Doesn’t Bob the Builder seem like a fun-gi? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Wood, steel, concrete – SO last season! What’s the next ‘it’ construction material? Ross McBee from Columbia University and his teams bet on LIVING BRICKS! They started with brick-shaped molds full
Continue readingAuthor: Salma El-Azab
Confuzzled Cats
Wanna hear something PAW-esome? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. You just want some peace after a long day at work. But that darn cat! It won’t leave you alone, no matter where you hide! What sort of sixth sense are they using to pin
Continue readingHandy Ants
Ants in your plants? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Fixing up your fixer-upper? As every homeowner knows – the work NEVER ends! Azteca ants make their homes in Cecropia trees. The trees offer them food and shelter. But what happens when they need a
Continue readingFish Fingers
Could that fish stick solve the secret to our sense of touch? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: the answer is right at our fingertips. Meet Adam Hardy. He and colleagues from University of Chicago want to know how fingers feel. To do this
Continue readingRockin’ Rockfish
Life will be AWESOME in – oh, two hundred years…?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying… Flying cars, teleportation machines, negative-calorie desserts … too bad I won’t be around to see it! But if I were a rockfish? No problem! Some live for twenty
Continue readingCarpenter’s Secret
It’s “Tool Time!” This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. All those hours watching “Home Improvement” reruns paid off — you’ve finally built your dream bookshelf! But was all that sawing, hammering, and nail-biting worth it? If only you could just bend wood to your will!
Continue readingSchrödinger’s Robber
Sure I’ll give you half my candy bar. But I’m NOT sharing with the whole carpool! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying, where do YOU fall on the selfishness meter? Carlos Alós-Ferrer, from the University of Zurich in Switzerland wanted to find out. He
Continue readingCantankerous Capybaras
Call pest control – we’ve got a Capybara problem! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Termites and rats are bad enough! What if you woke up to find giant brown guinea pigs roaming around your lawn?! Capybaras, native to South America, are the largest rodents
Continue readingSnowproof Genes
Cold weather — it’s SNOW joke! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. It’s freezing out, and you’re MISERABLE! Forget the down parka – what if your GENES could warm you ? Enter Victoria Wyckelsma from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and team. They study a
Continue readingPika Perseverance
Pikachu? More like pika-EWWW! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. In the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau of Southeast Asia lives the plateau pika – a little rodent the length of a butter knife. BUT plateau life is no small feat! Temperatures can reach negative twenty degrees fahrenheit,
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