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Laura Geggel
As an associate editor for Live Science, Laura Geggel covers general science, including the environment, archaeology and amazing animals. She has written for The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site covering autism research. Laura grew up in Seattle and studied English literature and psychology at Washington University in St. Louis before completing her graduate degree in science writing at NYU. When not writing, you'll find Laura playing Ultimate Frisbee. 

Articles by: Laura Geggel

How do you care for someone with COVID-19?

By Laura Geggel

If someone in your home has the new coronavirus, give them a separate room and bathroom, if possible.

An illustration of the temperate rainforest that thrived in West Antarctica about 90 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.

Remains of 90 million-year-old rainforest discovered under Antarctic ice

By Laura Geggel

Antarctica was home to a temperate, swampy forest about 90 million years ago.

It may be a good idea to wear a face mask in a crowded place, such as an airplane, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Should you wear a face mask to prevent COVID-19?

By Laura Geggel

Just don't horde face masks, as health care workers urgently need them.

An illustration showing the newfound raptor dinosaur Dineobellator notohesperus, which lived at the end of the Cretaceous Period in what is now New Mexico. The ceratopsid (horned dinosaur) Ojoceratops and sauropod Alamosaurus are in the background.

'Warrior' dinosaur with nasty gouge mark on claw uncovered in New Mexico

By Laura Geggel

It's possible this feathered hypercarnivore hunted like a cheetah.

Washing vegetables in a sink.

Viral video advises washing fruit and vegetables with soap. Here's why that's a bad idea.

By Laura Geggel

Despite what a doctor in a viral video suggests, it's not a good idea to wash fruits and vegetables with soap and water, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, food scientists told Live Science.

Sharing a single ventilator between 4 patients is possible. But it could be disastrous.

By Laura Geggel

Is it safe to have one ventilator support as many as 4 people?

The sun set over the right shoulder of the Sphinx during the spring equinox this year.

The equinox reveals one of the secrets of Egypt's iconic Sphinx

By Laura Geggel

Here's how the spring equinox and the Sphinx are tied together.

An illustration showing the ancient fish, Elpistostege watsoni, which had finger bones in its front fins.

Fish sprouted fingers before they ventured onto land, fossil shows

By Laura Geggel

This 380-million-year-old fish had five "fingers" in its pectoral fins, showing that fish developed fingers before making the move to land.

Archaeologists found bones belonging to mammoths, reindeer, horses, bears, wolves, red foxes and Arctic foxes at the site.

Ice age 'house' made from bones of more than 60 mammoths mystifies archaeologists

By Laura Geggel

The structure was made from the bones of ice age animals, including mammoths.

Richard Davidson (left), founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (right), the Buddhist Tibetian Monk who participated in the study on brain aging, in a recent photo.

Meditation may have shaved 8 years of aging off Buddhist monk's brain

By Laura Geggel

Can meditation explain the monk's "young" brain?

The skull is all that's left of this 99-million-year-old hummingbird-size dinosaur.

Trapped in amber, this could be the smallest dinosaur ever found

By Laura Geggel

This bird-like dinosaur was so small, it weighed about 2 grams, the weight of two $1 bills.

A rare first edition of Isaac Newton's "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy).

Rare first edition of Isaac Newton's groundbreaking book found in Corsica

By Laura Geggel

The book was "hidden in the upper shelves."

Energy drinks

This woman was in hospice for cancer. Energy drinks nearly killed her.

By Laura Geggel

She improved after cutting the energy drinks out of her diet.

PCR tests work by detecting specific genetic material within the virus.

How do the new coronavirus tests work?

By Laura Geggel

Researchers are diagnosing the new coronavirus, known as COVID-19, with these types of tests.

Can wearing a face mask protect you from the new coronavirus?

By Laura Geggel

An N95 respirator mask can block airborne viral particles.

MOLA archaeologists excavate the top of the cesspit, which had been backfilled and covered over with several layers of brick flooring.

Rare tile of mythical beast discovered in 14th-century cesspit

By Laura Geggel

The treasures include a gold-plated ring and a rare medieval tile depicting a mythical creature.

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a news conference on the COVID-19 outbreak on Feb. 26, 2020.

6 ways the US government could help contain the new coronavirus

By Laura Geggel

Here are six ways the U.S. government and health care system could fight back against the coronavirus.

These office workers didn't get the memo that sick people should work from home.

These 5 mistakes could worsen the coronavirus outbreak

By Laura Geggel

Ignore conspiracy theories and always wash your hands.

A novel coronavirus first detected in Wuhan, China, is causing the COVID-19 disease.

China gets 'mixed report card' in its coronavirus response. How will the US do?

By Laura Geggel

China got a mixed report card on its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. How will the U.S. do?

An illustration of the Roman dagger, sheath and belt.

'Rusty lump' turns out to be 2,000-year-old silver dagger used by Roman soldier

By Laura Geggel

It's rare to find daggers in Roman graves, as these soldiers weren't buried with weapons.

Lab technicians test samples from people suspected of having the COVID-19 coronavirus at a laboratory in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province on Feb. 12, 2020.

US isn't 'remotely prepared' to test for coronavirus, experts say

By Laura Geggel

The same delay has happened with other new infectious diseases, including Zika.

An illustration of how Proterocladus antiquus likely appeared 1 billion years ago.

Billion-year-old green algae is an ancestor of all plants on Earth

By Laura Geggel

A billion years ago, this green seaweed likely produced oxygen and provided shelter for other organisms.

The bird's frozen carcass was discovered by two men hunting for fossil mammoth tusks near the village of Belaya Gora in Siberia.

46,000-year-old bird, frozen in Siberian permafrost, looks like it 'died a few days ago'

By Laura Geggel

A bird that lived during the last ice age is in "pristine condition."

An illustration of the protoplanetary disk around our sun.

'Starter' Earth grew in a flash. Here's how the planet did it.

By Laura Geggel

Proto-Earth was on a fast track to planet formation.

This individual had a number of grave goods. It appears that the red pigment ochre covered part of the grave when the deceased was laid to rest.

Dozens of ancient Egyptian graves found with rare clay coffins

By Laura Geggel

Archaeologists have found 83 graves filled with the bones and artifacts of ancient Egyptians, not too far from the Mediterranean Sea.