 2021 science writing intern at Science News.

All Stories by Nikk Ogasa

  1. Climate

    July 2023 nailed an unfortunate world record: hottest month ever recorded

    Roughly 6.5 billion people, or 4 out of 5 humans, felt the touch of climate change via hotter temperatures during July.

  2. Climate

    Here’s how much climate change increases the odds of brutally hot summers

    Climate change made 2023’s record-breaking heat waves in the United States, Mexico, China and southern Europe much more likely, new simulations show.

  3. Climate

    What’s causing this summer’s extreme heat waves?

    Climate change and meandering jet streams are fomenting this summer’s extreme waves of heat.

  4. Climate

    Last week was the hottest ever recorded — here’s why we keep smashing records

    Global temperature records are being shattered as El Niño and climate change combine to push the Earth into uncharted territory, researchers say.

  5. Paleontology

    This ancient, Lovecraftian apex predator chased and pierced soft prey

    Half a billion years ago, Anomalocaris canadensis probably used its bizarre headgear to reach out and snag soft prey with its spiky clutches.

  6. Climate

    The snow forest of North America may be about to shrink

    From 2000 to 2019, the boreal forest’s northern boundary didn’t move while southern tree cover thinned due to climate change, wildfires and logging.

  7. Ecosystems

    The Amazon might not have a ‘tipping point.’ But it’s still in trouble

    Scientists race to foretell the fate of the vast forest facing deforestation and climate change.

  8. Environment

    Rising groundwater threatens to spread toxic pollution on U.S. coastlines

    Sea level rise is pushing groundwater into shallower layers of earth, threatening to spread hazardous chemicals from contaminated soils.

  9. Life

    50 years ago, flesh-eating screwworms pushed scientists to mass produce flies

    "Fly factories” dreamed up in the early 1970s have helped North and Central America keep screwworms in check for decades.

  10. Planetary Science

    Jupiter’s lightning bolts contort the same way as Earth’s

    Jovian lightning extends in jagged steps as it does on Earth, data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggest. The finding might aid the search for life.

  11. Tech

    Deblina Sarkar is building microscopic machines to enter our brains

    The ultratiny devices can communicate wirelessly from inside living cells and may one day help cure brain diseases.

  12. Planetary Science

    Saturn’s rings may be no more than 400 million years old

    An analysis of data from NASA’s defunct Cassini probe suggests Saturn's rings materialized more than 100 million years after trilobites appeared on Earth.