Hawk Eyes

Ever wish someone would watch your kids like a hawk? Literally? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine you’re a hummingbird. You’re small. Your eggs are small. Potentially, squirrel lunch. What can you do? Get protection. Hire a hawk! That’s where Harold Greeney comes in.

Break Job

Hey, is there something wrong with your breaks? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, with the latest on how to maximize your downtime! During the workday, we all need breaks – snack breaks, lunch breaks, second lunch breaks. But researchers from Baylor University’s business school

Prehistoric Virus

Scientists are bringing back a 30,000-year-old virus. What could possibly go wrong? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Sure, call it a comeback! French researchers call it Mollivirus sibericum, and it’s long been frozen in Siberian soil. Thanks to climate change, that once chilly

Scents and Sensibility

Ew—this milk smells bad. What do you think? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. You and I are different. We have unique fingerprints, retinal prints, and—surprise—olfactory prints. We just don’t smell things the same way. There are roughly four-hundred different smell receptors, but we don’t

Smokes on the Water

Newsflash: Butts are hurting marine life! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying no, we don’t mean too-small G-strings at the beach. Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter on beaches. Volunteers cleaned up more than 2 million of them from the world’s

Peak Performance

Over forty? Good news! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Your brain’s best years are still ahead! It’s been thought that mental speed and memory peak for people in their twenties. And knowledge that builds with time and experience, like your vocabulary, has seemed

Going Green

It isn’t easy eating green! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Eastern coastal waters are home to pretty green sea slugs, called eastern emerald elysia. They look like leaves! What’s more, these marine animals eat algae, a plant. Then somehow they use the algae to

Popcorn Science

Have you ever wondered why popcorn pops? French scientists have. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet Emmanuel Virot and Alexandre Ponomarenko. They study extreme forces. Things like: how wind breaks trees. Their experiments require special equipment, including cameras that record thousands of images per

The Tooth About Beavers

Finally! Incisive research on beaver teeth! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Beavers are amazing. They’re not only master carpenters, but they fell timber with their teeth! Don’t try that at home! And like many rodents, beavers’ incisors continually grow. What’s more, they don’t get

Tonal Talk

Climate influences language. True or false? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: True, suggests a new study. Think about trying to talk when your throat is dry. It’s harder, right? Well, researchers in Germany and the Netherlands say: That’s exactly why certain languages arose