Monday, August 23, 2021

Science explained

To view this email as a web page, go here.

8/23/2021

Thank you for subscribing to The Cheat Sheet, from Science News for Students. If you like this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up for our weekly updates. Got questions, suggestions or comments? Email us at sns@sciencenews.org and put “The Cheat Sheet” in the subject line. We’d love to hear from you.

Inside Science News for Students

Sometimes you just need more detail. That’s why Science News for Students publishes explainers on topics ranging from acids and bases to genes to volcanoes . There are now dozens of these explainers on the site. Here are four ways to find them:

(1) You’ll often find links to these explainers embedded in stories (look for the large green text on the left or right side of the main story). A story about potential booster shots for COVID-19, for instance, contains a link to an explainer about vaccines.

(2) Check out a curated list of selected explainers, divided into three sections: life sciences, Earth sciences and physical sciences.

(3) Browse through all the stories in our explainers collection. (Warning: This may take a while. There are a lot of explainers.)

(4) Search for an explainer on a topic by entering your keywords and the word “explainer” into the search bar at the top of every page.

Science News is a nonprofit.

We depend on our readers to support our journalism. You can help by subscribing for as little as $25.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Catch up with the latest from Science News for Students

Even raised by people, wolves don’t tune into you like your dog: Dog puppies outpace wolf pups at engaging with humans, even with less exposure to people, supporting the idea that domestication changed dogs’ brains. Readability: 6.4 Resources: classroom questions, power words, alternate version at Science News

Warming cities may see more rain — and frequent flooding: Scientists are seeking to understand why and how to mop up excess precipitation. Readability: 6.7 Resources: classroom questions, power words, word find puzzle

Let’s learn about plastic pollution: The world is cluttered with plastic waste. All that junk kills animals far and wide. Readability: 6.2 Resources: power words, word find puzzle

New glue offers to turn any small walking robot into Spider-Man: To climb walls, robot feet need to alternately stick and let go. A novel adhesive can do that. Its stickiness is controlled by electric fields. Readability: 7.8 Resources: classroom questions, power words

Explainer: Ions and radicals in our world: When atoms get an electric charge, they act very differently. Now called ions, these are behind many aspects of chemistry, including acids and batteries. Readability: 7.5 Resources: power words, classroom questions

Stores and malls buy into ponds and rain gardens for flood control: An extra bonus: These rainy-day ponds clean up that dirty water running off parking lots. Readability: 6.0 Resources: power words

Explainer: What is an electrode?: An electrode’s name depends on the circumstances. Confused? It may help to consider which electrochemical reaction is natural — and which is not. Readability: 8.0 Resources: power words

Just a tiny share of the DNA in us is unique to humans: Some of these tweaks to DNA, however, may have played a role in brain evolution. Readability: 8.7 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News

Explainer: Urban heat islands and how to cool them: Cities transform landscapes covered in plants to ones covered in heat-absorbing asphalt and concrete. But ways exist to cool these urban heat islands, Readability: 6.6 Resources: power words

Find out more about the resources available for using Science News for Students stories for learning. And if you like this newsletter, please share it with a friend or colleague. Did someone share this with you? Subscribe to this newsletter here. If you’ve got questions, suggestions or comments, email us at sns@sciencenews.org. Thank you for reading!