Fighting Fire with Fire

Photo of wildfires.

Does like cure like when it comes to… WILDFIRES?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Fire season is coming! One way to help avoid the destruction? Prescribed burns! This technique has been used to control wildfires for years. But it can cause the soil to

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Asteroid Blaster

Asteroid passing next to the milky way

AHHH! An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth! What to do??? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: ready…aim…FIRE! But would that REALLY work? Let’s find out! George Flynn at State University of New York crushed up real meteorite fragments, acquired from the Vatican Observatory. Then,

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Virtual Exca-Vacation

Smartphone with the augmented reality app opened showing how a church looked like in the past

Are we there yet? All I see are a bunch of broken walls! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying…these days, the wonders of antiquity…aren’t all that wonderful. What if we could ACTUALLY peek into the past? Enter Vicenzo Barrille from the University Mediterranea of

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Brushing Basics

Toothbrushes of different colors and shapes

Brush every day – keep the dentist away! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Time to replace that old toothbrush! But there are so many types – WHICH one is best? Muhammad Kashif from the University of the Punjab, Pakistan, wanted to know. He and

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Rivers of Colors

River crossing green land fields

We’d be lost without maps! Streets — highways – wait, what’s that squiggly blue line? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying — It’s got to be a river, right? But are rivers REALLY blue? John Gardner at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and

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Grandma’s Hands

Sourdough bread

Do grandmas really have a “magic touch” for baking? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Aspen Reese from Harvard wanted to know: can grandma’s actual hands really make a difference? She and her team sent flour to eighteen bakers across North America and Europe. The

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Doggy Bags

Dog underneath table

Why do dogs WOLF down our leftovers? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Humans eat meat. Dogs’ ancestors – wolves — eat meat. So how did these competitors get friendly and… meet? Maria Lahtinen and colleagues at the Finnish Food Authority think the answer’s close

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Fighting Fire with Fire

Photo of wildfires.

Does like cure like when it comes to… WILDFIRES?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Fire season is coming! One way to help avoid the destruction? Prescribed burns! This technique has been used to control wildfires for years. But it can cause the soil to

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Piano, Man

Picture of female with tattoo smiling with headphones.

Sing us a song, you’re the piano man! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Watching feel-good movies like Pitch Perfect can put us in happy mode. And that emotion creates signals in certain parts of the brain.  Vesa Putkinen and colleagues from the University of

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Big Screen, Small Sight

Person using a computer screen and tablet

Sometimes seeing the big picture. . . can lead to a BIG headache! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Watching the latest X-Men movie on a huge screen? Yes, please! But stare at TVs too long and our eyes and head begin to ache. Do

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