Stephanie Pappas
Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Space.com sister site 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.
Latest articles by Stephanie Pappas
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Mountain-size chunk of rock hiding under Japan is channeling earthquakes
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
An underground mountain-sized chunk of rock may be affecting paths of large earthquakes in southern Japan.
![This image shows SN2014J, one of the closest type Ia supernovas in recent decades.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ChLyBQyeUbhkeYzn3DjuW-320-80.jpeg)
Rare plutonium from space found in deep-sea crust
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
A rare type of plutonium has been found in the crust below the deep sea, offering new clues as to how heavy metals form in star explosions and mergers.
![cross-section illustration of earth showing molten core](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gK5UjKwHXcuVw9ikMxxmFR-320-80.jpg)
Giant blobs in Earth's mantle may be driving a 'diamond factory' near our planet's core
By Stephanie Pappas published
Water driven toward Earth's center by plate tectonics could lead to the creation of diamonds at the boundary between the core and the mantle.
![map of Earth's crust in Australia](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3qhQnkrxQSaZuni96khw2C-320-80.jpg)
4 billion-year-old chunk of Earth's crust found below Australia
By Stephanie Pappas published
An ancient piece of crust is hiding below Western Australia, having survived 4 billion years of upheaval.
![A handwritten manuscript thought to be the work of astronomer Galileo Galilei in the early 1600s](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KGMSfPdqgWShh8fro9FxVA-320-80.jpg)
Document supposedly written by Galileo is a fake
By Stephanie Pappas published
A document thought to have been handwritten by Galileo Galilei is in fact a 20th-century fake.
![A man wiping sweat from his face under the hot sun.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yhq7fMc4cWJvJugMJcGeMi-320-80.jpg)
For the first time, scientists have named a heat wave
By Stephanie Pappas published
For the first time, authorities have given a heat wave a name. Scientists hope that naming extreme heat events will help the public protect itself.
![Two flashes on the GOES-17 Lightning Mapper aren't lightning, but a meteor trail and explosion.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AEqneotDaheqSGpgeTbm5g-320-80.jpg)
Exploding meteor startles Utah
By Stephanie Pappas published
A loud explosion heard Saturday (Aug. 13) in Utah may have been an exploding Perseid meteor.
![The Nadir crater, seen on seismic imagery from West Africa. The bottom of the crater, lined in green dots, sits at approximately the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene, when the dinosaurs died out.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/W2N3B6XA6BAzXZ7NMaEsXW-320-80.jpg)
Did a second killer asteroid finish the dinosaurs off? Crater in West Africa hints yes.
By Stephanie Pappas published
A 66 million-year-old impact crater has been discovered off the coast of West Africa, raising questions about just how many deadly space rocks the dinosaurs had to deal with.
![This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows auroras above the poles of Jupiter.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Mk3iPS8vNuCtvJmysPZ88F-320-80.jpg)
Extreme physics of 'supercritical' matter may be surprisingly simple
By Stephanie Pappas published
At 'supercriticality,' the difference between the liquid and gas phases of a material seems to disappear. New research finds that this weird tipping point may be simpler than scientists thought.
![An image of Finnish tundra.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8DKm72tzviw8KmbqqGu54M-320-80.jpg)
Siberian tundra could vanish in less than 500 years
By Stephanie Pappas published
The Siberian tundra could disappear by the year 2500, unless greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced.
![The dramatic outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes, seen in October 2007.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/m3MsSPguymMntfftAW3QRa-320-80.jpeg)
Watch the biggest-ever comet outburst spray dust across the cosmos
By Stephanie Pappas published
The dust trail from the largest comet outburst on record will be visible to amateur astronomers in late July 2022.
![](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uwsGkqav7SkSaE8xusKBCS-320-80.jpg)
Sunspot sends off double flare, as solar activity ramps up
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
A restless sunspot sent off a double solar flare on Monday (April 25), temporarily disrupting some radio communications in Asia and Australia.
