Joan's Blog

September 21, 2016

How long should kids be allowed to play video games? Some parents don't allow any games during the school week. Other parents let kids play for as long as they want. But what does the science say is best?

Researchers in Spain tracked 2332 video-game-playing children between seven and eleven years old. They looked at the children's brains, their behavior and school achievement scores. They found that children playing video games for one hour per week had better motor skills and did better in school. The scientists also found that students who played nine hours of video games or more a week had more conduct problems, more conflicts with other students, and had reduced social abilities.

Dr. Jesus Pujol of the Hospital del Mar says, "Video gaming per se is neither good nor bad, but its level of use makes it so."

The study's results are good news for kids whose parents won't let them play video games at all but not so good for gamers who spend more than a couple hours a week playing. You can read more about the study in this article from ScienceDaily.

Fall is about to start or it started a long time ago, depending upon your point of view. On Thursday, September 22^nd at 8:21a.m., the sun will be shining directly on the Earth's equator brining 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. From here out, the days will be getting shorter and the nights longer until we reach the first day of winter. We call that the autumn equinox.

But meteorologists started fall a few weeks ago. Climatologists use "meteorological seasons" so spring starts on March 1, summer starts on June 1, fall starts on September 1 and winter starts on December 1^st. These seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle instead of the Earth's rotation around the sun.

So whether you celebrate the autumn equinox on the 22^nd or on September 1^st, enjoy the start of a new season, maybe with short session of video games?

Have a great week.

September 12, 2016

Now that schools are mostly back in session, I'd like to pass along some hints to improve your ability to study, hints backed by science: Sleep and rollercoasters.

In a reporter from Psychological Science, researchers at the University of Lyon report sleeping between two learning sessions improves your learning. In this study, 40 French adults were randomly assigned to a “sleep” or a “wake” group. They all were given 16 French-Swahili words in pairs in random order. After studying a pair for seven seconds, the Swahili word appeared on a screen and the participants were asked to type the French translation. If they made a mistake, the words appeared again until every word-pair was correctly translated. Twelve hours later, they did it again. The wake group did their tests first in the morning and then in the evening so they had no time to sleep in between. The sleep group members did their first session in the evening and the second the next morning, after a good night's sleep.

The sleep group members did much better at recalling the correct translations and were quicker to re-learn when they made a mistake. Both groups were eventually able to learn all the word-pairs but getting some sleep allowed the sleep group to learn in less time and with less effort. A follow up showed that the sleep group still did better than the wake group a week later and even six months later.

So, if you have to learn something, study and then get a good night's sleep. Or you could try thinking about going on a rollercoaster. In a report published in Nature, scientists at the UT Southwestern Medical Center's Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute are testing how things like playing a new video game, going on a rollercoaster or even playing a game of tennis, might help you learn. It has to do with how attention-grabbing experiences releases memory-enhancing chemicals.

Scientists have long noted that we human remember certain events in our lives more clearly. When something big happens, our brain releases a chemical called dopamine into a special part of the brain. That seems to help us remember that event better.

Theses scientists think that something as simple as taking a short break to play a video game while you are studying for a test or playing a game of tennis in the middle of learning a speech might be enough to release those brain chemicals and help you learn better. So far, this research has only been done in mice, but it seems promising. So, give it a try with the warning—it has to be a short break in studying, not replacing studying. :-)

One more last minute breaking science news: The five-second rule is wrong. If you drop food on the floor, even for five seconds, it can pick up bacteria. What makes the difference is more the type of food (wet or dry) and the type of surface (carpet, wood or tile). The latest report is no matter what, some bacteria will transfer-so be warned!

Have a great week.

August 22, 2016

Guess what is the newest “super food?” Milk. Not cow's milk or goat or even sheep...no, the new “super food” is cockroach milk. A group of international scientists suggest the “milk” from the Pacific beetle cockroach could be the next best thing to drink.

The Pacific Beetle Cockroach is the only cockroach species that gives birth to live young. The cockroach mothers feed the babies growing inside of them with a milk-like liquid. That liquid contains crystals that are made up of protein. Scientists have studied those crystals and found they are a “complete food.” That means it contains sugar with fatty acids, the building blocks of fat. The proteins in the milk also contain amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Our bodies need those essential amino acids so we get them from our food. Consuming this special cockroach milk would be a healthy way to get the nutrition we need, just as it is for those baby cockroaches.

Scientists say cockroach milk is three times more nutritious than cow's milk and four times more nutritious than buffalo's milk. What scientists haven't figured out yet is how to mass-produce cockroach milk and how to sell it to you to drink.

You can read more about this research in this article from Science News for Kids.

If you haven't looked, all the new topic sites for our upcoming season are up and running. Check out each one of the new topic list on the site here. The videos will appear after the shows air on Idaho Public Television but you can learn more about each topic and then send me a question.

If you are starting school this week, enjoy! We are here to help with your science homework. If you have a few more days of summer vacation, enjoy that too!

Have a great week.

