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 photo of a starry night sky
Technology
 
This device uses the cold night sky to generate electricity
Not a lot, though; the prototype just powered a small lightbulb
An illustration of RNA
Cells
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: RNA
This is a molecule that helps cells carry out the instructions in DNA
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

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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 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
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 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
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
Blogs
An illustration of RNA

RNA helps cells make proteins from the instructions in DNA. This molecule has other roles in the body too. For instance, RNA can turn genes off or on.

Andy/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Scientists Say
Scientists Say: RNA
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
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 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
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
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
a composite image of a midge jumping
Animals
 
High-speed camera reveals the secrets of a legless larva’s leap
The body of a larval gall midge acts like a spring
a picture of a baby mannequin wearing a premie vest
Health
 
Tiny vest could help sick babies breathe easier
It works by gently pulling on the baby’s belly to draw air into the lungs
an illustration of DNA being cut with scissors
Genetics
 
CRISPR enters its first human trials
The gene-editing technology will target cancer, blood disorders and blindness
a yellow octocoral
Algae & Fungi
 
Scientists Say
Scientists Say: Zooxanthellae
These microorganisms, a group of algae, live in the tissue of coral
football players crashing into each other
Brain
 
Routine hits in a single football season may harm players’ brains
Collisions in practices and games may damage healthy brain tissue, even without concussions
Latest Headlines
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
An illustration of RNA

RNA helps cells make proteins from the instructions in DNA. This molecule has other roles in the body too. For instance, RNA can turn genes off or on.

Andy/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Scientists Say
Cells
Scientists Say: RNA
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
Math & Technology
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
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