![A solar flare and coronal mass ejection were observed being launched from “dead” sunspot AR 2987 on April 11, 2022.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Ywc4thTorpGWXyyLdwmite-320-80.gif)
'Dead sunspot' launches ball of plasma toward Earth
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
The "corpse" of a sunspot exploded Monday (April 11), triggering a mass ejection of solar material that is headed in Earth's direction.
![From his balcony in Rome, Gianluca Masi captured this night-sky image of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn (plus the moon) lined up.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mrnjanqfCtjTnGKnQmaxF9-320-80.jpg)
4 planets line up like ducks in a row in gorgeous night-sky image
By Stephanie Pappas published
The moon is leading a parade of four planets across the predawn sky this week.
![The rock was found within the Mistastin impact crater in Labrador, Canada, shown here in this satellite image.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3cFhcNYokkeupfqkwXfz3D-320-80.jpeg)
Massive meteorite impact created the hottest mantle rock ever
By Stephanie Pappas published
It's confirmed: The hottest rock ever discovered in Earth's crust really was super-hot.
![This artist's impression shows the decay of a lutetium-149 nucleus into a ytterbium-148 nucleus and a proton.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BzsfUkYshu5rvgRGAfcuae-320-80.jpeg)
Scientists create weird pumpkin-shaped nucleus that vanishes in nanoseconds
By Stephanie Pappas published
A newly created isotope of the silvery metal lutetium has a strange squashed nucleus and a half-life of just a few hundred nanoseconds.
![The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in southwest China's Guizhou Province.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CovDikGpD6UWLPKQH3tcs6-320-80.jpeg)
Is it time to send another message to intelligent aliens? Some scientists think so.
By Stephanie Pappas published
Scientists have crafted a new message for intelligent extraterrestrials
![Earth's layers shown in this modified NASA image.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oEUz42vnEu2MBpicZvXeCN-320-80.jpg)
Earth's core is a billion years old
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
The solidification of the inner core may have strengthened Earth's magnetic field.
![A NASA-funded sounding rocket launches into an aurora in the early morning of March 3, 2014, over Venetie, Alaska. NASA will launch a similar small sounding rocket in late March 2022.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/GmKKNdWvJWJtphft2gihH3-320-80.jpg)
NASA set to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
Researchers plan to launch two rockets into the heart of the northern lights. Here's what they might find.
![This circular structure seen in Google Earth images off the coast of Peru is raising cries of "UFO."](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QDRYRwCxWdfUbfds96BDFY-320-80.jpg)
Odd circular shape beneath the ocean in Google Earth images is probably not aliens
By Stephanie Pappas published
A circular shape on the seafloor visible on Google Earth is raising cries of "UFO," but chances are … it's not aliens.
![An illustration of Earth's Van Allen belts, with the trajectories of ultra-relativistic electrons in gray. The colorful loops in the foreground are the orbits of satellites that must pass through this electromagnetically dangerous area of space.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Wi8mwq8o85FacDGsHoxyqM-320-80.png)
Particles zipping around Earth at near light-speed finally explained
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
When the plasma of the Van Allen belts drops in density during a solar storm, it can set up the perfect conditions for electrons to travel nearly as fast as light.
![A 3D view of the blob in Earth's mantle beneath Africa, shown in red, yellow and orange. The cyan represents the core-mantle boundary, blue signifies the surface and transparent gray indicates continents.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FLcnXrXTvmvgk8E9WMQHoM-320-80.jpg)
2 giant blobs in Earth's mantle may explain Africa's weird geology
By Stephanie Pappas published
One of Earth's two mysterious mantle blobs is much higher than the other, raising questions about its impact on Earth's surface.
![](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oyX5tjYqa3tJDBkkpFtfJc-320-80.jpg)
The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in 2031, NASA announces
By Stephanie Pappas last updated
The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in January 2031, NASA has announced.