Pikachu? More like pika-EWWW! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. In the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau of Southeast Asia lives the plateau pika – a little rodent the length of a butter knife. BUT plateau life is no small feat! Temperatures can reach negative twenty degrees fahrenheit,
Continue reading
Can bats see into the future? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. SWOOP! A black blob dashes by – BATS! Their flight path seems so random – how do these speedy creatures keep track of where they are and where they’re going? Nicholas Dotson and
Continue reading
Pop quiz: How is an elephant like a ROOMBAH?? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Slurp! Like your beloved house-hold appliance, elephants also use suction to grab onto food – even the tiniest peanut! Andrew Schultz from Georgia Institute of Technology and colleagues wondered –
Continue reading
Who’s taking on racoons for the title of ULTIMATE DUMPSTER DIVER??!! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying – SURPRISE! It’s the Sulphur-crested cockatoo! Before twenty-eighteen, these pranksters were reported opening garbage cans in three suburbs around Sydney, Australia. They used their beaks and feet
Continue reading
Do our furry friends LOVE to spice it up? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying, YOU PEPPER BELIEVE IT! Some of us humans love spicy food! Others don’t. But what’s the story with. . . MAMMALS? Bowen Li from the Kunming Institute of Zoology
Continue reading
Are smarter people more so-fish-ticated? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Fish may be colorful, but they aren’t very bright! Can they smarten up? Giulia Rossi and Patricia Wright from the University of Guelph in Canada think so! They study the mangrove killifish, a fish
Continue reading
Say what, Batman? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Are those bats talking about ME? Bats can both squeak and hear at frequencies so high, you’d need SUPER-hearing to detect it! Or at least – BAT-hearing? Enter Ville Pulkki and colleagues at Aalto University in
Continue reading
SPLASH! Take the plunge — and meet the world’s best divers! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Who are the smallest mammal scuba-divers in the world? WATER SHREWS! They live on shore, waiting to pounce on tasty insects underwater. While hunting, they can hold their
Continue reading
Does a bear…CLOT in the woods? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Prolonged inactivity–like LONG flights–can increase the risk of harmful blood clots in humans. Interestingly, bears that hibernate for MONTHS, don’t share this same risk. Why? Enter Manuela Thienel from the University Hospital of
Continue reading
As Woody says – “There’s a snake in my boot!” This is Sandra sing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine you’re hiking and “sssss” – a rattlesnake! Eek! If you do get bit, the local doc MIGHT have an antidote, but will it work? Even closely-related species can
Continue reading