Scientists Say
A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context.
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Space
Scientists Say: Pulsar
These rapidly spinning dead stars send beams of radio waves into space like cosmic lighthouses.
By Skyler Ware -
Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Predator and Prey
Ecological relationships between predators and their prey drive the evolution of plants, animals and microbes.
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Earth
Scientists Say: Tectonic Plate
Tectonic plates are giant slabs of rock that make up Earth’s outer layer.
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Animals
Scientists Say: Coral
Over 4,000 species of fish make their home among the reefs created by these colony-dwelling marine animals.
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Math
Scientists Say: Parabola
A parabola is a U-shaped curve, where every point along that curve is the same distance from another point and a line.
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Math
Scientists Say: Ellipse
Ellipse describes the shapes of planetary orbits around their stars and explains the wacky acoustic phenomenon of “whispering chambers.”
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Physics
Scientists Say: Explosion
Explosions happen when chemical or nuclear reactions blow out a lot of heat, noise and expanding gas.
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Brain
Scientists Say: Addiction
Recovering from addiction is hard but possible. Encouragement of loved ones can improve a person’s chances of overcoming this disease.
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Brain
Scientists Say: Connectome
A connectome is a diagram of the cellular highways that carry information in the brain.
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Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Food web
All the species in an ecosystem and the feeding relationships between them get summed up with this handy picture.
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Math
Scientists Say: Möbius strip
Möbius strips may be easy to make, but they have some pretty mind-bending properties.
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Microbes
Scientists Say: Virus
A virus must take over a living cell's machinery to make more viruses.