Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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Earth's crust is peeling away under CaliforniaA section of the upper mantle and crust under the Sierra Nevada mountains is peeling away, in a process that may mimic how the continents were formed.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
7 Commentsgeology -
Santorini is having a swarm of tiny earthquakes. Is the Greek isle about to erupt?An uptick in seismic activity on the volcanic island of Santorini has raised concerns about a potential eruption.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
earthquakes -
Doomsday Clock is now 89 seconds to midnight, the closest yet to catastropheThe Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its Doomsday Clock closer to Armageddon than ever before.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
3 Commentsplanet-earth -
Scientists find hidden mechanism that could explain how earthquakes 'ignite'How does creeping stress ignite a cataclysmic earthquake? A new study has answers.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
earthquakes -
James Webb telescope captures 1st 'mid-infrared' flare from Milky Way's supermassive black holeThe James Webb Space Telescope has captured a mid-infrared picture of Sagittarius A*, filling in a long-standing gap in observations..
By Stephanie Pappas Published
space -
New treatment for most aggressive brain cancer may help patients live longerGlioblastoma often kills within months. A new targeted radiation therapy may help patients live longer.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
cancer -
See Mercury's frigid north pole in extraordinary new images from the BepiColombo spacecraftA joint Japanese-European mission to Mercury just made its sixth flyby of the planet, revealing stunning close-ups of the permanently shadowed craters at Mercury's north pole.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
mercury -
We finally know where the Yellowstone volcano will erupt nextA detailed look at Yellowstone's magma storage system finds that only one region is likely to host liquid magma in the long term.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
volcanoes -
Scientists find hidden 'hotspot' that helped create the Great Lakes before North America even existedA hotspot that now lies in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was once under the Great Lakes, and may explain why they formed where they did.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
geology -
Undersea volcano off Oregon coast could erupt this year, geologists predictAxial, an undersea volcano off the coast of Oregon is probably going to erupt in 2025.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
volcanoes -
What's the difference between an active, dormant and extinct volcano?To be considered active, a volcano must have erupted at some point during the Holocene, but dormant and extinct are a little harder to define.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
planet-earth -
The 10 biggest science experiments on EarthFrom a telescope network that spans much of the globe to a psychology study that spans 67 countries, here are the biggest science experiments on the planet.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
planet-earth -
'Vulva stone' and coin jewelry among remarkable treasures discovered at Viking burial site in NorwayAn excavation of three Viking graves in Norway reveals beads, coin jewelry and a stone carved to look like female genitalia.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
vikings -
Middle children are more agreeable, humble and honest than siblings, new study suggests. The baby of the family would like a word.A new study finds that middle kids and kids from larger families are more agreeable, honest and humble than younger and older kids or kids from smaller families, but the results contradict other research on the topic.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
human-behavior -
There's a massive fault hidden under America's highest mountain — and we finally know how it formedToday, the Denali Fault rips apart some of the North American plate, but it was once a place where tectonic plates came together.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
geology -
Oldest sinew bowstrings ever found in Europe have been hiding in Spain's 'Bat Cave' for 7,000 yearsThe bowstrings were found with wood-and-reed arrows and were used by the first European farmers.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
archaeology -
James Webb telescope solves 20-year-old Hubble conundrum — and it could finally explain why the universe's oldest planets existThe James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed 20-year-old Hubble observations that could finally explain how ancient stars can host massive planets.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
astronomy -
What do you know about psychology's most infamous experiments? Test your knowledge in this science quiz.Quiz From shocking studies to ESP, what do you know about the most infamous and bizarre psychological experiments ever conducted?
By Stephanie Pappas Published
Quiz -
Watch Greenland lose 563 cubic miles of ice in under 30 seconds in disturbing new time-lapse videoSatellite imagery from NASA and the European Space Agency reveal 13 years of melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
climate-change -
NASA astronauts' return to Earth delayed until at least 'late March' 2025Due to a delay with SpaceX's Dragon capsule, NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were meant to spend 10 days in space in June 2024, will now not return to Earth until late March 2025 at the earliest, NASA announced.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
space-exploration -
China aims to be 1st to bring samples back from MarsChina's planned mission to bring rock samples to Earth from Mars would beat both NASA and the European Space Agency to the punch.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
mars -
What are 'attachment styles,' and is there science to back them up?Attachment styles are real, but there are a lot of misconceptions about how they work.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
human-behavior -
Infamous 'sofa problem' that boggled mathematicians for decades may finally have a solutionA math problem delineating the largest-size sofa that can fit around a corner has finally been solved, though it may not help you move.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
mathematics -
Ancient 'land bridge' that connected Siberia to US wasn't what it seems, scientists findThe boggy landscape of the Bering land bridge may have allowed some ice age animals to cross easily, while others stayed in Asia.
By Stephanie Pappas Published
planet-earth

