Devin Powell

Devin Powell is a freelance writer based in New York. He has also contributed to publications such as Nature, National Geographic, The Washington Post and New Scientist.

Stories from this author

How many more seats are left at the table?

When Will We Reach the End of the Periodic Table?

Even with new elements in hand, scientists are struggling to predict the future of the iconic chemical roadmap

What goes into a black hole never comes out. Or does it?

Stephen Hawking Thinks We Can Solve a Major Black Hole Mystery With Hair

No toupees needed, though. The “hairs” in question are minute changes in spacetime at the fringes of black holes

The site where workers found crypts just a few feet beneath the surface.

Construction Workers Find 200-Year-Old Bodies Buried Just a Few Feet Below Greenwich Village

Two crypts uncovered near Washington Square Park a reminder of New York City’s past

So far, nine states have tried to pass laws that encourage a "teach the controversy" approach to climate change.

See Where Climate Science Conflict Has Invaded U.S. Classrooms

Conservative politicians are introducing bills that promote teaching climate science as controversial

A section of the digitally unwrapped Ein Gedi scroll, bearing text from Leviticus.

1,500-Year-Old Text Has Been Digitally Resurrected From a Hebrew Scroll

Special software helped reveal the words on a burned scroll found inside a holy ark near the Dead Sea

Kangaroos Are Lefties, and That Can Teach Us About Human Handedness

The discovery strengthens the case that upright posture drove the evolution of dominant hands in humans

The rolled electronic mesh is injected through a glass needle into a water-based solution.

A Flexible Circuit Has Been Injected Into Living Brains

Tested on mice, the rolled mesh fits inside a syringe and unfurls to monitor brain activity

What Does It Feel Like to Be Invisible?

Volunteers in Sweden were tricked into thinking their bodies had vanished, and the “superpower” seemed to ease social fears

Yum! A candy-colored view of the planet Mercury shows differences in its chemical makeup.

Earth May Have Become Magnetic After Eating a Mercury-Like Object

Swallowing a sulfur-rich protoplanet could help explain two lingering mysteries in the story of Earth’s formation

A closeup of the Ledi jaw taken just steps from where it was found in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

Oldest Human Fossil Unearthed in Ethiopia

At about 2.8 million years old, the Ledi jaw may belong to “the stem for the Homo genus,” according to its discoverers

A former bombe operator shows the back of a drum from the decryption machine at Bletchley Park.

Brains Make Decisions the Way Alan Turing Cracked Codes

A mathematical tool developed during World War II operates in a similar way to brains weighing the reliability of information

A diverse array of trilobites ruled the seas for almost 300 million years, until they vanished at the end of the Permian period.

Vinegar-Like Acid Rain May Have Fallen During Earth’s Worst Extinction

Vanilla-flavored rocks hint at a planet scoured by intense acid rain during the Great Dying 252 million years ago