A Moment of Science

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Survival Stripes Feb 15, 2020

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The stripes on some insects help them survive in the wild. When prey with high-contrast stripes move, their stripes blur, making it hard for a predator to see them. That's what a group of scientists found out in an experiment on praying mantises.

Mouthwash and Exercise Feb 14, 2020

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It might not be a great idea to use mouthwash right after working out, at least if you want to experience the blood pressure-reducing effects seen after exercise. Mouth bacteria play an important role in reducing blood pressure after we exercise, and using antibacterial mouthwash can get rid of it.

Spiders Go Way Back Feb 13, 2020

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Some spider webs look as though they were thrown together at the last minute, while others look as though they wer meticulously planned months in advance. It's hard to say just how long it took for spiders to evolve such intricate webs, but evidence suggests that orb webs have been around for a long time, at least 100 million years.

Getting Electricity From Heat Feb 12, 2020

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In order to fight climate change, we need to find new ways of generating electricity that don't involve burning fuels and generating greenhouse gases. Physicists know that there is energy available in the temperature difference between a hot object and its cooler surroundings. A thermoelectrice device is made of special materials that can capture this energy and convert it directly into electricity, without any moving parts.

Fighting Peanuts With Peanuts Feb 11, 2020

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Here’s the common advice about peanuts: if you’re allergic, stay away. Nut allergies are notorious for causing severe, even deadly, reactions. But new treatments for peanut allergies are on the rise.

Saving Up For A Rainy Day Feb 10, 2020

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Are you annoyed by that guy in your office who plays solitaire all day and never actually accomplishes anything? Then you'd really be aggravated in the work environment of the Damraland mole-rats of the Kalahari Desert, where up to 40 percent of a colony is "that guy."

Varying Perceptions Of Pitch Feb 07, 2020

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People who listen to music a lot can perceive the similarity between two of the same notes in different octaves. This may not seem like such a unique ability, since most people in Western countries are able to do this. Still, scientists have long wondered whether it's innate knowledge or learned through exposure.

The Last Woolly Mammoths Feb 06, 2020

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While the first human civilizations grew in Mesopotamia, and the ancient Egyptians were building the pyraminds, there were still woolly mammoths living on a remote arctic island.

Walking On The Moon In Arizona Feb 06, 2020

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The Apollo 11 mission that landed the first humans on the moon famously blasted off from Florida, but NASA was in Arizona, too. In 1967, two years before Neil Armstrong left his footprint in the lunar dust, engineers figured out a way to recreate the moon's surface . . . on Earth.

The Humanizing Voice Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

Voices often indicate thoughts and emotions indirectly. Cues in the form of pitches, tones and pauses are qualities of voices that listeners use to make inferences about a speaker's mind. But those cues aren't always represented in content that we read, like in a transcript or a text message.

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