Lions and tigers and glowing sharks, oh my? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: We’re gonna need a bigger boat! Lots of ocean-dwelling animals glow. Biofluorescence allows a marine animal–say, a shark–to take in light and convert it to a different color. What color?
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Does a sad emoji make you feel sad too? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down on Science. Good times, bad times – friends share it all! And sometimes, we unconsciously match the mood of those around us. This effect is called EMOTIONAL CONTAGION. Even our dogs seem
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Ever seen an ugly puppy? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying – no such thing! They’re ALL cute! And they somehow look the most adorable when they’ve done something bad. It’s all in those pleading puppy dog eyes. Sometimes instead of a scolding, Fido
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Feeling stressed? Hug a prairie vole! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When you’re upset, friends come to comfort you. Why? Because of oxytocin, a.k.a. the love hormone. It’s linked to the warm fuzzy feelings you get from a hug. But studying oxytocin and fuzzy
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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s – uh oh – bye-bye birdy! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Aircraft strikes kill thousands of birds per year and cause more than one billion dollars in damage. Ugh. Researchers at the National Wildlife Research Center wondered:
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Want to drive the chicks wild? Shake a tail feather! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Nature is filled with mating dances. Peacocks shake their tails, spiders shimmy, and flamingos Flamenco. They all boogie to their own beat, but is the timing of their two-step
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Stressed out? SERENITY NOW! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Social interactions help keep our stress response well-balanced. But are all social encounters created equal? Enter researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. To understand how friendship impacts stress levels, they monitored wild chimpanzees
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Who amongst you speaks Spanish, French…Dolphin? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down on Science. Dolphins are thought to be the second smartest animal in the world. They form close relationships with family and friends and mourn their dead. But can they speak to one another? Dr. Ryabov
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Who lives in the pineapple under the sea? DOLPHINS?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Dolphins love to be entertained. While in captivity, they often play with pool noodles and balls. But a new study suggests that dolphins may benefit from a more… HUMAN pastime.
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Hummingbirds: Cute little nectar sippers, or battle-hardened killers? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hummingbirds are darling! But it’s a bird-eat-bird world –sometimes they have to fight to survive! At University of California, Berkeley, Alejandro Rico-Guevara studies the evolution of hummingbirds. He wondered: What can
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