Why Though? with Dr. Matt Agnew

It looks like magic. It makes spooky fog that pours down instead of floating up. And it never leaves a puddle. So what is dry ice actually doing? Dr Matt Agnew unpacks the weird science of dry ice, what sublimation is, why the fog pours downward like a waterfall, and why dry ice behaves so completely differently from the ice in your freezer. What you'll learn: Normal ice is frozen water... dry ice...

A cheetah? A race car? A rocket? All great guesses. All completely wrong. The fastest thing on Earth is something you can't hold in your hand... and understanding it means understanding lightyears, the speed of light, and why space distances break normal numbers. Dr Matt Agnew runs the ultimate speed race from Usain Bolt all the way to the speed of light, and explains what a lightyear actually is...

Have you ever walked outside on a bright sunny day and suddenly sneezed... with no dust, no pepper, no cat fluff anywhere? Just sunshine and a sneeze? There's a real science reason behind it. Dr Matt Agnew investigates the sun sneeze mystery. What even is a sneeze? Why does bright light trigger one for some people? And why does it run in families? What you'll learn: Sneezing is your body's nose cl...

Here's something nobody tells you. Most of a fart has absolutely no smell. So what's actually making everyone pinch their nose? Dr Matt Agnew investigates the science of farts. How do smells actually work? What is a fart made of? And why do some foods make the whole situation so much worse? What you'll learn: Smells are tiny invisible particles floating in the air that your olfactory receptors gra...

Lightning and thunder happen at exactly the same time. So why does the flash always arrive before the boom? In this episode of Why Though?, Dr Matt Agnew explains how static electricity builds up inside storm clouds, what lightning actually is, why thunder is the sound of super-heated air exploding outward, and how a simple counting trick lets you measure how far away a storm is using nothing but...

Have you ever sniffed your dog's paws and noticed they smell kind of like Doritos? Not because your dog is secretly snacking on chips... because of something much more microscopic. In this episode of Why Though?, Dr Matt Agnew investigates the tiny living world on your dog's paws. What are bacteria and yeast? Why are dog paws such a perfect home for microbes? And what are they actually doing in th...

Fish spend their whole life in water. But do they actually drink it? Turns out the answer depends entirely on which fish you ask. In this episode of Why Though?, Dr Matt Agnew dives into what thirst really is, why saltwater and freshwater fish handle water in completely opposite ways, and why sharks are the cleverest rule-breakers in the ocean. Plus a kid in a shark costume makes an appearance. Ob...

Pluto used to be the ninth planet in our Solar System. Then in 2006 everything changed. Dr Matt Agnew explains why... and it's a better story than you think. In this episode of Why Though?, we travel back to 1930 when astronomer Clyde Tombaugh spotted a tiny moving dot in the night sky and made one of the biggest discoveries in space history. We find out what happened when scientists discovered Er...

Ever heard someone talk after a helium balloon and suddenly sound like a tiny squeaky mouse? There's real science behind it... and it's weirder than you think. In this episode of Why Though?, Dr Matt Agnew investigates the helium voice mystery. Why do balloons float? Why does sound travel faster through helium? And how does all of that flip a normal voice into instant chipmunk mode? Plus we find o...

Ever bitten into ice cream too fast and felt a sudden sharp pain in your forehead? That's brain freeze... and there's real science behind it. In this episode of Why Though?, Dr Matt Agnew breaks down exactly what's happening inside your mouth and your brain when ice cream hits too hard and too fast. Why do your blood vessels squeeze and then suddenly open again? And why does your brain sometimes "...

Hey! I'm Dr Matt Agnew and I've got a brand new podcast coming your way very soon. Why Though? is the show for kids who can't stop asking questions. And I mean the really good ones... why do dog paws smell like Doritos? Why are farts smelly? Do fish actually get thirsty? Every episode we take one big question and turn it into a science adventure. Weird facts, real answers, and stuff that'll make y...