Science News for Students | News and feature articles from all fields of science
four letter blocks reading "fact", the last two letters are changing to "ke" so the word will read "fake" instead
Top Story
Studies test ways to slow the spread of fake news
Learning how to tell truth from fabrications can slow the spread of bogus claims
a shadowy image of a young woman in a tunnel with hazy air
Body functions
 
Air pollution intensifies a teen’s feeling of stress
Those who are anxious or depressed feel the biggest effects
a photo of a girl vaping
Health
 
Data show worrisome rise in youth vaping
Growth comes as officials report increase in vaping-related lung injuries
a snail on a wire fence
Materials Science
 
Reversible superglue mimics snail slime
This super-strong adhesive can be undone by adding water
a periodic table
Chemistry
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Periodic table
This is a chart of the chemical elements arranged by their properties

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Editor's Picks
upset girl
Behavior
Bullying hurts — but peer support really helps
classroom kids
Brain
Study links ADHD to five brain areas
a photo of a teen hugging another upset teen with mean kids in the background

What makes a teen step in when they see bullying? Scientists asked almost 900 kids to find out.

omgimages/iStockphoto

Behavior
Friendly adults help teens stand up against bullies
Trending
a periodic table

In the periodic table, elements are lined up by atomic number, the number of protons they have. An element’s location in the table relates to its reactivity and how its electrons are arranged.

duntaro/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Scientists Say
Chemistry
Scientists Say: Periodic table
a group of girls playing soccer

White fat stores energy, and brown fat burns calories. Scientists studying this type of body fat hope to find ways to boost its levels to help fight obesity and diabetes.

 skynesher/E+/Getty Images

Body functions
The color of body fat might affect how trim people are
a photo of a young woman on her phone looking solemn

Girls who use social media are most likely to be unhappy when they are cyberbullied.

SolStock/E+/Getty Images Plus

Psychology
Social media doesn’t, by itself, make teens unhappy or anxious
a little girl chasing a very large soap bubble

The science of giant soapy bubbles brings together chemistry, gravity and a material called a polymer.

EduardSV/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Physics
Scientists find the secret to colossal bubbles
a photo of Michelle O’Malley
Chemistry
 
Cool Job: One green chemist is mining zoo dung for biological helpers
Her goal is to convert farm-field wastes into useful fuels and chemicals
a photo of Malin Pinsky
Oceans
 
Cool Job: This ecologist is studying an ocean of changes
He’s collecting data to better understand humanity’s role in and on the warming seas
a screen capture from The Addams Family movie of Wednesday Addams
Body functions
 
Technically Fiction
Could Wednesday Addams really jolt a frog back to life?
Electricity is powerful, but not in the way seen in The Addams Family
a group of girls playing soccer
Body functions
 
The color of body fat might affect how trim people are
Brown, beige, white? Upping the type that burns calories instead of storing them could become a key to health
a composite photo of the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry winners; ohn B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino
Chemistry
 
2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry goes for pioneering lithium-ion batteries
The three winners helped create lightweight, rechargeable devices
Blogs
a periodic table

In the periodic table, elements are lined up by atomic number, the number of protons they have. An element’s location in the table relates to its reactivity and how its electrons are arranged.

duntaro/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Periodic table
a screen capture from The Addams Family movie of Wednesday Addams

Instead of dissecting a dead frog in biology class, Wednesday Addams of The Addams Family movie resurrects the amphibian. That can’t happen in real life. But the scene shares a lot with science of the past. These days, researchers are still learning about the body electric.

© 2019 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. 

Technically Fiction
Could Wednesday Addams really jolt a frog back to life?
a doctor checking a girl's lymph nodes

When your body fights an infection like the common cold, lymph nodes in your neck might swell as they make more germ-fighting white blood cells.   

FatCamera/E+/Getty Images

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Lymph
a close-up photo of a citrine crystal

This “citrine” crystal is mostly made of silicon and oxygen arranged in a particular pattern. Like other crystals, its chemical building blocks repeat regularly.    

Nastya22/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Crystal
Body & Brain
a shadowy image of a young woman in a tunnel with hazy air

Teens who are depressed are more likely to become stressed out as a result of breathing polluted air.

joegolby/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Body functions
Air pollution intensifies a teen’s feeling of stress
four letter blocks reading "fact", the last two letters are changing to "ke" so the word will read "fake" instead

The difference between fact and fiction isn’t always obvious in online news and information. Careful fact-checking can help you find out what’s real and what’s not.

Fokusiert/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Science & Society
Studies test ways to slow the spread of fake news
a photo of a girl vaping

Around one in 8 U.S. high school seniors vape daily, according to a new federally funded survey. Such heavy use, the authors say, points to these kids being addicted to nicotine.

Aleksandryu/istock/Getty Images Plus

Health
Data show worrisome rise in youth vaping
a group of girls playing soccer

White fat stores energy, and brown fat burns calories. Scientists studying this type of body fat hope to find ways to boost its levels to help fight obesity and diabetes.

 skynesher/E+/Getty Images

Body functions
The color of body fat might affect how trim people are
a little girl chasing a very large soap bubble
Physics
 
Scientists find the secret to colossal bubbles
This ingredient helps big bubbles stay stretchy and resist popping
a photo of James Peebles, Michel Mayor, and Didier Queloz
Planets
 
Physics Nobel rewards discoveries on cosmic evolution and exoplanets
The three scientists helped better reveal the universe — and found an exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star
tidewater glacier in southeast Greenland in 2018
Weather & Climate
 
Report sums up climate's already dramatic impact on oceans and ice
And it warns of worse to come, even if emissions of greenhouse gases start to fall
a composite image of William Kaelin, Gregg Semenza and Peter Ratcliffe
Cells
 
Medicine Nobel honors discovery of how cells deal with oxygen
The finding may one day lead to new medicines, such as for treating cancer
a doctor checking a girl's lymph nodes
Body functions
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Lymph
This clear fluid cleans up the body’s tissues by removing waste and microbes
Space
a photo of James Peebles, Michel Mayor, and Didier Queloz

Three scientists have won the Nobel Prize in physics for revealing hidden aspects of the cosmos. James Peebles of Princeton University (right) studied the structure and evolution of the universe. Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva in Switzerland (center) and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva and the University of Cambridge in England (left) identified the first exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star.

