Loh Down Staff – Page 4 – The Loh Down On Science

Pollen Party

July 10, 2019 Loh Down Staff

Here’s a pollen puzzle: how do bees get more buck for the bang? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Consider bees known as “Buzz pollinators.” They favor plants with very sticky pollen. With their mouths and legs, they grab onto the plant’s anthers – the

Happy Weight

July 5, 2019 Loh Down Staff

Can Happy Meals help us lose weight? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We Americans love super-sized fast food, even though that’s not particularly healthy. Can we curb this habit? University of Arizona psychologist Martin Reimann thinks maybe so. He researched serving incentives along with

Antwater Rafting

July 4, 2019 Loh Down Staff

The ants go rafting one by one. Hoorah! Hoorah! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: No, ants don’t raft one-by-one. Many types of ants are social, and act as a team . . . or in this case a crew! A team of scientists

Shellfish Sherlock

June 21, 2019 Loh Down Staff

Shellfish are tasty. But can they illuminate the past? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Professor Pupa Gilbert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studies pen shells. That’s a large, clam-like shellfish commonly found in Florida. Specifically, she studies their nacre, or mother-of-pearl. It’s that iridescent

Bugburger

June 7, 2019 Loh Down Staff

Hungry? Pass the crickets, please! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. And the newest buzz on healthy eating! Edible bugs may not be on the menu for most Westerners. But, they are used as a food source in many other parts of the world. Scientists

Mercury Madness

May 1, 2019 Loh Down Staff

I’ll have the seafood platter – hold the mercury! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Coal power plants and paper mills spew pollution – including mercury — into the atmosphere and ocean. It can be nasty stuff, and dangerous, too! But double trouble happens when

Stressed-Out Chicks

March 29, 2019 Loh Down Staff

Are the most popular kids also the most stressed out? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: You’d be surprised what the little birds tell us! At Oxford and Saint Andrews universities, researchers investigated what factors make youngsters more social adults. The researchers turned to

Pink Snow

March 26, 2019 Loh Down Staff

We all know to avoid yellow snow. But what about PINK snow? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down On Science. Pink snow forms when the surfaces of glaciers and ice sheets melt. Red algae grow in the meltwater and color the snow beneath. Scientists from the University

Profane Pain

March 22, 2019 Loh Down Staff

You stubbed your toe! Oh, fudge- Words you can’t say on the radio! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science asking: Why do we swear when we’re hurt? In 2009, that’s what psychologists of Keele University in the UK wondered. They led a study on the

Social Interference

March 19, 2019 Loh Down Staff

Are you shy? Maybe your T-cells are to blame! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. T-cells are the body’s immune warriors. They fight off invaders and keep you healthy! But what if your army of cells is short a few good men? You might get