Aylin Woodward was formerly a senior science reporter at Insider, where she covered climate change, earth science, anthropology and human evolution, and space.
She also covered the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on coronavirus variants, genetic sequencing, virus origins, and long-term immunity.
Before joining Insider, her work appeared regularly in New Scientist and the San Jose Mercury News, with bylines in Scientific American, Science, and BuzzFeed News. She is a proud alumna of the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication program, and graduated in 2015 from Dartmouth College with degrees in biological anthropology and government.
Aylin speaks Turkish, French, and Spanish. When not frantically meeting deadlines or interviewing sources, she can be found on the nearest roller derby track, or surfing the nearest beach.
Additional Expertise
Aylin also wrote about natural disasters, mass extinctions, and weird animal phenomena. She is well versed in archaeology, dinosaurs, and enjoys penning the occasional Hollywood science fiction debunk.
Her reporting also extended to the realm of running shoe technology, with a focus on the role of controversial Nike Vaporfly shoes in major marathon wins and milestones. She uncovered a trend among non-Nike sponsored runners covertly using Vaporflys.
Popular articles
Anthony Fauci reveals which activities he will and won't do now that he's vaccinated — and indoor restaurants are still a no
Decades ago, 9 Russian hikers mysteriously fled their tent and froze to death. A new study sheds light on the cold case.
Earth tipped over on its side 84 million years ago and then righted itself, new study finds
Mysterious brain injuries have plagued over 130 US spies and diplomats. Were they attacked with a microwave weapon?
Nike's controversial Vaporfly shoes make runners faster — so runners sponsored by other brands are blacking them out to wear in secret
More than 300 people have died climbing Mount Everest. At 26,000 feet, the body starts to die, cell by cell, of oxygen deprivation.
The Atlantic Ocean is widening every year because a mountain range under the water is a hotspot of geologic activity, according to a recent study.
Geologists modeled the last billion years of Earth's tectonic plate evolution in unprecedented detail, then animated it in a mesmerizing video.
A spacecraft carrying tardigrades crashed on the moon in 2019. In a 2021 study, scientists set out to test whether the creatures could've survived.
On June 18, 2023, a submersible vessel carrying five tourists bound for the Titanic shipwreck, went missing less than two hours into its trip.
Scientists say the Earth's axis tilt has changed due to melting ice caps over the last few decades.
A new ocean treaty aims to protect marine wildlife. Over the past 500 years, 14 ocean species have gone extinct, another 70 could disappear.
A Nobel prize-winner thinks we'll detect aliens within 100 years, possibly sooner. Other scientists think we might never make contact.
Recent mass shootings in Illinois, New York, and Texas have once again put America's gun violence problem in the spotlight.
NASA may one day need to save Earth from an incoming asteroid. The plan: launching a spacecraft to nudge away space rocks.
Muons are tiny particles that penetrate matter. By measuring how well muons pass through certain parts of a volcano, experts can map the magma inside.
All but 3% of the moon will be obscured by Earth's shadow around 4 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday. It's the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
Scientists have uncovered the first fossil of a Homo naledi child. This ancestor lived about 250,000 years ago, likely alongside modern humans.
Experts asked dogs to remember and retrieve toys with certain names. The most successful canines tilted their heads after hearing a command.
While the Delta variant is dominant worldwide, existing vaccines work well against it. So there's no need for a variant-specific booster, experts say.
"Two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident," the report said.
Experts reevaluated the human fossil record from the era between 129,000 and 774,000 years ago. That yielded a new species of human ancestor.
Data collected from the air with lasers led to the discovery of hundreds of ancient sites in Mexico, dating back to the Olmec and Maya civilizations.
An analysis of 20 studies suggests eating meat is correlated with better mental health. That doesn't mean meat-free diets cause depression, though.
Paleontologists found 100 eggs and 80 skeletons from a dinosaur called Mussaurus at a site in Patagonia, suggesting the animals lived in groups.