When Everett Graham was in grade school, news broke of a sharp spike in levels of lead in kids’ blood. Lead is a toxic heavy metal that can cause a variety of health and learning problems. His hometown — Flint, Mich. — had changed the source of its drinking water. And now the whole town…
April 25, 2014, proved a fateful day for Flint, Mich. That’s when this city switched the source of its drinking water. Before that date, it came from the city of Detroit. Now it was being drawn from the nearby Flint River. The river water was polluted, and the city’s treatment plant failed to make it…
Lead is a toxic heavy metal. No level of exposure is considered safe. And that’s a problem, because lead can be found in many places where people live, work and play. Lead is best known for its risks to the nervous system, especially the brain. Still, notes Nicole Jones, “We know lead affects all systems…
Objective: Use existing data to determine if white-crowned sparrows can find their way to their wintering grounds from more than 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) away. Areas of science: Zoology Difficulty: Easy Advanced Time required: 2–5 days Prerequisites: None Material availability: A computer with internet access to download data analysis software Cost: Very low (under $20)…
The people around us can be great help when completing a science fair project. Family and teachers can offer support and mentorship. Friends can be sounding boards for ideas. And community members can even offer inspiration for questions to answer and problems to solve. That’s where a few finalists in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent…
When you read the word “bacteria,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe germs or sickness. That would be fair — some bacteria can infect people and make them ill. But most bacteria are not harmful. In fact, these one-celled creatures perform many useful jobs almost everywhere on Earth. For instance, species of…
Confirmation bias (noun, “Kahn-ferr-MAY-shun By-us”) Confirmation bias is our natural tendency to seek out and believe information that confirms what we already think — and ignore information that doesn’t. If a piece of information agrees with our beliefs, our instinct is to accept that it’s true. We’re often happy to learn this information. We tend…
Many people think that if a dog wags its tail, it’s happy. But that might not always be true. Indeed, questions about tail wagging still hound researchers. Domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) use their tails to communicate. Scientists have learned what some types of wags mean. But we don’t know why dogs seem to wag more…
Tall palm trees are a signature of Hollywood Boulevard and tropical resorts. Their relatives, however, can come in very different shapes and sizes. And one new-to-science palm shuns the limelight to an almost absurd degree. This Pinanga subterranea is not only short, but also grows its flowers and fruit entirely underground. “We knew immediately that…
Solar eclipses are dramatic events, as a rule. The moon moves between the Earth and the sun to block out our star. For a few minutes, the world around you will go eerily dark. But the total eclipse coming on April 8 is going to be more special than usual. The last total eclipse crossed…
Tiny plastic bits are everywhere — wafting in the air, riding ocean currents, raining down on plants and swirling in bottled water. The smallest of these — nanoplastics — have been hard for scientists to study. Now, researchers have developed a new method to identify these super-tiny bits, each billionths of a meter in size….
Roses are red and blueberries look blue. But the berry’s color is not really true. The fruit’s waxy coat just masquerades as blue. A waxy covering coats some blue-colored fruits — such as blueberries, dark grapes and certain plums. This wax contains a host of tiny structures, each less than a thousandth the thickness of…
