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
![The "Halloween Asteroid" 2015 TB145, shown here in an artist’s illustration, is expected to whiz by Earth a little later than usual, swinging by on Nov. 11, 2018.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/H9L9wf3MNn7gSHe3XeiTCM-320-80.jpg)
Grinning-Skull Asteroid Set to Whiz by Earth
By Stephanie Pappas published
The "Halloween asteroid" will be a little late this year.
![Illustration showing the inside of Earth.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kF2gRepL3kTLmAYMx7bH85-320-80.jpg)
Strange Blobs Beneath Earth Could Be Remnants of an Ancient Magma Ocean
By Stephanie Pappas published
Researchers probe a mystery deep in the Earth's mantle.
![Planet Earth](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/r2K4PBgj5wmQob8wPHHWe3-320-80.jpg)
Planet Earth Wobbles As It Spins, and Now Scientists Know Why
By Stephanie Pappas published
Turns out, humans are shifting the planet's spin.
![typhoon mangkhut](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AhFs8SiqfebdMs9gWUAdkW-320-80.jpg)
Typhoon Mangkhut Bears Down on the Philippines with 165-Mph Winds
By Stephanie Pappas published
A monster storm is poised to hit the Philippines.
![Huges, slow-moving swirls called Rossby waves have been detected on the sun. These waves move in the opposite direction of the sun's rotation.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RP9j3L36voSLXKKqg8VZ7S-320-80.jpg)
Giant Waves Nearly Half a Million Miles Across Seen on the Sun for the First Time
By Stephanie Pappas published
Huge, slow-moving waves that drive Earth's weather and shape the swirls in Jupiter's atmosphere also exist on the sun, new research reveals.
![Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the solar wind by deflecting the charged particles. And for some reason, the field has been drifting westward.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ah7mSVMEFq6TpL3PWLFq5S-320-80.jpg)
Earth's Magnetic Field Is Drifting Westward, and Nobody Knows Why
By Stephanie Pappas published
Weird, slow-moving waves in the planet's core could explain the mysterious drifting.
![Elon Musk and musician Grimes show up as a couple to the 2018 Met Gala on May 7 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dbb5BE9k6289PSynSNXdta-320-80.jpg)
This Horrifying AI Thought Experiment Got Elon Musk a Date
By Stephanie Pappas published
SpaceX founder Elon Musk is dating musician Grimes, apparently because of a shared love of nerdy puns.
![Artisti's impression of the moon's structure.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/D6iT26t8w4MSFVzBjUGUZL-320-80.jpg)
Gooey, Magma Ocean May Have Once Roiled Inside the Moon
By Stephanie Pappas published
The ancient moon may have had a gooey interior that likely triggered the lunar magnetic field.
![earth's magnetic field now and in times past](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qQ4YfhqWde7BLrVDmu7ccj-320-80.jpg)
Why Earth's Magnetic Field Might Not Flip After All
By Stephanie Pappas published
The magnetic field is likely to recover without major disruption, new research finds.
![See anything unusual in this aerial image?](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qP8zaEEQocPPmX6pnsyRJf-320-80.jpg)
Why We Might Miss Extraterrestrial Life Even If It's Staring Us in the Face
By Stephanie Pappas published
Researchers use a cosmic gorilla to uncover the dangers of inattention in the search for alien life.
![The latest doomsday prediction points to April 23, 2018, as the end. But it's totally bogus.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rVoznRE5hNCvDza2jZCF97-320-80.jpg)
Wait For It...The First 'April 23rd Doomsday' Was Predicted in 1843
By Stephanie Pappas published
![flat earth](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oF52mcHoy5f9eWesWKp76C-320-80.jpg)
A Third of Young Millennials Are Confused About This Incontrovertible Fact
By Stephanie Pappas published
Younger people seem perplexed about whether Earth is round or flat.
![China's Tiangong-1 Space Lab](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kArzkjYRBFEQBrTWp6bJag-320-80.jpg)
What Will Happen to China's Tiangong-1 As It Falls Through the Atmosphere?
By Stephanie Pappas published
Heat and friction will destroy the space station.
![Artist's Illustration of Tabby's Star2852](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NZEEZMYMJSk76cd24B2aeU-320-80.jpg)
Weirdly Dimmable 'Alien Megastar' Darkens Again
By Stephanie Pappas published
One of the biggest dips in the brightness of Tabby's star points to a possible source for its dusty light-blocker.
![UFO Sighting](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YDcVpUERnNztLQ335NUhsM-320-80.jpeg)
Declassified Military Video Shows 'UFO' Off East Coast
By Stephanie Pappas published
One former official said the government is turning away from its responsibilities.
![clay excavated from iron age shows earth's magnetic field](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/S37GB9Dfi6mjkvgTUH9PbK-320-80.jpg)
An Electro-Blob Under Africa May Be 'Ground Zero' for Earth's Magnetic Field Reversal
By Stephanie Pappas published
Minerals locked in clays burnt by ancient African farmers reveal the history of Earth's magnetic field.
![A new species of tardigrade (not shown here) was discovered in a parking lot in Japan.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZStU8cZaRM3mjJjhnejRyA-320-80.jpg)
An Even-Weirder-Than-Usual Tardigrade Just Turned Up in a Parking Lot
By Stephanie Pappas published
The world's newest species of water bear has eight legs and eggs covered with tentacles.
![In X-ray light, a giant purple cloud can be seen in the center of the Hercules A galaxy. The cloud is being heated to multimillion degrees by energy generated by the infall of matter into the hungry black hole at the galaxy's center. This supermassive bla](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vkB3Ju3HQp2bzNgKnqW6t7-320-80.jpg)
Are Supermassive Black Holes Going to Eat the Universe?
By Stephanie Pappas published
The largest black holes grow faster than their galaxies, according to new research.
![The New Horizons spacecraft's imager (called the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) captured these false-color images in December 2017 of Kuiper Belt Objects 2012 HZ84 (left) and 2012 HE85. These are, for now, the farthest images from Earth ever captured b](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jJZkTGXGMBjjUqzXKCehGV-320-80.jpg)
These Are the Most Out-of-This-World Photos Ever Taken — Literally
By Stephanie Pappas published
The photos don't look like much: blurry green splotches against pixelated blue. But they're arguably among the most amazing photographic images ever.
![A camera shows SpaceX's Starman mannequin and Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as they fly above a ROUND Earth after launching on the first Falcon Heavy rocket test flight on Feb. 6, 2018.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ozVmNz3pgJ6SjqEkPtt8eW-320-80.jpg)
Yup, Flat-Earthers Think the Falcon Heavy Launch Was a Conspiracy
By Stephanie Pappas published
Surprise: They don't believe it.
![space toilet, iss toilet](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zX36zmzv64W9sD2MKbu3Kn-320-80.jpg)
Will Astronauts Someday Feast on Poop-Grown Microbes?
By Stephanie Pappas published
It's an extreme version of trash into treasure: New research finds that microbes can transform poop into fuel for edible bacteria.
![A styrofoam particle, 0.6 inches (1.6 cm) in diameter, levitates in the center of an ultrasonic generator of virtual vortices.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zcyYPsyGNm5y387jFRzs53-320-80.jpg)
Tractor Beam Levitates Large Orbs with Sound
By Stephanie Pappas published
Scientists are figuring out how to make larger and larger objects float on sound waves.
![hypersonic spy plane](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/d9sGeWHKf9RWyw2PrzFDsT-320-80.jpg)
Is America's Spy Plane Back — and Hypersonic?
By Stephanie Pappas published
The SR-71 Blackbird hypersonic spy plane may be back and faster than ever.