All Stories by Carolyn Wilke
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SpaceScientists Say: Spaghettification
Black holes cram a lot of mass into a small area. When another object gets close, the black hole’s gravity can stretch it into a noodle-like strand.
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ChemistryThis tube worm’s glowing slime may help sustain its own shine
Snot oozed by a marine tube worm can glow for up to 3 full days. The secret of how this works might lead to long-lasting lights that glow on and on.
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LifeScientists Say: Protein
Proteins are molecules made up of building blocks called amino acids. They play many key roles in the body’s cells and are essential for life.
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ChemistryAncient recipes helped scientists resurrect a long-lost blue hue
Led by medieval texts, scientists hunted down a plant and used its fruit to make a blue watercolor with mysterious origins.
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PhysicsScientists Say: Momentum
This word describes a property of a moving object based on its mass and the direction and speed of its motion.
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SpaceScientists Say: Quasar
This word describes the bright-shining core of a galaxy in which a supermassive black hole sucks in matter and releases a huge amount of energy.
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AnimalsMinecraft’s big bees don’t exist, but giant insects once did
Big bees buzz in Minecraft. In our world, blocky bees might starve and be stuck on the ground. Yet long ago, giant insects did roam our planet.
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Climb like a slo-mo Spiderman using this super suction robot
A whooshing ring of water keeps the robot’s vacuum from losing grip, even on rough surfaces
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MicrobesScientists Say: Amoeba
Amoebas are single-celled microbes that move and eat with shape-shifting bulges that extend from their cells. Some are blobs. Others build a shell.
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Materials ScienceThis ‘living’ concrete slurps up a greenhouse gas
Microbes help harden a mix of sand and gelatin into a living concrete that could interact with people and the environment in great new ways.