Working The Night Shift Its time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. A listener writes: Dear A Moment of Science, My husband works a night shift, and Im worried that it might be affecting his health. He sleeps during the day, but somehow...
Why Do Zebras Have Stripes? For many animals, camouflage is an important part of survival. A leopards spotted coat and a polar bears white fur help them blend into their respective environments. But a zebras bold stripes cant help to disguise it in i...
Cilantro: Love It Or Hate It? On todays Moment of Science, well be sniffing our way through a controversial culinary conundrum: the great cilantro debate. According to scientists working at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, the smell of cilantro usu...
Do We Only Use 10% Of Our Brains? Have you ever heard that we humans use only ten percent of our brains? This oft-quoted myth holds a certain appeal because if it were true, then we could instantly become ten times more intelligent just by firing up...
Is There Life On Other Planets? Weve all been hearing about ongoing Mars exploration, and how water probably used to be abundant there. And a water spewing volcano was recently discovered on a small moon orbiting Saturn. Water is one sign that life m...
The Science Of Acne Acne: the scourge of adolescence. Most people endure it at some point, and cant wait to be rid of the combination of whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, and pustules that comprise the skin condition that affects over 80% of teenagers...
What Makes White Gold White? Many people associate the metal gold with the color gold. But, some gold jewelry is not golden at all: its white. Golden Color Gold is one of the heaviest and softest metals. Pure gold, called 24-carat gold, is so soft th...
The Science Of The Siesta When you go back to work or class after lunch, why is it so hard to stay awake? Although we get energy from food, we also use lots of energy to digest it. Your energy use increases 25-50% as you digest a meal. With all that...
Why Does Crying Make Your Nose Run? When you burst out crying, you expect the bleary red eyes and the rivers of tears that stream down your cheeks. But on top of all that, your nose starts to run like a faucet. Why does this happen? Whats the connect...
How Does Ice Cool Drinks? Heres something we tend to take for granted: drop a few ice cubes into a glass of water at room temperature, and in a few minutes the water will cool. How does this work? Heat is a measure of molecular activity: the faster a...
Dear A Moment of Science, I know that humans and chimps share something like 98 percent of our DNA. But what does this really mean? At least on the surface, humans and chimps seem very different we live in houses, they live in trees. We use complex l...
Americans Heads Are Getting Bigger The story of human evolution goes something like this: Millions of years ago, homo sapiens began to evolve from the prehistoric ancestor we share with our monkey cousins. First, we evolved the ability to walk uprigh...
If blood didnt circulate through our bodies, carrying oxygen and nutrients, we wouldnt be able to live. Blood is so important to life that the body constantly makes new blood. To do this, the body must produce the liquid part of blood, called plasma,...
Parents Model Healthy Eating It should come as no surprise that the more stressed parents are at work, the greater the burden on their family. Its also probably not a surprise that this dynamic can negatively affect a familys nutrition. After all, th...
Create Your Own Moon Craters! What makes science really fun is when you get to do things yourself, so today were going to be making moon craters. Theyre the roundish blast-marks left on the moons surface by ancient meteorites. The moons surface is co...
