Sophia Ramirez

Science journo
Finding my beat
CJS '26

🧪Doing cool science? got good gossip? reach me at [email protected]

[MM  @adgirlMM]

Here's the NY Times article everyone is talking about. A gift from me to you. 👀 https://t.co/cS2ZbncmFh

[Sophia Ramirez @nerdyoso]

I'm trying to freelance some gene editing stories and look for early career science journalism opportunities. If you have any leads or would like to chat, please reach me at [email protected]

[Sophia Ramirez @nerdyoso]

Whoops I havent posted in like 3 years, but I am committed to "building my platform" . First order of business, I am a graduate of @columbiajourn ! I officially have an MA in science journalism!

[The Atlantic @TheAtlantic]

“Masculinism” isn’t just “a movement of grifters exploiting a quirk of the algorithm”; a growing number of its leaders are sincere in their misogynistic beliefs, and would want to enact policy based on those beliefs if given the chance, @HelenLewis argues. https://t.co/DiAKwuhs8J

[Christina Jewett @By_CJewett]

🚨During lunch at his golf course with tobacco executives on May 2, Pres. Trump called Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Oz, furious.

He wanted action on flavored vapes. And he soon got it, prompting the FDA commissioner to resign.

W/ the amazing @kenvogel:

🎁 https://t.co/S2wAgHnDGH

[Molly Roberts @mollyeroberts]

1/ We have a paper out in @Nature today with the worrying conclusion that LLMs may create more incentives for governments to control and coordinate media. https://t.co/fXcK65tUfZ

[Retraction Watch @RetractionWatch]

“Meet the academics refusing to use generative AI.”
https://t.co/ZQo6K3TF3C

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you'll do so. I've spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured -- they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews -- but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they're equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here's a gift link to the article: https://t.co/aMMHId49OO

[Pablo Manríquez @PabloReports]

Stephen Miller’s broken promise that mass deportations would equal jobs for gringo workers is now peer-reviewed. Removing migrants actually lost jobs for the native born workforce.
https://t.co/70Ih4SVSu6

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

A Post analysis reveals that rising carbon dioxide levels are reducing the nutritional value of crops like chickpeas and rice, potentially leading to widespread nutrient deficiencies.

Experts warn that this trend could exacerbate health issues, particularly in poorer regions. https://t.co/YwQaxg53He

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

These are just a few excerpts from my piece on Trump's first 15 months in his second term. The entire list, when you sit down and look at it, is so genuinely astounding I wasn't sure how to even present it to my audience. But here it is: https://t.co/a1DdwHmzJL

[People @people]

Pizza Hut's 'BOOK IT!' Summer Reading Program Returns to Provide Voracious Young Readers with Pizza Parties and More https://t.co/k7LZLaDSMy

[Sophia Ramirez @nerdyoso]

Im so glad you're safe <3

[alysa horton @alysa_horton]

I usually focus on hard news and straight reporting, but today’s story is something a bit different — it’s personal.

https://t.co/P89GqN1M8U

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

Many of Herasight’s first customers were Bay Area rationalists. The company’s promise to use data gleaned from embryo genomes to predict the future of a child-to-be appealed to IQ-obsessed quants who were already thinking about their “reproductive health stack” of supplements and peptides. “It’s hard not to love this technology,” called polygenic screening, writes Scott Alexander, the author of the rationalist blog Astral Codex Ten. Peter Thiel, Alexis Ohanian, and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong have all invested in companies that provide polygenic embryo screening.

Now this innovation seems poised to breach Silicon Valley containment. In the fall, CBS ran two separate specials on polygenic screening, one on Herasight and one on Nucleus Genomics. And in November, Nucleus ran a high-profile series of ads in the New York subway system. “IQ IS 50% GENETIC” one read. In the Broadway–Lafayette Street station, commuters were confronted by banners with the tagline “HAVE YOUR BEST BABY.”

The sales pitch is appealingly straightforward: Choose one embryo and gain four inches in height; choose another and add nine IQ points. In reality, behind each number is a series of nesting uncertainties inherent in prenatal testing, in how genetic risk is calculated, and in the IVF process itself, which, taken together, makes this technology deeply unreliable. “How many lawsuits are going to happen,” one clinician wondered, “because you’ve supposedly chosen an embryo that’s going to be tall, beautiful, and smart, and they’re short, squat, thick, and a little dull?”

Christopher Cox reports on the shaky science behind polygenic embryo screening and the prospective clients who don’t seem to mind: https://t.co/HtYdXph6dG

[Undark Magazine @undarkmag]

On Dec. 31, 2025, Arizona moved to administratively dissolve the Colibrí Center for Human Rights. Board member David Newstone said the DNA database may already have been destroyed. https://t.co/dcRubUDWoh

[Ashley Harrell @AshleyHarrell3]

SFGATE's tenacious reporting on national parks seems to have struck a nerve. We've been blacklisted by the Department of the Interior. https://t.co/mn5zKwblZY

[Zach Buchanan @ZHBuchanan]

Mylie Biggs, the 25-year-old daughter of Rep. Andy Biggs, is running for state senate in 2026.

On a podcast last year, she said, “Honestly, I don’t know if I would vote for any female. I don’t know if females should be in office."

By @tjlheureux0:
https://t.co/5UMKXp8pGs

[Sophia Ramirez @nerdyoso]

@statepress @SophiaBraccio Its not free???? This is devastating

[Joan Meiners, Ph.D. 🐝🚴‍♀️ @beecycles]

We've seen news on how Trump's bill will kill clean energy projects & jobs.

I wanted to know which were most at risk in Arizona.

But report authors won't share & companies won't talk. It suggests outcomes may be worse than estimated.

w/ Austin Corona:
https://t.co/v2UJyrU4oE

[AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes @AZAGMayes]

First as a journalist and now as Arizona’s Attorney General, I've seen firsthand the critical role Arizona PBS and NPR stations play in informing the public.

Press release here: https://t.co/Wk9GDi0V1b