Scientists Say
A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context. Click here to find the alphabetized list.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Sundog
A sundog appears in the sky when sunlight shines through tiny ice crystals suspended in the air.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Rocket propellants
Rockets need more than fuel to get where they need to go — they also need oxidizers to burn that fuel. Together, these chemical combos are known as rocket propellants.
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- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Quantum dot
Quantum dots are nanosized specks whose properties are governed by the strange rules of quantum physics.
- Planets
Scientists Say: Theia
Clues about this ancient protoplanet's catastrophic end may have been entombed in Earth's lower mantle for billions of years.
- Science & Society
Scientists Say: Dialect
Different dialects of the same language have distinct words, pronunciations and sentence structures.
- Artificial Intelligence
Scientists Say: Deepfake
Seeing should no longer mean believing, now that AI tech makes creating fake videos, audio and images easier than ever.
- Archaeology
Scientists Say: Stone Age
This vast, mysterious stretch of time marks the dawn of human civilizations.
- Space
Scientists Say: Campfire
These miniature solar flares could help solve a big mystery about our sun.
- Space
Scientists Say: Kugelblitz
A black hole made of pure light —or kugelblitz — may be possible, at least in theory. But in practice: impossible.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Magnetosphere
This magnetic field encapsulates our planet, sheltering us from damaging energetic threats posed by the cosmos and our own sun.
- Space
Scientists Say: Cosmic rays
These energy-packed particles come to us from the farthest reaches of outer space.