August 15, 2016

A “giant swimming nose” of a shark may be the oldest living vertebrate. Scientists report that the Greenland shark could live for well over 250 years. Marine biologist Julius Nielsen at the University of Copenhagen says the shark could live between 272 to 512 years.

Greenland sharks are dark brown or purple and live in the Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. They have very poor eyesight but have a large network of neurons in the snout that they use to hunt. They live in cold dark waters and grow very slowly, a little as a centimeter per year.

Nielsen and his colleagues had a hard time telling how old their Greenland shark was. They couldn't use the usual ways scientists tell the age of fish. Instead they used a technique called eye lens radiocarbon dating.

The eye lenses of all vertebrates grow though out their lives, adding layers like an onion. But Nielson explains that the core of the eye lens is formed before an animal is born and remains stable throughout its life. In the late 1950s, atmospheric tests of nuclear bomb caused a spike in the amount of radiocarbon and that made its way into marine creatures. So, if the amount of radiocarbon in a shark's lens shows post-bomb levels, then scientists know the shark was born after 1960. Once the scientists found a shark born before 1960, they compared the radiocarbon levels in the shark's eye lens to published references of how radiocarbon levels in the ocean changed over time. The scientists also assumed that the longer a shark is the older it is. So the biggest shark, at 16 feet, was assumed to be 392 years old, give or take 120 years.

Not every scientist agrees with Nielsen. Some think they didn't use a proper aging method. But regardless, most scientists agree that the Greenland shark can grow very, very old. You can read more about this old animal in this article from the LA Times.

By the way, Harriet, a Galapagos tortoise, lived to about 170 years old and may be the longest-lived land animal. The oldest animal record holder is a clam called Ming. It was found on the ocean floor of the coast of Iceland. Scientists think Ming was 507 years old when it died in 2006.

Have a great week.

August 1, 2016

Doctors are very worried about antibiotics. Antibiotics are a type of medicines used when bad bacteria makes you sick. But many kinds of bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, that is, they aren't killed by regular medicines. That is bad news. That's why doctors are being very careful about when they prescribe antibiotic and why, if you are taking antibiotics, you should take all the medicine you have been given.

It is also why scientists are trying to hard to find new antibiotics. According to scientists at the University of Tübingen and the German Center for Infection, they may have found a new antibiotic in an usual place — the human nose. This new potential antibiotic is produced a bacterium living in our nose is called lugdunin. It is especially good at killing a wide variety of skin infections, including some that have few or no other treatments available.

The German researchers looked at nasal swabs from 187 hospitalized patients. They found that of the people who carried this newly discovered bacterium; only about 6 percent also carried the bad bacteria, compared with 34 percent in individuals without the good nasal bacteria.

Now, most antibiotics are found in places like soil or from fungus. This new research suggests that there may be all sorts of microorganisms living in our bodies that may be a potential source of new drugs.

So why in the nose? The human body contains more than a thousand species of bacteria. They fight for space and food. The researchers who did this study think that some of the pathogen living in our nose developed a way to produce an antibiotic that knocks out other bacteria as a way to survive.

The scientists are not exactly sure how and why lugdunin works so there is more research to come, but it is potentially a very important breakthrough.

So take care of your nose, it may save you someday. You can read more about this research in this article from the Washington Post.

Have a great week.

July 25, 2016

To protect yourself from malaria, sleep with a chicken next to your bed. That's the advice from Swedish scientists.

Malaria is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical regions of the world. It can be very serious and, though rare in the United States, the disease infects millions of people in other parts of the world each year. So, scientists are working hard to find way to prevent the spread of this disease.

Researchers working in Addis Ababba, Ethiopia found that the mosquitoes that carry malaria in sub-Saharan Africa avoid chickens when looking for something to feed on. It seems chicken put off an odor that malaria mosquitoes don't like. The scientists identified these odor components from things like chicken feathers and put them in traps inside 11 thatched houses in a village. The researchers found that fewer mosquitoes were found in traps bated with chicken compounds than in the control traps. They also found that putting a live chicken in a cage next to a trap kept mosquitoes away. Research like this may seem odd, but it is important to find new ways to deal with mosquitoes that are increasingly become resistant to pesticides. Read more about it in this article from Science Daily.

Toddlers may have a tough time learning new words in a noisy home. A new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports that these young children need a bit a quiet for better learning.

In this study, researchers played either quiet or louder background noise while they taught children two new words. The children first heard the words in a sentence and then were shown images that represented the words. Children who were in the quieter environment were more likely able to learn the new word and look at the correct image than were children in the noisy background.

So, turn down the TV next time you read to your little brother, sister, cousin or friend. Find out more about this study in this article from LiveScience.

Have a great week.

July 17, 2016

Why do turtles have shells? Modern turtles use their shells for protection. But scientists now think that it didn't start out that way. A study from paleontologists suggests that turtles developed shells to burrow underground.

