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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Going vegan? What can a bear claw teach us? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Bears love meat! And occasionally honey — I’m talking to you, Winnie the Pooh! But not ALL bears. For instance, despite their ursine heritage, pandas eat bamboo everyday. However, a
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If you give a mouse LSD…THEN what? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hallucinations are tricky to study. So it’s hard to develop effective treatments for disorders like schizophrenia. Giving people LSD to make them hallucinate? Probably a bad idea. Fortunately, it’s much easier, well,
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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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Snakes are taking “you are what you eat” LITERALLY! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The effects of snake venom can range from harmless to deadly. But why not a one size fits all approach? Or one BITE, as it were. Kevin Healy from the
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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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Are forest animals the next Bandcamp stars? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Humans have been working hard to preserve the world’s oceans, deserts and forests. But how is that working out? You COULD use satellites to track forest growth. But satellites can’t see the
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This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had none. Which one stopped to smell the roses? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The common domestic pig has moods like we do. Lisa Collins and colleagues from the University of Lincoln wondered: how much
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