What do you see in the black mirror? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. It’s tough being a teen? No one understands you! And teens today report feeling even lonelier than past generations! “WHY?” asked Jean Twengea and team from San Diego State University. Over
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In a food coma after too much holiday fressing? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Researchers at the University of Manchester, lead by Dennis Burdakov, can explain. When we’re hungry, we have low levels of glucose in our bloodstream and brain. That activates tiny proteins
Continue readingOn Christmas Day we ask: church air is pure—literally? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Chemists at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology made a miraculous discovery. Stained glass church windows literally clear the air when lit by sunlight. Lead researcher Huai Yon Zhu believes medieval glaziers
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Santa Claus is coming to town—or is he? This is Sandra Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Of course he is! All kids know that! Of course, children can also have imaginary friends. Meet Psychologist Stephanie Carlson from the University of Washington and Marjorie Taylor from the University
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It’s Stormy Monday….for spiders? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet Jonathan Pruitt and team from U-C Santa Barbara. They wondered if—similar to how humans rush to grocery store to hoard toilet paper—tropical cyclones make spider colonies more aggressive. They put a piece of paper
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Fine, I’ll share with you, but not everyone! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, asking, how selfish does that make me? Ask Carlos Alós-Ferrer from the University of Zurich. He and his team created selfishness games for 600 volunteers. In one game, pairs of players
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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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Write like an Egyptian! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. For ancient Egyptians, that would be on papyrus! Folded up. Argh. How do you unwrap fragile scrolls, without destroying them? Enter Egyptologist Verena Lepper of Humboldt University in Berlin. Her team used high powered X-ray beams
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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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Bad night’s sleep? Try a HEAD RUSH! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Rapid eye movement – or REM – sleep is important not only for dreaming, but our mental health too. Does that mean we NEED to dream? Enter Chia-Jung Tsai and colleagues at
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