Neuron Naps

Don’t mind me, I’m just taking a little jellyfish nap! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Jellyfish don’t have a brain, just a spread of neurons. So why would they even need sleep? Enter Raphael Aguillon and team from Bar-Ilan University. They discovered that jellyfish

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When It Rains Iron

Hallelujah, it’s raining… METAL?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Astronomers have discovered an ultra-hot, distant planet called WASP-76b, where daytime temperatures are hot enough to vaporize metals. Ouch! David Ehrenreich and team at the University of Geneva analyzed starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere.

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Mosquitos New Menu

Need… blood… NOW! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Mosquitoes need blood to lay eggs! But if they are carrying disease, that’s bad news for their hosts. In Brazil, tracking feeding habits helps prevent dengue and Zika outbreaks. But what happens if mosquitoes suddenly lose

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Pop-Up Patrol

All quiet on the … digestion front?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your immune system usually “trains” soldier cells at lymph nodes — before shipping them out. But what if the battle is too far away? Enter John Gridley and Arash Grakoui from Emory

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Periodically Moonstruck

Are women’s cycles catching waves with monthly tides? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Notice that the Moon waxes and wanes each month? Women’s bodies might be keeping time in a similar way. Enter Charlotte Helfrich-Förster and team at the University of Padova. This team

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Moss In Space

Moooss iiiiiin spaaaace! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Moss is one of the hardiest plants. It can survive volcanic lava fields and the peaks of the Himalayas! But… Can moss survive… in space? Chang-hyun Maeng from Hokkaido University and team investigated! They attached moss

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Looking into the Future

Hold on! What’s this say…? Oh! It says “I’m Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.” Whoof. Getting old is hard on your eyes. But! Alexandra Bernardo-Colón and team at the National Eye Institute just might keep blindness at bay. Aging and disease cause the death of eye

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Trash Panda Takeover

Are raccoons evolving right under our noses? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. As cities grow, wild animals may be changing alongside us. Does that mean they’re… domesticating?!? Enter Artem Apostolov and team at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. They compared skulls of raccoons

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Optical Clues to Your Health

The eyes are the window to the soul… And your heart too? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Tired of checking your heart health with pinchy blood pressure sleeves. Just take a retinal scan! The blood vessels in our eyes display unique branching. These are

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Sky High Surprises

Keep watching the stars! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The VASCO project monitors anomalies in the sky, like strange lights and vanishing stars. While studying astronomical photographs from the 50’s, Stephen Bruehl and Beatriz Villarroel noticed something strange.  Bright spots were found in the sky the

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