Wild Chicken

Stand back, FOWL beast! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hawaii has a feral chicken problem! The population has EXPLODED! And they destroy fruit trees. Farmers are P-O’d! But where did they come from? Enter Eben Gering, from Michigan State University. He collected chickens from

Continue reading

Unfolding Mysteries

Write like an Egyptian! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. For ancient Egyptians, that would be on papyrus!  Folded up. Argh.  How do you unwrap fragile scrolls, without destroying them? Enter Egyptologist Verena Lepper of Humboldt University in Berlin. Her team used high powered X-ray beams

Continue reading

Cantankerous Capybaras

Help! Capybara catastrophe! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Forget mice! Imagine if your home was infested with giant brown guinea pigs! South America’s capybaras are the world’s largest rodents. Some consider them pests, but they’re illegal to hunt. Is there a harmless way to

Continue reading

Sweet Dreams

Bad night’s sleep? Try a HEAD RUSH! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Rapid eye movement – or REM – sleep is important not only for dreaming, but our mental health too. Does that mean we NEED to dream? Enter Chia-Jung Tsai and colleagues at

Continue reading

Bird-ger Kings

Human trash is a birds’ feast!  Or a last supper? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.  Meet Andrea Townsend and colleagues from Hamilton College and U-C Davis. They tested for differences in cholesterol levels, general health, and survival rates, between urban and rural baby crows.

Continue reading

Cheating on Keto?

Do-nuts.  Wait!!  Are you on keto?  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Keto’s low carb, high fat diet deprives you of glucose. Your body starts burning its fat reserves. Then come the fun cheat days!  No? Meet Cody Durrer and colleagues from the University of

Continue reading

Tree-Friendly

Hug a tree!  Especially if you are one! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet Martin Bader and Sebastian Leuzinger from Auckland University of Technology. Hiking in New Zealand, they came across a kauri tree stump. Despite not having any green foliage, the stump was

Continue reading

Kitty Antidote

What goes meow AND achoo? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying allergic cat owners! Oy! Ebenezer Satyaraj and team at Nestle Purina looked into it and discovered…it’s about the spit! Just one pesky protein in cat saliva is usually the culprit in most human allergic

Continue reading

Right on Time

Could the crack of dawn… make you crack a smile, as you get older? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying… No way! I’m grouchy when I get up early. Then again… I’ve never studied it. But Stephen Smagula and team from University of Pittsburgh

Continue reading

Quenched Grapes

It’s the year of the… RAISIN?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. 2024 has been the hottest year ever recorded. And that affects crop yields and prices. Wine too! How can we keep our grapes hydrated, without wasting water and money? Nazareth Torres from UC

Continue reading