South Santa Clara County Reporter

Luis Melecio Zambrano

Luis Melecio-Zambrano is a California Local News Fellow reporting for The Mercury News in south Santa Clara County. Luis previously wrote for Science News, Science, The Monterey Herald and the Santa Cruz Sentinel, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Luis was a research chemist. Luis holds master’s degrees in science communication and chemistry from UC Santa Cruz and Cornell University, respectively, as well as a bachelor’s in chemistry from Stetson University.

A Silvery Blue butterfly released by scientists from the California Academy of Sciences rests in the sand dunes of the Presidio in San Francisco, Calif., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. The Silvery Blue release is part of an effort to fill the role played by the Xerces butterfly that went extinct 80 years ago. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Is there life after extinction? Some scientists and conservationists are trying to find out

May 25, 2025 at 8:05 a.m.

Local thinkers are pushing for de-extinction, and the slate of tools and tricks that accompany it, but others say it’s a dangerous distraction.

Victoria Conway, of Walnut Creek, gets some kisses from her dog Clyde, a five-year old Goldendoodle, while on a walk with her dogs at Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Thursday, May 1, 2025. According to a paper recently published by researchers from the University of California, Davis and Berkeley, knowing when and where dogs got sick with valley fever could give us clues to where humans might also contract the disease. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Dog data may help track dangerous disease for humans

May 6, 2025 at 12:56 p.m.

New research from UC Berkeley and UC Davis suggests that knowing when and where dogs get sick can help us know when humans are at risk.

Daylight saving time can have serious consequences for personal and public health, ranging from accidents to worsened mood disorders to even heart attacks, according to sleep experts. (Getty Images)

Daylight saving time is bad for you. Here’s what you can do to soften the blow

March 7, 2025 at 10:53 a.m.

A NASA expert on astronaut sleep shares tips.

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