Tyler Lyson from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and her team looked at how turtle shells evolved. The fossil record shows one of the first major changes in the development of a turtle's shell was the broadening of the ribs. We humans, like many animals, have ribs to help us breathe and to help us move. Ribs support muscles. But in turtles, broadening the ribs shortened their strides and slowed them down and interfered with breathing. So why did the ribs broaden into a shell? The scientists say the discovery of one of the oldest partially shelled “proto turtle” called Eunotosaurus africanus, from the Karoo Basin of South Africa may give us the answer. These ancient turtles were partially shelled. Scientists think this ancient turtles used their broadening ribs to dig to get underground to escape their harsh environment. Over time, the ribs broadened into a shell. You can read more about this study in this article from Science Daily.

We have a full moon on July 19th. This moon is known as the Full Buck Moon. It got that name because this is the time of the year when male deer, known as bucks, begin to grow new antlers. July's full moon is also known as a Full Thunder Moon and the Full Hay Moon because there are lots of thunderstorms in July and it is also the time of year farmers harvest hay. Would you like to learn more full moon names? Check out this article from The Farmers Almanac. By the way, in the Chinese culture, the July full moon is known as the Hungry Ghost Moon. So enjoy the moonlight and have a great week.

July 11, 2016

We know fruit and vegetables are good for you, but did you know they might make you happier? Research from the University of Warwick in England suggests that eating more fruits and vegetables will improve how satisfied you are with life.

You should be eating about eight portions of fruit and vegetables each day. Researchers fold more than 12,000 randomly selected people. The subjects kept food diaries and had their psychological well being measured. The scientists decided that people who changed from eating almost no fruits and vegetables to eight portions would experience a big increase in their life satisfaction within two years. Why does eating healthier make you happier? The researchers think that getting more of the antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables may have something to do with it. There may be a connection between optimism and carotenoid in the blood. So, not only eating your fruits and vegetables would you be happier, you would also be healthier. So that is great all around. Have a salad and an apple for me! Read more about this study in this report from ScienceDaily.

Have a great week!

June 27, 2016

Ever get tired of trying to get the very last bit of shampoo out of the bottle? Science may have an answer. Two engineers from Ohio State University have developed a plastic surface that repels sticky liquids like shampoo and oil. Bharat Bhushan and Phillip Brown, the scientists involved in this research, say creating a surface that can repel these kinds of liquids is very hard because of surface tension. Surface tension is a property of liquid that allows liquids to resist an external force. Some insects use surface tension to be able to run across a pond and not sink. In this case, liquids like shampoo have a low surface tension, so shampoo tends to meet a solid surface like the side of a bottle and spread rather than flow. That's why it is so hard to get the last of the liquid out of the bottle.

The scientists have created a new surface that has a certain kind of “roughness” that creates air pockets. That allows the liquid to flow rather than spread. The new surface has two other important properties, it works with polypropylene, a cheap plastic used in a wide number of consumer products and it is very durable. The downside to this new invention is that the coating the scientists used is not the most environmentally friendly. So, it may be awhile before we have this new surface in the bottles in our shower. It is a step forward though to making washing your hair a little bit easier. Read more about this advance in this article from the New York Times.

The other bit of news I want to share isn't really science related. I just thought it was interesting. The American Kennel Club announced it is recognizing a new dog breed. The Pumi is a herding breed from Hungary. Pumik (the plural of pumi) have a short corkscrew coat and can be black, white, gray or shades of fawn. It is a smart, active dog. While the breed has been around for a long time, it hasn't been allowed to compete as a breed. It took breeders 17 years to get recognition for the dog. So, welcome to the pumi! Read more about it in this article from NPR.

Have a great week.

June 14, 2016

Fish can read faces. Scientists have discovered that the archerfish can tell the difference between one person and another.

The archerfish hunts for food by shooting insects with jets of water. Scientists took advantage of this skill by putting a computer monitor above a tank with archerfish and taught the fish to shoot water at an image to receive a food reward. They then showed the fish 44 different faces. The fish shot at the face that gave them food more than 80 percent of the time. Oddly, the fish was better at identifying the correct face when the pictures were black and white. For more, check out this article from the New York Times.

One more thing, we have a rare combo coming up on June 20th: the summer solstice and a full moon. The solstice is the longest day of year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. The moon will rise south of due east and set south of due west. It should shine much of the night. So enjoy all that sunshine and all that moonlight.

Have a great week!

June 8, 2016

Care for a tip to improve your learning? Check the light bulbs in your classroom. A new study says dynamic lighting can improve student work. Dynamic lighting is lighting that can be changed. Light bulbs put out a specific wavelength of light. Scientists measure warm and cool by measuring the “CCTs” or “correlated color temperatures” on the Kelvin scale. Light at 3500 K is considered to be “warm” or more yellow. Light at 5000K is considered to be neutral and light at 6500K is called “cool” or bluer. Researchers in South Korea found students’ activities can be improved by changing the color of the light in the room.

Researchers studied two classrooms with 54-fourth-grade students taking math tests. One classroom has LED lights that could be “tuned” to light ranging from warm to cool. The other classroom the types of lights usually found in classrooms.

