Do houseplants die … with a whimper? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Wilting leaves warn us too late. Farmers need earlier alerts. Could plants be… audible? Enter Lilach Hadany and Yossi Yovel at Tel Aviv University. Their team set up microphones by tomato and tobacco
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Ever wish you could disappear? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying… Glassfrogs can! They look nearly see-through while resting on leaves. But how do they hide their bloodflow? What’s the trick? Enter Carlos Taboada and Jesse Delia at Duke University. They used photoacoustic imaging on
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Your heart’s working hard – but how hard, exactly? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your “stroke volume” is how much blood your heart pumps with every beat! It’s crucial info during sepsis, surgery, and shock. But it usually means bulky machines or… poking around
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Listen to your neck, and you’ll never miss a beat! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When someone performs CPR, they have to STOP and check for a pulse. But every pause lowers the chance of survival. What if a sensor could spot the heartbeat
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Is that little listening device in your pocket… a fire hazard?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your smartphone’s battery hides flammable liquid fuel. Slash it, fire starts instantly. Could safer, flexible cells end phone fires forever? Enter Peisheng He from U-C Berkeley. He invented
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Rockabye ultrasound… This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine hibernating like a bear. That’d be great for healing or saving energy on a space flight. Who’s working on this? Meet Yaoheng Yang and Hong Chen from Washington University, St. Louis. They put ultrasound caps on
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No flash photography, and please, don’t feed the mold. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine priceless puppets slowly degrading over the years. Museum air TEEMS with sneaky microbes. How can we protect our historical artifacts? Enter Yuanyuan Wang and team from Beijing’s University of
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A fishing expedition… among the stars?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Beware of maritime crime: smuggling, illegal fishing, tax evasion. Crooks turn off their ships’ tracking beacons to stay invisible. But perhaps we can still see them… from space?! Enter Andrea Mazzeo and team from
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What’s turning the Red Planet green?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying… A Martian aurora! The first visible one, captured by NASA’s Perseverance! Elise Knutsen and team at the University of Colorado spotted this phenomenon after a solar storm. The charged solar particles zoomed toward
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Why does the caged bird sing… karaoke?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying… To remember their feathers! I mean fathers! Enter Carlos Rodríguez‑Saltos from the University of Southern California. He studied how captive male zebra finches learn to sing. Turns out, male juveniles usually learn
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