Maria Temming | Science News for Students

BIO

  • Science News Writer

Maria Temming

Maria's Content

(n=41)
a composite photo of the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry winners; ohn B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino

These three scientists, John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino (from left), have won the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on lithium-ion batteries.

FROM LEFT: COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING/UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN; JONATHAN COHEN/BINGHAMTON UNIV.; HEINZ TROLL/EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

 Chemistry
2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry goes for pioneering lithium-ion batteries
The three winners helped create lightweight, rechargeable devices
tidewater glacier in southeast Greenland in 2018

Climate change creates a whole world of problems, from melting glaciers (a tidewater glacier in southeast Greenland in the summer of 2018 shown) to the ocean floor. It’s probably only going to get worse, according to a new report.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIC RIGNOT

 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
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
Fifty years ago, astronauts left more than footprints on Earth’s lunar neighbor
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
Artifacts left by lunar missions have value to science and, potentially, to all of humanity
a carbon nanotbue computer chip

The sun may be setting on silicon. The first computer chips made from carbon nanotubes (one pictured) are here. 

G. Hills et al/Nature 2019

 Computers & Electronics
Computer chips from carbon nanotubes, not silicon, mark a milestone
The prototype could give rise to a new generation of faster, more energy-efficient electronics
an illustration of two AI systems playing a game against each other

Artificial intelligence systems that play video games can pick up all kinds of real-world skills.

ryccio/Getty Images Plus; adapted by L. Steenblik Hwang

 Computers & Electronics
AI can learn real-world skills by playing video games
StarCraft and Minecraft are good testing grounds for making artificial intelligence more humanlike