Sticker Check-Up

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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Predators and Prey-tend

What if your snack… talked back? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Birds often copy each other, but some even mimic their predators. Why? Enter Trinity Harvey and team at Cal Poly Humboldt. They tracked forty-nine Steller’s Jays in California. For a year, researchers followed

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Hitchhiking Bacteria

Hey man, can I bum a ride… to Mars?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Spacecraft cleanrooms use rigorous procedures to ensure no microbial guests stow away on missions. However, some bacteria are hard to detect, since they don’t form spores. Madhan Tirumalai and team

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Cantankerous Capybaras

Help! Capybara catastrophe! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Forget mice! Imagine if your home was infested with giant brown guinea pigs! South America’s capybaras are the world’s largest rodents. Some consider them pests, but they’re illegal to hunt. Is there a harmless way to

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Punching Peacock Shrimp

Never bring cocktail sauce to a shrimp fight. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The Peacock mantis shrimp throws the strongest punch in the animal kingdom. Their club-like claws deliver blows as damaging as twenty-two caliber bullets. Yowch! It’s been a mystery how the shrimp

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Polar Pioneers

Ice ice birdy! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Arctic birds are ecosystem all-stars. But when did they first take on the poles? Enter Patrick S. Druckenmiller and team from University of Alaska’s Museum of the North! They discovered Arctic bird fossils from seventy million

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Cellular Retirement

Is the cure for cancer… the bench team?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Immunotherapy rallies our defenses against tumors. But sometimes, the defense gets… tired. Older cells release inflammatory signals that weaken immune response. Can we replace them with a “second string?” Get in

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Wild Chicken

Stand back, FOWL beast! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hawaii has a feral chicken problem! The population has EXPLODED! And they destroy fruit trees. Farmers are P-O’d! But where did they come from? Enter Eben Gering, from Michigan State University. He collected chickens from

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Tau Me The Future

Alzheimer’s sneaks in quietly – but when does it really start?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Scientists have long known that Alzheimer’s unfolds slowly. But tracking it? Tricky – until now.  Enter Laia Montoliu-Gaya and team at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. They compared

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