Science News for Students

Why are cicadas such clumsy fliers?

Chemical analysis of the insects’ wings by a teen and his dad now offers clues

Every scientist has had a failure or two in the lab.

LuckyBusiness/istockphoto

Science Education

Researchers reveal their epic fails

Even a rocket explosion can’t stop ultimate scientific success

People who post on social media want their offerings to garner legions of likes. Most readers also tend to share those posts that have gotten a large quantify of “likes.” So very popular posts go on to become even more popular. This can greatly affect what goes viral.

nadia_bormotova/iStockphoto

A single 'like' can make a social-media post more popular and even affect how teens behave

The power of 'like'

Researchers have uncovered new clues about how bacteria in the gut influence anxiety levels. The findings could lead to new treatments for some mental-health disorders.

ChrisChrisW/istockphoto

Body functions

How bugs in your gut might hijack your emotions

Tiny molecules in the brain may help gut bacteria control anxiety levels, research suggests

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Toxicology

Concerns explode over new health risks of vaping

A complex chemical reaction takes place when an onion is cut. The resulting compound is a real tear jerker.

angelsimon/istockphoto

Why onions make us cry

Connecting with people online can be easy, fun and almost addictive. But linking up with others in the digital world also can have drawbacks. Users need to recognize in advance that not all online posts will be positive (for you).

Wachiwit/iStockphoto

Social media: What’s not to like?

Blogs

Every scientist has had a failure or two in the lab.

LuckyBusiness/istockphoto

Researchers reveal their epic fails

This image has drawings of three different types of glial cell — astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes. Each has its own important function. (Other labels mark neurons and parts of neurons.)

ttsz/istockphoto

This is a radar antenna on top of a boat. It emits a rotating beam of signals to help detect other boats (and avoid hitting them).

Scientists Say: Glia

Amada44/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Scientists Say: Radar

This image has drawings of three different types of glial cell — astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes. Each has its own important function. (Other labels mark neurons and parts of neurons.)

ttsz/istockphoto

Brain

These brain cells glue the brain together — and do a lot more

Scientists Say: Glia

Engineers used blue light to trigger the formation of two polymers in the same mixture. This created a new material that’s both strong and flexible.

A.U. Shete and C.J. Kloxin/Polymer Chemistry 2017

Materials Science

Blue light flexes its chem-building muscle

Engineers used light to combine two polymers into one stronger, more flexible material

Polymers, whether artificial (such as the plastic shown) or natural, are made of repeating chains of smaller chemical units. Here, carbon atoms are shown as black, oxygen as red and hydrogen as white.

Molekuul/iStockphoto

Explainer: What are polymers?

These materials, many of them artificial, are built from repeating chains of smaller chemical units

Wachiwit/iStockphoto

Social media: What’s not to like?

Social media can boost teens’ self-esteem — or foster depression

You don’t have to be on a social network for your information to find its way there. Information from your friends can be used to infer information about you, creating a “shadow profile.”

shironosov/istockphoto

Social networks can learn about you through your friends

True privacy is not possible when social networks can stalk you through friends’ accounts

Body & Brain

nadia_bormotova/iStockphoto

How bugs in your gut might hijack your emotions

The power of 'like'

Researchers have uncovered new clues about how bacteria in the gut influence anxiety levels. The findings could lead to new treatments for some mental-health disorders.

ChrisChrisW/istockphoto

Body functions

Wachiwit/iStockphoto

Social media: What’s not to like?

Zika virus (shown in green) infects and kills stem cells (red) in human glioblastoma tissue. It did not infect healthy brain cells. Because the stem cells generate the brain cancer cells, killing off the stem cells might prevent treated tumors from coming back.

Z. ZHU ET AL/JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE 2017

Brain

Could Zika become a cancer treatment?

Invention & Innovation

For kids and adults in war-torn countries such as here, in Syria, protection against chemical attacks can be a life-or-death need.

yeowatzup/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Specially coated fabric could turn a shirt into a shield

Some people with diabetes must give themselves shots of medication every day. The injections contain a hormone called insulin. This keeps their blood sugar level from rising too high. But researchers are inventing shot-free ways to control diabetes.

AndreyPopov/istockphoto

Health

Tiny spongelike machines sop up blood sugar

A new electronic device is stretchy and light, and dissolves in acid.

Bao Lab/Stanford University

Materials Science

Vinegar dissolves new electronics when they’re no longer needed

Robotics

Underwater robot vacuums up lionfish

José Dinneny studies how plants grow under stress. What he learns could help to feed Earth’s growing population.

Robin Kempster

Plants

Cool Job: Rethinking how plants hunt for water

Researcher probes the very beginnings of root growth

Z. ZHU ET AL/JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE 2017

Brain

Could Zika become a cancer treatment?

This virus can kill brain cells that might otherwise morph into a deadly cancer

This is a radar antenna on top of a boat. It emits a rotating beam of signals to help detect other boats (and avoid hitting them).

