A Moment of Science
Episodes
Hearing A Shape
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first picture an expecting mother is likely to see of her developing fetus is not, technically, a picture at all. Most likely, it's an ultrasound ...
The Oldest Ballistic Tongue
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part of the appeal of chameleons lies in their ability to fire their long sticky tongues out of their mouths to capture insects to eat. Scientists rec...
Red-Eyed Pictures
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some photos appear normal, except for an unearthly red color glowing from the pupils of your loved ones' eyes. Are Grandma and Uncle Felix possessed, ...
Dogs Don’t Recognize Faces Like Humans Do
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The human brain is exquisitely tuned to identify faces and facial expressions, which are so important to human social interaction. Researchers have fo...
The Breathless Parasite
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pretty much everyone knows that oxygen is a fundamental requirement for life as we know it, but oddly enough that’s not entirely right. There are ma...
How Do Birds Survive Hurricanes?
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ecologists go in search of birds displaced by hurricanes that make landfall along the coastal wetlands of the southern U.S. The abundant plant life th...
Earth's First Parasite
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020 paleontologists found the oldest fossil evidence of a parasite ever, in 540 million-year-old rocks in Yunnan Province, China.
Brachiation
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s A Moment of Science examines brachiation, which is how apes and monkeys swing through the trees. Orangutans, spider monkeys, and chimpanzees...
AI Antibiotics
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bacteria are evolving the ability to resist some of our most important antibiotics. Unless something is done, resistant strains of bacteria may kill 1...
The Parasite That Eavesdrops On Its Host
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, an international team of researchers made an important discovery about a parasite called a dodder. Dodders are a group of over a 100 parasiti...
Did Life On Earth Begin In Hot Springs?
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The molecular working parts of living things are complex organic molecules with a backbone of carbon atoms. Some scientists think that hot springs mig...
Frogs Can Breathe Through Their Skin
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cutaneous respiration is the ability to breathe through the skin, and is a common trait in amphibians, although humans can't do it.
Failing Better
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some scientists have an exact figure for how much failure is optimal for learning: they say that learning is most effective when it involves failure 1...
Why Is U.S. Money Green?
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We use money all the time, but have you ever wondered why U.S. banknotes are green? After A Moment of Science researchers did some investigating into ...
More Wolves, Taller Willows
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The willows in Yellowstone National Park used to commonly grow up to 157 inches tall. But in the 1990s, most willows in the northern part of the park ...
Earth's Climate History
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If we understood how Earth's climate has changed over its long geological history, we could better understand modern climate change. In 2020, geoscien...
The Germ-Killing Power Of Copper
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ancient Egytians used copper to sterilize wounds and clean their drinking water. They even wrote about it in one of the oldest known medical texts...
How Does Crop Rotation Work?
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Crop rotation involves a lot of questions, like a puzzle. There are so many different crops that farmers can choose to plant, and so many different co...
Mollusks Reveal The Length Of A Day
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rudist clams were around in the late Cretaceous and are extinct today. Their fossils can tell us a lot of surprising things, such as the length of a d...
The New Tree In Town
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When a gardener digs up a tree or shrub in one place and transplants it to another, the plant will endure all sorts of stress. It’s common for trans...
Shrinking Eyespots On Butterflies
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The eyes on the wings of a butterfly can look kind of strange, but they're not looking at you, they're just a deflecting mechanism. Like a lot of butt...
Phosphine: A Sign Of Life On Venus
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020 an international team of astonomers made a surprising discovery using the James Clerk Maxwell telescope in Hawai'i. They found evidence that t...
A Drop In Temperature
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you take your temperature, we hope to find that we have a normal temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This might not be as normal as we think,...
The Discovery Of A New Organ
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A team of Swedish biomedical researchers have just discovered a new organ in the bodies of mice, and they expect that humans have it, too. They missed...
Bridging The Gibbon Divide
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When a landslide in China created a treeless gully in a forest, the apes who lived there had to leap dangerously across, or take a long detour through...
