Science News for Students | News and feature articles from all fields of science

Climate Change Chronicles

a girl and her mother sitting and talking in scenic mountain lake setting

Middle school students can sway their parents’ views about climate change if they talk about the topic and share what they’ve been learning in school.

Laikwunfai/E+/Getty Images

Psychology
Students can sway how their parents view climate change
a sack full of sorghum grain

With climate change, people may have to depend on grains such as the sorghum (shown here) that are not now commonly found on our plates.

Leonid Eremeychuk/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Agriculture
Get ready to eat differently in a warmer world
a Syrian boy sitting in a refugee camp with his head on his hand

A Syrian boy sits in a refugee camp after civil war destroyed towns and rural areas throughout his country. Some scientists believe climate stresses could have played a role in triggering or worsening the Syrian conflict.

cloverphoto/iStock/Getty Images plus

Science & Society
Could climate change worsen global conflict?
a photo of refugees being assisted by the Red Cross after flooding in Mozambique

In March, Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique, causing widespread flooding. It also sparked an outbreak of cholera.

Climate Centre/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Health
Warning: Climate change can harm your health
a photo of two girls hugging

The impacts of climate change can hurt kids’ mental health in a wide range of ways.

AntonioGuillem/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Health
Climate change poses mental health risks to children and teens
an image of a plasma eruption from the sun
Top Story
Space weather forecast: Big storms ahead
The sun hurls giant plasma cannonballs at the Earth. What’s the worst that can happen?
a photo of hands cuffed behind the back of a teen
Brain
 
The U.S. prison system can harm young brains, scientist warns
Violence, stress and isolation can adversely shape brain development
an illustration of a black hole
Physics
 
Black holes might have a temperature
A lab-made mock black hole spit out radiation, suggesting Stephen Hawking was right
a photo of a discarded styrofoam cup on the ground surrounded by plants
Materials Science
 
Trees may become the key to ‘greener’ foam products
Made from wood pulp, they’re just as strong as Styrofoam — and work better at keeping things cold
a spiky flower-like sculpture created by a magnet placed under a ferrofluid
Science Education
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Ferrofluid
This is a fluid that responds to magnetic fields

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Editor's Picks
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Scientists are looking to change the recipe for ice cream so that this yummy treat won’t melt before we get to eat it.

Bestwork/iStockphoto

Chemistry
Banana plant extract can slow how fast ice cream melts
a photo of a thunderstorm over a city in the distance, there are two lightning strikes in the middle of the photo

A thunderstorm like this one might store a huge electric potential — more than a billion volts.

Ian Froome/Unsplash

Weather & Climate
Thunderstorms hold stunningly high voltage
a photo of a man in active wear sweating outside

People sweat to stay cool. But one teen wants to punch up the power of perspiration.

wundervisuals/E+/Getty Images Plus

Eureka! Lab
Young Scientists
Novel fabric could turn perspiration into power
Trending
5 pretty faces
Psychology
What makes a pretty face?
an image of a plasma eruption from the sun

Blame it on the sun. Extreme space weather events begin when a blob of plasma erupts from the sun and streams toward Earth.

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Astronomy
Space weather forecast: Big storms ahead
three zombies
Behavior
Zombies are real!
an illustration of a black hole

A black hole (illustrated) isn’t completely black. It probably emits a faint haze of particles. Scientists have now taken the temperature of the haze around a lab-made black hole and confirms these objects are only mostly dark.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Background: DPAC/Gaia/ESA

Physics
Black holes might have a temperature
a photo of the trio of teen scientists who found a new bacterium
Microbes
 
Teens swipe a door handle and find an antibiotic
New types of bacteria are everywhere — and some might make medicines we can use
a photo of an orange toad, Incilius periglenes, on a green leaf
Ecology
 
A million species could vanish, and people are to blame
Here are five ways humans are speeding up the rate of extinctions
a photo of a suburban road lined with trashcans and trees
Environment
 
City living makes trees grow fast but die young
Urban trees may not remove as much carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, as rural trees
a photo of a young woman (head cropped out) pushing away a plate of donuts, holding a fruit smoothie and with a salad in front of her
Nutrition
 
