Science News for Students | News and feature articles from all fields of science
periodic table
Top Story
Chemistry’s ever-useful periodic table celebrates a big birthday
Now 150 years old, this ‘table’ can take many forms, from block charts to spiral trees — and for good reason
Frozen Elsa
Physics
 
Technically Fiction
Frozen’s ice queen commands ice and snow — maybe we can too
Fingertips that set off snowflakes may be easier to swallow than Elsa’s command over ice
neutron-star smashup
Astronomy
 
First heavy element identified from a neutron-star collision
Seeing this strontium supports the idea that these smashups create many elements heavier than iron
toad and viper
Animals
 
Congolese toads may avoid predators by copycatting deadly vipers
It looks like the first case of a frog or toad mimicking the look and hiss of a venomous snake
sound graph
Physics
 
Eureka! Lab
Musicians could benefit from teens’ research that pictures sound
The new research could help violin shoppers and vocal coaches, among others

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Editor's Picks
soccer injury
A blow to the head can knock a player out of the game and might even cause a concussion.
saintho/iStockphoto
Health
Explainer: What is a concussion?
football hit
Health
Too many football hits can change the brain
tired football player
Health
Concussed brains need time to heal
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
grazing wildebeests

Moonlight affects animals in many different ways. Wildebeests (a herd shown) rely on moonlight to avoid nighttime attacks by hungry lions.

Karann Kalsey/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Animals
The moon has power over animals
black hole

A star that wanders too close to a black hole (top left) is stretched into a thin strand. Some of the star material is thrown back into space, as this illustration shows. The rest swirls around the black hole, crashing into itself and forming a disk of superheated gas.

Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science

Astronomy
A black hole slashed a star apart — and was caught in the act
electric eel

This newly discovered species of electric eel (Electrophorus voltai) can give quite a shock. Scientists measured a zap of 860 volts, making it the record holder among known species.

L. Sousa

Animals
Newly discovered eel sets a jolting record for animal voltage
Great White Spot
Planets
 
Astronomers spot new type of storm on Saturn
Bigger than squalls, they are smaller than the planet’s massive Great White Spots
beetles
Animals
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Species
This word describes organisms that share similarities in physical traits and genetics
electric eel
Animals
 
Newly discovered eel sets a jolting record for animal voltage
Scientists have found two new species, and one is quite the shocker
black hole
Astronomy
 
A black hole slashed a star apart — and was caught in the act
Witnessing such events can help scientists learn about supermassive black holes
opioid pills
Chemistry
 
Eureka! Lab
Leftover opioids? Teen finds possible way to kill such pills
Chemically deactivating them could make disposal easy, reduce risk of misuse
Blogs
Frozen Elsa

Elsa sprinkles snowflakes on her salamander friend. Perhaps her magic touch is what kicks off snowflake formation, taking cold humid air and turning it into ice crystals.

© 2019 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

Technically Fiction
Frozen’s ice queen commands ice and snow — maybe we can too
sound graph

By recording musical notes and turning them into pictures, two teens came up with techniques that could help violin shoppers and vocal coaches, among others.

iunewind/ iStock /Getty Images Plus

Eureka! Lab
Musicians could benefit from teens’ research that pictures sound
beetles

The group of insects known as beetles includes over 360,000 different species.

pixelprof/iStock/Getty Images Plus  

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Species
opioid pills

Patients can easily overdose on opioid medications. Now a teen has come up with a strategy to chemically deactivate unused pills. This would make them useless to thieves or addicts. 

Darwin Brandis/iStock /Getty Images Plus

Eureka! Lab
Leftover opioids? Teen finds possible way to kill such pills
Body & Brain
teen texting

Starting to vape is easy, but quitting a nicotine habit can be tough, teens are finding. Some vaping-cessation programs have begun to reach out to teens where they live — on their phones.

Mixmike/E+/Getty Images

Health
Health risks are scaring some teen vapers into considering quitting
full moon

If the moon can exert potent effects on wildlife, from birds to fish and African buffalo, what can it do to people? Right now, the data are mixed and not all that convincing.

MissDareDevil/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Planets
Does the moon influence people?
stairclimbing ghost

People love scary, spooky stories of spectral phantoms. While there’s no science to support the existence of ghosts, research does provide plenty of explanations for why we might genuinely sense a supernatural presence.

D-Keine/E+/Getty Images

Culture
The science of ghosts
Aedes aegypti

The mosquito Aedes aegypti (seen on human skin) transmits several dangerous diseases, including Zika. Researchers have shown that these bloodsuckers can’t bite through a fabric made of graphene.