The Loneliness Of Social Distancing
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During times of mandatory isolation, like COVID-19 “social distancing”, countless people experience loneliness, but our craving for social contact...
Thiophenes On Mars: Evidence Of Past Life?
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thiophenes are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and sulfur. Their molecules contain a ring of four carbon atoms and one sulfur atom. They are found in c...
Do Elephants Grieve Their Dead?
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are documented accounts by scientists of elephants' interest in the bodies of their dead. In 2019 a team of American researchers added their own...
The Rusty Moon
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, a team of American scientists reported the first remotely sensed evidence of the mineral hematite on Earth's moon. The researchers made their...
Is Your Dog Anxious?
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sensitivity to loud noises, like thunder or fireworks, is the most common kind of anxiety for dogs. In fact, researchers at the University of Helsinki...
Where Did Penguins Come From?
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have mulling over the origin of the penguin. And after sequencing the genome of the 18 species of penguins that exist today, they have a pr...
Foxing
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you visit an archive with scrolls, illuminated manuscripts, or old books on display, you might notice a particular kind of round, yellowish, or ora...
The Danger of Supervolcanoes
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just like the impact of an asteroid or a comet, the explosion of a volcano can be a major disaster. 39,000 years ago the Campi Flegrei volcano blew up...
Whale Migration Molting
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some animals go to great lengths to exfoliate. Some scientists think that the reason some whale species make their long migration is to shed their ski...
Was Earth Once A Waterworld?
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many astronomers think that exoplanets circling distant stars might be waterworlds, but maybe we don't need to look that far away. In 2020 two America...
The Difference In Our Gestures
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do we learn gestures by watching others make them? Or do our patterns of gesture originate from language itself?
Is The Great Barrier Reef Dying?
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Great Barrier Reef is that gigantic coral reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia, and it may be dying. This reef is the largest biological st...
Spaghettification by Black Hole
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a joke for astronomy buffs: what’s a black hole’s favorite meal? Spaghettification! Of course, the joke only makes sense if you know what...
Rejuvenating Human Cells
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Science has done some amazing things, but nobody really knows if it could ever extend our life span, or eliminate aging entirely. Recently, a team of ...
Dolphin Best Friends
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Male dolphins hang out with acquaintances and family, but they also spend a lot of time with their best friend. Adult male bottlenose dolphins often b...
A Rainforest In Antarctica
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
92 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs, there was a rainforest in Antarctica. This isn't due to the movement of continents on Earth's ...
House Cat Versus Predators
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The hunting abilities of house cats are pretty impressive. They look so cute and cuddly, and then they turn out to be ferocious killers. A lot of peop...
Brussel Sprouts Really Are Good For You
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the years, Brussels sprouts and broccoli have developed a bad reputation as unappetizing health food. In spite of this, they are some of the most...
The Many Colors Of Bell Peppers
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The bell pepper is one of the most popular vegetables in the world (even though it’s technically a fruit). Its deeply pigmented, shiny skin advertis...
How Butterflies Keep Their Wings Cool
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020 an interdisciplinary team of American researchers published a study on how butterflies keep their wings cool. Using a specialized infrared cam...
Megalodon: The Largest Shark That Ever Lived
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The largest shark that ever lived is called Otodus megalodon. Its teeth were as big as a human hand. The oldest fossil evidence dates from 20 million ...
Serving Up Nuclear Pasta
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Neutron stars can form when a giant star goes supernova. During a supernova, the star’s core collapses, and the remaining protons and electrons get ...
The Science Of Narrative Structure
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Even very different kinds of books share some common characteristics, like the pattern of their function words. These are the short connector words su...
Dinosaur For Dinner
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chewed up dinosaur bones are a pretty common find in Colorado's Mygatt-Moore Quarry. According to a recent story, about 29% of 2,368 dinosaur bones re...
Do Praying Mantises Change Color?
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mantises display subtle shades of color that sometimes allow them to disappear into their habitats, where you might find them perching on a blade of t...
