Scientists Say
A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context.
- Environment
Scientists Say: Microplastic
Bits of plastic smaller than five millimeters are called microplastics. They can end up in the ocean, where corals might mistake them for food.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Nematode
Nematodes are a group of related small worms found all over the world. They can cause disease, but they also can be useful for scientists to study.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Irruption
Sometimes populations of animals can suddenly increase. The word for that is irruption.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Fulgurite
When lightning strikes in the right place, it can fuse minerals together in a glassy structure.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Cortical homunculus
If you draw a representation of your body as seen by your brain, it’s called a homunculus. On it, parts sensitive to touch or used for fine movement are large, while others are small.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Circadian
We often feel the pull of sleep when the sun goes down. Light and our own biology put us into a regular, 24-hour rhythm that has its own word.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Blood-brain barrier
Blood can contain nasty bacteria and other things you want to keep away from your delicate brain. The blood-brain barrier is up to the job.
- Psychology
Scientists Say: Pareidolia
We often see things that aren’t there, such as bunnies in clouds or faces in toast. They aren’t real, but they do have a special name
- Life
Scientists Say: Parthenogenesis
When a baby frog develops from an egg that’s never been fertilized, we call that parthenogenesis.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Colloid
When water hovers in the air as fog and when bits of fat disperse in water as milk, they form a type of substance called a colloid.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Plankter
Plankton is the word used to describe a collection of these tiny free-floating organisms. This is what you call just one.
- Fossils
Scientists Say: Coprolite
Every living thing and signs of its existence — right down to their wastes — can fossilize under the right conditions. When poop fossilizes, it gets a special name.
