Laura Geggel
Laura Geggel

Laura is an editor at Live Science. She edits Life's Little Mysteries and reports on general science, including archaeology and animals. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and an advanced certificate in science writing from NYU.

Articles by: Laura Geggel

This gold ring, discovered by metal detectorist Lee Morgan, likely dates to the English Civil War.

370-year-old gold ring may have honored beheaded earl

By Laura Geggel

A metal detectorist has discovered a gold ring dating to the English Civil War.

pink moon above a temple in Thailand.

Pink supermoon will light up the night this Monday

By Laura Geggel

The Pink Moon, the second largest full moon of the year, will light up the sky from Sunday through Wednesday.

The Great Isaiah Scroll, one of the seven original Dead Sea Scrolls found in the late 1940s, on display at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. In a new study, researchers determined that two scribes wrote this scroll.

Mysterious second writer of Dead Sea Scroll uncovered by AI

By Laura Geggel

Two scribes wrote the famous Great Isaiah Scroll, researchers found with the help of AI and statistics.

Some of the bent weapons that were found during the 1950s at the hillfort in western Germany.

Iron Age warriors bent the swords of their defeated enemies, ancient hoard reveals

By Laura Geggel

A metal detectorist uncovered more than 100 artifacts dating to the Iron Age at a hillfort in Germany.

The Roman-era estate's remains include a cylindrical building and a bathhouse.

Vandals sack Roman-era estate and bathhouse just discovered in UK

By Laura Geggel

Soon after archaeologists unearthed an estate from the Roman Empire in the U.K., vandals broke in and damaged it.

An aerial view shows the Roman-era arena poking out of a hilly area in Mastaura, Turkey.

Gladiator arena from Roman era unearthed in Turkey

By Laura Geggel

Up to 20,000 people likely cheered and jeered as they watched gladiator and wild animal fights in a newfound Roman-era arena in Turkey.

A cast of a T. rex skeleton that was found in the badlands of eastern Montana in 1990. The original is at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, and the cast is at the University of California Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley.

As many as 2.5 billion Tyrannosaurus rexes once stalked Earth

By Laura Geggel

Digging deep into T.rex's history helped researchers determine how many of these apex predators ever existed.

An illustration of the giant pterosaur, Alanqa saharica, whose remains were found in Morocco.

Bizarre neck bones helped pterosaurs support their giraffe-size necks and huge heads

By Laura Geggel

Pterosaur neck vertebrae had an incredible internal structure.

Smooth, pink quartzite "stomach stones" known as gastroliths that researchers found in the Morrison Formation in Wyoming.

Long-necked dinosaurs migrated hundreds of miles, 'stomach stones' reveal

By Laura Geggel

During the Jurassic period, long-necked dinosaurs gulped down pink stones and then migrated hundreds of miles across what is now the American Midwest.

The "Lost Golden City" has been buried under Luxor for the past 3,000 years.

3,000-year-old 'Lost Golden City' discovered in Egypt

By Laura Geggel

Archaeologists have found what may be the greatest Egyptian discovery since King Tut's tomb.

Virtual reconstructions of the five, well-preserved Homo erectus skulls from Dmanisi, Georgia, which are dated to between 1.85 million and 1.77 million years ago. These individuals had "primitive" brains, a new study finds.

First 'Homo' species left Africa with ape-like brains

By Laura Geggel

Early members of the genus Homo didn't have advanced brains.

This gold "Memento Mori" ring, dating to the Tudor period, sports an enamel skull.

Medieval gold coin hoards and skull ring discovered in Wales

By Laura Geggel

Metal detectorists have uncovered a handful of medieval and post-medieval treasures in Wales.

Up to 70 orcas attacked and killed a lone blue whale Down Under.

'Chaos of clicks and sounds from below' as 70 orcas kill blue whale

By Laura Geggel

A whale tour Down Under witnessed as many as 70 orcas hunt and kill a blue whale.

A Xavánte man in Brazil, just after the traditional logs race that was part of the Native Peoples Meeting in September 2012. The Xavánte people were included in a new study about the genetic connection between people in South America and Oceana.

1st Americans had Indigenous Australian genes

By Laura Geggel

A new genetic study finds connections between Indigenous South Americans and Indigenous people in Oceana.

European rabbits dug up Stone and Bronze Age artifacts on Skokholm Island.

Rabbits dig up 9,000-year-old artifacts on 'Dream Island'

By Laura Geggel

Burrowing rabbits have helped uncover artifacts from the Stone and Bronze Ages on a U.K. island.

Lengthwise (left, middle) and cross-sectional (right) views of the fossil remains of what may be the oldest cephalopod on record.

500 million-year-old fossil is the granddaddy of all cephalopods

By Laura Geggel

Tiny fossils in Newfoundland, Canada may be evidence of the oldest cephalopod on record.

full moon over a field

Catch March's full supermoon Worm Moon this Sunday

By Laura Geggel

Watch the full Worm Moon this Sunday, March 28.

This illustration shows a larger vampyromorph seizing a smaller one during the early Jurassic period.

Vampire squid ancestor died in 'eternal embrace' with its dinner

By Laura Geggel

A well-preserved fossil reveals that 180 million years ago, an eight-armed predator suffocated with its prey.

The arapaima, one of the world's largest freshwater fish, is native to the Amazon River.

Amazon 'river monster' turns up dead in Florida

By Laura Geggel

A dead "river monster" from the Amazon was discovered in Florida, leading to concerns that the fish might become an invasive species there.

One of the two vessels discovered in the ambassador's burial shows seated figures wearing headdresses performing a fire ritual.

Ancient Maya power broker died in obscurity, hieroglyphics show

By Laura Geggel

Hieroglyphics in a stairway near a burial tell the tale of an elite Maya ambassador's life.

An illustration of the newly described eagle shark, which lived in an ancient seaway 93 million years ago.

'Winged' eagle shark soared through oceans 93 million years ago

By Laura Geggel

A bizarre shark with wing-like side fins soared through an ancient sea 93 million years ago in what is now Mexico.

Three early churches found in Egypt's Western desert date to the fourth to seventh centuries A.D.

Early Christian monks' quarters and churches found in Egypt

By Laura Geggel

Archaeologists in Egypt have found three early churches and the living quarters of monks.

An oviraptorid dinosaur broods on its blue-green eggs with its mate nearby in what is now the Jiangxi Province of southern China.

'Rarest of the rare' dinosaur fossil found brooding on its eggs

By Laura Geggel

This is the first non-avian dinosaur to fossilize on a clutch of eggs containing embryonic remains.

The female sperm whale was as long as an 18-wheeler, or 52 feet (16 meters) in length.

Beached sperm whale in Australia shows scars from tussle with a giant squid

By Laura Geggel

A dead sperm whale measuring 52 feet (16 meters) long is rotting away on a beach in southern Australia.

The silver diadem could have been worn upward or downward, although it was found positioned downward on the woman's head in this burial.

'Powerful, maybe even frightening' woman with diadem may have ruled in Bronze Age Spain

By Laura Geggel

A Bronze Age woman buried with a silver diadem may have ruled a kingdom in what is now southeastern Spain.