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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Stop and smell the – *GAG* This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Some varieties of wild ginger smell like… wild ginger. Some… smell like death! What gives? Dr. Yudai Okuyama and team at the University of Tokyo discovered the source of the stank. In normal
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Feeling blue? Maybe it’s time to chat… with a bot. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. In the U-K, Johanna Habicht and team tried out a new AI-powered chatbot. Its job? Help people refer themselves to mental health services — no calls, no paperwork. Just
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Pop til you drop… weight?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Medicines like Ozempic melt the pounds away! But here’s the catch: almost HALF of what’s lost could be muscle. That’s an ancient survival trick — our bodies shed muscle when food is scarce. Can
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What’s black and white and… full of toxic sludge? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine the ocean was your home until… it became a murky wasteland. Well, prepare to cry: killer whales off British Columbia are in DEEP trouble. Kiah Lee and team from
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What’s YOUR expiration date? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. There’s your actual age – based on your birthday – and your epigenetic age – based on your health. This is measured with an epigenetic clock. And guess what: you can eat yourself younger! Huh?!
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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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Polly want… an iPad? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Pet parrots are smart and social, but often live alone. Their isolation can lead to stress, poor well-being, even self-harm. BUT, co-housing parrots can spread disease. Ew. Is… the answer… Zoom?!? Rebecca Kleinberger and team
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Zombie outbreak! Who ya gonna call? Mommy?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. “Zombie” immune cells have been discovered that let tumors grow unchecked! But only in men’s bladders. How can we stop them? Qingchen Zhu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences went with a
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Is there a hack for… dreams?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Lucid dreaming is when you realize that you’re dreaming while you’re still asleep. Could meditation strengthen this state of awareness between waking and sleeping? Osnabrück University’s Elena Gerhardt and team investigated. They divided
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