Stephanie Pappas is a freelance science journalist based in Denver, Colo.
Enormous engraved rock art of anacondas, rodents and other animals along the Orinoco River in Colombia and Venezuela may have been used to mark territory 2,000 years ago
Stephanie Pappas
Extreme atoms are pushing the bounds of physics and chemistry
Stephanie Pappas
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
Stephanie Pappas
Solar eclipse glasses prevent catastrophic eye damage when observing the sun. Here’s how they work
Stephanie Pappas
For the first time, scientists make detailed observations of a single killer whale killing a great white shark and then eating its liver
Stephanie Pappas
Researchers have created ultraheavy versions of elements that have never existed before on Earth
Stephanie Pappas
Charlotte, a stingray in a small North Carolina aquarium, is taking a DIY approach to reproduction
Stephanie Pappas
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
Stephanie Pappas
Here’s why the path of a solar eclipse travels in the opposite direction of that of the sun
Stephanie Pappas
The most detailed global look at groundwater yet shows a lot of loss but also stories of success in restoring some aquifers
Stephanie Pappas
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
Stephanie Pappas
The genes of microbes living as deep as 1.5 kilometers below the surface reveal a split between minimalist and maximalist lifestyles
Stephanie Pappas
Our planet’s crust has been shifting and sliding for four billion years, a new study suggests
Stephanie Pappas
An enormous magma intrusion under Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula is causing earthquake swarms and forcing evacuations
Stephanie Pappas
The number of homes located within the perimeters of wildfires has doubled since the 1990s. A surprising ecosystem is responsible for the risk
Stephanie Pappas
Fresh images show off the Euclid space telescope’s ability to capture crisp pictures of vast swaths of sky
Stephanie Pappas
A preserved river landscape from the time before Antarctica was icebound persists more than a mile below the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Stephanie Pappas
“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
Stephanie Pappas
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
Stephanie Pappas
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
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience
An AI used to build artificial neural networks can also create autonomous robot bodies with remarkable speed
Stephanie Pappas
Nightmares are unpleasant, but waking someone in the midst of one isn’t the best way to handle them—here’s why
Stephanie Pappas
We only remember a fraction of our dreams, and even those slip away if we don’t try to remember them—here’s why
Stephanie Pappas
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
Stephanie Pappas