The scientists found that students were more alert and scored higher on their tests when they were in rooms with 6500 K lighting. They also found that warmer light, at 3500 K encouraged relaxing activities. Neutral lighting at 5000 K worked well for reading.

The test results don't just apply to classrooms. You can consider lighting as a way to set the mood anywhere. I have “daylight” or cool light bulbs in my office because I work in the basement and don't have a window. I feel better working in a cool light.

Would you like to learn more about light and color? Click here for our light and color site. You can also read more about the classroom light study in this article from the Huffington Post. (Remember, this is a commercial site.)

Have a great week!

June 1, 2016

Mars and Earth will be at their closest point Monday night in more than a decade.
Normally, Mars is about 140 million miles away from Earth on average but it can be as far away as 250 million miles. But Monday night, it will be just 47 million miles away.

It is a great chance to see the Red Planet even without a telescope. Get away from city lights and look in the south southeast. If your skies are cloudy, check out this live stream by the Slooh Community Observatory.
If you miss it tonight, Mars will remain brighter in the sky until mid-June.

Imagine what a T-Rex dinosaur looks like. Does the T-Rex have large bared teeth?
Well, scientists said a T-Rex had lips. Robert Reisz, a paleontologist from the University of Toronto says the T-Rex kept its teeth hidden behind lips. Why? For some of the same reasons why your teeth are behind lips; saliva keeps teeth from drying out. So, he says we may need to re-imagine what the T-Rex looked like. You can read more about this idea in this article from LiveScience.

Have a great week!

May 2, 2016

We are not alone. The Earth Microbiome Project estimates the Earth may be home to one trillion species. Of those, scientists figure that we have identified only one-thousandth of one percent.

Indiana University researchers looked at over 5.6 million microscopic and nonmicroscopic species from over 35,000 locations around the world, except Antarctica. They estimated the number of species on Earth using computer models and new ecological rules for how biodiversity relates to abundance.

Why are scientists trying to catalogue all the microscopic species on Earth? We simply do not know what kinds of life exist on the planet and what these things do. Who knows what benefits we could find if we only knew what was out there? Find out more about this research in this article from ScienceDaily.

Don’t hug your dog. A study out of the University of British Columbia shows hugging a dog may increase a dog’s stress level. Dr. Stanley Coren looked at 250 pictures of people hugging their dogs. He checked out the dogs for signs of stress. A dog shows its stress by turning its head, partially closing its eyes or may have wide-open eyes showing the whites in a “half-moon” shape. It may also lower its ears or even bare its teeth. In the pictures he reviewed, Dr. Coren found dogs being hugged were showing signs of stress in 81.6 percent of the photographs.

We have a new broadcast show next week. Check out the Oceans on Tuesday, May 17^th at 2:00/1:00pm Mt/Pac on Idaho Public Television or watch the streaming here on the website.

Have a great week.

May 2, 2016

Happy May! May 4^th is, of course, a day for celebration around here. I am a huge ‘Star Wars’ fan so I see this as an opportunity to enjoy watching an episode or two and to celebrate the science of movie making.

This week, we are also celebrating the release of the topics for next season. Now, there is a chance one might change, but here it is:

Be sure to send in your video or email questions anytime! We will update the website soon.

One more bit of good news, the Science Trek crew picked up a few awards over the weekend at the Idaho Press Club awards. Our graphics champ, Cassandra Groll, won first place for television graphics. I won a first place for television writing and a second place for online video only program and the whole web team won first place specialty website. Congrats to the folks who make Science Trek and to you who watch and view it.

So think about fun movies instead and may the fourth, I mean force be with you.

Have a great week.

April 25, 2016

Computers can be a great tool in the classroom, but when it comes to taking notes, try paper and pencil. Studies show you will learn more if you take notes by hand.

Researcher at Princeton University and the University of California, Los Angeles tested college students to see who would learn more- those who took notes by typing on a computer or those who took notes in longhand.

In the first experiment, they had the students watch some lecture, take notes and then take a test. The students who used their computers wrote more than those who took notes with paper and pencil, but they also more likely to write just what the lecturer said. Those students who took longhand notes were more likely to summarize what was said. That is probably because we can type faster than we can write. After the lecture, both the computer note takers and the hand written note takers were able to answer questions about specific dates and facts, but when it came to answering more complicated questions, the handwritten note takers did much better. Even when the computer note takers were told not to try writing everything that was said down, they still didn't do as well on the questions that required more than just repeating facts. Hand written note takers also did better when both types of students had time to review their notes between the lecture and test.

So while computers are great for some things, keep taking those hand notes! You can read more about this study in the article from NPR.

Have a great week.

April 11, 2016

Here's a good excuse to spend some time outside: sunlight can help your eyes. Researchers in Australia report that children need to spend at least an hour a day, preferably two hours in the daylight to help prevent myopia from developing and progressing. Myopia or shortsightedness is increasing across the world at a large rate. When you are short sighted, you have trouble seeing things far away. In February, it was announced that half the world's population will be shortsighted by 2050. Many of those will be at risk of blindness.