Youthful rebellion leads some teens to eat better
Food choices can improve after students learn how ads have been created to ‘control’ their behaviors
a sign that reads no narcotic overdose, naloxone dispensing pharmacy in front of blurry pharmacy shelves
Science Education
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Naloxone
This live-saving drug reverses the effects of morphine, heroin and other opioids
Blogs
a spiky flower-like sculpture created by a magnet placed under a ferrofluid

This isn’t a flower — it’s a ferrofluid! These liquids, which contain tiny iron particles, naturally form peaks and valleys when a magnet is placed below them.

virtualphoto/E+/Getty Images

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Ferrofluid
a sign that reads no narcotic overdose, naloxone dispensing pharmacy in front of blurry pharmacy shelves

With a prescription, people can get naloxone from a pharmacy to have in case they, or someone they know, overdoses on opioids. 

Sign: Pureradiancephoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus; Background: Kwangmoozaa/iStock/Getty Images Plus; adapted by L. Steenblik Hwang

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Naloxone
a photo of the earth at night from orbit showing how bright populated areas are

People produce so much extra light that our light pollution can be seen from space.

Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon/NASA GSFC

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Light pollution
a smiling kid wearing glasses standing outside in front of a lake

People sometimes have to wear glasses because they have myopia — a condition where distant objects appear fuzzy.

PeopleImages/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Myopia
Body & Brain
a photo of hands cuffed behind the back of a teen

Teens caught in the U.S. justice system may face conditions that can mess with healthy brain development.

SAKDAWUT14/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Brain
The U.S. prison system can harm young brains, scientist warns
a photo of a young woman (head cropped out) pushing away a plate of donuts, holding a fruit smoothie and with a salad in front of her

Kids and teens were more likely to choose healthy foods once they understood how food companies have designed ads to manipulate them.

Kiwis/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Nutrition
Youthful rebellion leads some teens to eat better
a bored teen with an afro watching tv while sitting on a sofa

A national survey shows Americans spend a lot of time sitting in front of screens.  

g-stockstudio/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Health
New risk from too much screentime
a domestic pig on a farm

In a feat that has shaken up neuroscience, scientists used an artificial fluid to keep cells alive in the brains of pigs that had been slaughtered for pork.

ChristiLaLiberte/ E+/Getty Images

Cells
In a first, scientists keep cells alive in the brains of dead pigs
a high-speed animation showing how aphids repair a hole in their home
Animals
 
Young aphids sacrifice themselves to make home repairs
Soldiers exude a white goo to patch holes in their colony’s tree-house
an illustration of an asteroid impacting the Earth
Earth
 
Reliving the last day of the dinosaurs
Geologic sites are telling the story of the asteroid impact that abruptly changed life on Earth
a photo of red strata in Romania
Earth
 
Explainer: Understanding geologic time
Here’s how scientists have organized time throughout Earth’s 4.6-billion-year history
a photo of two scientists on a boat holding a tiger shark
Ecology
 
Tiger sharks feast when migratory birds fall out of the sky
Other marine animals don’t appear to target these land birds
an illustration of Suskityrannus hazelae
Fossils
 
This tiny dinosaur is officially T. rex’s cousin
Decades after it was discovered, this 92-million-year-old tyrannosaur finally has a family
Space
an image of a plasma eruption from the sun

Blame it on the sun. Extreme space weather events begin when a blob of plasma erupts from the sun and streams toward Earth.

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Astronomy
Space weather forecast: Big storms ahead
an illustration of a spinning star, called a collapsar, releasing a long gamma-ray burst from either pole

A collapsar is a massive, spinning star that collapses into a black hole. That collapse releases a blast of light known as a long gamma-ray burst (illustrated). It also leads to an explosion in the star’s outer layers.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Astronomy
Dying stars can make gold as they collapse into black holes
a photo of InSight lander’s seismometer on Mars

The InSight lander’s seismometer, shown here on Mars (protected by a dome), appears to have detected its first quake.

JPL-Caltech/NASA

Planets
Was that a Marsquake?
a photo of STEVE's ourple and green streaks across the night sky

Satellite data are helping scientists figure out what’s going on with STEVE, a weird purple streak with green stripes that can glow in the night sky.

