James Okafor
Science Correspondent · Science
James Okafor covers Science for BreakWire News. James Okafor covers the scientific frontier — from climate modelling and quantum computing to space exploration and advances in biotechnology. He studied Physics and completed a graduate programme in Science Communication at MIT.
Areas of expertise: Climate Science, Space Exploration, Physics, Biotechnology
Recent Articles
- Snowpack crash leaves San Carlos Reservoir nearly empty
San Carlos Reservoir has been reduced to a puddle by a failed snow season upstream. The fish died fast; the warning for the Southwest is slower, and bigger.
- NASA engineer Rohit Goeptar recounts path from Suriname
Rohit Goeptar's route to NASA didn't run straight. It crossed Suriname, California, South America again, and years of grinding work before landing at Kennedy Space Center.
- Fossils suggest early land vertebrates skipped gilled youth
A set of fossils is forcing palaeontologists to revisit one of the oldest scenes in vertebrate history. The first animals edging onto land may not have passed through a frog-like, …
- NASA Tests ERNEST Rover in California Desert
NASA took an advanced rover prototype into the Colorado Desert and let it prove itself on hard ground. The point wasn’t spectacle. It was to rehearse how a machine might think and …
- Scientists create digital archive of vaquita skeleton
Scientists have turned a vaquita skeleton into a high-resolution 3D archive. It's not a rescue plan by itself, but it preserves the anatomy of a species hanging by a thread.
- Drugs that cool the body may protect stroke brains
A colder body can buy the brain time. Researchers are testing whether drugs that trigger a hibernation-like state can limit stroke damage without the delays of physical cooling.
- Justice Department moves to block xAI pollution suit
The Trump Justice Department is trying to shut down a citizen lawsuit over pollution from Elon Musk’s xAI site in Mississippi. Its argument reaches far beyond one data center.
- Webb and Hubble Recast Terzan 5’s Origins
Terzan 5 used to look like just another packed ball of old stars. Webb and Hubble have now pinned it down as something stranger: a surviving fragment from the Milky Way’s construct…
- NASA switches on upgraded quantum lab in orbit
NASA’s coldest physics lab in space is running again, now with new hardware built to push quantum experiments further. The real story isn’t just colder atoms. It’s longer, cleaner …
- ISS Crew Returns After Russian Leak Repair Shelter
Five astronauts took shelter while Russian cosmonauts tried to seal a persistent air leak on the ISS. The episode was brief, but it says a lot about how tightly managed risk has be…
- Backrooms turns internet dread into precise movie terror
Backrooms takes a meme-born nightmare and treats it like a physics problem: constrain the space, distort the rules, then let panic do the rest. The result is a horror film with rea…
- Blue Origin blast clouds NASA’s Artemis III schedule
NASA has its Artemis III crew. What it doesn’t have is any spare time. A Blue Origin explosion that wiped out the company’s only launchpad has turned an already tight moon plan int…
- Colorado River drought sharpens fight among seven states
The Colorado River’s slow emergency is turning into a faster political one. As drought shrinks the basin’s biggest reservoirs, the states that depend on them are edging toward a br…
- Experimental GLP-1 pill cuts weight and blood sugar
A powerful class of diabetes drugs may be heading into tablet form without giving up much of what made the injections so effective. That matters for patients, doctors, and the crow…
- Gene-edited lettuce loses red pigment, gains nutrients
Scientists switched off the genes that make red lettuce red. The surprise was what filled the gap: a rise in other compounds plants make for protection and, often, nutrition.
- Staple-Shaped Particles Switch From Solid to Loose Fast
A pile of tiny staple-shaped particles can act like a tough building material, then come apart in seconds when shaken the right way. That's a strange trick with real engineering im…
- SpaceX Dragon Leaves Station With Research Samples
A SpaceX Dragon is due to leave the International Space Station on June 16 carrying research samples and hardware home. For scientists, the trip down is the point.
- Pumice rafts clog coasts near Admiralty Islands
A submarine eruption sent floating volcanic rock across the Bismarck Sea until it piled up along the Admiralty Islands. It’s a vivid reminder that volcanoes can redraw shorelines w…
- Review Finds Calcium and Vitamin D Fall Short
For years, calcium and vitamin D pills were sold as a simple hedge against aging bones. A huge new review says that promise doesn't hold up for most older adults.
- Study points to black holes forming before galaxies
Astronomers think galaxies and their central black holes grow up together. New work says the black hole may get there first.
More Coverage Desks
- Marcus Holt — Business & Markets
- Priya Venkatesh — Technology
- Daniel Croft — Politics & Policy
- Nadia Al-Rashid — World Affairs
- Kevin McAllister — Sports
- Dr. Claire Fosse — Health & Science
- Sofia Reyes — Entertainment & Culture