Your daily 90-second dose of real science for real people, with Sandra Tsing Loh!
Next time you’re sitting at a tippy restaurant table, don’t get mad. Think Wobbleology! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Wobbleology is the science of, yes, wobbly restaurant tables. New Scientist magazine coined the term. But the credit goes to these folks: researchers at Monash
Sick of waiting for your ice cubes to freeze? Maybe the water is too cold! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Did you know that hot water FREEZES much faster than cold water? This paradox was first observed by Artistole centuries ago. It later became
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
Sorry Spiderman, but you’re no gecko! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Zoologists at the University of Cambridge wondered: Why can some animals with sticky feet scale walls while others can’t? They studied 225 climbing animals of various sizes. From mites and spiders to tree
The chips are alive…with the sound of qubits! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Computers are powered by billions of bits of information – essentially, electrical signals that are either on or off. But tomorrow’s devices need to be way more powerful than traditional bits
When physicists get bored, curious things happen. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet Mir Abbas Jalali of the University of California, Berkeley. He was playing with his wedding ring on his desk one day. Like you do. The ring wobbled and spun like a
Flying is literally a drag. But does it have to be? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Airplanes feel drag. It comes from pushing against air molecules. And we need gigantic engines and tons of jet fuel to get around it. Is there a way
Let’s talk turkey – about laundry? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our clothes are colored with dyes that work by absorbing light. That is, they soak UP certain colors, and reflect BACK the ones we see. But sadly, pigments aren’t permanent. After a few
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