Dead spider robots

Science of reading

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8/22/22 Thank you for subscribing to The Cheat Sheet, from Science News Explores. 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. Coming Soon We’ve all been there: Whether because we’re tired, bored or the text is just too dense, our eyes glaze over. So we read the same line again and again hoping that this time, the words will sink in. Reading poses a bigger challenge for some of us than others. But everyone — perhaps especially students heading back to school — could use some tips and tricks for making reading an easier, more rewarding experience. For instance, read in print when possible. Our eyes are less likely to skim over printed words than text on screen. Consuming content on a physical page also makes it easier to create mental maps of the information. When you do read on-screen, consider viewing text in a larger font. Words are easier to wade through when the letters are less tightly packed. And when tackling some super dense text, like a scientific article, take an active approach by defining unfamiliar words in the margins and translating jargon-filled paragraphs into understandable form. Science is continually gleaning new insight into the ways our brains make sense of language and how to make reading easier. For more stories like these, check out our collection on the Science of Studying. Catch up with the latest from Science News Explores When bees are away, moths come out to pollinate Camera footage reveals that moths make roughly a third of the visits to red clover, working under the cover of night. Readability: 7.4 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Engineers put a dead spider to work — as a robot Scientists literally reanimated the dead. It’s a new research field called “necrobotics.” Readability: 6.4 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Whale sharks may be the world’s largest omnivores Chemical clues in the sharks’ skin show that the animals eat and digest algae. Readability: 6.4 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Western wildfire smoke poses health risks from coast to coast As wildfires become more common, their hazardous smoke is sending East Coast residents — especially children — to emergency rooms. Readability: 8.0 Resources: power words, classroom questions, word find puzzle, alternate version at Science News Wildfire smoke seems to pose its biggest health risk to kids New studies, some of them in young monkeys, point to vulnerabilities affecting kids' airways, brains and immune systems. Readability: 8.3 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Awesome! Here are the James Webb Space Telescope’s first pictures They show ancient galaxies and so much more. Some reveal light that has been traveling 13 billion years to reach us. Readability: 6.8 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Scientists Say: DNA Short for deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA is the molecule that determines how each living thing looks and works. Readability: 6.9 Resources: power words, audio A New Magazine for Kids Learn more and subscribe to Science News Explores, a new magazine designed to satisfy young readers’ curiosity about how the world works.      SUBSCRIBE NOW   We’re on Instagram! Did you know there may be one billion species of microbes on Earth? Learn more in our Instagram post about microbes, and follow @sn.explores for more fun science facts from our Let's Learn About series. Find out more about the resources available for using Science News Explores 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! Privacy policy  |  Update Profile  | Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe This email was sent by: Society for Science 1719 N Street NW Washington, DC, 20036, US