On Wednesdays, we wear… diapers? Puh, Mean Girls. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. A healthy gut contains a diverse ecosystem of bacteria! But – where do we get it from? Enter Liviana Ricci and team at the University of Trento, Italy. They studied a
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A banana a day might NOT keep the doctor away. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Toxic metals from industrial waste can build up in our bodies and cause health problems. In 2015, a mining disaster in Brazil released toxic metal waste into nearby soil.
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How’s the weather… on the sun?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Solar storms impact the Earth’s magnetic field, so we want to study them – from a safe distance, of course! Where is that, anyway? The Sun has an outer boundary that changes with
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Is Mona Lisa smiling or frowning…and why does she have tentacles?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Octopi and squids can alter pigments in their skin to change how they look. What if we could too? Enter Haoqing Yang and team at Pennsylvania State University.
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Seen at 2:17 p.m. Replied at… never. If text messaging is instant, why are so many people left on “read?” This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Jing Li and team at Sun Yat-sen University in China wanted to understand why people don’t always respond. They
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What’s to eat at… Pleistocene Park? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. RNA is DNA’s mailman. It delivers genetic info around the cell. BUT… it’s very fragile! This makes reading ancient RNA very difficult. Until now! Enter Emilio Mármol-Sánchez and team at Sweden’s Centre for Palaeogenetics.
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Most organs are a one-hit wonder. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, right??? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Take the thymus. It trains infection-fighting T cells, but as we age, it shrinks, weakening our immune system. Could the thymus make a comeback? Enter Anna Czarkwiani
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Are we FISHING for trouble in clear waters? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Agricultural runoff can turn a lake into a pesticide cocktail. Is it SCALING down fish’s lifespans? Enter Kai Huang and team at the University of Wuhan. They looked at unusually small
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Are you missing cues… if you can’t see all the… hues??? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Bladder cancer is often spotted when urine changes color. But what if you can’t see red? Ruh roh! Enter Mustafa Fattah [MOOS-tah-fah FAH-tah] and team at Harvard. They
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(Sigh) Microscopic Paul Rudd only exists in the Marvel universe… unless? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine shrinking robots down to the size of a speck of dust. That would revolutionize processing… manufacturing… pretty much everything! Well, shrink rays we have not, but the
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