A Moment of Science

Humans aren't unique when it comes to fingerprints

Hinzugefügt: 24. Mai 2024

Fingerprints might be unique to one person, but they aren't unique to one species.

The starch difference

Hinzugefügt: 23. Mai 2024

Have you ever made rice that was perfectly fluffy and then the next day, taken it out of the fridge only to find it hard and crumbly?

How do our organs heal themselves?

Hinzugefügt: 22. Mai 2024

Normally, when tissue gets injured, cells start replicating and make new tissue. But what about the heart?

Benjamin Franklin and his fabric swatches in the snow

Hinzugefügt: 21. Mai 2024

In a letter written in 1761, Benjamin Franklin tells how he collected some little squares of broadcloth. Franklin wanted to demonstrate that these colors would absorb different amounts of light...

Extremophiles go to the ends of the Earth and thrive there

Hinzugefügt: 20. Mai 2024

Just like Goldilocks, humans have searched for a place that's "just right" to live in. That's not the same for all species, though.

Colors and their opposites, with paint

Hinzugefügt: 17. Mai 2024

We usually think of paint as a substance that adds color to things. But, from a physical point of view, paint works by taking colors away.

Why do people grunt when playing tennis?

Hinzugefügt: 16. Mai 2024

Tennis players are known for the loud grunts they make during a game. Why do they do it?

Could being a dog person be in your genes?

Hinzugefügt: 15. Mai 2024

In 2019 a team of Swedish and British scientists published a study claiming that whether we chose to own a dog may be influenced by our genes.

Graphene and faster computer chips

Hinzugefügt: 14. Mai 2024

Physicists are searching for new materials with better semiconductor properties so that computers can continue to improve.

Where the sky isn't blue

Hinzugefügt: 13. Mai 2024

We just covered why the sky is blue, but there are a few areas without color above us.

What makes the sky blue?

Hinzugefügt: 10. Mai 2024

It can't be the atmosphere, or dust, or water droplets. So what makes the sky blue?

Temperature: A key variable in making the perfect cup of coffee

Hinzugefügt: 9. Mai 2024

Water temperature is a major element of quality control in making coffee. Why exactly is temperature important?

A rattlesnake's rattling trick

Hinzugefügt: 8. Mai 2024

Rattlesnakes modulate their rattling frequency to trick other animals into thinking the distance between them is shorter than it really is.

Cud-chewing monkeys

Hinzugefügt: 7. Mai 2024

Proboscis monkeys from Borneo and cows do have something in common: they both chew their cuds.

Rain in this desert is deadly

Hinzugefügt: 6. Mai 2024

The Atacama Desert in Northern Chile is the driest desert on Earth. The only life there is microbial, and researchers study it to get an idea of what we might find on Mars.

What inspired the Lorax?

Hinzugefügt: 3. Mai 2024

One study proposes that this “sort of a man” described as “shortish, and oldish, and brownish and mossy” could have been inspired by the patas monkey.

"Terror beasts" of the early Cambrian

Hinzugefügt: 2. Mai 2024

Paleontologists constantly search for new species of fossilized creatures from the distant past to expand our understanding of the history of life on Earth.

How do mosquitoes find us?

Hinzugefügt: 1. Mai 2024

Mosquitoes always seem to find us, no matter how hard we try to get away. How do they do it?

Rain on the rear window

Hinzugefügt: 30. April 2024

The next time you're driving during a rain shower, glance back at the rear window. You'll notice that while raindrops batter the front windshield, they seem to avoid the back window as long as the...

A giant bee, rediscovered

Hinzugefügt: 29. April 2024

Megachile pluto, commonly called “Wallace’s giant bee” is the world’s largest bee. And perhaps its most elusive.