Science News for Students

Plastic taints most bottled water, study finds

Researchers don’t know whether drinking the microplastic bits might pose health risks

Algae & Fungi

This large ocean organism looks like a plant but is actually a type of algae

Scientists Say: Kelp

Computers mine online reviews for signs of food poisoning

Software spots evidence of potential illness in texts of restaurant reviews on Yelp

Materials Science

Zap! Laser tattoos could create electronics to eat or wear

Scientists transform the surface of common materials into a nontoxic base for electronics

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Editor's Picks

Science & Society

Strict gun laws ended mass shootings in Australia

Be true to yourself, even in the face of opposition

Behavior

Violence spreads like a virus

Trending

Toxicology

Concerns explode over new health risks of vaping

A feral pig looks similar to the domestic pig from which it has descended. Each year, these animals are blamed for causing large and amazingly costly damage in the United States alone.

taviphoto/iStockphoto

Can anything stop the big pig invasion?

More U.S. teens now vape from electronic cigarettes than smoke conventional tobacco cigarettes. They may think the high-tech devices yield a safe kick from nicotine. New studies suggest that even vaping may pose serious health hazards.

Toxicology

Vaping may harm the lungs

This young pulsar — or spinning, ultradense star (large white dot in center right) — is not far outside our Milky Way. Some details of such celestial bodies are not visible. They come only from radio transmissions, which can be masked by Wi-Fi signals on Earth.

NASA/CXC/Univ. of Potsdam/L. Oskinova et al.

Light & Radiation

Wireless devices crowd out cosmic radio signals and more

Analyze This: The power in being understanding of your flaws

Analyze This!

Being kind to yourself after making a mistake can have benefits when it comes to depression

Electricity sensor harnesses a shark's secret weapon

This new material changes in response to tiny electric fields at sea

Light at night lengthens how long birds can spread West Nile virus

Under dim light, house sparrows take longer to fight off their infection

Mathematics

Scientists Say: Uncertainty

This word is used to express how much measurements might vary

Science & Society

On Twitter, fake news has greater allure than truth does

An analysis of 4.5 million tweets shows falsehoods are 70 percent more likely than truths to be shared

Blogs

This otter is floating in a raft of kelp. All that can be seen at the surface are the tips of the kelp plants, which are anchored to the sea floor below.

roclwyr/istockphoto

Analyze This: The power in being understanding of your flaws

Scientists Say: Kelp

It pays to be kind to yourself. A new study shows that being compassionate with yourself when you make mistakes can dampen depression.

SIphotography/iStockphoto

Analyze This!

This chart shows results from a test of the five-second rule. That’s when you pick food up off the floor before five seconds have passed and assume it hasn’t picked up any bacteria. The lines at the top of bars in the chart represent the uncertainty in the data, or how much the results might change if the experiment were done over and over again.

B. Brookshire/SSP

Scientists Say: Uncertainty

Milk contains a natural sugar called lactose.

naturalbox/istockphoto

Scientists Say: Lactose

Body & Brain

People who get sick at restaurants may post about it online rather than file a complaint with the health department. Now computers can scout for these posts and alert officials.

PhotoBylove/istockphoto

Computers mine online reviews for signs of food poisoning

Another reason for caution in lighting up the night: Study finds it makes it harder for house sparrows to fight off West Nile virus. Mosquitoes can then bite infected birds and later spread the virus to people.

PaulFleet/iStockphoto

Light at night lengthens how long birds can spread West Nile virus

Humans get far less sleep than expected for a primate, new data show. Most of the studied primates, including ring-tailed lemurs (like these), sleep about as much on average as researchers estimated they should.

ARROWSG/ISTOCKPHOTO

Body functions

Compared to other primates, humans get little sleep

Gut microbes in hamsters changed after the animals experienced social stress, such as bullying.

gashgeron/iStockphoto

Bullying alters ‘bugs’ in the gut, hamster data show

Light & Radiation

Wireless devices crowd out cosmic radio signals and more

Cell phones and other Wi-Fi devices can interfere with interstellar — and Earth-based — research

The secrets of super-slurper bat tongues

Hair-like structures help animals effectively scoop nectar with each dip

Astronomy

Meet STEVE, the northern lights in mauve

Citizen scientists captured images of a new type of aurora

Body functions

Compared to other primates, humans get little sleep

Time for learning comes at the expense of shut-eye, researchers propose

Body functions

This is a sugar found in milk and other dairy products

Scientists Say: Lactose

Space

NASA/CXC/Univ. of Potsdam/L. Oskinova et al.

