Scientists Say
A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context.
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Scientists Say: Latitude and Longitude
Latitude is a measure of how far a location is north or south of the equator. Longitude is a measure of how far east or west a location is from the Prime Meridian.
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Climate
Scientists Say: Waterspout
A whirlwind over land is just a whirlwind. But over water, a whirlwind becomes a waterspout.
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Scientists Say: Gyroscope
Gyroscopes are devices that measure the three-dimensional orientation of an object. They can be found in objects as varied as smartphones and space telescopes.
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Scientists Say: Petrichor
There is no smell quite like that of fresh soil after a rainstorm. That smell has a name — petrichor — and scientists even know how it’s made.
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Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Niche
An organism’s niche is the role it fills in the community it lives in.
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Materials Science
Scientists Say: Zirconium
Zirconium is a metal that knows the meaning of tough. It’s so heat resistant that it’s used for molds to shape melted metals, and so radiation resistant that it coats nuclear reactors.
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Life
Scientists Say: Metabolism
Metabolism is all the chemical activities that support life in a cell, an organ and a whole organism’s body.
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Animals
Scientists Say: Jellies
Jellies have roamed the seas for 500 million years. Some have stinging tentacles and bell-shaped bodies and are called jellyfish. Others are very different.
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Planets
Scientists Say: Exomoon
A moon that orbits a planet in our solar system in a moon. But a moon that orbits a planet outside our solar system? That’s an exomoon.
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Brain
Scientists Say: Opioid
Opioid drugs work in the brain to stop pain. But the drugs also produce pleasure, which can make people want to take them over and over again.
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Climate
Scientists Say: Rime ice
Rime ice is ice that forms when water freezes in a snap onto a surface.
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Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Symbiosis
Two species can live together and support each other in a relationship called symbiosis.