biomimicry – The Loh Down On Science

Octopus Gloves

November 10, 2022 Sarah Ruttenberg

Octopus man, octopus man, does whatever an octopus can! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science As a kid, did you ever swim to the bottom of the pool to grab a toy? Pretty hard, wasn’t it. What can we learn about grabbing things underwater from

Blackest Black

November 22, 2019 Evelyn Hoover

Ladies love a guy dressed in black…especially lady SPIDERS! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying that’s right! Male peacock spiders use a slick dance and super black spots to woo the ladies. These areas aren’t just dark, they’re SUPER dark! Meaning, they absorb more

RoboBee

November 13, 2019 Kendra Walters

Look! It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s RoboBee! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Drones help us explore areas we can’t get to on foot. But the bulkier the drone, the more difficult and dangerous to fly. So smaller IS better! But microdrones can’t

Tough As A Lobster

September 24, 2019 Sasha Vyatskikh

Could your knight in shining armor be…a lobster? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down on Science, saying…love this spiny shellfish? Well, chew on this! Ming Guo was doing just that one evening. Over dinner, he noticed that the film on the belly of his lobster was super

I Heart Robot

August 20, 2019 Maria Montchal

The robots are coming… after my heart? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. To fix a leaky heart valve, surgeons drive a snake-like robot through your heart to get to the leak, kind of like a roto-rooter. But arteries aren’t exactly smooth drives in the

Hot and Cold

August 5, 2019 Preeta Pratakshya

Tired of those passive-aggressive office thermostat wars? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Summer is here! That means sleeveless dresses and sandals can come back out of the closet! But then you remember… That guy in the office who ALWAYS turns the thermostat to sixty-five!

Stick to It

April 24, 2019 Hurik Muradyan

Insects: They creep, they crawl — but could they teach us to stick around? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Beetles and geckos have super sticky feet. Their secret? Tiny mushroom-shaped patches! These patches are a million times smaller than the width of a single