So researchers are trying to figure out why. In this experiment conducted by QUT's School of Optometry and Vision Science, the scientists measured children's eye growth. The children also wore wristwatch light sensors that recorded light exposure and physical activity for two weeks during warmer months and again during colder months to give an overall measurement of their typical light exposure.

Professor Scott Read found that “children exposed to the least outdoor light had faster eye growth and hence faster myopia progression.” Read said that scientists used to think it was the fact that children spent more time in front of a screen that was leading to the increasing rate of myopia. Now it seems that the reason may be the lack of daylight.

So get outside and enjoy the sun. The exercise will do you good and the daylight will help your eyes. You can read more about this study in this article from ScienceDaily.

We have a new broadcast show for you next Tuesday. We will be answering your questions about horses. Check it out on Idaho Public Television at 2:00/1:00 p.m. Mt/Pac or watch it here on the website.

Have a great week.

April 04, 2016

No! Say that with some negative feeling and you will make the “not” face. Researchers from Ohio State have found that the expression we all make when we make a disapproving face is probably common to all languages and cultures.

The scientists looked at 158 native speakers of English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and American Sign Language. They found that all of the speakers made a similar face along with negative comments — a furrowed brow, pressed lips and raised chin. Scientists think that this facial expression has a grammatical function. They think this might show how language evolved. We gave the “not” face before we learned the word “not”.

In the next phase of their research, the scientist are going to look for the “not” face in African languages and then, maybe, they will start looking for the “yes” face. You can read more about this research in this article from NPR.

Do you think Columbus was the first European to explore what is now North America? Nope. Scientists say Vikings came to the “new world” 500 years before Columbus. Researchers found the first site was found on the very northern tip of Newfoundland. Archaeologists found 1,000-year-old Viking buildings and signs of metalworking. This new second site is at Point Rosee in Newfoundland, 300 miles to the southwest.

The researchers found this new site in a very high-tech way. They used infrared images from 400 miles in space. The images showed possible human made shapes under vegetation. You can find out more about this fascinating research by watching the NOVA special “Vikings Unearthed.” You can watch the program on Idaho Public Television on Wednesday, April 5^th at 8:00pm MT or watch on the idahoptv.org website. You can read more about the discovery on the NOVA website after the 5^th: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/vikings-unearthed.html

We are working on our next broadcast show, Horses. Check it out on Tuesday, April 19^th.

Have a great week!

March 21, 2016

Happy Spring! The spring equinox happened March 19^th at 10:30pm MDT. The spring equinox marks the time when the sun crosses the equator from south to north for the first time each year. It also means we have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night and that the days will start getting longer, at least here in the northern hemisphere.

This is the earliest spring equinox since 1896. It happened because of a trick of the calendar. According to our Gregorian calendar, we have a leap day every four years, except in years that end with 00 and are divisible by 400. That meant 2000 was not a leap year and we didn’t add an extra day to the year. Because the time it takes for the Earth to travel around the sun is slightly longer than a year, it pushes the March equinox a little earlier and missing that extra day made a difference. So in 2000, the spring equinox happened at 12:35am MDT on March 20^th. In 2004, it happened at 11:49pm MDT on March 19^th, in 2008 at 11:48pm, and 11:15am in 2012. This trend of an earlier spring equinox will continue until the end of the century. Just remember, an early equinox doesn't mean an early spring, but the longer days will eventually bring spring and summer along.

Paleontologists in northern Uzbekistan have found something amazing. Researchers found the fossils of a smaller, older cousin of the T-Rex. This horse- sized dinosaur lived in Central Asia 90 million years ago and is called Timurlengia euotica.

By looking inside the braincase, with a CR scans, the scientists reconstructed the brain, sinuses, nerves, blood vessels and inner ear. The Timurlengia had excellent hearing at lower frequency sounds and had an advanced brain. It was also a better runner than its cousin the T-Rex. It weighed up to 600 pounds and had slender, blade-like teeth, ideal for slicing through meat. It hunted duck-billed dinosaurs and other plant eaters.

By looking at fossils over time, scientists know that the family of dinosaurs to T-Rex belongs grew larger in size over the course of 70 million years. But this new discovery shows that the growth happened suddenly toward the end of that period. So this new dinosaur helps us better understand how dinosaurs evolved over time. You can read more about it in article from ScienceDaily.

We had a new broadcast show last week. If you missed it, check out Science Trek: Force and Motion here on the website.

I won't have a blog posting next Monday because I will be out of the office shooting our May show, Oceans. So have a great couple of weeks!

March 14, 2016

Happy PI Day. Pi (Π) is a mathematical term. It is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Numerically, it is written as approximately 3.1415926. While Pi has been calculated to over a trillion digits, most of refer to Pi as 3.1415. People all over the world celebrate Marcy 14^th as Pi day because we Americans shorten our month and day as 3/14 or 3.14 or Pi. I like lemon meringue pie myself as well as the mathematical Pi.

