Clara Moskowitz

New York

Senior Editor at Scientific American

Senior Editor at Scientific American, covering space & physics. Views expressed are my own. She/her 🏳️‍🌈

Articles

How to Help Kids Navigate Our Dangerous World-With Science

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz

Between climate change, economic anxiety and political turmoil, the world can feel like a scary place, especially for kids. Today’s young people have already been through a deadly global pandemic, they regularly drill to prepare for school shootings, and they must learn to navigate an age of misinformation and danger online. These stressors seem to be taking a toll; measurements show anxiety and sleep deprivation among adolescents are rising, and even teen suicide attempts are increasing.
How to Help Kids Navigate Our Dangerous World-With Science

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Clara Moskowitz

Between climate change, economic anxiety and political turmoil, the world can feel like a scary place, especially for kids. Today’s young people have already been through a deadly global pandemic, they regularly drill to prepare for school shootings, and they must learn to navigate an age of misinformation and danger online. These stressors seem to be taking a toll; measurements show anxiety and sleep deprivation among adolescents are rising, and even teen suicide attempts are increasing.
Why Storm Surge Is Dangerous—And Becoming More Frequent

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz |Jen Christiansen |Daniel Huffman

The beginning of June marks the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, the six-month period when strong storms can brew in the ocean and then wreak havoc on land. Among the hazardous consequences of hurricanes are storm surges, in which water rapidly rises above the normal tide level on shore. These dangerous events can cause flooding and pick up and displace homes and other structures.
How Do Doctors Treat ‘Aggressive’ Prostate Cancer like Joe Biden’s?

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz

Former president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office announced on Sunday. The 82-year-old has what is described as an “aggressive form” of cancer that has already spread to his bones. Though his disease is serious, there are promising treatment options, and Biden could potentially live for years with the diagnosis. What is a Gleason score, and what does Biden’s mean?
Why Some Animals Live for Only Days and Others Live for Thousands of Years

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz |Mark Belan

Some species seem to live fast and die young. Others, though, “appear not to age,” says João Pedro de Magalhães, a molecular biologist at the University of Birmingham in England. He is project leader of the Human Ageing Genomic Resources program, which keeps the AnAge database of maximum animal lifespans. Some species of turtles, fishes and salamanders, for instance, don’t show any signs of degeneration or senescence as they grow older.
Which Knot Is Stronger? Humans Aren’t Great Judges

Feb 18, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz |Jen Christiansen

Humans are pretty good at guessing whether a towering stack of dishes in the sink will topple over or where a pool ball will go when a cue hits it. We evolved this kind of physical reasoning to navigate our changing and sometimes dangerous environments. But a new study highlights one area of intuitive physics that’s deceptively difficult: judging how strong a knot is. Take a look at these four knots, which may look similar but are all distinct.
JWST Photos Reveal Bizarre Physics of Supernova Explosions

Jan 21, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz

As soon as a star is born, it starts fighting a battle with gravity. A burning star constantly releases enough energy to counteract gravity’s inward pressure. But once its fuel runs out, gravity wins: the star implodes, and most of its mass becomes either a neutron star—an ultradense object about the size of a city—or a black hole. The rest explodes outward, flying into space like bullets.
Will We Find Planet Nine with the Vera Rubin Observatory’s New Telescope?

Jan 10, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Rachel Feltman |Clara Moskowitz |Fonda Mwangi |Madison Goldberg

[CLIP: Theme music]Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Unless you’re really on the low end of our listener age bell curve, chances are you grew up learning about our solar system’s nine planets. Of course, unless you’ve been living under a rock since 2006, you also know that now we only have eight planets. Sorry, Pluto fans. But maybe you’ve also heard rumblings about the mysterious Planet Nine.
Infografik: Stürmische Sonne

Dec 7, 2024 | spektrum.de | Clara Moskowitz

News Lesedauer ca. 1 Minute DruckenTeilenInfografik: Stürmische SonneUnser nächster Stern zeigt sich in regelmäßigen Zyklen mal mehr, mal weniger aktiv. Das bekommt die Erde als »Weltraumwetter« zu spüren – 2024 besonders heftig. Exklusive Übersetzung ausViele Menschen, die das farbenprächtige Himmelsphänomen aus ihren Breitengraden nicht gewohnt waren, konnten im Jahr 2024 Polarlichter bestaunen.
Enceladus Might Be a Methane Hotspot

Nov 23, 2024 | scientificamerican.com | Clara Moskowitz

Enceladus. It’s one of Saturn’s moons. It’s one of the strangest places in the solar system. It’s also one of the most likely places to host extraterrestrial life. Powerful plumes of water vapor erupt from its poles—which proves that a liquid water ocean lies hidden beneath its icy surface. And a new analysis suggests that this buried ocean has striking similarities to the deep oceans here on Earth—at least when it comes to methane. The study is in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.