
Silke Schmidt
Freelance Writer
Silke Schmidt is a freelance science writer with degrees in biostatistics and journalism. She enjoys covering the environment, engineering and medicine. Silke has been writing for Science News for Students since 2018. She has covered the benefits of fever, clothing that keeps mosquitoes from biting, electric surgery and new uses of ultrasound. Before she became a science writer, she was a human genetics researcher at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Originally from Germany, she now lives in Madison, Wis., where she enjoys biking, kayaking and spending time with her husband and two children.

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All Stories by Silke Schmidt
- Genetics
Gene editing can alter body fat and may fight diabetes
Researchers have long dreamed of using brown fat to fight obesity and diabetes. Work in animals shows they’re closing in on achieving that dream.
- Tech
Our gut microbes love a good workout
Technology shows how microbes in the body respond to exercise. That helps scientists understand why those microbes keep athletes healthy.
- Tech
Sweat tech alerts athletes when to rehydrate — and with what
Technology shows how the body responds to moderate and vigorous exercise. That helps athletes stay healthy — and helps scientists understand why.
- Tech
Why sports are becoming all about numbers — lots and lots of numbers
Sports once focused on muscles, skill and tactics. Now math is becoming almost as important. It helps assess players — and improve their tools.
- Science & Society
Science isn’t just for scientists
It doesn’t take an advanced degree or a lab to do science. All you need is curiosity and an interest in learning something new every day.
- Tech
Viewing virtual reality of icy landscapes may relieve pain
Traveling to polar vistas via virtual reality eased a temporary burning in the viewers’ skin. The same VR also lessened simulated chronic pain.
- Tech
Graphene fabric keeps mosquitoes from biting
Graphene is a super-thin material with many cool uses. The latest: protection against mosquito bites by embedding it in your clothing.
- Health & Medicine
Ultrasound might become a new way to manage diabetes
Ultrasound turns on production of the hormone insulin in mice. Someday, it might help maintain healthy blood-sugar levels in people who were recently diagnosed with diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: What is ultrasound?
These sound waves, which fall above the range of human hearing, are important in medicine, medical imaging and more.
- Tech
A new electric surgery tool may someday fix nose, ear and eye problems
A new surgery tool uses electricity to reshape ear and nose tissue in minutes, without pain. Someday, it might even work on eyes to restore normal vision.
- Health & Medicine
Fevers can have some cool benefits
Fever boosts the immune system by zipping germ-busting cells to the site of an infection, new data show.
- Genetics
Explainer: What are genes?
Genes are DNA regions that tell cells how to build proteins. But we have many more proteins than genes. And much of our DNA controls when genes turn on and off.