Shi En Kim

Shi En Kim

 

Shi En Kim is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance science journalist. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Scientific American, the Atlantic, Popular Science and others. In 2021, she interned at Smithsonian magazine as an AAAS Mass Media Fellow.

Europa’s icy surface hides an ocean of liquid water underneath, making it a prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life.

See the Messages NASA Will Send to Space on Its Upcoming Mission to Europa

A metal plate affixed to the Europa Clipper is engraved with a poem, tributes to scientists and waveforms representing the word "water" in 103 languages, among other drawings

NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this view of Venus. The world has blistering surface temperatures, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Venus

Our sister planet’s cloudy exterior gave it an aura of mystery—until humanity developed the technology to probe past the veil

An artist’s illustration of Glikmanius careforum swimming beneath Troglocladodus trimblei in ancient waters.

Paleontologists Discover Two New Shark Species From Fossils in Mammoth Cave National Park

The "active predators" prowled the oceans more than 325 million years ago, before the time of Pangea

The full moon, as seen from Granada, Spain. A new study suggests the moon is shrinking, causing moonquakes that could interfere with planned lunar missions.

The Moon Is Shrinking, Causing Moonquakes at a Potential NASA Landing Site, Study Finds

Though the risk to astronauts is low, the shaking could cause landslides and impact potential long-term settlements at the lunar south pole

Ocean drainage basins of the world

These Entrancing Maps Capture Where the World's Rivers Go

Cartographer Robert Szucs uses satellite data to make stunning art that shows which oceans waterways empty into

Plastics break down over time into micro- and nanosized particles that litter our water and air.

One Liter of Bottled Water May Contain 240,000 Tiny Plastic Fragments

A new technique reveals that the liquid may contain 10 to 1000 times more plastic pieces than previously thought

Sultan al-Jaber, the president of COP28, and other participants at the conference applaud. The final document resulting from COP28 mentioned transitioning away from fossil fuels, rather than phasing them out over time.

The Six Biggest Takeaways From COP28

The United Nations climate change conference drew praise for new pledges and criticism for watered-down language

Our ten favorite science books of the year covered everything from astronomy to undersea exploration.

The Ten Best Science Books of 2023

From stories on the depths of the ocean to the stars in the sky, these are the works that moved us the most this year

In 1980, the Viking Orbiter took 102 individual images of Mars that scientists eventually assembled into this stunning composite photo. The dark gash across the planet’s face is the Valles Marineris, a canyon that’s up to 6 miles deep and over 2,500 miles long.

The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Mars

Scientists have learned a lot since they started sending crafts and rovers to our red neighbor

On August 10, homes, buildings and the harbor in Lahaina are burned to the ground after wildfires swept through Maui.

How Swaths of Invasive Grass Made Maui's Fires So Devastating

Scientists have long warned that Hawaii's cover of nonnative shrubs is kindling waiting to burn

The surface of Mars’ Pontours rock contains a network of hexagonal mud cracks that hints at historical seasons of flooding and drying.

Mud Cracks on Mars Hint at Conditions That Could Have Formed Life Long Ago

Hexagonal ridges on the Red Planet's surface suggest an ancient cycle of wet and dry periods, ideal for creating molecules necessary for cells

Egyptian paleontologists Abdullah Gohar, Mohamed Sameh and Hesham Sallam are part of the study team that discovered the fossil and identified the new species of basilosaurid whale.

Fossil of Tiny, Extinct Whale Discovered in Egypt, Named for King Tut

The species was around the size of a bottlenose dolphin and thrived 41 million years ago

This year’s picks include Fresh Banana Leaves, Origin and Starry Messenger.

The Ten Best Science Books of 2022

From a detective story on the origins of Covid-19 to a narrative that imagines a fateful day for dinosaurs, these works affected us the most this year

Webb’s 18 mirror segments can lock into the largest telescopic mirror humankind has ever built.

The Five Big Ways the James Webb Telescope Will Help Astronomers Understand the Universe

The highly awaited observatory is set to break new ground in many areas of astronomical research

Spider silk is more than just a web for snaring prey.

Fourteen Ways That Spiders Use Their Silk

From making parachutes to building scuba tanks, the arachnids have come up with some fascinating creations

ELSA-d is a demonstration device designed to show that space debris removal is possible.

Can the World's First Space Sweeper Make a Dent in Orbiting Debris?

A private company has just completed the first successful test of its trash collector

Transplanting a human protein, known for promoting growth, into crops may engender larger, heavier and more bountiful plants.

Researchers Transfer a Human Protein Into Plants to Supersize Them

While a promising route to boosting crop yields, experts say more work needs to be done to understand why the tweak works

The most recent additions to the scimitar-horned oryx herd at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are two calves borne from an improved artificial insemination method.

Two New Scimitar-Horned Oryx Calves Born Through Improved Methods of Artificial Insemination

The assisted reproduction method will help with population management efforts of these critically endangered species and their rewilding

A chameleon’s exterior can dapple on demand with a remarkable variety of colors and patterns. Researchers are inching towards realizing that capability in robots.

Scientists Design a Robotic Chameleon That Crawls and Changes Color

A new artificial skin can sense its surroundings and create a camouflage coat

The fungus Hemileia vastatrix strikes a plant on a coffee farm in Aquires, Costa Rica.

New Study Shows Climate Change May Increase the Spread of Plant Pathogens

Models suggest that higher latitude crops will experience higher infection rates and a greater number of threats

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