Maria Temming

Maria Temming

Assistant Managing Editor, Science News Explores

Previously the staff writer for physical sciences at Science News, Maria Temming is the assistant managing 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 AmericanSky & Telescope and NOVA Next. She’s also a former Science News intern.

All Stories by Maria Temming

  1. Space

    Most of Mars’ missing water may lurk in its crust

    Computer simulations of the fate of Mars’ water may explain why the Red Planet turned into a desert, when so little of its water has escaped into space.

  2. Physics

    A magnetic trap captures elusive ultracold plasma

    Pinning plasma within a set of magnetic fields offers physicists a new way to study clean energy, space weather and the inner workings of stars.

  3. Earth

    To understand how ‘night-shining’ clouds form, scientists made one themselves

    A rocket, a bathtub’s worth of water and a high-altitude explosion reveal how water vapor cools the air to form shiny ice-crystal clouds.

  4. Tech

    A new laser-based random number generator is the fastest of its kind

    A new laser’s chaotic light beam lets the device generate multiple number sequences at once, similar to throwing multiple dice at a time.

  5. Astronomy

    The first black hole ever discovered is more massive than previously thought

    New observations of Cygnus X-1 are leading astronomers to rethink what they know about stars that turn into black holes.

  6. Physics

    50 years ago, scientists were on a quest for quarks

    In the 1970s, physicists confirmed particles called quarks existed. Fifty years later, many kinds of quarks in many combinations have been discovered.

  7. Science & Society

    Black, Hispanic and female police use force less often than white male officers

    A case study of Chicago policing suggests that diversifying to include more Black, Hispanic and female officers may improve how civilians are treated.

  8. Earth

    A drop in CFC emissions puts the hole in the ozone layer back on track to closing

    After a recent bump in illicit CFC-11 pollution, emissions of the ozone-destroying chemical are back down to pre-2013 levels.

  9. Earth

    The birth of a lightning bolt was caught on video

    High-speed imagery shows the formation of an electrical connection between opposing currents, offering new insight into how these flashes form.

  10. Earth

    An upwelling of rock beneath the Atlantic may drive continents apart

    Rock rising from more than 600 kilometers deep at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge may play a more active role in plate tectonics than thought.

  11. Archaeology

    An ancient Egyptian mummy was wrapped in an unusual mud shell

    Commoners in ancient Egypt may have used mud in place of expensive resin to imitate royal mummification techniques.

  12. Chemistry

    Chemists are reimagining recycling to keep plastics out of landfills

    Recycling plastics is really hard, and usually creates low-quality materials that aren’t good for much. Chemists are trying to change that.