Hey baby, what’s your state fossil? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Learn from our mistakes: Don’t use that line. For the record, California’s state fossil is the saber-toothed tiger, of course! Naming fossils is the easy part. Finding where they go on the
Continue readingHit Parade
Rockin’ Robin. It’s a classic hit… in more ways than one! This is Sandra Tsing Loh, with the Loh Down on Science. Songbirds pass down tunes that can long outlast any one bird’s lifetime. In fact, people have recorded melodies that are exactly the same, but tweeted decades apart! But
Continue readingButane on Wheels
Bicycles. Green energy… in more ways than one! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hydrocarbons like butane are chemicals used in fuels. Fuels use the energy stored in the bonds of these molecules. Bonds can hold a lot of energy, but too much makes them
Continue readingToxic Baby Food
Ughhh, what did I eat?. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Caterpillars are cute, but not when they damage crops. Plants defend themselves by producing chemicals that attract wasps, a natural pest control. Wasps lay eggs in caterpillars, and hatchlings slowly eat the caterpillars from
Continue readingSmell Detector
Is the bathroom still smelly? Odorbot to the rescue! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Ever dream of having a day when smelling unpleasant odors is a distant memory? Kenshi Hayashi and colleagues at Kyushu University share this dream. And they’re working on a solution:
Continue readingClimate of Conquest
Were Genghis Khan’s conquests a product of . . . nice weather? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The Mongols were bad dudes, but they kind of came out of nowhere. One day they were a bunch of warring tribes, the next they conquered Korea,
Continue readingLittle Champs
How do kids have so much BLEEPING energy? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Young children can scream and run around all day. It’s like they have enough energy to be Olympic athletes… But could they really? Anthony Birat and colleagues at Clermont-Auvergne University decided
Continue readingDino Dominance
Did the dinosaur age begin with a bang? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Scientists believe dinosaurs met their end from through some kind of natural disaster. But their origins remain a mystery. It seems they were very rare at first, before suddenly ballooning in
Continue readingNaptime for Jellies
Sleep is for the weak. Or is it? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. During sleep, the brain declutters, organizes memories, and rejuvenates. But what about animals without a brain? Do they ever need a snooze? Enter the Cassiopea jellyfish. With no heart, bones, or
Continue readingCoffee Rx
Ahh the smell of fresh coffee wafting from…your medicine cabinet? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Have you noticed most medicine comes in little plastic capsules? These capsules protect your drugs, but they aren’t as safe as you might hope. That’s because plastic is usually
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