Facebook And The Emergency Department
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Social media can be addictive, and sometimes it's better to cut back on use. But it isn't necessarily all bad. It can tell us some surprising things a...
How Chinchillas Stay Clean
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chinchillas are sometimes singled out as being particularly adorable and fascinating. Chinchillas are native to the Andes Mountains. To survive the co...
The Australian Wildfires: An Ecological Disaster
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Near the beginning of 2020 massive wildfires ravaged Australia.The fires peaked in intensity during December and January. Damage to Australian ecosyst...
The Early Bird Gets The Girl
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone might enjoy waking up to birdsong, but not at 4am. So what is making birds start their singing at this less idyllic time?
How Eureka Moments Can Warp Our Judgement
31 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A eureka moment is an experience where a solution or idea suddenly appears in your mind and immediately feels true. One reason eureka experiences are ...
The Powerful Pistol Shrimp
29 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today we will consider a small but mighty creature called the pistol shrimp. It's a ferocious animal, known for its claws, one of which is a normal pi...
The Gestures In Our Voices
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When we talk to people on the phone who we know well, we can often predict their physical gestures while they're talking, even if we can't see them. T...
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
26 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some days rain falls in a light, calm sweep across the earth. On other days rain falls in a torrential downpour, flooding the ground below. So, what c...
Ancient Gum
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At one Stone-Age-era archaeological site in southern Denmark on the island Lolland all of the artifacts have been sealed in mud since the Mesolithic p...
Will Dogs Really Rescue Humans?
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cooperation and mutual aid can help animals survive and reproduce, and in these circumstances evolution can promote helpful and unselfish behavior. A ...
Aluminum, Phosphate, Lead and Water
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Too much lead is always a cause for concern, and scientists are still learning about how lead interacts with other substances. Take aluminum and phosp...
Rediscovering the Nose-Horned Lizard
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many years ago, it seemed like there was so much biodiversity out there, with all kinds of new plants and animals to discover. Now it seems like every...
Are There Active Volcanoes On Venus?
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The surface of Venus is dotted with ring-like structures named coronae, produced by volcanic activity. They appear to be much like the Hawaiian island...
Neanderthals and Fertility
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some of us have Neanderthal genes, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's research showing that women with a certain gene variant, or allele, in...
Why Does the Sun Seem to Follow Us?
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You're driving down the highway on a beautiful day as your child looks out the window. She asks, "Why is the sun following us?"
Escape From A Frog's Stomach
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020 a Japanese biologist reported discovering a species of aquatic beetle that can actively escape alive from the stomach of a pond frog. It doesn...
Vaccine Skeptics Think Differently
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Despite having almost 1,300 measles cases in 2019 after measles was declared eradicated from the U.S. in 2000, some people are still hesitant to vacci...
The Wonderful World Inside Lava Caves
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Do you live near a dormant volcano? You might have a weird wonderland right beneath your feet.
Lava Caves Part 1
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Hawaii, there's a lava cave named Kazumura that's over 40 miles long, the largest in the world. When a volcano erupts, it sends lava rivers rushing...
Desert Ants Use Magnetic Field To Get Home
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Desert ants spend the first four weeks of their lives in their underground nest. They keep themselves busy by digging tunnels, building chambers, and ...
What Happens To Nuclear Waste?
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today, 440 nuclear reactors are operating in 30 countries worldwide. The energy generated by these plants provides 10 percent of the world’s electri...
Denman Glacier: Assessing The Threat
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Melting glaciers in West Antarctica might collapse due to the effects of human-caused global climate change, but there are also risks in Antarctica's ...
Mangrove Forests and Flood Protection
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mangrove forests are beautiful all on their own, but they also provide flood protection. The roots of the trees hold in sediment, which prevents erosi...
Mal de Debarquement Syndrome
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever had the experience of being on a boat all day, and then later feeling like you were swaying or rocking even though you were no longer on...
Bumblebees and Flowering Plants
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists think that bumblebees can speed up flowering in plants. They go the idea when doing a different experiment and noticing bumblebees using th...