FROM LEFT: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; COURTESY OF INAMORI FOUNDATION; TORBJÖRN ZADIA/ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Planets
Physics Nobel rewards discoveries on cosmic evolution and exoplanets
a photo of Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon

This photo, taken in 1969 by Astronaut Neil Armstrong, shows Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Apollo astronauts left a lot on the moon’s surface, from scientific instruments to trash.

NASA

Space
Learning from what Apollo astronauts left on the moon
Aldrin at Tranquility base on the moon

Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is seen setting up scientific instruments on the moon. They include a seismometer to measure moonquakes and a mirror array to measure the distance between the Earth and moon. The lunar lander and an American flag can be seen in the background. Those items also were left on the moon.

NASA

Planets
Preserving remnants of human culture on the moon
the planet Jupiter, as seen from NASA's Juno spacecraft

Jupiter, shown in an image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, has 79 moons. Five recently spotted ones have just gotten their official names.

JPL-Caltech/NASA, SwRI, MSSS, Kevin M. Gill

Planets
Students help name 5 of Jupiter’s newly discovered moons
Invention & Innovation
a snail on a wire fence

When not on the move, snails use mucus to stick to plants and other objects.

Gabriel Pacce/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Materials Science
Reversible superglue mimics snail slime
a woman testing her blood sugar on a hike

People with diabetes monitor their blood sugar to avoid organ damage. Many take drugs that affect insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar. Researchers are exploring ultrasound as an alternative to those drugs.

AzmanJaka/E+/Getty Images Plus; adapted by L. Steenblik Hwang

Health
Ultrasound might become a new way to manage diabetes
a picture of a baby mannequin wearing a premie vest

A baby mannequin wears an invention designed to help sick babies breathe. Called NeoVest, it does away with the traditional mask and breathing tubes that get in the way of a baby feeding and bonding with its parents.  

St. Michael’s Hospital

Health
Tiny vest could help sick babies breathe easier
an illustration of an astronaut planting a plant in space

Plants loaded up with metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, may be key to growing crops in the harshest environments, including space.

gorodenkoff/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Materials Science
High-tech crops may survive harsh conditions, even space
bat wings
Algae & Fungi
 
New treatment offers hope for bats battling white nose syndrome
Scientists spray bats with bacteria that fight lethal fungi
solar-cell panels
Technology
 
Sunlight can produce energy and clean water at the same time
Such a two-for-one system might generate electricity as it produces water clean enough to drink
damaged road
Earth
 
Three things scientists want to know after California’s July earthquakes
One of them: Is tectonic activity slowly shifting away from the San Andreas Fault?
right whales
Animals
 
Some mama whales may whisper to keep calves safe from orcas
The tactic has just been witnessed in southern right whales
a photo of vast mats of Sargassum seaweed floating on the ocean's surface
Algae & Fungi
 
Record seaweed belt spanned from Africa to Gulf of Mexico
The enormous Sargassum bloom seen in 2018 could become the new normal, scientists worry
Latest Headlines
a shadowy image of a young woman in a tunnel with hazy air

Teens who are depressed are more likely to become stressed out as a result of breathing polluted air.

joegolby/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Body functions
Air pollution intensifies a teen’s feeling of stress
four letter blocks reading "fact", the last two letters are changing to "ke" so the word will read "fake" instead

The difference between fact and fiction isn’t always obvious in online news and information. Careful fact-checking can help you find out what’s real and what’s not.

Fokusiert/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Science & Society
Studies test ways to slow the spread of fake news
a photo of a girl vaping

Around one in 8 U.S. high school seniors vape daily, according to a new federally funded survey. Such heavy use, the authors say, points to these kids being addicted to nicotine.

Aleksandryu/istock/Getty Images Plus

Health
Data show worrisome rise in youth vaping
a snail on a wire fence

When not on the move, snails use mucus to stick to plants and other objects.

Gabriel Pacce/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Materials Science
Reversible superglue mimics snail slime
Math & Technology
a snail on a wire fence

When not on the move, snails use mucus to stick to plants and other objects.

Gabriel Pacce/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Materials Science
Reversible superglue mimics snail slime
a photo of a robot "hand" reaching for a jellyfish

The fingers of this robotic hand reach out to catch a delicate jellyfish.

Anand Varma

Robotics
This robot catches jellyfish with a gentle ‘hug’
a woman testing her blood sugar on a hike

People with diabetes monitor their blood sugar to avoid organ damage. Many take drugs that affect insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar. Researchers are exploring ultrasound as an alternative to those drugs.

AzmanJaka/E+/Getty Images Plus; adapted by L. Steenblik Hwang

Health
Ultrasound might become a new way to manage diabetes
a picture of a baby ultrasound held by parents

Ultrasound produces images of babies in the womb. It’s typically one of the first health checks for baby and mom.

Rawpixel/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Light & Radiation
Explainer: What is ultrasound?