Scientists Say
A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context.
- Planets
Scientists Say: Theia
Clues about this ancient protoplanet's catastrophic end may have been entombed in Earth's lower mantle for billions of years.
- Science & Society
Scientists Say: Dialect
Different dialects of the same language have distinct words, pronunciations and sentence structures.
- Artificial Intelligence
Scientists Say: Deepfake
Seeing should no longer mean believing, now that AI tech makes creating fake videos, audio and images easier than ever.
- Archaeology
Scientists Say: Stone Age
This vast, mysterious stretch of time marks the dawn of human civilizations.
- Space
Scientists Say: Campfire
These miniature solar flares could help solve a big mystery about our sun.
- Space
Scientists Say: Kugelblitz
A black hole made of pure light —or kugelblitz — may be possible, at least in theory. But in practice: impossible.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Magnetosphere
This magnetic field encapsulates our planet, sheltering us from damaging energetic threats posed by the cosmos and our own sun.
- Space
Scientists Say: Cosmic rays
These energy-packed particles come to us from the farthest reaches of outer space.
- Genetics
Scientists Say: Telomere
These protective caps at the ends of chromosomes play a key role in cell replication.
- Math
Scientists Say: Fractal
There’s no end in sight for these infinitely complex geometric wonders.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Goldene
Making this metallic, two-dimensional (2-D) material is difficult — but super-thin sheets of gold could have uses in electronics and chemistry.
- Science & Society
Scientists Say: Thought experiment
Thinking through imaginary, sometimes absurd, scenarios can catalyze new ways of thinking.
