Physics
Explainer: Understanding waves and wavelengths
A wave is a disturbance that moves energy from one place to another. Only energy — not matter — is transferred as a wave moves.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Living mysteries: Why teeny-weeny tardigrades are tough as nails
Tardigrades often live in cool, damp moss. Their cushy life has somehow prepared them to survive the lethal radiation of outer space.
Explainer
Technically Fiction
Plants
Here’s how giant pumpkins get so big
Cinderella took a ride in a pumpkin coach. Though real pumpkins do get big enough, here’s why their ride would be uncomfortable at best.
Profile
Animals
A tiny microbe inspired this scientist’s big dreams
Marc Mapalo has discovered three species of tardigrades and studies fossils of these water bears to better understand how their bodies have changed over time.
Features
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What the mummy’s curse reveals about your brain
A man died soon after opening a mummy’s tomb. But don’t assume the mummy killed him. Statistics help explain why coincidences may not be meaningful.
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Living mysteries: Why teeny-weeny tardigrades are tough as nails
Tardigrades often live in cool, damp moss. Their cushy life has somehow prepared them to survive the lethal radiation of outer space.
More Stories from the October 1, 2022 issue
- Planets
Noises sound totally different on Mars than on Earth. Here’s why
The Perseverance rover recorded the sound of laser pulses on Mars. Scientists used those recordings to determine the Martian speeds of sound.
- Science & Society
Good at reading? That’s no sign girls won’t also cut it in STEM
U.S. parents read to their daughters, but few coach them on math. This may explain why girls excel at English but aren’t sure STEM is for them.
- Humans
Some identical twins don’t have the exact same DNA
Identical twins may not be exactly identical. Mutations may arise early in development that account for tiny genetic differences between siblings.
- Space
Wild art? No, it’s a radio image of the heart of our Milky Way
Eyelash-like radio filaments accent the brightest feature in this image — a supermassive black hole.
- Animals
Goldfish driving ‘cars’ offer new insight into navigation
Fishes’ internal sense of direction is not limited to their natural environment. The latest Wild Things cartoon from Science News for Students.
- Tech
Headphones or earmuffs could replace needles in some disease testing
A new system that uses earmuffs to collect gases coming out the skin could help doctors diagnose a variety of diseases, scientists say.