Light & Radiation

Wireless devices crowd out cosmic radio signals and more

This is a new kind of aurora that can appear in the sky during displays of the northern lights. It is a purplish and green band of light known as STEVE.

KRISTA TRINDER

Astronomy

Meet STEVE, the northern lights in mauve

An artist’s view of a gigantic flare leaving Proxima Centauri in March 2017. This massive release of energy appears to fizzle hopes that its nearby Earth-mass planet can host life.

ROBERTO MOLAR CANDANOSA/CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE, SDO/NASA, JPL/NASA

Planets

Flared! How a planetary ‘neighbor’ may have been fried

Akatsuki spacecraft images show a cloud-covered atmosphere similar to Earth’s. Those clouds hide a hostile surface.

Damia Bouic/DARTS/ISAS/JAXA

Planets

Here’s why Venus is so unwelcoming

Invention & Innovation

Sharks have an uncanny ability to sense tiny electrical fields. It helps them home in on prey. A new electronic sensor now mimics that ability — and works in saltwater.

ShaneGross/iStockphoto

Electricity sensor harnesses a shark's secret weapon

In this artist’s illustration, gold nanoparticles (bright blue) covered in tiny hairs (shown in purple) surround a virus and attach to it. As more hairs attach, they squeeze the soft surface of the virus to find places to stick. That squeezing builds enough pressure to squash the virus.

Francesco Stellacci

Materials Science

Hairy nanoparticles put viruses in a deadly embrace

David Ma, an engineer at the University of Hawaii, led a team that developed a method to harvest electricity from the friction of a water droplet rolling across a surface.

UH Staff

This hydropower harnesses energy one water drop at a time

An electromagnetic coil around a limb would selectively heat metal in an artificial joint (shown inside coil) without hurting any surrounding muscle and bone. Researchers are testing this approach to treat infections on medical implants.

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Magnetic heating may replace surgery to cure some infections

Bullying alters ‘bugs’ in the gut, hamster data show

Feces provide link between social stress and certain changes in gut microbes

Living Mysteries: Meet Earth’s simplest animal

Tiny Trichoplax, discovered in a fish tank, provides a window into the origin of animals

Finding and helping teens for whom sadness is a disease

New guidelines will help doctors better spot — and treat — depressed teens

Weather & Climate

Analyze This!

Analyze This: Climate change could make food less healthy

Levels of nutrients fell as plants breathed in more carbon dioxide

Health

Woman’s eye hosts more than a dozen cattle eyeworms

It’s the first known case of this parasite infecting a human

Latest Headlines

In recent tests, bottled water from nine countries contained tiny plastic bits. The microscopic pieces may come from a variety of sources including cosmetics, clothing and packaging materials.

yanik88/istockphoto

Plastic taints most bottled water, study finds

This otter is floating in a raft of kelp. All that can be seen at the surface are the tips of the kelp plants, which are anchored to the sea floor below.

roclwyr/istockphoto

Algae & Fungi

Scientists Say: Kelp

People who get sick at restaurants may post about it online rather than file a complaint with the health department. Now computers can scout for these posts and alert officials.

PhotoBylove/istockphoto

Computers mine online reviews for signs of food poisoning

A feral pig looks similar to the domestic pig from which it has descended. Each year, these animals are blamed for causing large and amazingly costly damage in the United States alone.

taviphoto/iStockphoto

Can anything stop the big pig invasion?

Math & Technology

People who get sick at restaurants may post about it online rather than file a complaint with the health department. Now computers can scout for these posts and alert officials.

PhotoBylove/istockphoto

Computers mine online reviews for signs of food poisoning

A special computer-controlled laser was used to inscribe patterned graphene onto a range of different materials, including this bread. Beyond drawing cute owls, though, scientists want to use the technology to put electronic sensors on everyday items.

Jeff Fitlow / Rice University

Materials Science

Zap! Laser tattoos could create electronics to eat or wear

Sharks have an uncanny ability to sense tiny electrical fields. It helps them home in on prey. A new electronic sensor now mimics that ability — and works in saltwater.

ShaneGross/iStockphoto