Lauri Kangas

Astronomy
New insights on how STEVE lights up the night sky
Invention & Innovation
a photo of a discarded styrofoam cup on the ground surrounded by plants

Unlike this Styrofoam cup, made from plastic, a new kind of foam is biodegradable.

tomschirtz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Materials Science
Trees may become the key to ‘greener’ foam products
a photo of a group of green disk robots

Individually, each of these disks can only expand and contract in place. But together, when loosely connected by magnets, they can complete a task like moving toward a light.

Shuguang Li/Columbia Engineering

Robotics
This robot’s parts are helpless alone, but turn smart as they team up
a young boy smiling and sitting in wheelchair, he's wearing a blue hat

Chemotherapy can cause your hair to fall out and make you feel tired and sick. Delivering the chemo drugs inside nanoparticles could reduce these side effects by making sure the drug goes only to the cancer.

Steve Debenport/E+/Getty Images

Chemistry
Remote-controlled nanoparticles could fight cancer — gently
Afghan minefield

This sign in English and Arabic warns pedestrians that live land mines still litter this field in Afghanistan.

manxman/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Physics
Heat signatures help track down old and still deadly land mines
an animated image showing a bubble traveling from the bottom of a lava lamp to the top
Physics
 
Dry sand can bubble like the blobs in a lava lamp
All it takes is a jiggle and some gas to get the grains flowing
a photo of the earth at night from orbit showing how bright populated areas are
Light & Radiation
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Light pollution
This is when artificial light leaks into places that are normally dark
an illustration of a spinning star, called a collapsar, releasing a long gamma-ray burst from either pole
Astronomy
 
Dying stars can make gold as they collapse into black holes
The spinning orbs may help to explain the origin of such heavy elements in space
Culture
 
For these artists, math is their muse
A growing number of artists are creating works based on mathematical ideas
a bored teen with an afro watching tv while sitting on a sofa
Health
 
New risk from too much screentime
Teens — and everyone else, it seems — spend an unhealthy amount of time sitting, a new survey finds
Latest Headlines
a photo of hands cuffed behind the back of a teen

Teens caught in the U.S. justice system may face conditions that can mess with healthy brain development.

SAKDAWUT14/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Brain
The U.S. prison system can harm young brains, scientist warns
an illustration of a black hole

A black hole (illustrated) isn’t completely black. It probably emits a faint haze of particles. Scientists have now taken the temperature of the haze around a lab-made black hole and confirms these objects are only mostly dark.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Background: DPAC/Gaia/ESA

Physics
Black holes might have a temperature
a photo of a discarded styrofoam cup on the ground surrounded by plants

Unlike this Styrofoam cup, made from plastic, a new kind of foam is biodegradable.

tomschirtz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Materials Science
Trees may become the key to ‘greener’ foam products
a spiky flower-like sculpture created by a magnet placed under a ferrofluid

This isn’t a flower — it’s a ferrofluid! These liquids, which contain tiny iron particles, naturally form peaks and valleys when a magnet is placed below them.

virtualphoto/E+/Getty Images

Scientists Say
Science Education
Scientists Say: Ferrofluid
Math & Technology
860_math_muse_math_art.png

"Grid," by math artist Henry Segerman, explores mathematical concepts using projections. This 3-D printed sculpture is a patterned sphere. When light shines through the openings from above, the shadows form a square grid.

H. Segerman

Culture
For these artists, math is their muse
a photo of InSight lander’s seismometer on Mars

The InSight lander’s seismometer, shown here on Mars (protected by a dome), appears to have detected its first quake.

JPL-Caltech/NASA

Planets
Was that a Marsquake?
a photo of a group of green disk robots

Individually, each of these disks can only expand and contract in place. But together, when loosely connected by magnets, they can complete a task like moving toward a light.

Shuguang Li/Columbia Engineering

Robotics
This robot’s parts are helpless alone, but turn smart as they team up
a surfer surving on a blue wave

Not just great for surfing, waves may be the next big thing in renewable energy.

EpicStockMedia/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Sustainability
Ocean energy could be the wave of the future