We also have a new Science Trek broadcast show this week. We will be answering students' questions about force and motion. Tune in Tuesday, March 15^th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. Mt/Pac on Idaho Public Television or watch the streaming here on the Science Trek website anytime afterwards.

Did you remember to change your clocks? Sunday, March 13^th marked the start of daylight savings time. In the spring, we move the clocks an hour forward and in the fall, we move our clocks back an hour. It was an idea first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 but not adopted in the U.S. until World War One. Adding daylight in the morning hours is good for business, but changing the clock is not so good for our bodies. Older folks are 20 percent more likely to have a stroke and 10 percent more likely to have a heart attack.

For the rest of us, we lose about 40 minutes of sleep and that's not good. It leads to more auto and workplace accidents and impairs making decisions. I hope you do not have a test first thing Monday. That could be bad timing.

FYI, about 70 countries use daylight saving time, but there is no time change in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

If you are tired this week, the National Sleep Foundation has a few recommendations about how to get a better night's rest:

• Leave a couple of hours between eating and going to bed.
• Turn off mobile devices before you head to bed. Blue light from screens can affect your ability to sleep.
• Create a bedtime ritual. Read a book or have someone read to you.
• Keep a piece of paper next to your bed. Write down any worries before trying to get to sleep.

Remember, kids and adults need about nine hours of sleep a night.

Be sure to watch our newest broadcast show about force and motion and have a great week!

March 7, 2016

Chocolate helps you think better. Researchers have been following the cognitive abilities of more than a thousand people since the mid 1970s. More recently, they have been tracking what these test subjects ate. They found that people who eat chocolate at least once a week tend to perform better cognitively. More specifically, the study found that people who ate chocolate had better “visual-spatial memory, working memory, and abstract reasoning.” That is a fancy way for saying those who eat chocolate at least once a week were better at remembering things like a phone number or doing two things at once.

Why? Researchers aren't sure, but they think chocolate improves brain function because chocolate contains nutrients like flavanols and methylxanthines that improve your mood and concentration levels.

What is the next questions these researchers will ask: “Dark chocolate or milk chocolate, which is better?” and “Does eating chocolate more often than once a week improve cognitive abilities?” I volunteer to be a part of that study! You can find out more about this research in this article from the Washington Post.

We have a new broadcast show next week. On Tuesday, March 15^th, we will be answering your questions about force and motion. Watch it on Idaho Public Television at 2:00/1:00pm Mt/Pac or check out the streaming here on the Science Trek website.

Have a great week.

February 29, 2016

Happy Leap Day! February 29^th happens once every four years because our 365-day calendar doesn't quite match how much time it takes for our planet to take one loop around the sun. A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes 365.2422 days. Astronomers even back in ancient Rome knew the calendar we used wasn't the same as the solar rotation. Emperor Julius Caesar set a 365 day calendar with a leap day in February every four years in 46 BCE. But that still isn't quite perfect and over time, the calendar got out of sync with nature. So in 1582, Pope Gregory reset the calendar and now we call the calendar we use the “Gregorian” calendar. In this system, we have a leap year every four years except in those years divisible by four, except those years that are both divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400, kind of complicated. But even with that reset, the Gregorian calendar isn't perfect. Every so often, scientists will add a leap second to a day to correct the calendar and they say in 10,000 years things will be off enough that we may have to rethink the whole system. Regardless, you get an extra day today so enjoy it. And if you are someone who was born on February 29^th and technically only can only celebrate his or her big day once every four years, Happy Birthday!

It will be almost a year in space for NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. He returns to earth on March 1st after 340 days in space. Scott Kelly has a twin brother Mark Kelly and NASA has been doing experiments on the two of them to see how living in space affects humans. Both of them have been collecting blood, urine, saliva and poop over the past year and scientists will compare them.

One year is twice as long as a typical International Space Station tour but is about as long as it will take an astronaut to go to Mars and back, so scientists are interested to find out more about how the body changes in microgravity. They do know that astronauts lose about 1.5 percent of their bone mass per month and that fluids in your body can build up in the cells. That can make it hard to smell and hard to see. Astronauts wear special pants to improve circulation and exercise in space to save bone mass.

Kenneth Chang of the New York Times figures out some of what Scott Kelly did in space over his “year”. You can read the article here but these are the highlights: Kelly traveled 143,846,525 miles, drank 193 gallons of recycled urine and sweat (all water is recycled on the space shuttle), exercised more than 700 hours, conducted more than 400 experiments, posted more than 713 photos from space on his Twitter account and wore 1 gorilla suit. His family sent him the suit because, after all, even astronauts have a sense of humor.

Have a great week and enjoy your leap day!

February 22, 2016

Sorry I missed posting last week, but I was off collecting an award for Science Trek. I was quite honored to represent the Science Trek crew at the ceremony for the American Association for the Advancement of Science Kavil Science Journalism Awards. Our winning piece was about bats and white nose syndrome.

