A Moment of Science

Does doing math make you anxious? A Moment of Science has more on why that might be.

There are stories and myths about dragons from everywhere--from Europe to China to Australia to the Americas. Couldn't there be some reality behind the myth?

If you want to get strong, you're supposed to eat spinach like Popeye. But how powerful is that leafy green really?

We know from ancient skeletal remains that around one million years ago, hyenas of the Chasmaporthetes genus prowled the US and Mexico. But they also stalked the tundra—a fact we’ve learned from just two fossilized molars.

Let's say that ninety percent of the people who take a certain drug report that it works like a charm, but you know one person who says it didn't work. Would you try that drug?

When traveling by plane what makes our ears pop, and what is it exactly that pops?

A team of scientists have created the Purple Tomato, featuring skin of deep amethyst, like a plum, and insides a vivid violet. But why would they want to?

In an ideal universe you could scarf carton-loads of super vanilla swirl ice cream every night after dinner without remorse. In the real world, however, there's a price to pay for such indulgence, and ice cream seems to be the worst offender in terms of calories.

What was your favorite field trip as a kid? The zoo? The modern art museum? For a group of New Zealand students, it’d be hard to beat one memorable excursion: their 2006 visit to a beach in Kawhia Harbor.

In shallow water off the Greek Island Zakynthos, you can see what appears to be the remains of an ancient city. But is it really?

Mammals, birds, and reptiles are so different from one another. How could they all evolve from a common ancestor?

Have you ever wondered whether your dog understands at least some of what you say to them? Scientists have too.

You find a perfect, yellow banana in the store, but the next day at home it has brown spots. What happened?

Here's an at-home experiment you can try: take a can of "classic" Coca-Cola and a can of Diet Coke, and without opening either one submerge them in water.

These polka-dotted predators are no laughing matter. Learn all about hyenas with A Moment of Science.

Everyone knows that white reflects heat and black absorbs it. Does that mean you shouldn't wear black though?

There's an urban legend that teeth dissolve in a glass of soda. How harmful is it really?

The great astronomer Carl Sagan used to say that if he were transported anywhere in the solar system he would know which planet he was on just by looking around.

The typical toddler averages about four ear aches per year. But when's the last time you had an ear infection?

Diamonds are only occasionally brought to the surface. But because carbon is plentiful, science fiction, such as Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age, has sometimes imagined a world where scientists find an easy way to make lots of diamond artificially.

People like to ride horses, so why not zebras?

Some nanotechnology theorists and science fiction aficiondos imagine a more ominous possibility. What if one of these tiny robots were given the ability to self-replicate?

It’s dinnertime in the North Sea, and you’re a hungry porpoise. Sadly, there’s no oceanic grocery store. What’s a famished sea creature to do?

Would you be surprised to learn that human beings aren't the only animals to behave superstitiously? The psychologist B.F. Skinner showed that you can even form a superstitious belief...in a pigeon.

One thing we at A Moment of Science love is having the opportunity to explain the science behind things you see every day in the world around you.