The Asteroid Did It: A Murder Mystery
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period is Earth's greatest murder mystery. 66 million years ago, something killed about 75 percent of all ...
Coyotes May Soon Enter South America
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historically, coyotes roamed a broad expanse, as far east as the Mississippi and as far west as the Pacific, north into Canada and south into Mexico, ...
Warm Antarctic Waters
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists are carefully monitoring the west Antarctic ice sheet. It's melting, and has been responsible for about four percent of the global rise in ...
A Brain Area That Shuts Off Pain
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
During WWII, doctors noticed severely injured soldiers didn't need pain medication. Biomedical researchers have known for some time that the brain has...
Isolation and Inflammation
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An illness all by itself is unpleasant, but the isolation we experience while recovering is also bad for our health. There's research showing that soc...
Reindeer Could Save The Permafrost
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Reindeer herds may be saving thawing permafrost, which can release greenhouse gases stored in it and speed up climate change.
Pain Relieving Profanity
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you stub your toe or hit your head, sometimes a swear word will slip out. Some researchers argue that this is a kind of stress-reduced analgesia,...
Turtle Moms And Their Decoy Nests
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Every summer, scores of trained volunteers scan coastal beaches, looking for sea turtle nests. When found, the nests are marked and watched, preventin...
The "Ghost" Hominin
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's interesting that modern anthropologists can do more than just study fossil bones and teeth. Ancient remains sometimes contain surviving DNA, and ...
Upside-Down Grasshoppers
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered how bugs handle being upside down for so long? It's a puzzling question, especially since insects don't have a closed circulato...
Insect Flours
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Over the next few decades, bread may become an important protein source for many consumers, and animal protein alone won’t be able to meet the deman...
Will Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Harm Our Ability To Think?
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
According to a study published by American researchers in 2020, unless we change current practices, by the end of this century there will be more than...
Volcanic Eruptions And Rainfall
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have noticed that global precipitation tends to drop after a volcanic eruption, but they haven't known all the factors that can influence t...
Beluga Whales Are Just Like Us
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Beluga whales have complex social networks, where support structures and cooperation extend beyond the nuclear family. Beluga communities often have a...
What Events Make Us Really Happy?
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A research team did a study on how major life events affect our wellbeing, using a sample of 14,000 Australians who had participated in a survey that ...
Saber-Toothed Tigers Were Really, Really Big
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Maine Coons seem huge for domesticated cats. But Smilodon populator is the biggest species of one of the biggest cats of all time: the saber-toothed t...
Methane, The Other Greenhouse Gas
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Greenhouse gases trap the sun’s heat in a planet’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the most familiar example The release of carbon dioxide by burnin...
Seductive Details And Learning
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Seductive details are attention catching details that make a lesson or presentation more interesting but aren't relevant to the content. Even though t...
Plastic Dust Is Covering Our National Parks
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
According to a recent study, our national parks are being coated in plastic dust. Most of it is from around the world, but a lot of it originates in n...
Paranoia
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In times of unexpected uncertainty, people may be more prone to paranoia. For instance, during the current global pandemic, many people have been thro...
Shedding Microfibers
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's hard to keep our planet pollution-free. Even our clothes are contaminating the planet with all the microfibers they release. New research shows t...
Dogs' Noses Can Seek Out Heat
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that a dog's nose can be tens of thousands of times more sensitive than ours? A recent study even suggests that dogs' noses can actually ...
Cutting The Salt But Keeping The Flavor
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pretzels, potato chips, and popcorn are all covered in it. It's baked into our bread and mixed into our butter. It snows down on our fies and even our...
Do Carnivores Care About Us?
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
While you’re out in nature, do you ever wonder if your presence changes the way animals interact with each other? Well, in 2018 researchers in Calif...
Canines Conquer The East
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Eastern wolves and coyotes have been interbreeding more frequently over the past several hundred years, and now their hybrids are widespread from the ...