Was the first Grecian formula actually Roman? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When it came to coloring hair, Ancient Rome was startlingly advanced. Its recipe for hair dye combines lead sulphide and lime. These create nanocrystals, which grow not just inside hair strands but
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Look, ma! No hands! I mean wings! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, and on the tool-using habits of New Caledonian crows. Sure, various animals use tools, but we’re the only ones with toolboxes. So other species have to find creative ways of keeping their
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Are humans really at the top of the food chain? This is Sandra Tsing Loh, with the Loh Down on Science. Compared to our great ape cousins, we humans are way ahead in the evolutionary race. We’ve got bigger brains. We also reproduce faster than expected for our body size.
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Are horses just . . . overgrown dogs? Science suggests yes! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: The two species do seem to have something unusual in common: The ability to read people’s faces! So say animal researchers at the University of Sussex. These
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Want to change your mood? Try changing your voice! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, and an experiment by the French National Centre for Scientific Research. In it, volunteers read a short story out loud while listening to themselves through a headset. But, secretly, their
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Want to help your friends keep their New Year’s resolutions? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Do like they do on Jeopardy! Ask questions! When you ask someone about behavior, you help bring that behavior about. So say researchers at Washington State University, the
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Socrates once said the unexamined life is not worth living. But the examined life has its downside, too! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. By examined, I mean measured! We can measure almost anything with gadgets. Sleeping. Eating. Exercising. Not exercising. In a series of
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“This call may be recorded for quality assurance.” This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Okay, but who’s assuring the quality? Maybe a company like Marchex. It analyzes customer-service calls for businesses. Say you call your cable company about your bill. Marchex can tell them
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Got thinning hair? Now we know why! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. All types of mammals experience hair thinning as they age. Ugh. In both sexes, it’s thought to be caused by shrinking hair follicles. But stem-cell biologists in Japan weren’t content with shrinkage
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Today’s update is sure to … bring you down? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: That’s not exactly the goal of French medical researchers. They investigated the neurochemical basis of marijuana addiction. How? They got rats high by injecting them with marijuana’s active ingredient
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