A Moment of Science

Last time on A Moment Of Science we learned about plants that disperse their seeds via zoochory, meaning they've evolved various ways to hitch rides with animals. A particularly interesting case of this latter form of zoochory is mistletoe, the holiday smooching plant.

Just as animals are often driven to great lengths, literally and figuratively, to propagate their species, plants too are driven to reproduce. To do this, plants need to disperse their seeds, so that they have space to germinate and grow.

Seeds aren't as dangerous as some urban legends might lead you to believe, but they also aren't very good for you, either.

When making plans for the weekend, some people like to be by themselves, while others prefer to be go out and be social. To learn more about these two types of people, sometimes called introverts and extroverts, researchers tried to see what would happen if one type tried to act like the other.

People have long debated whether physical or behavioral traits are the result of genetic inheritance or environmental factors. In an effort to end this debate, sometimes called nature versus nurture, Scientists have studied quail eggs.

Among butterflies, the monarch really stands out with its beautiful orange and black colors. These colors evolved to warn predators about the monarch's toxic compounds that disrupt a sodium ion pumping mechanism in cells.

In the midst of winter, one of the best ways to combat the effects of cold weather is a hot beverage. A new study out of the University of London shows that we're not the only species that likes a hot drink. In fact, bumblebees prefer warm nectar to cool.

Things are not always as they seem, and this little demonstration will prove it. All you need is a cup of black coffee and an overhead light.

The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are waving ribbons of green, red and purple in the sky. These curtains of light can be seen as far south as the South Pole. In the southern hemisphere, however, they're called the Aurora Australis. They can also sometimes be seen in New Zealand or Chile.

Despite the common fear among many people of "swarms of bees," most bee species are actually solitary. Unlike social bees like the bumblebee, solitary bees don't have queens or worker bees, and they don't reside together in colonies.

Today on A Moment of Science were going to explain why Earth's air contains oxygen.

Ponytails, cornrows, and tight up-dos are hairstyles that can look great. But wearing your hair pulled tight for extended periods of time can eventually lead to hair loss.

In 2019, scientists achieved a great goal of astrophysics when they published the first-ever image of a black hole. By coordinating radio telescopes around the world to create, in effect, one Earth-sized telescope, scientists were able to capture an image of a black hole.

In baseball, hitting a homer against a fastball, or even a knuckleball, can be very difficult, though not as difficult as you might think.

In a scene from Star Wars: The Emprie Strikes Back, Darth vader cuts off Luke Skywalkers right hand. Afterwards, Luke receives a robotic replacement hand that is as good as new. 

Researchers think that looking at how quickly a person's pupil dilates when taking cognitive tests could predict if a person is at an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, even before any obvious symptoms show up. 

Humans voluntarily choose some of our actions, but others are automatic. Scientists want to know whether animal behaviors are automatically triggered by environmental situations, or whether animals sometimes choose their behaviors just like humans do.

When people are hungry, this hunger sometimes turns into anger. This mental state is known as "hangry," and could be caused by the stress of the morning mixed with hunger.

Computers would be much faster, smaller, and consume less energy if they used light signals instead of electrical signals. That's why many scientists are racing to figure out how to make computers that use light.

Imagine you're in a rowboat, in a small pond. You have a huge boulder with you in the boat. You throw the boulder overboard into the water. Does the water level of the pond rise, fall, or stay the same?

Cataracts are the result of the natural breakdown of proteins in the eye’s lens as you age. When lens proteins lose their three dimensional structure they cause the lens to become cloudy.

A New Atomic Clock Could Help Spaceships Navigate Better

Social niches are made up of the social aspects of a species' environmental relationship. In the case of humans, this means that your friends, family and coworkers influence you just as much as other environmental factors.

Mosquitoes On The Scent

Researchers from the University of Zurich examined 28 goats that were fed different pelleted diets of grit and hay. The scientists performed CT scans of the goats’ stomachs at the beginning of the experiment and then again six months later.