Moment Of Um

Let’s say you’re watching a bunch of people run a marathon. The runners are pumping their legs, sure. But they’re also swinging their arms. Why is that? And why do we swing them when walking too?  We asked Rachel Adenekan of Stanford University to help explain why that swinging motion is so universal.  Got a Moment of Um question that’s keeping you at arm’s length? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/co...

If you’ve ever smacked a mosquito on your arm, you might have seen a little smear  of red blood on your skin afterward. But just whose blood was it? Do we have the same blood as insects? We asked biologist Claire Rusch from the University of Washington to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s buzzing around in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, because we’re the type to he...

In fall we like to change up our wardrobe from shorts and T-shirts to pants and sweaters. And guess what, trees do that too! Except they change the color of their leaves. Why is that? We asked Marlyse Duguid from the Yale School of the Environment to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s leaf-ing you stumped? Send it to us atBrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll put your mind at (for)rest. See...

Dogs have an amazing sense of smell, incredible hearing, and the most adorable tail wags. But do they remember anything from when they were puppies? We asked canine cognition researcher Alexandra Horriwitz to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s dog-gone delightful? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’re paw-sitive we’ll help find an answer. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

Humans are mammals, which means that we have hair on our bodies and heads. Sometimes, as people get older, they lose some of that head hair. How does it happen? Do hair goblins come at night and sneak away with those silky strands? Ok, it’s probably not that. We asked pediatrician Dr. Emma Gerstenzang to help us find the answer. Got a hair-raising question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, a...

People think alligators and crocodiles are really scary - and lots of people don’t understand the difference between them. But wildlife biologist Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez says they are very cool and helps us get to the bottom of their distinctive qualities! Got a Moment of Um question that’s chomping away at your curiosity? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help hunt the answer. See...

Our world is FULL of microorganisms, or microbes for short! They’re tiny microscopic living things like bacteria– and they do so much for us! They help us digest our food. They help make some medicines– like antibiotics. They even help make some of our favorite foods like bread and cheese. Microbes sure are busy, but do they ever sleep? We asked microbiologist Daniel Bond to help us find the answe...

If you’ve ever taken a close look at a beehive you can see that it is covered in tiny hexagons! But why is that? We asked bee researcher Jessica Kevill to help us find the answer. Got a Moment of Um question that’s buzzing around in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help get it all sorted out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A black hole is an area of outer space where gravity is so strong that nothing can get out … not even light! But what’s actually inside a black hole? Are there asteroids? Whole planets? A 1988 Buick LeSabre? We asked astrophysicist Amanda Farah to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s just your cup of gravi-TEA? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find the hole truth!  S...

Bones! We’ve got lots of them. Leg bones, arm bones, face bones, even ear bones! But…not all animals even have bones inside their bodies. So what are our skeletons for? Why do we have them?  We asked pediatrician Dr. Emma Gerstenzang to help us find the answer. Got a topic you’d like to bone up on? Send us a question at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll paTELLa you the answer.  See omnystudio.com/li...

Have you ever stayed up late talking to your friends while watching movies, or yelled for your teammates at a soccer match, or screamed at the top of your lungs walking through a haunted house? Maybe you woke up the next day with a hoarse, scratchy voice that you didn’t even recognize. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Jennifer Long, an otolaryngologist, about why we lose our voice when we yell or t...

Lots of people love sparkly, pretty things – especially precious stones, like diamonds. But who decides which stones are precious? And what makes diamonds so special? We asked geologist Marc M. Hirschmann to help us find the answer. Got a priceless question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find a jewel of an answer! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever been tempted to lick something frozen? Hopefully not, because your tongue could get stuck!  But don’t worry, we talked to engineer Alexis Noel all about why our tongue sticks to ice, and what to do about it if that happens to you! Do you have a Moment of Um question that’s so good it’s giving you the chills? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help unfreeze your brain. S...

In places all over the world, there are ancient paintings in caves and on cliff walls that were made thousands of years ago by the people living there. But this was way before modern paints, and those people couldn’t mosey down to the craft store to buy their brushes…so how did they make their paintings? We asked anthropologist David Ian Howe to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s close...

Bubbles are everywhere! Soap bubbles, fizzy seltzer bubbles, underwater bubbles – even bubblegum bubbles!  But how do bubbles pop? We asked mechanical engineer Jacy Bird to help us find the answer. Got a question that you’re bursting to share? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll POP by with the answer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pee is super cool! It’s 95% water. It’s sterile. And it can be a window into our overall health. But why is it yellow? We asked mechanical engineer Patricia Yang to help us find the answer. Got a Moment of Um question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find the answer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All different kinds of giant prehistoric creatures used to walk the Earth, from 20-foot-tall sloths to sharks longer than a school bus.. They all seem huge in our imaginations, but were animals in the past actually bigger than animals on Earth now? We asked paleontologist Kristi Curry Rogers to help us find the answer. Got a BIG question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help size...

If there’s one thing that’s generally known about sharks, it’s that they have sharp teeth. But have you heard they have to keep moving to stay alive? Why is that? In this episode we talk to shark scientist Melissa Cristina Marquez about this very question. Do you have a Moment of Um question that seems kind of fishy? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll chew on the answer. See omnystud...

When our skin gets irritated, it reacts! And sometimes a rash appears. Rashes can be red, itchy, painful and bumpy… But how does our skin make them? We asked pediatrician Dr. Anjuli Gansto help us find the answer. Got a question under your skin? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll rash to find the answer! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radios are like magical devices. You just flip a switch and BAM, you can listen to everything from punk rock to world news. But how exactly does a radio work? And what’s the difference between AM and FM radio? We asked physics expert Angie Huerta to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s AM-azing? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll dial in the answer.  See omnystudio.com/list...

If you’ve ever banged your knee pretty badly, you might have noticed the knee swells up to larger than its normal size. To ease your pain and make the swelling go down, maybe someone handed you an ice pack. But why is it ice that does the trick to reduce swelling, and does anything else work? We asked physical therapist Karen Litzy to help us find the answer. Got a Moment of Um question that’s mak...

Lots of people love spicy food for that tongue-tingling feeling. But where does it come from? What’s happening in our mouths when we bite down on a jalapeño or chili flake? We asked taste and smell researcher Arthur Zimmerman to help us find the answer. Got a tasteful question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll spice up your life with the answer! See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

Earth is always moving around the sun, but does the sun move too? Or is it fixed in one place in the cosmos? In this episode, we talk to astrophysicist Brittany Kamai to get to the heart of this issue! Do you have a Moment of Um question that’s burning in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help shine a light on the answer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

There are so many different kinds of bird nests out there: big ones, small ones, some as big as your head! Birds build their nests out of everything from twigs and grass to spider silk! But do they make a new nest every year? We asked bird expert Paul Bartell to help us find the answer. Got a question that you’ve been thinking about owl night? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact – you won’t egre...

Tattoos are a type of art that’s added permanently to a person’s skin using special inks and needles. It’s a way of decorating the body that has been around for a long time. But how long? When were the earliest tattoos?  We asked sociologist David Lane to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s really needling you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll poke around until we find t...