Young STEM Journalism Articles

This article was written by an outstanding participant in Double Helix’s Young STEM Journalism Bootcamp!

This year, Letterly partnered with Double Helix to launch the inaugural 4-week program, inviting students aged 8 to 18 to write science news articles on the topics that matter to them! This article went through multiple rounds of editing with 1-to-1 feedback from Letterly’s highly qualified and passionate writing coaches. 

Students were asked to research topics about the most innovative and world-changing current events in the STEM world, ranging from AI in education, to genetic engineering, to gophers saving volcanic plains!

Articles written by Students

Kathleen Egan

Recycling Old Textiles to Make Concrete Stronger

In 2024, PhD scholar Nayanatara Ruppegoda Gamage and Dr Chamila Gunasekara, from RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) worked together on a ground-breaking project. They discovered a way to recycle old textiles and use them to strengthen concrete.
Darius Carnahan

The Future of the Great Barrier Reef

Climate change is loading up for its next shots on the Great Barrier Reef. But while so many reefs are suffering from mass bleaching events, the Ribbon Reefs, the Swains, and Pompey Reefs are curiously evading severe bleaching. As for how these reefs manage to consistently evade climate change’s shots, the CSIRO’s new research shows these reefs curiously evade bleaching because of cold water from the deep.
Darius Carnahan

“Chicken Nuggets of the Forest” Discover Scuba Tech

Water Anoles – a type of semi-aquatic lizard that lives in the forests of Costa Rica – have found a way to escape predators by jumping into the water and producing a special bubble around their nostrils. Lindsey Swierk, a professor at Binghamton University, New York, first saw these lizards when she was walking near streams in the mountains of Costa Rica.
Darius Carnahan

Grumpy Gophers, Happy Soil, Happy Plants: the Official Formula

In 1980, Mount St. Helen, in southwest Washington State, erupted, killing 57 people. Three years later, scientists brought two pocket gophers into an enclosed space on the northern side of the mountain. These two pocket gophers were not happy being moved from their home of Butte Camp to the northern side of the mountain. After their helicopter trip, the two grumpy gophers were released to do what they wanted to do, which, for gophers, is digging. After one day of the grumpy gophers’ digging, the places where the gophers had dug exploded with new life.
Darius Carnahan

Dengue Cases on the Rise

In 2023, there were  6.5 million Dengue Fever cases. Now the number of cases has almost doubled. There are two culprits. Firstly, mosquitoes. Dengue Fever is a disease spread by two types of mosquitoes: the yellow fever mosquito and the tiger mosquito. These mosquitoes bite humans and transmit the disease to them. But these mosquitoes have always been buzzing around, biting people, so what’s caused the number of dengue cases to double to 12.7 million?