Ashley D'Souza
@ashleydsouza.bsky.social
Journalist, poet, photographer, bird enthusiast. MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing '26, Taylor/Blakeslee Fellow. Science writing intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. they/them confessionsofabirdfreak.com
Tree rat alert! 🐀🚨 My latest story for the Smithsonian is about a very rare (and very cute) Bornean tree rat that has only been seen a few times: www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...
Who Has Opposable Thumbs and a Prehensile Tail? This Tree Rat That Few Have Ever Seen
After sequencing the DNA of the world’s only Emmons’s tree rat specimen, museum scientists have returned to the Bornean forest to learn more about the mysterious rodent
smithsonianmag.com
Did you know today is National Oyster Day? My latest for the Smithsonian dives into the story of an unusually toothy oyster: www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...
An Oyster With Teeth Reveals When Mollusks Covered the Chesapeake Bay
Celebrate National Oyster Day by learning about the most bizarre oyster specimens in the National Museum of Natural History’s collection
smithsonianmag.com
Happy rock day! My latest for the Smithsonian 🪨 www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...
Hailing from Glaciers, Geysers and Volcanoes, These Iconic Rocks Provide a Glimpse into How America was Formed and Built
In celebration of National Rock Day, learn how several rock specimens in the new exhibition “From These Lands” shed light on the nation’s geological heritage
smithsonianmag.com
My latest, on frogs: www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...
150-Year-Old Frogs Collected by a Founding Smithsonian Naturalist Helped 21st-Century Scientists Track How Pesticides Devastated Amphibian Populations in Illinois
In celebration of the upcoming Save the Frogs Day, learn how scientists used historic cricket frogs to connect hormone-altering industrial chemicals to amphibian declines in the Midwest
smithsonianmag.com
It was such a cool experience writing & reporting this story for The Associated Press. The piece has now been syndicated by many other outlets, including the Washington Post, and generated TV news coverage in Boston!
MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing@mitsciwrite.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe second installment of our collaboration with @apnews.com is now up: apnews.com/article/comb... Credit to @ashleydsouza.bsky.social and Lucie McCormick, '26. Graphic by M.K. Wildeman, Editing and mentoring by Jonathan Drew.
It was a joy digging through the Smithsonian's archives to write this story about Doris Cochran, who was an amazing herpetologist! 🐸 www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...
The Smithsonian Curator Who Loved Frogs
As the first female curator of the National Museum of Natural History’s collection of amphibians and reptiles, Doris Cochran shaped herpetology at the museum and beyond
smithsonianmag.com
I'm interning this spring as a science writer for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and my first story was just published :) www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/nation...
Meet the Scientist Analyzing Historic Bison DNA to Understand How the Species Rebounded from the Edge of Extinction
Smithsonian researcher Sarah Johnson studies bison specimens to understand how the species’s genetic diversity changed after its decline
smithsonianmag.com
Uproot member @ashleydsouza.bsky.social spoke with @ksjatmit.bsky.social Fellow and founding member of The Uproot Project, @ycabreraoc.bsky.social, about the highs and lows of covering the environmental beat. ksj.mit.edu/news/2026/01...
Yvette Cabrera, On Covering the ‘Broccoli’ of Environmental Beats
Environmental justice reporting can be emotionally heavy and hard to swallow, but “there are some really uplifting stories,” the KSJ Fellow explains.
ksj.mit.edu
Feeling so happy and grateful because @aaww-nyc.bsky.social's The Margins has nominated my piece, Unholy, for a Pushcart Prize. :) <3 aaww.org/unholy/
Unholy
All plugged up with wood, I feel like a bastardized Pinocchio.
aaww.org
I made a podcast about Miyawaki mini-forests that was featured in Brookline.News! Check it out here :)
@brooklinenews.bsky.social · 9mo agoFor your morning commute: The latest episode of the Brookline.News podcast includes a visit to one of the town's mini-forests in the making. brookline.news/brookline-ne...
