Your daily 90-second dose of real science for real people, with Sandra Tsing Loh!
When you’re asleep, how is your baseball game? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Every night, while we sleep, new memories from the day are thrown at our brains like baseballs from a pitcher’s mound. Our brainwaves swing at the perfect time to hit the
Is seeing REALLY believing? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our world is full of things that demand our attention. Signs, lights, people! It should be overwhelming. But our brains are GOOD at prioritizing. How do they decide what’s most important? Meet Jacqueline Snow and
Manatees: Just slow-witted, underwater bean bag chairs who swim into boat propellers, right? But wait! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Manatees got their bad rap a century ago. That’s when an anatomist cracked open the skull of a dead manatee and declared its smooth
Mind over matter! And robots? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Advanced prosthetics hook up a robotic limb directly to your brain. Though still rudimentary, researchers hope to restore natural movement, and even touch, to amputees. But can brains really adapt and control this new
Hey moms, it’s time to lean in to your… baby talk? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. All parents know, it’s important to vocally interact with your babies. Your baby loves your voice. So talk! Sing! Babble! But how can we be sure our little
[Bzzzzzz……} Omigosh, do you hear that, or is it just me? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Fifteen percent of the population suffers from a constant buzzing sound in their ear. It’s known as tinnitus. The ringing sound is caused by over-excited FUSIFORM (FEW-si-form) cells
Got a nervous habit? Maybe you’re a perfectionist! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: Nail biting. Skin picking. Hair pulling. These are all examples of body-focused repetitive disorders—or BFRDs for short. Are they just nervous habits? Canadian researchers think not. They believe BFRDs are
Can our hormones make us cheaters? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Most discussions about cheating focus on ethics. But psychologist Robert Josephs, of the University of Texas at Austin, wondered: Are hormones involved? Because goodness knows hormones impact other decisions. If you know what
Dogs, and cats, and…bears? Who’s the smartest? Care to take a bet? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a neuroscientist from Vanderbilt University, hosted, if you will, a battle of wits. She believes that smarter creatures should have more neurons within their cerebral
Which piggy went to market? Which piggy stayed home? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Turns out that if we don’t look at our toes, we have trouble telling them apart by feel. Or so say Oxford University researchers. In their study, subjects closed their