Nikk Ogasa

Nikk Ogasa

Staff Writer

Nikk Ogasa is a staff writer who focuses on the physical sciences for Science News, based in Tucson, Arizona. He has a master's degree in geology from McGill University, where he studied how ancient earthquakes helped form large gold deposits. He earned another master's degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His stories have been published in Science, Scientific American, Mongabay and the Mercury News, and he was the summer 2021 science writing intern at Science News.

All Stories by Nikk Ogasa

  1. Earth

    Small earthquakes can have a big impact on the movements of major faults

    Small and far-off earthquakes can stifle the spread of large motions on some of the world’s biggest faults.

  2. Astronomy

    A dwarf galaxy just might upend the Milky Way’s predicted demise

    The Milky Way may merge with the Large Magellanic Cloud in 2 billion years, not Andromeda, contrary to previous findings.

  3. Planetary Science

    Venus’ tectonics may be actively reshaping its surface

    Circular landforms speckling the Venusian surface may be the work of tectonic activity.

  4. Space

    Perseverance takes the first picture of a visible Martian aurora

    A faint yet visible Martian aurora is the first instance of the phenomenon spotted from another planet's surface.

  5. Environment

    Skyborne specks of life may influence rainfall patterns

    A study of weather on a mountain in Greece reveal that bioparticles in the sky may drive fluctuations in rainfall patterns more broadly.

  6. Oceans

    Before altering the air, microbes oxygenated large swaths of the sea

    Hundreds of millions of years before oxygen surged in the atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago, swaths of oxygen winked in and out of existence in the ocean.

  7. Climate

    Hidden Antarctic lakes could supercharge sea level rise

    An overlooked Antarctic water system could raise sea levels by more than 2 meters by 2300, computer simulations show.

  8. Earth

    The ozone layer shields life on Earth. We’ll soon lose a key way to monitor its health

    Imminent loss of NASA's Aura and Canada's SCISAT will severely diminish scientists’ ability to monitor ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere.

  9. Physics

    A weird ice that may form on alien planets has finally been observed

    High-pressure experiments generated the first direct observation of plastic ice, which has qualities of both crystalline ice and liquid water.

  10. Earth

    Spooky floating lights in South Carolina could be earthquake farts

    Gases that rise from the earth during earthquakes could explain strange sightings of floating balls of light.

  11. Climate

    Yes, you can blame climate change for the LA wildfires

    Weather data show how humankind’s burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry, windy weather more likely, setting the stage for the Los Angeles wildfires.

  12. Earth

    Another danger looms after the LA fires: Devastating debris flows

    As wildfires burn the landscape, they prime slopes for debris flows: powerful torrents of rock, mud and water that sweep downhill with deadly momentum.