Maya Wei-Haas

Maya Wei-Haas

 

Maya Wei-Haas is a freelance science writer who specializes in geology of Earth and beyond. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, News from Science, and AGU’s EOS.

Mersiv is worn around a user’s neck, like a necklace, and features a silver dollar-sized pendant with an embedded camera and microphone.

This Language-Teaching Device Constantly Whispers Lessons In Your Ear

A conceptual gadget called Mersiv immerses language-learners in their tongue of choice

The EcoHelmet is a foldable, recyclable helmet constructed of paper with a water-resistant coating.

This Folded Paper Fans Out Into a Full-Size Bike Helmet

The EcoHelmet, this year's James Dyson Award winner, could be used by bike shares across the world

Payam Pourtaheri and Ameer Shakeel enjoy casual conversation with Radia Perlman, 2016 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee during the Meet the Experts session at 2016’s Collegiate Inventors Competition.

Could These College Inventors Tackle the Global Pesticide Problem?

Developed by a team of University of Virgnia students, AgroSpheres break down pesticide residues on crops hours after they are applied

The Ilban people of East Borneo captured these six warrior skulls in a single battle. They tossed the heads into a fire pit to cure and then wrapped them in vines to suspend their prize from the rafters of the community longhouse.

Explore Haunting Relics of Death With New Photography Book

Placenta-wiping fetuses are only the tip of the frightberg

The LudusScope is an open-source, 3D printed, smartphone-integrated microscope.

With This Smartphone Microscope, You Can Play Soccer and Pac-Man With Microbes

Stanford engineer Ingmar Riedel-Kruse built a 3D-printed microscope that allows students to not only observe but also interact with tiny creatures

Inside the World's First Large-Scale Effort to Harness Tidal Energy

Next month, the UK-based company MeyGen will install four underwater turbines off the coast of Scotland

The Sweet Home Cafe will take your taste buds on a trip across the country.

Two Hungry Reporters Dig Into the Sweet Home Café at the African American History Museum

We're still digesting the rich narrative—but mostly, the Georgia shrimp and Anson Mills stone ground grits

After just moments in the air, flight 1549 collided with a flock of geese.

Smithsonian Expert Fills in the Missing Science Behind the Movie “Sully”

Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove shares her story of analyzing the bird remains or “snarge” scraped from the engines of flight 1549

Melba Roy led the group of human computers who tracked the Echo satellites in the 1960s.

The True Story of "Hidden Figures," the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race

A new book and movie document the accomplishments of NASA’s black “human computers” whose work was at the heart of the country’s greatest battles

Gas or charcoal? It's the perpetual debate. And despite many grilling advances, many still prefer good old fashioned charcoal.

The Story of the Weber Grill Begins With a Buoy

When metalworker George Stephen, Sr. put two halves of a buoy together, he didn't know he was making a charcoal grill that would stand the test of time

Scenes from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

The Rise of the Modern Sportswoman

Women have long fought against the assumption that they are weaker than men, and the battle isn’t over yet

Chuck Taylor All Star, circa 1957

How Chuck Taylor Taught America How to Play Basketball

A shoe-in for the first ever basketball game in the Olympics, Converse All Stars have a long history both in and out of sport

Yao honey-hunter Orlando Yassene holds a wild greater honeyguide male in the Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique.

Forget Bees: This Bird Has the Sweetest Deal With Honey-Seeking Humans

The effectiveness of the honeyguide call sheds light on why this golden relationship has stuck around so long

A fetal skull that was dissected in the 1800s, originally held in the University of Cambridge Anatomy Museum.

How Fetus Dissections in the Victorian Era Helped Shape Today’s Abortion Wars

Besides teaching us about disease and human development, they molded modern attitudes of the fetus as distinct entity from the mother

The Brain-Freezing Science of the Slurpee

More than 60 years ago, a broken soda fountain led to this cool invention

Hospital staff in West Darfur receive the yellow fever vaccine.

Why We're Giving People 20 Percent Doses of the Yellow Fever Vaccine

Vaccine stores in Africa have repeatedly been depleted. The WHO's decision to allow mini-doses reflects a precarious—and cyclical—shortage

An artist's reconstruction of what the hobbit may have looked like housed in Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The “Hobbit” Lineage May Be Much Older Than Previously Thought

A new find hints that the short-statured hominins could have been living in Indonesia over a half a million years earlier than previous estimates

To celebrate the company's 80th anniversary, Radio Flyer created the world's largest wagon, which weighs in at 15,000 pounds.

How an Italian Immigrant Rolled Out the Radio Flyer Wagon Across America

Three generations and more than 100 years later, the company is still flying high

Though necessary for collecting pollen, bumblebees' fuzz may also help detect electric fields.

Bumblebees Detect a Flower's Electric Buzz With Their Fuzz

Using the tiny hairs that cover their bodies, bees can tap into the weak electric field in the atmosphere

The scalding solution that pipes from the vents does not boil because of the mass of water pushing down from above.

Scientists Explore Breathtaking Hydrothermal Vents in Virtual Reality

With a high-tech remotely operated vehicle, a team is able to map a dark, hot and toxic vent field on the ocean floor

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