To be asleep at the wheel. When people do not get enough sleep, their judgement and abilities maybe impaired. That means they should avoid doing tasks that require great alertness, such as driving a car. If a person falls asleep or holding a steering...
If you keep a garden and have never been bothered by aphids, you are lucky. But one day you may find your rose bushes or bean plants covered--almost overnight--with these green, greedy sap-suckers. What allows aphids--and thousands of other species--...
One of the fundamental ideas of scientific thinking can be summed up in the phrase: Correlation does not imply causation. A simpler way to say that is: this follows that does not mean this follows from that. Even in science, it's easy to confuse the...
Mike: I just got a promotion in my job at the video arcade. I'm now a video game technician, so that means I get to fix the games and don't have to deal with customers at all! Customers always find a way to ruin my day. I'm so glad to be through with...
Honey from Brazilian honeybees might help prevent cavities? In this Moment of Science Don tells Yael about that possibility. D: Well, see you later, Yael. I'm on my way to Brazil. Y: I didn't know you were going to Brazil, Don. What's the occasion? D...
Miao Miao, a shallow exploration of the sexual and emotional friction between friends, treads over a broad range of themes, leaving its viewers as muddled as each of the film's leading characters. Female leads of ethnic Japanese-Taiwanese Miao Miao,...
In our beauty conscious culture, people will go to great lengths to improve their appearance. Liposuction, tummy tucks, silicone implants--it's all been done. But surely we wouldn't resort to injecting ourselves with a toxic substance that causes bot...
Don: Today on A Moment of Science... Yal: (DOOR-CLOSING) I'm here, Don! Sorry I'm late. I was driving a friend home from her chemotherapy treatment at the hospital. D: Oh? How is she, Yal? Y: She's doing well, the chemo seems to be working and her tu...
Don: I'm worried, Yal. Yal: What about? D: Well, this might sound kinda paranoid, but what if the Earth collided with another planet? Y: You're really worried about that? D: We do a science show, and everyday we're learning about strange things that...
Yal: Don, when I say dinosaur what do you picture? Don: Huge reptile-like creatures like Tyrannosaurus rex or the long-necked brachiosaurus? Y: Me too, but do you know there were also tiny dinosaurs? In recent years, palaeontologists have unearthed s...
Dear Annie: I work for a wonderful company as an administrative assistant extraordinaire. I love what I do and do it well, and I adore the owners. A major headache for me is Maxine, the woman who covers for me when I'm away from my desk, running erra...
Dear Annie: When my husband retired from the military, he was offered a great job in another state. The problem is this city. It is unfriendly, crime-ridden and filled with alcoholics and people who dump trash everywhere. I am also sick of the weathe...
A wooden post stands in the middle of the ski slope adorned with signs pointing in every direction surrounded by a group of skiers pointing left and right. Eventually one of them says we have to go this way, and they make their way to various parts o...
Have you ever started talking to someone, only to discover you have nothing in common and, therefore, nothing to say? You might imagine that a yellow jacket, flying about its waspy business, and a rose bush, intent on growing green leaves in the sun,...
Paddling a canoe and draining the bathtub both produce that familiar, spinning hole called a whirlpool---wide at the top, narrow down below. The shape of a whirlpool comes from two forces acting against each other. First, there's the spinning of the...