Dangerously Delicious

  Are junk foods HIJACKING your brain!?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Junk food can be irresistible. But are we BORN with this preference, or is it something we LEARN?  Sharmili Thanarajah from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research and team investigated.  Researchers

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Selfie Love

Say cheese!  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying, taking pictures has never FELT this good! Breakfast selfie, outfit selfie… They are EVERYWHERE! Selfies are a popular way to capture and share moments. But could they also have a psychological component? Richard Eibach from the

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The Power of Language

Words can change your mind… literally! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Language is a huge part of human development. But can the language we speak physically affect our brains?  Xuehu Wei and team at the Planck Institute in Germany wondered. They compared brain scans

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Spun Out

Ring around the rosyyy… This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Remember spinning around the playground as a kid til you felt like hurling–or maybe did!?? It turns out many other primates like to spin too! What makes this silly, dizzying pastime so much fun? Adriano

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Doxing in Darkness

Hello darkness, my old friend.  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Sleep helps us learn, focus, and recover. Light is nature’s alarm clock. And a good one at that! Even a tiny bit can keep us from catching our Z’s. Would sleeping in total darkness

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Hangry Cycles

Can we take a lunch break? I’m so HANGRY This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We all look forward to eating. But why? We know that animals can anticipate food, but it’s never been shown in humans. Could HANGER prove that we do it too?

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Brain Stamps

Not eating affects our mood, but what about our brains? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. As we age, our cognitive abilities slowly decline. This impacts memory, learning, decision making, attention, and other things I can’t quite remember. What we do know? Low access to

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The Zoomers

Meet the new teenage generation! The Zoomers!  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Nowadays, meeting IRL is like seeing a unicorn… meeting in person happens so rarely! EVERYTHING is done online! Teenagers are some of the most affected! Could this influence their social skills?  Enter

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Time Flies

Just one more game of Mahjong Solitaire. . . What — it’s been six hours?!? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Does time REALLY fly when you’re having fun? Or does it just SEEM that way? Masamichi Hayashi Richard Ivry from UC Berkeley have some

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Stimulated Learning

The latest development in learning? It’s literally SHOCKING! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When you’re learning something new, your brain starts firing electrical pulses. These signals help you track and record information. But – does it work in reverse? Could a jolt of electricity

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