Bee hotels!!! Back in September, I wrote about cool bee research happening at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies @vtecostudies.bsky.social 🐝 scopeweb.mit.edu/bees-check-i...
Bees Check Into Hotels On Farms In New Conservation Project
The project finds promising species diversity among cavity-nesting bees — and plenty of parasites.
scopeweb.mit.edu
Congratulations to our Class of 2026 Taylor / Blakeslee Fellowship winners! Alex Megerle, Ana Georgescu, and @ashleydsouza.bsky.social all scooped up awards this year. You can read about their wins here: sciwrite.mit.edu/news-events/
News & Events - MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing
Upcoming events and recents news regarding the Graduate Program in Science Writing, our faculty, students, and alumni.
sciwrite.mit.edu
🐋 so excited!
MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing@mitsciwrite.bsky.social · last yr.The GPSW is thrilled to announce our incoming Class of 2026! Welcome Laura Martin Agudelo, Zoe Beketova, @ashleydsouza.bsky.social, Ana Georgescu, Jamie Jiang, Lucie McCormick, Alex Megerle, and Julia Vaz. You can read about our new cohort here: sciwrite.mit.edu/faculty-and-...
Weee that's me! So excited and grateful for this opportunity 🦉
CASW@sciencewriting.bsky.social · last yr.Seven journalists are headed to grad school as 2025 Taylor/Blakeslee Fellows! Each will receive $6,000, thanks to the Brinson Foundation. Congrats to Bridget Balch, Alonso Daboub, Rachel Duckett, @ashleydsouza.bsky.social, Ana Georgescu, @stellamayerhoff.bsky.social & Alex Megerle. bit.ly/tbs2526
So grateful and joyful that my story found its home in The Margins! My first time publishing fiction. :) Thank you @aaww-nyc.bsky.social! aaww.org/unholy/
Unholy
All plugged up with wood, I feel like a bastardized Pinocchio.
aaww.org
“For too long, science journalism has been treated as something distinct, something extra — the domain of specialists writing for audiences who are already deeply interested in and informed about science. This is bad," writes @siricarpenter.bsky.social
Science journalism becomes plain old journalism
"For too long, science journalism has been treated as something distinct, something <em>extra</em> — the domain of specialists writing for audiences who are already deeply interested in and informed…
buff.ly
"If news outlets only rely on muscle memory and continue doing things exactly as they always did, they will not survive or thrive," @samjmintz.bsky.social writes. "But many of the basic rhythms are important to re-establish."
Communities relearn the habits of local news
"If you'd been elected to some local position in the past year, my call was probably your first time ever dealing with a journalist. That had never been true in my past jobs."
buff.ly
More photos from the scene by @ashleydsouza.bsky.social
Sam Mintz@samjmintz.bsky.social · 2y agoBreaking news: An oil spill in the Muddy River near Longwood Station today has left a sheen on the river's surface and coated ducks and geese in oil on either side of the bank. Emergency responders still working to figure out the source and cause. brookline.news/wildlife-thr...
I hung out with a garter snake in the sanctuary for 30 minutes while working on this story, but she did not say anything memorable for me to quote 🐍
@brooklinenews.bsky.social · 2y agoThe D. Blakely Hoar Sanctuary in South Brookline is teeming with wildlife, vegetation, and really, really old rocks. It's also vulnerable to climate change. Come take a tour of one of Brookline's wildest places, with words and photos by reporter Ashley D'Souza. brookline.news/inside-the-d...
Two poems of mine were just published in "Journal IX: Urban Elegy" by Writers Without Margins. "Flowers" was inspired by a dream I had, and "Mass" was inspired by Alexis Pauline Gumbs's book, "Undrowned". 🐋
one of my favorite stories I've worked on so far
The Uproot Project@uprootproject.bsky.social · 2y ago"As a new disease advances among Brookline’s beloved beech trees, town officials and environmental experts are turning to scientific research to save them..." Uprooter Ashley D'Souza for Brookline News brookline.news/how-brooklin...