Sophia La Banca

Sophia La Banca is a freelance science journalist whose work covers various fields in biology. She received an M.Sc. in biochemistry at Universidade de São Paulo and a Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience at Unifesp, both in Brazil.

Plain illuminated partially covered by fog, soft lights

Plants & Animals

Shedding Light on the Cost of Light Pollution

Artificial light has a huge variety of harmful effects on ecosystems. Scientists are exploring ways to mitigate the damage.

Alpine Pennycress - Noccaea caerulescens

Science & Technology

In Phytoremediation, Plants Extract Toxins from Soils

Researchers have a cheap, easy way for cleaning up oil spills: letting plants do the work. Why isn’t it used more often?

Editors' Picks

Arts & Culture

James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni in Conversation

In 1971, two legends of Black letters discussed Black manhood, white racism, the role of the writer, and the responsibility to teach.

Science & Technology

Can We Build a Better Facebook?

Is it time to turn our back on Facebook? And if so, what social network could possibly replace it?

Science & Technology

The Anatomists of Ancient Alexandria

Cultural forces under the Ptolemaic dynasty briefly allowed scholars like Herophilus to practice dissection—and possibly vivisection—on human subjects.

Politics & History

The Genocide Before the Shoah

For a century, Jews in Turkey have maintained a strategic silence when it comes to recognizing the Armenian genocide. Could that be changing?

Politics & History

Wilhelm Reich: Twice Burned

A psychoanalyst and physician, Reich fled the Nazis only to be detained by the US as an “enemy alien” during World War II. And then came the sexual revolution.

Sophia La Banca

Shedding Light on the Cost of Light Pollution

In Phytoremediation, Plants Extract Toxins from Soils

Support JSTOR Daily