Marta Hill is a science reporter and The Transmitter’s news reporting intern for the summer of 2025. She is completing her M.A. in journalism in New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. There, and in previous reporting, she has covered everything from fungal evolution to plastic-eating bacteria to planetary collisions. Her work has appeared in Eos, Boston.com and Science
Marta Hill
News intern
The Transmitter
From this contributor
Hitting city streets to record rat behaviors: Q&A with Emily Mackevicius, Ralph Peterson
Capturing the rodents’ vocalizations and movements in the wild offers an opportunity to study naturalistic behaviors in a complex urban environment, Mackevicius and Peterson say.
Hitting city streets to record rat behaviors: Q&A with Emily Mackevicius, Ralph Peterson
By
Marta Hill
19 August 2025 | 7 min listen
Contested paper on vaccines, autism in rats retracted by journal
The editor-in-chief cited “inconsistencies in the number of subjects” as the reason for the retraction.
Contested paper on vaccines, autism in rats retracted by journal
By
Marta Hill
7 August 2025 | 5 min listen
Cross-species connectome comparison shows uneven olfactory circuit evolution in flies
The findings start to reveal evolutionary changes that may have helped two species develop different olfactory preferences and adapt to their particular environments.
Cross-species connectome comparison shows uneven olfactory circuit evolution in flies
By
Marta Hill
1 August 2025 | 6 min read
Gazing at a location from afar activates place cells in chickadees
The results help explain how the hippocampus can recall information about a place without an animal physically revisiting it.
Gazing at a location from afar activates place cells in chickadees
By
Marta Hill
13 June 2025 | 6 min listen
Psychedelics meta-analysis retracted after authors request ‘significant changes’
While working on a similar analysis last year, an independent researcher spotted inconsistencies in the now-retracted paper.
Psychedelics meta-analysis retracted after authors request ‘significant changes’
By
Marta Hill
11 June 2025 | 2 min read
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Imagining the ultimate systems neuroscience paper
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Hessameddin Akhlaghpour outlines how RNA may implement universal computation
Could the brain’s computational abilities extend beyond neural networks to molecular mechanisms? Akhlaghpour describes how natural universal computation may have evolved via RNA mechanisms.
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Could the brain’s computational abilities extend beyond neural networks to molecular mechanisms? Akhlaghpour describes how natural universal computation may have evolved via RNA mechanisms.
By
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26 November 2024 | 107 min listen