Scientists Say

A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context.

  1. Animals

    Scientists Say: Venomous

    A poison-arrow frog is poisonous, but a rattlesnake is not. What’s the difference? It’s how their poisons are delivered.

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  2. Environment

    Scientists Say: Poisonous

    A poison-arrow frog is poisonous, but a rattlesnake is not. What’s the difference? It’s how the poison is delivered.

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  3. Environment

    Scientists Say: Plastisphere

    As plastic floats in the ocean, it can acquire its own colony of microbes and algae. We call this ecosystem the plastisphere.

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  4. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Toxin

    It is safe to refer to any poison as toxic. But while all toxins are poisonous, most poisons are not toxins.

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  5. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Cyanide

    Cyanides are poisonous. But they are more than that. This group of compounds is used in everything from mining to capturing fish.

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  6. Space

    Scientists Say: Wormhole

    Scientists have predicted the presence of tunnels in space that connect two points in space and time. They are named for the shape they resemble.

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  7. Life

    Scientists Say: Exocytosis

    For a cell to remove something large from inside itself, it turns to a process called exocytosis.

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  8. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Acidification

    When a solution becomes more acidic, it’s acidifying. And that’s not always a good thing.

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  9. Life

    Scientists Say: Endocytosis

    Small molecules can go into a cell through receptors or even just dissolve into it. But something big? That requires endocytosis.

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  10. Physics

    Scientists Say: Absolute zero

    Even when we think it’s cold out, most molecules are moving. Only at absolute zero will all of their motions stop.

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  11. Animals

    Scientists Say: Copepod

    Copepods are tiny crustaceans. They eat phytoplankton and float in the water column, although some live in freshwater and on the sea floor.

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  12. Life

    Scientists Say: Strain

    These are organisms that belong to the same species, but have definable differences.

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