MS-LS1-5
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
- Animals
Hunting hidden salamanders with eDNA
The Japanese clouded salamander is an elusive beast. To find a new population, three teens turned to high-tech methods.
- Environment
Restaurant diners may ingest extra pollutants
People who dine out have higher levels of certain potentially harmful pollutants in their bodies than do people who eat home-cooked meals, new data show.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists discover how norovirus hijacks the gut
Noroviruses make people vomit, but scientists didn’t actually know why. It now turns out that those viruses cause their misery by attacking special “tuft” cells in the gut.
- Animals
Orca snot leads to a whale of a science-fair project
DNA found in the mucus of orcas suggests that even though the traits of family pods may differ, these marine mammals all appear to belong to a single species.
- Materials Science
Light could make some hospital surfaces deadly to germs
A new surfacing material can disinfect itself. Room lighting turns on this germ-killing property, which could make the material attractive to hospitals.
- Health & Medicine
Obesity makes taste buds disappear — in mice, anyway
Mice that gained excessive weight on a high-fat diet also lost one in four taste buds.
- Plants
Explainer: The fertilizing power of N and P
Two elements — nitrogen and phosphorus — help plants grow. When the soil doesn’t have them, farmers might add them in the form of fertilizer.
- Genetics
Explainer: Why scientists sometimes ‘knock out’ genes
How do we learn what a particular molecule does in the body? To find out, scientists often 'knock out' the gene that makes it. Here’s how.
- Physics
Disabilities don’t stop these experts in science and tech
People with disabilities are as varied as the careers some of them pursue in science, technology, engineering and math.
- Genetics
Explainer: How CRISPR works
Scientists are using a tool called CRISPR to edit DNA in all types of cells.
- Health & Medicine
Hunting the mysterious source of a global illness
Doctors and scientists around the world are scouring the environment for the elusive cause of Kawasaki disease, a harmful childhood illness.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Extremophile
Some species can survive high heat, freezing cold or other extreme environments. Scientists call these organisms extremophiles.
