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. 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.”

  2. Brain

    Putting the brakes on overeating

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

  3. Animals

    Preventing frog-sicles

    Wood frogs avoid becoming frogsicles with natural antifreeze.

  4. Brain

    Caffeine rewires brains of baby mice

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

  5. 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.

  6. Physics

    Baseball: From pitch to hits

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

  7. Space

    Feasting black hole

    A huge gas cloud is being stretched, shredded and destroyed by the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

  8. Brain

    Fake memories

    A flash of light in the brain plants false memories.

  9. Brain

    Nature resets body’s clock

    After a week in the wild, people went to bed — and got up — earlier.

  10. Tech

    Sniffing for cancer

    New surgical tool offers surgeons speedier diagnosis of tissues that are cancerous.

  11. Brain

    Full moon shortchanges sleep

    Lab experiments show people’s sleep suffers for a day or so every month.

  12. Earth

    Fracking waste and quakes

    Underground storage of liquid waste from these mining operations can make an area more vulnerable to tremors.