Stories by Stephanie Pappas

Extreme atoms are pushing the bounds of physics and chemistry

A giant sunspot cluster rivaling the one that caused the Carrington Event in 1859 could trigger a cannibal coronal mass ejection. But this is unlikely to cause major problems

Solar eclipse glasses prevent catastrophic eye damage when observing the sun. Here’s how they work

For the first time, scientists make detailed observations of a single killer whale killing a great white shark and then eating its liver

Researchers have created ultraheavy versions of elements that have never existed before on Earth

Charlotte, a stingray in a small North Carolina aquarium, is taking a DIY approach to reproduction

The total solar eclipse over North America this April is a great opportunity for kids to understand the dance of the Earth, sun and moon

Here’s why the path of a solar eclipse travels in the opposite direction of that of the sun

The most detailed global look at groundwater yet shows a lot of loss but also stories of success in restoring some aquifers

If holiday music seems designed in a lab to get stuck on repeat inside your head for all of December, well, it kind of is

The genes of microbes living as deep as 1.5 kilometers below the surface reveal a split between minimalist and maximalist lifestyles

Our planet’s crust has been shifting and sliding for four billion years, a new study suggests

An enormous magma intrusion under Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula is causing earthquake swarms and forcing evacuations

The number of homes located within the perimeters of wildfires has doubled since the 1990s. A surprising ecosystem is responsible for the risk

Fresh images show off the Euclid space telescope’s ability to capture crisp pictures of vast swaths of sky

A preserved river landscape from the time before Antarctica was icebound persists more than a mile below the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

 “Pepper X” is officially the hottest pepper in the world, weighing in with 2.693 million Scoville heat units. The creator reveals his process and experience tasting the pepper

An enormous “Miyake event”—a bombardment of Earth by particles from the sun—hit 14,300 years ago. Such an event today would have devastating effects

A long-lost tectonic plate dubbed “Pontus” that was a quarter of the size of the Pacific Ocean was discovered by chance by scientists in Borneo

An AI used to build artificial neural networks can also create autonomous robot bodies with remarkable speed 

Nightmares are unpleasant, but waking someone in the midst of one isn’t the best way to handle them—here’s why

We only remember a fraction of our dreams, and even those slip away if we don’t try to remember them—here’s why

A new simulation shows black holes ripping apart and consuming their accretion disk in a matter of months, which may explain why some quasars quickly brighten and dim

In theory, physicists knew that antimatter should behave just like matter under gravity’s pull. But until now, no one had ever seen it happen