Maria Temming

Maria Temming

Assistant Editor, Science News Explores

Previously the staff writer for physical sciences at Science News, Maria Temming is the assistant editor at Science News Explores. She has undergraduate degrees in physics and English from Elon University and a master's degree in science writing from MIT. She has written for Scientific American, Sky & Telescope and NOVA Next. She’s also a former Science News intern.

All Stories by Maria Temming

  1. a photo of human footprints in rock
    Humans

    50 years ago, scientists debated when humans first set foot in North America

    In 1973, archaeologists debated when people first arrived in the Americas. Mounting evidence suggests its much earlier than they thought.

  2. A telecom tower stands atop the Säntis mountain in Switzerland against a cloudy sky. A green laser marks the path of the powerful laser in this story.
    Physics

    A powerful laser can redirect lightning strikes

    In a mountaintop experiment, a laser beamed into the sky created a virtual lightning rod that snagged several bolts before they hit the ground.

  3. A photo of Stonehenge at sunset
    Archaeology

    50 years ago, Stonehenge’s purpose mystified scientists. It still does

    In 1972, scientists thought Stonehenge may have been a calendar. Today, we still don’t know its purpose, but we have gained insight on its origin.

  4. A night vision photo of an aye-aye with its middle finger stuck up its nose
    Animals

    Bizarre aye-aye primates take nose picking to the extreme

    A nose-picking aye-aye’s spindly middle finger probably reaches all the way to the back of the throat, CT scans suggest.

  5. The asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by DART just seconds before the spacecraft smashed into it.
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid — on purpose

    If the first-ever attempt to knock a space rock off course works, it could provide a blueprint to protect Earth from a killer asteroid.

  6. an illustration of the internal structure of a proton
    Particle Physics

    50 years ago, physicists got a whiff of what glues together protons

    In 1972, particle smashups hinted at the gluon, which we now know not only holds together the innards of the proton, but also makes up more than a third of its mass.

  7. illustration of Pantolambda bathmodon
    Paleontology

    Living fast may have helped mammals like ‘ManBearPig’ dominate

    Staying in the womb for a while but being born ready to rock may have helped post-dinosaur mammals take over the planet.

  8. an illustration of a dinosaur skeleton partly buried by debris
    Paleontology

    50 years ago, the dinosaurs’ demise was still a mystery 

    In 1972, scientists blamed dinosaur biology for the reptiles’ demise. Years later, researchers ID’d the real killer: an apocalyptic asteroid.

  9. photo of someone's hand wearing a wetsuit glove with octopus suckers
    Tech

    This octopus-inspired glove helps humans grip slippery objects

    The human hand, for all its deftness, is not great at grasping slippery stuff. A new glove aims to change that.

  10. a curled robotic finger covered in living human skin against a blue backdrop
    Tech

    Scientists grew living human skin around a robotic finger

    In the hopes of one day building super realistic cyborgs, researchers built a robotic finger that wears living human skin.

  11. a row of vials, three filled with moon dirt, including one with a thale cress seedling
    Plants

    These are the first plants grown in moon dirt

    The first attempt to grow plants in Apollo samples from the moon shows the promise and potential struggles of farming in lunar soil.

  12. a photo of a jojoba shrub branch of with green acorn shaped seeds hanging off of it

    50 years ago, scientists thought a desert shrub might help save endangered whales

    Fifty years ago, scientists sought a sustainable alternative to prized oil from endangered sperm whales.