Abigail Malate
InsideScience - ISNS
Maryland, United States
Contact Abigail
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Abigail:
How the Toothpaste Got its Stripes
(Inside Science) -- Remember as a kid sitting slack-jawed at a friend’s birthday party, all as the county’s cheapest magician sawed a lady in half? That’s kind of what it feels like to watch Ryan Battistella squeeze tube after tube of toothpaste into the toilet on his TikTok account. → Read More
Two Share Chemistry Nobel Prize for Developing New Way to Make Organic Molecules
(Inside Science) -- The 2021 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to Benjamin List from the Max-Planck-Institute für Kohlenforschung in Germany and David MacMillan of Princeton University in New Jersey for "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis." → Read More
Stone Cold: How Rocks Become Glacial Tables
(Inside Science) -- Nicolas Taberlet is a mountaineer as well as a physicist, and in his explorations of the Alps he would often see glacial tables -- rocks sitting atop pedestals of ice, as if waiting for a party to come. They're pretty common in low-altitude glaciers, below 10,000 feet, he said, yet scientists hadn't really explained how these frigid floating stones came to be. For example,… → Read More
How to Speak Cicada
(Inside Science) -- When you first hear it, a cicada chorus may sound like simple buzzing. But to a cicada, that cacophony is full of meaning. There are three species in Brood X, the cohort of 17-year cicadas now emerging in much of the eastern U.S. Members of each species congregate with their own kind and talk to each other with their own species-specific sounds. Males sing to court females… → Read More
Why Is Ice Slippery? It's Not a Simple Question
(Inside Science) -- Why is ice slippery? You might have heard that scientists don't know the answer. If that surprises you, it could be because simple language can camouflage complex problems. Take the question "why does spoiled milk smell bad?" as an example. It seems like a simple question, but to answer it at a fundamental level, you'd have to dig into topics ranging from the biochemistry of… → Read More
Room Temperature Superconductor: Holy Grail or Red Herring?
(Inside Science) -- In 2020, scientists achieved the once unthinkable -- the discovery of a material that can maintain its superconductivity at room temperature. Electrons in these materials whiz through with zero resistance -- a seemingly wonderous property with the potential to transform a host of technologies. But there was a catch. → Read More
Nine Nobel Prize Predictions for 2020
(Inside Science) -- Making predictions for the Nobel prizes in physiology or medicine, physics and chemistry has become an annual pastime at Inside Science. We've had some success in prior years. For example, in 2018 we included the winning research about cancer immunotherapy in our physiology or medicine predictions. We also included eventual 2019 winner lithium ion batteries → Read More
The Comet That Dazzled the World This July
(Inside Science) -- The comet NEOWISE captivated spectators around the world this month. The comet, also known as C/2020 F3, was discovered March 27 this year as part of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission, from which it derives its name. Its visitation is especially precious, as it will not be seen again by viewers on Earth for another 6,800 years. → Read More
The Protests that Rocked the Nation
(Inside Science) -- June saw unrest and upheaval of the likes of which have not been seen in the U.S. in many decades. Across the United States, the intersection of Pride Month, Juneteenth, Black Lives Matter Protests, and the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a growing desire for change. This month we look at how these events have been expressed through public works of demonstration and art. → Read More
The Race for COVID-19 Solutions
(Inside Science) -- Around the world, people in medical and engineering laboratories are working tirelessly to address the COVID-19 pandemic. To alleviate widespread shortages of effective tests, masks and ventilators, researchers and engineers have rushed to develop novel technologies that healthcare professionals may be able to use. We feature some of the newest designs this month. → Read More
In an April of Human Isolation, Photos From the Animal Kingdom
(Inside Science) -- Pandemics affect the animal kingdom as well as people. While most of the human world hunkers down for yet more days of isolation, wildlife can inspire us to contemplate how humans are as much a part of the environment as they are. In Belgium, a llama’s antibodies may assist scientists researching ways to fight COVID-19. In western Kenya, a new species of → Read More
Why Is an Empty Shampoo Bottle So Easy to Knock Over?
(Inside Science) -- Knocking over a shampoo bottle is an annoyance most of us have experienced, especially when the bottle is almost empty and seems to fall at the slightest nudge. In a recent article from The Physics Teacher, physicists knocked over shampoo bottles and showcased basic physics concepts such as center of mass and force of impact in a series of simple → Read More
Around a World That Is Practicing Social Distancing
(Inside Science) -- This March, we see how COVID-19 has affected people all around the globe. Facing social distancing, self-isolation, and shortages in medical supplies, these pictures show how everyday people are coping with the pandemic. → Read More
Disgust Evolved To Protect Us From Disease. Is It Working?
(Inside Science) -- Imagine putting your hand in a pile of poop. It stinks and squishes. What do you do next?Most likely, you'll scrub that hand with plenty of soap -- and you don't need public health officials or a germ theory of disease to tell you that's the right thing to do. But when you touch the handrail on an escalator, it's much harder to remember that you could be → Read More
Scientists Grow Date Palm Plants from 2,000-Year-Old Seeds
(Inside Science) -- Methuselah, Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith and Hannah -- all sat dormant in Judea since biblical times. Now scientists have resurrected them in the hopes of better understanding their vanished lineage.These seven ancient emissaries are date palm plants, now all growing in the southern Israeli community of Ketura. Methuselah came first. He was planted in → Read More
The Spitzer Space Telescope Signs Off
(Inside Science) -- The telescope that discovered the largest ring of Saturn, detected the first direct evidence of an exoplanet, and imaged remnants of the oldest documented supernova is retiring after 16 years hard at work. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in August 2003 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It detects infrared light, which is → Read More
In About 60 Years, a 'Guest Star' May Shine as One of the Brightest in the Sky
(Inside Science) – The constellation Sagitta, or the Arrow, is smaller and less well known than some other ancient constellations. But before the end of this century this humble grouping of stars should point the way toward a spot where a spectacular stellar merger will briefly erupt into one of the brightest objects in the night sky.Astronomers announced this prediction on → Read More
Welding Ceramics With a Laser
(Inside Science) -- Humans have been using ceramics since antiquity. Although commonly known as the stuff of chipped coffee mugs and tableware, ceramics are a large family of materials that can be extremely durable depending on the composition and production process. Engineers use them in a broad range of modern applications from biomedical implants to body armors and even → Read More
What Makes a Modern ‘Moonshot’ Successful?
(Inside Science) -- A half century ago this July, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped outside the Eagle lander and set foot on the moon, the first time humans ever walked upon the dusty, pockmarked surface of our lunar neighbor.Looking back, it’s clear that whatever American astronauts and engineers lacked in space infrastructure and necessary scientific advances while → Read More
June's Stellar Space Pictures
(Inside Science) -- In various breakthroughs this month, astronomers got first glances at gases and galaxies in the early universe. They imaged interstellar gas surrounding our local supermassive black hole, gas streaming between stars in planet formation, and gases forming the oldest galaxy merger in the universe. Through illustrations, telescope images and 3D renderings, → Read More