Amada44/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

This system detects objects by sending out waves and waiting for them to bounce back

Scientists Say: Radar

For kids and adults in war-torn countries such as here, in Syria, protection against chemical attacks can be a life-or-death need.

yeowatzup/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Specially coated fabric could turn a shirt into a shield

Scientists create a coating for fabrics that captures and deactivates some chemical weapons

Dogs bring dirt into our homes. And that can be a good thing, scientists find. Kids that grow up in homes with dogs can be healthier. Pets are just one unexpected source of health-promoting germs.

Willbrasil21/iStockPhoto

Health

Good germs lurk in gross places

The secret superpowers of poop, dog drool and snot

Cool Jobs

José Dinneny studies how plants grow under stress. What he learns could help to feed Earth’s growing population.

Robin Kempster

Plants

Cool Job: Rethinking how plants hunt for water

Most people think of fibrous and muscle-rich foods when they hear the word protein. In fact, every cell of the body makes proteins, which will carry out all of its many functions. Scientists are focusing on proteins — in cells and foods and fossils — to better understand how the body functions.

MillefloreImages/iStockphoto

Cells

Cool Jobs: Puzzling over proteins to study life and death

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking is probably the most famous scientist with a disability, but he’s far from alone. Meet some of the many other scientists and engineers who have hurdled physical or medical barriers to find rewarding careers in research.

Paul E. Alers/NASA

STEM Careers

Disabilities don’t stop these experts in science and tech

Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may face challenges to pursuing a career in STEM. Fortunately, there are resources that can help.

Jovanmandic/iStockphoto

STEM Careers

Deaf students can overcome hurdles to careers in STEM

Space

A smashup of two neutron stars is shown in this artist’s rendering. Such a collision sent out gravitational waves and a burst of gamma rays. The ejected debris also left a glow.

NSF, LIGO, A. Simonnet/Sonoma State Univ.

Astronomers finally find the cosmic source of gold and silver

In this illustration, two black holes are colliding. Such an event produced the gravitational waves detected by LIGO.

SXS, the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project

Trio wins physics Nobel for detecting gravity waves

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, may house 100 million black holes, scientists estimate.

den-belitsky/iStockphoto

Astronomy

The Milky Way galaxy houses 100 million black holes

Saturn’s north pole was dark when Cassini arrived in 2004. But as the seasons changed, light illuminated a bizarre six-sided swirl of gases at the pole (shown here in false color). The hexagon has been known since the 1980s. It is about 30,000 kilometers (18,600 miles) wide with a massive hurricane centered on the north pole.

JPL-CALTECH/NASA, SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE

Space

Cassini spacecraft takes its final bow

Scientists were once kids, too. And they’ve got advice for the scientists of the future.

Zero Creatives/istockphoto

Young Scientists

Sage advice from scientists to students

Researchers say to be persistent and follow your dreams

Cryo-electron microscopy is an imaging technique that involves flash freezing molecules to see their structures. This technique has just won its inventors the Nobel Prize in chemistry. The technique has dramatically improved over time. Molecules that once appeared as blobs (left) now appear in all their complex glory (right).

Super-chilled imaging technique brings its developers the Nobel Prize in chemistry

It allows scientists to now map biological molecules, such as proteins, clearly and on the atomic scale

By blocking sunlight and dirtying solar panels, air pollution — as seen here, in Shanghai, China in 2015 — can lower the production of electricity.

FAZON1/ISTOCKPHOTO

Pollution

Air pollution takes a toll on solar energy

Haze and pollution can filter out sunlight and cut electricity production

In this illustration, two black holes are colliding. Such an event produced the gravitational waves detected by LIGO.

SXS, the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project

Trio wins physics Nobel for detecting gravity waves

Prize awarded quickly for LIGO masterminds

Trapdoor spiders are named for the entryways to their homes (left). One species, Moggridgea rainbowi, may have survived a long ago ocean journey from Africa to Australia, a new study concludes.

NICK BIRKS

Animals

To become Australians, these spiders crossed an ocean

Ancestors of a species of trapdoor spider would have had to survive a journey from Africa

Latest Headlines

Periodical cicadas spend most of their life underground, sucking sap out of tree roots. Once every 13 or 17 years, they all emerge from the ground to mate and then die.

USDAgov

Why are cicadas such clumsy fliers?

Every scientist has had a failure or two in the lab.

LuckyBusiness/istockphoto

Researchers reveal their epic fails

Science Education

nadia_bormotova/iStockphoto

The power of 'like'

A smashup of two neutron stars is shown in this artist’s rendering. Such a collision sent out gravitational waves and a burst of gamma rays. The ejected debris also left a glow.

NSF, LIGO, A. Simonnet/Sonoma State Univ.

Astronomers finally find the cosmic source of gold and silver

Math & Technology

You don’t have to be on a social network for your information to find its way there. Information from your friends can be used to infer information about you, creating a “shadow profile.”

shironosov/istockphoto

Social networks can learn about you through your friends

Super-chilled imaging technique brings its developers the Nobel Prize in chemistry

Playing video games such as Minecraft can help sharpen communication skills, resourcefulness and the ability to adapt to changing situations, a new study finds.

Enderflame_Blackwings/Pixabay (CC0)

Video games level up life skills

Three new technologies could shed new light on what goes on inside our brains.

iLexx/istockphoto