Stephen Ornes

Freelance Writer

Stephen Ornes has been writing for Science News Explores since 2008, and his 2014 story "Where Will Lightning Strike?" won an AAAS/Kavli Gold Award. He lives in Nashville, Tenn., and he has three children, who are inventing their own language. His family has a cat, six chickens, and two rabbits, but he secretly thinks hagfish are the most fascinating animals. Stephen has written two books. One is a biography of mathematician Sophie Germain, who was born during the French Revolution. The other, which was published in 2019, features art inspired by math. Visit him online at stephenornes.com.

All Stories by Stephen Ornes

  1. Tech

    A squishy speaker

    Researchers have unveiled a see-through speaker that conducts electricity, is elastic like skin and vibrates like Jell-O.

  2. Brain

    Age-old fears perk up baby’s ears

    Kids start paying attention to scary sounds when only a few months old.

  3. Life

    Building an almost-brain

    Special cells can weave themselves together into blobs that, under a microscope, look a lot like the brain tissue in a developing fetus. You might think of these cellular masses as “brains-under-development.” Madeline Lancaster and Jürgen Knoblich offer a more technical name for them: “cerebral organoids.”

  4. Humans

    Ancient jewelry from space

    Scientists have found beads made out of metal mined from meteorites.

  5. Brain

    Learning words in the womb

    Fetuses are listening. And they’ll remember what they heard. Studies had shown they can hear songs and learn sounds while in the womb. Now scientists show that fetuses can learn specific words, too. And for at least a few days after they’re born, babies can still recall commonly repeated words.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Meet the new meat

    Scientists made a hamburger without harming animals; but it cost as much as a house.

  7. Building blocks of the future

    Any child who has played with blocks knows why they're so useful. Kids can build almost anything from them — a plane, a castle, even a racecar. And if part of a creation comes apart or breaks, the builder doesn't have to start from scratch. She can just replace the missing blocks. And what's true for kids’ play is also true for adult projects. Here’s one new example, and it doesn’t even look like a “block.”

  8. Brain

    Putting the brakes on overeating

    Restoring a chemical in the gut sends a message to mouse brains to stop overeating.

  9. Animals

    Preventing frog-sicles

    Wood frogs avoid becoming frogsicles with natural antifreeze.

  10. Brain

    Caffeine rewires brains of baby mice

    Brain changes and memory problems plagued mouse pups whose moms had consumed caffeine during pregnancy.

  11. Climate

    Climate change: The long reach

    Scientists who study the environment to better gauge Earth’s future climate now argue that current changes may not reverse for a very long time.

  12. Physics

    Baseball: From pitch to hits

    Radar or cameras track the path of virtually every baseball in major league stadiums.