We won a silver award in the Children's Journalism category. The winners represent the best science journalists in the world and it was pretty amazing to be included. Way to go Pat Metzler who videotaped the piece and Al Hagenlock who edited it!

We also had a new broadcast show air last week. Check out the streaming version of our new “Five Senses” show.

As for science news, paleontologists have found several new types of dinosaurs in Idaho! For years, scientists said there were no dinosaur bones in Idaho, but Montana State University paleontologist L.J. Krumenacker found the bones of three new types of theropods on lands in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Theropods are the family of dinosaurs that include carnivores like the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Krumenacker says he thinks these three new dinosaurs range from the size of a retriever-sized dog to the size of a horse and lived about 95 million years ago. He and his team also found fossilized eggs of a large oviraptorosaur, a burrowing dinosaur that lived about the same time as the other dinosaurs.

Krumenacker says he is basing his identification of these new dinosaurs mostly on fossilized teeth so he says they will keep looking for more so they can be more confident in their conclusions. You can read more about this discovery in this article from Science Daily.

February 8, 2016

Is there a ninth planet in our solar system? I am not talking about Pluto. I am talking about Planet Nine. Scientists at Caltech were looking at the orbits of some small ice bodies out beyond Neptune. They think the have found a planet about 10 times larger than Earth but there is a catch. They have not seen it yet.

The scientists say the orbit of the ice bodies line up in one direction. They say that means there must be a massive planet there exerting its force of gravity. Other astronomers aren't so sure Planet Nine exists, but they are looking. Why haven't we seen Planet Nine before? Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institute for Science, who thinks there is a new planet out there, says it may be because the planet is so far out there. For us to see it, sunlight has to travel all the way out there and then back to us. If you move an object twice as far away from the sun, it gets 16 times fainter.

The New Horizons probe that just passed Pluto might be of help finding this mysterious new planet. Until then, scientists will just have to keep looking. You can read more about Planet Nine in this article from NPR.

I want to follow up on my report last week on Punxsutawney Phil. The “official” groundhog saw no shadow on Groundhog Day and thus he predicts an early spring.

Now, the prairie dog at Zoo Boise did see his shadow and one could say he predicts six more weeks of winter. The weather forecast for the Northeast is for another winter blizzard and Boise is expecting sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s. Go figure.

One sad note to mention this week, Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell died last week.

Mitchell, Alan Shepard and Stuart Roosa were the crew of Apollo 14. They launched January 31, 1971. Mitchell and Shepard spent about 33 hours on the moon. Mitchell died on the eve of the 45^th anniversary of his landing on the moon. With his passing, only seven men who walked on the moon are still alive.

Dr. Mitchell was the first guest on our show, some 17 years ago. Here is a link to that program if you would like to know more about what it was like to walk on the moon.

We have a new broadcast show for you next week. We will be answering your questions about the Five Senses. Be sure to tune on Tuesday, February 16 at 2:00/1:00pm Mt/Pac on Idaho Public Television or watch it here on the website.

February 1, 2016

Happy Groundhog's Day! This tradition dates back centuries as described in this Scottish saying, “if Candlemas Day (February 2nd) is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year.” According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's website, in the early 1800s, settlers in Pennsylvania started going to Gobbler's knob on February 2nd to see if the groundhogs saw their shadows. Now there is an official groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil and the whole event is a massive party.

Groundhogs are not the greatest weather predictors. Punxsutawney Phil is right about whether or not winter goes on for another six weeks only about 39% of the time. But groundhogs are very interesting creatures. Here are a few facts:

• Groundhogs are about 20 inches long and weigh from 12-15 pounds.
• Groundhogs live six to eight years.
• Groundhogs are quick and have very strong jaws.
• Groundhogs can whistle when they are alarmed or are courting.
• Groundhogs are very clean. Insects don't bother them and they are resistant to diseases that can wipe out other animals.

If you want to learn more about Punxsutawney Phil, check out the organization's website. (Note: this is a commercial site)

Residents of Hawaii may not have to worry about six more weeks of winter, but scientists in Maui say there are lots of beetles to discover. Professor James Liebherr of Cornell University announced that he has identified 74 new beetle species. The new beetles are a group called round-waisted beetles. The new beetles were found in the plants in Haleakala volcano, an area of about 1,440 km2 of surface area. This is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet. Read more about this discovery in this article from ScienceDaily.

Have a great week.

January 25, 2016

Black holes burp. Scientists report that a black hole belched twice in the last six million years, each time sending out streams of x-ray light. Astronomer Eric Schlegel reported these findings this month after investigating the center of galaxy NGC 5195, which is about 26 million light years away from Earth. The arcs are about 3,000 light-years apart and several thousand light-years long.

Super massive black holes “eat” from disks of superheated gas and dust. When a hole “bites off more than it can chew,” it erupts or burps, blasting material out of its galaxy. NGC 5195 is merging with its larger neighbor in the Whirlpool Galaxy. Schlegel isn't sure, but he thinks the merging of these two galaxies might have something to do with the black hole's burping. Read more about this in an article from ScienceNews.

