Science News for Students

Zap! Laser tattoos could create electronics to eat or wear

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

Analyze This: The power in being understanding of your flaws

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

Pollution

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

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

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Editor's Picks

Physics

Baseball: From pitch to hits

Astronomy

Cosmic mystery: Why are many galaxies dark?

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

Behavior

Social media: What’s not to like?

Trending

Toxicology

Concerns explode over new health risks of vaping

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.

Wireless devices crowd out cosmic radio signals and more

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

Getting enough sleep can help wounds heal faster, a new study shows.

istockphoto/ kdshutterman

Health

Sleep helps wounds heal faster

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

Wireless devices crowd out cosmic radio signals and more

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

Animals

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

Blogs

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: The power in being understanding of your flaws

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

More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may lead to wheat and other major crops becoming less healthful.

Scientists Say: Lactose

KTTrainer/pixabay (CC0)

Analyze This: Climate change could make food less healthy

Body & Brain

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

Pollution

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

Many teens experience depression. Soon they may find help at their yearly trip to the doctor.

bodnarchuk/iStockphoto

Finding and helping teens for whom sadness is a disease

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

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

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

Animals

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

Space

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

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

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

Weather & Climate

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

Space

Scientists Say: Oort cloud

This is a bubble of icy bodies that surrounds our solar system

Health

Sleep helps wounds heal faster

Snoozing may be more important than good nutrition for cutting down healing time

Toxicology

E-cigarettes don’t need nicotine to be toxic

Vaped liquids produce gases that can damage and kill human cells

Latest Headlines

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

Animals

Can anything stop the big pig invasion?

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

Zap! Laser tattoos could create electronics to eat or wear

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: The power in being understanding of your flaws

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

Math & Technology

Jeff Fitlow / Rice University

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

Electricity sensor harnesses a shark's secret weapon

Fake news spreads faster and further through the Twittersphere than do messages based on truth.

terimakasih0/Pixabay

Science & Society

On Twitter, fake news has greater allure than truth does

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