Explainers | Science News for Students

Explainers

Background pieces on a broad range of pivotal topics

a photo of heavy rain falling on a colorful umbrella outside

Rain is just one part of the planet’s water cycle.

RomoloTavani/iStockphoto

Weather & Climate
 
Dec 6, 2018
Explainer: Earth’s water is all connected in one vast cycle
a photo of pipes used to transport water in a sewage treatement plant

Most people get their drinking water from lakes, rivers or groundwater aquifers. But before it flows out the tap, cities will typically treat the water in big industrial plants, as here, to purify it.

WangAnQi/iStockphoto

Pollution
 
Nov 29, 2018
Explainer: How is water cleaned up for drinking
a radar map showing hurricane Harvey's eyewall

Doughnut of intense storm activity swirls about Harvey’s eyewall (green ring at center with smattering of red and yellow). This radar imagery captured hours before the hurricane’s landfall near Rockport, Texas on August 26, 2017. 

National Weather Service, GR2 Analyst, M. Cappucci

Weather & Climate
 
Oct 12, 2018
Explainer: The furious eye(wall) of a hurricane or typhoon
A photo of an array of protein rich foods including red meat, fish, nuts, beans, eggs, chickpeas, avacado, spinach and broccoli

Many foods, such as the ones shown here, are rich in protein. In the body, proteins act as biochemical machines that do the work of cells.

samael334/iStockphoto

Body functions
 
Oct 3, 2018
Explainer: What are proteins?
a photo of pumping gas into a car

The liquid fuels that power most vehicles have been millions of years in the making.

bunyarit/iStockphoto

Earth
 
Sep 20, 2018
Explainer: Where fossil fuels come from
an photo of offshore natural-gas platform burning off methane

As this offshore natural-gas platform burns off one greenhouse gas — methane — it produces another, carbon dioxide.

Theerapong28/iStockphoto

Pollution
 
Sep 20, 2018
Explainer: CO2 and other greenhouse gases
860_Clinical_Trial_explainer.png

Volunteers who take part in clinical trials usually start by answering a host of questions about their health and habits. Those who qualify to take part may be asked to take experimental drugs, experimental therapies (such as acupuncture to treat headaches), new food supplements or exercise regimens.

nensuria/iStockphoto

Health
 
Aug 24, 2018
Explainer: What is a clinical trial?
a photo of an assortment of lunch foods on a white background

What gives all of these foods a different flavor? For starters, each produces a different combination of tastes — information that the brain will sort through as it decides whether it likes a food (or doesn’t).

klenova/iStockphoto

Body functions
 
Aug 2, 2018
Explainer: Taste and flavor are not the same
vagus stimulation

The vagus nerve runs from the base of the brain down the spinal cord, and reaches out to touch most of your organs along the way. The yellow line in this picture is the top of the vagus nerve, here attached to a small electronic stimulator. That device can be used to treat seizures or depression.

Manu5/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Body functions
 
Jun 7, 2018
Explainer: What is the vagus?
DNA display

Scientists can extract DNA (parts of which are displayed on screen) from samples they picked up in the environment. They then look for patterns in this genetic material to identify which species had left it. In this way, biologists can “detect” what organisms had been around.

Wavebreakmedia/iStockphoto

Genetics
 
Mar 13, 2018
Explainer: DNA hunters