TacioPhilip/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Technology
Graphene fabric keeps mosquitoes from biting
pH testing
Chemistry
 
Explainer: What are acids and bases?
One likes to give away protons and the other likes to snatch them up
sunbots
Materials Science
 
Sunflower-like rods could boost efficiency of solar collectors
They keep bending toward the sun, then stopping when poised to soak up maximum energy
Saturn and moons
Planets
 
Saturn now reigns as the solar system’s ‘moon king’
Astronomers discovered the ringed planet has 20 more planets, bringing its total to 82
Earth's layers
Earth
 
Explainer: Earth — layer by layer
Sizzling heat, unimaginable pressure and some surprise diamonds: It’s all there, deep beneath us
black hole
Space
 
Scientists Say: Black hole
This is an object in space with such intense gravity that not even light can escape
Space
neutron-star smashup

Finding strontium in the afterglow of a neutron star collision (illustrated) provides the most direct evidence yet that such smashups set off an exotic chain of nuclear reactions that can lead to heavy-element formation.

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK, MARK GARLICK, ESO

Astronomy
First heavy element identified from a neutron-star collision
Great White Spot

Pictured is a Great White Spot that raged in 2010 and 2011. Until now, astronomers had only seen Saturn ravaged by days-long small storms or by enormous, months-long Great White Spots. Now, astronomers have identified a third, midsize type on the planetary gas giant.

JPL-CALTECH/NASA, SSI

Planets
Astronomers spot new type of storm on Saturn
black hole

A star that wanders too close to a black hole (top left) is stretched into a thin strand. Some of the star material is thrown back into space, as this illustration shows. The rest swirls around the black hole, crashing into itself and forming a disk of superheated gas.

Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science

Astronomy
A black hole slashed a star apart — and was caught in the act
Saturn and moons

Saturn now has the most known moons of any planet in the solar system. The Cassini spacecraft took this image in 2011. It shows Saturn and five of its moons.

Space Science Institute, JPL-Caltech/NASA

Planets
Saturn now reigns as the solar system’s ‘moon king’
Invention & Innovation
sunbots

Rods of a new solar-energy-collection material seen at front of this drawing were inspired by sunflowers.

Yusen Zhao, Yousif Alsaid and Ximin He

Materials Science
Sunflower-like rods could boost efficiency of solar collectors
Aedes aegypti

The mosquito Aedes aegypti (seen on human skin) transmits several dangerous diseases, including Zika. Researchers have shown that these bloodsuckers can’t bite through a fabric made of graphene.

TacioPhilip/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Technology
Graphene fabric keeps mosquitoes from biting
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
barn owls
Animals
 
Standing out helps barn owls on the hunt
White feathers reflect moonlight, stunning their prey
woman thinking
Teaching Science
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Hypothesis
This is an idea put forth to explain events in the natural world
worm in dirt
Pollution
 
Earthworms lose weight in soils polluted with microplastics
Plants were stunted, too, as scrawnier worms may offer fewer benefits to them and their soil
stairclimbing ghost
Culture
 
The science of ghosts
Here’s what may explain why some people see, hear or feel a spooky presence
Broadcom winners
Young Scientists
 
Eureka! Lab
Teen auto-safety researcher nabs $25,000 science fair prize
More than a dozen others also took home awards from the Broadcom MASTERS middle-school competition
Latest Headlines
periodic table

This “twin tower” periodic table is everywhere — in classrooms and museums, even on T-shirts and coffee mugs. Chemists everywhere consult it to understand chemical relationships, to look for data and to plan experiments.

Offnfopt/Wikimedia Commons

Chemistry
Chemistry’s ever-useful periodic table celebrates a big birthday
Frozen Elsa

Elsa sprinkles snowflakes on her salamander friend. Perhaps her magic touch is what kicks off snowflake formation, taking cold humid air and turning it into ice crystals.

© 2019 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

Technically Fiction
Physics
Frozen’s ice queen commands ice and snow — maybe we can too
neutron-star smashup

Finding strontium in the afterglow of a neutron star collision (illustrated) provides the most direct evidence yet that such smashups set off an exotic chain of nuclear reactions that can lead to heavy-element formation.

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK, MARK GARLICK, ESO

Astronomy
First heavy element identified from a neutron-star collision
toad and viper

With its lookalike body and hiss, the Congolese giant toad (left) appears to be mimicking the Gaboon viper (one shown, right) that shares its territory.

Eli Greenbaum

Animals
Congolese toads may avoid predators by copycatting deadly vipers
Math & Technology
sunbots

Rods of a new solar-energy-collection material seen at front of this drawing were inspired by sunflowers.

Yusen Zhao, Yousif Alsaid and Ximin He

Materials Science
Sunflower-like rods could boost efficiency of solar collectors
Aedes aegypti

The mosquito Aedes aegypti (seen on human skin) transmits several dangerous diseases, including Zika. Researchers have shown that these bloodsuckers can’t bite through a fabric made of graphene.

TacioPhilip/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Technology
Graphene fabric keeps mosquitoes from biting
a photo of a starry night sky

A new device that harnesses energy from the cold night sky could light up rooms, charge phones and power devices for people in remote areas.

Ryan Hutton/Unsplash

Technology
This device uses the cold night sky to generate electricity
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