Sid Perkins | Science News for Students

BIO

  • Contributing Writer

Sid Perkins

For 10 years, Sid Perkins was the Earth Sciences writer for Science News magazine. In 2010 he left to become a freelance science writer, now living on a farm in Crossville, Tenn. But he remains part of the extended Science News family, writing stories for that magazine and ours. He still specializes in writing about Earth sciences and paleontology (dinos!) but also tackles topics such as astronomy, planetary sciences, materials sciences and engineering.
 
Sid has won awards for his writing from the American Meteorological Society and the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Physics Division.
 
Before coming to Science News, Sid taught high school for two years (physics, chemistry, algebra II) and served in the U.S. Air Force for 13 years. There, among other things, he used computer programs to estimate how quickly cracks would grow in aircraft parts. He has college degrees in natural science (with a concentration in physics), aeronautical engineering and journalism.
 
Explains Sid: “I love to read, enjoy woodworking, and have recently discovered golf (and am gradually, very gradually, getting better at it!).”

Sid's Content

(n=164)
a photo of the dry Aral Sea, two boats are sitting on the ground

Asia’s Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth largest lake, is now largely dry. The reason: People have been pulling too much water from the rivers that feed it.

oxico/iStockphoto

 Environment
People are changing which parts of Earth get more (or less) water
Dams, demand and climate change are shifting where this precious resource collects
shrimp stack

A material in the shells of shrimp is a key component of a new, ecofriendly bioplastic created by an Australian teen.

VINODKPILLAI/ISTOCKPHOTO

Eureka! Lab Young Scientists
Bioplastics could put some shrimp in your Barbie
Teens turn to natural materials to make ‘greener’ plastics
man's knee

Teen researchers are developing 3-D printing techniques to repair damaged cartilage and other tissues.

busracavus/iStockphoto

Eureka! Lab Young Scientists
Sore knees may get 3-D printed relief
The printers could sculpt new cartilage or produce devices to deliver drugs
ultrasound glasses

Axel Toro Vega, 15, from Puerto Rico, models the new electronic device he developed. This prototype (white band) uses ultrasound emissions to help visually impaired people detect obstacles in front of them.

Axel Toro Vega

Eureka! Lab Technology
New eyewear could help the visually impaired
Ultrasound could spot obstacles in someone’s path, while other sensors could help identify colors
gun detected in waistband

Using thermal imagery and some sophisticated software, a Maryland teen has developed a system that can detect hidden weapons. Here, it reveals a simulated handgun tucked inside a waistband.

Andrew Karam

Eureka! Lab Young Scientists
Heating up the search for hidden weapons
A simple infrared-sensing camera and some fancy software can reveal the presence of a concealed knife or gun
orca snots

When killer whales surface to breathe, they start by expelling a mist — called a “blow” — which contains some of their DNA. A teen used DNA collected from that mist to look for a potentially key genetic difference in whales from several pods.

sergioboccardo/iStockphoto

Eureka! Lab Young Scientists
Orca snot leads to a whale of a science-fair project
Young scientist studies a gene to probe whether there is more than one species of killer whale