Flash Dance

It all happens in a flash! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Solar power is so cool — the sun comes out and on go your lights! HOW does that happen? It starts with chemicals like methyl viologen. They react with light to generate power.

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Window-O-Power

A conceptual picture of a house with the windows made of the material proposed in the study.

See windows in a whole new light! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Renewable energy – it’s the wave of the future! Solar is popular, but huge rooftop panels don’t grab everything. What about the light streaming through our windows? Could we capture and harness

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Cracking Recycling

Common plastic items like food and beverage containers CAN be recycled. But is the juice always worth the SQUEEZE? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our oceans and landfills are overflowing with plastic waste. Hundreds of millions of tons are produced each year. Recycling can

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Sweat it Out!

Bulb light on

America runs on…sweat? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. A morning run – so invigorating! The feeling of sweat rolling down your back? Yuck! But can sweat be useful? Xueping Zhang and colleagues from the National University of Singapore had a “dry idea!” The team

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Big Brains

Plastic brain model

Big brain…tiny list of Facebook friends? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We, humans, are VERY smart mammals – if we do say so ourselves! Some say it’s because we have such big brains. But at what cost to society? Manuela González-Suárez at the University

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Leaf it to Solar

The energy industry really needs to lighten up … Literally. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We’ve been using the sun to produce power for almost two centuries. Today, mostly with solar panels. Unfortunately, they’re expensive and take up a lot of space. Can we

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Elastic Plastic

Is it just me, or is it HOT in here? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.  Ugh! The A-C’s gone out! Isn’t this place insulated? What? They should have used… PLASTIC?! Enter Quan Zhang and Yufeng Wang from Nankai University. They’re experts in polymers –

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Flower Power Devour

Could flower power take a bite out of the energy crisis?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Most plants get their energy from the sun, but carnivorous plants eat ANIMALS! They each have a special way to trap their prey. Could this inspire new energy-harnessing

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Flier Friendly

Wind farm on a green mountain terrain

Frequent fliers? More like frequent colliders! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Here you are, a bird in flight, minding your own business. Suddenly – SQUAWK! OH NO! A WIND FARM! Fly back!!! Wind energy might help save the planet, but it’s deadly to birds.

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Flash Dance

It all happens in a flash! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Solar power is so cool — the sun comes out and on go your lights! HOW does that happen? It starts with chemicals like methyl viologen. They react with light to generate power.

Continue reading