The Perfect Pop

A pot with overfloading popcorn on a gas stove

Movie magic meets… popcorn science? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. No movie night is complete without delicious, buttery popcorn! But have you ever wondered what makes those kernels pop and jump? A study led by Ecole Polytechnic tried to explain this phenomenon. Two French

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Drip Drop

The sound of insomnia: cue the LEAKY FAUCET! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, on the most annoying sound ever. What causes that DRIP DRIP of a leaky bathtub? It’s not what you think! Anurag Agarwal at the University of Cambridge discovered the cause —

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Tiny Gravity

Water droplet falling from unknown object

What goes up must come down – it’s the law! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying – the law of GRAVITY! Gravity keeps us grounded on Earth and keeps us orbiting the Sun. It’s even powerful enough to pull GIGANTIC galaxies toward each other.

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Whirligig Science

Are children’s toys making your head spin? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The centrifuge is an essential lab tool. It’s like a really powerful salad spinner. It can separate fluids into layers based on their density. Centrifuges are critical for diagnosing diseases like malaria.

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The Perfect Wave

Surf’s up dude! Grab your. . . calculator? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Surfers travel all over the world in search of the perfect wave. But even if you’re not riding monster waves in Hawaii, you deserve a good ride. It’ll happen, IF you

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Shaken, Not Stirred

Is the key to finding dark matter. . . in your fridge? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Water freezes because impurities act as “seeds” for ice crystals to grow. But, if you put PURE water in the freezer, it can stay liquid – even

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Chunky Chocolate

This study is a chocolate mess! In a GOOD way… This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Chocolate – the miracle food! Like magic, chunks of fat, sugar, and cocoa solids become the treat we all love! But how does this combo produce LIQUID chocolate? Is

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Silent Running

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… an ion-plane? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Aircraft fly using thrust from a power source to generate lift with their wings. Usually, that power source is a gas guzzling engine, or a noisy propeller. City dwellers pay

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Quantum Buzz

Hate crowds? Need your “personal space?” Negatively charged electrons do too! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. To understand electrons, scientists have developed a special technique called density functional theory – D-F-T for short. D-F-T is used to predict how electron crowds move in an

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Whoa There, Raindrops!

A scientific storm is brewing … about the speed of rain. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: According to physics, everything that falls has a terminal velocity. Apples, rain, people. Terminal velocity is a steady speed, where gravity and air resistance balance out. For

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