Stephanie Pappas

6 days ago | livescience.com | Stephanie Pappas

Measles kills between 1 and 3 out of every 1,000 children infected with the viral disease. But even for those who survive the illness, the long-term consequences of measles can be serious. Long after a person recovers from their acute infection, their immune system is compromised — and in rare cases, the measles virus can hide out in the nervous system, roaring back to cause a fatal disease years later.

1 week ago | scientificamerican.com | Stephanie Pappas

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., head of the Department of Health and Human Services, struck an alarmist tone about new findings that one in 31 eight-year-olds in the U.S. have an autism diagnosis at a press conference today. Kennedy called autism a “tragedy” that “destroys families.” And his statements also included assertations that autism experts say are out of date, such as the idea that autistic kids “regress” around their second birthday.

1 week ago | livescience.com | Stephanie Pappas

Earth held a deep ocean of magma beneath its surface in its early history, new research finds, potentially explaining odd anomalies seen in the mantle today. This basal magma ocean has been hotly debated for years. Some geochemical evidence indicates that in the first few hundred million years of the planet's existence, a persistent sea of melt formed at the boundary between Earth's core and its middle layer, the mantle.

1 week ago | livescience.com | Stephanie Pappas |Marilyn Perkins

Quick facts about climate changeHow much Earth has warmed since 1850: about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius)What causes climate change: Gases trapping heat in the atmosphereThe effects of a warming planet: Increased heat waves, flooding, wildfires, hurricanes and moreClimate change is any long-term shift in average weather patterns. Climate change has occurred many times in Earth's history, and for many different reasons.

1 week ago | realclearscience.com | Stephanie Pappas

A 'Flawed Argument' in Debate Over Plate Tectonics Earth's crust today has a surprisingly similar composition to the planet's first outer shell, or "protocrust," new research finds. This early rocky shell featured chemical signatures previously thought to occur only in continental crusts made by the process of subduction, in which one tectonic plate slides under another. Read Full Article »