Is the next weight loss supplement BILE? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying, what is bile, anyway? Doctors think of bile – a greenish fluid in your stomach — as the body’s detergent. It helps digest fat. Yay, that’s a good thing! What ELSE
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Revenge on the Brain
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Can science help? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your brain has specialized regions to handle various tasks. For example, your hippocampus is involved in memory processing. But how does the brain handle situations of
Continue readingLoosened Lips
Does my margarita make me MORE articulate? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down Science. Alcohol affects how our brain works and remembers. Many bilingual speakers claim their foreign language skills IMPROVE after a drink. But is it just liquid courage? Fritz Renner at Maastricht University in the
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Improve your memory by… drinking hot chocolate? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our memory declines with age. Neurologists at New York’s Columbia University may now know why—and what to do about it. They studied a specific brain area, the dentate gyrus, or DG. As
Continue readingTicklish Rats
Who enjoys a tickle—toddlers, babies, rats?!? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We often link laughter to joy, humor, and happiness – emotions typically felt by humans. But do animals also gleefully giggle during play? Scientists at Humboldt University in Berlin gave the question a
Continue readingParental Attention Deficit
Being a perfect parent. The secret is. . . what? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Some kids who are raised in overcrowded institutions can have developmental issues. Attention deficit disorder, problems speaking. Lack of individual attention can really slow mental development. Charles Nelson at
Continue readingHidden Brain
If your eyes are the window to your soul, what’s the window to your brain? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Many people suffer from diseases that require brain surgery to treat and monitor. Unfortunately, brain surgery requires an open skull – risky and complex!
Continue readingAmped-Up Memory
Your brain – what’s it up to…at night? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. It’s not just cooking up bizarre dreams! Sleep is also thought to affect memory formation.. Our natural electrical brain activity helps seal in those memories, converting them from short-term to long-term.
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In after-lunch meetings, when people drone on and you doze off, don’t blame bad Powerpoints. Blame food coma! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, and on food coma—the unbearable sleepiness that sets in about a half an hour after you’ve finished a big meal. According
Continue readingSweets and Sweeties
Could the key to a happy marriage be more sugar? Literally? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet Brad Bushman from Ohio State University. He evaluated the relationships of a hundred married couples. Then he gave each husband and each wife their own, bizarre take-home
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