In other space news, Chinese researchers have found a new type of basaltic rock on the moon. The rock has a lot of a black mineral called ilmenite. This mineral has a high percentage of iron titanium oxide, a compound found in other moon rocks. This new type of moon rock was discovered by the Chang'e-3 spacecraft. This unmanned lander and its rover, “the Jade Rabbit,” landed on the moon in 2013. This is the first investigation of the moon's surface since the Apollo astronauts explored 40 years ago. Read about this discovery in this article from the New York Times.

Be sure to watch our most recent broadcast show, “Idaho Ecosystems.”

Have a great week.

January 18, 2016

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! We have a new broadcast show this week. We are answering your questions about Idaho's ecosystems. Check it out on Idaho Public Television at 2:00/1:00pm Mt/Pac or watch the streaming here on the website.

As promised, I looked back at my blog postings in 2015 for some of my favorite stories. Here is a selection:

• 

  Eat breakfast for better grades
  A study from Cardiff University shows that the odds of getting an above average score on an assessment test were up to twice as high for students who ate a healthy breakfast compared to those who did not. The scientists then looked at how well the students did on their tests. Here's what they found:
  • Students who had a healthy breakfast were up to twice as likely to do well on the test.
  • Eating unhealthy things like sweet rolls or potato chips for breakfast or eating nothing didn't help improve test results.
  
  

  They also found positive links between other good eating habits and school performance but that breakfast link really stood out. So, take some time to eat something healthy for breakfast every day.

• Killer frog
  Herpetologists from Utah State University and the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo found two species of Brazilian frogs with venomous spikes on their noses, jaws and the backs of their heads. The frogs have long flexible necks. If they are grabbed, the frogs jab and rub their spines into whatever captured them. A gram of venom from the Corythomantis greeningi frog could kill six humans. A gram of venom from the Aparasphenodon brunoi frog would kill 80 humans.


• Vaccine for measles protect you from other diseases
  Scientists at Princeton University and Emory University noticed that once kids started getting vaccinated for measles back in the 1960s, the rate of childhood death from all infectious diseases dropped dramatically. They saw the same trend in developing countries that are just getting measles vaccines today. Why? Researchers found that if you get the measles, the measles virus “erases” immune protection to other diseases. That means after getting the measles, a child is more vulnerable to getting another serious disease. The amnesia, researchers suggest, last two or three years. So, double check with your parents to make sure you got a measles vaccine when you were a baby and encourage others to make sure all kids get their vaccines.


• A warm blooded fish!
  Researchers from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the discovery of the world's first warm-blooded fish, the opah. The opah has special gills, which allows this fish to be warm-blooded. Fish have two kinds of blood vessels in their gills, vessels carrying blood from the body heading to pick up oxygen and another set carrying oxygenated blood back into the body. Opah's blood warms up as it is circulated through the fish's body. Usually that warm blood hits the cold incoming blood and loses all its heat. But in the opah's case, those blood vessels are so tightly bundled that the warm blood warms up the cold blood before it has a chance to go into the body. That means the opah's blood is always warm.


• “Thar's gold in that there poop!”
  Yes, it turns out that there are traces of gold, silver and platinum in our sewage and some scientist think it is enough that we should start “mining” it.
  Kathleen Smith and her colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey collected sewage samples from small towns in the Rocky Mountains and found microscopic amounts of gold, silver and platinum. There were enough valuable metals in the sewage to compare to the levels found in some commercial mines. So where does the gold, silver, and platinum come from? Apparently it comes from products like shampoo and detergents. Even some clothes have metals build into the fabric and those particles end up in our poop.


• Doing dishes in the dishwasher could be hazardous to your health.
  A study out of Sweden suggests that doing dishes in a dishwasher could increase the chances kids will develop allergies. Researchers think that kids are not being exposed to bacteria when they are young because their environments are so clean. They think that if your immune system isn't exposed to bacteria when you are young, then your immune system can misfire and you will develop problems like allergies and asthma. The researchers studied 1,029 Swedish children aged 7 or 8 and looked at who lived in a home with a dishwasher and who lived in a home where someone hand washed the dishes. They found that in households where someone hand washed the dishes, the kids in those homes had significantly fewer cases of eczema, a skin disease kicked off by a reaction of the immune system and somewhat fewer cases of asthma and hay fever compared to households where the family used a dishwasher.

Be sure to watch our new ‘Idaho Ecosystems’ show and have a great week!

January 11, 2016

So, what were the top science stories of 2015? Here are the picks from leading science websites and publications. Next week, I'll give you my top choices.

Science has some fun picks:

• 

  Your office or school thermostat may be sexist. It seems that the standards for today's heating and cooling systems are based on the average worker in the 1960s — a man in a three-piece suit. That explains why women are usually complaining the average office or schoolroom is cold. Researchers say they are working on better standards to match today's make up of men and women in the workplace.


• Dinosaurs might have been killed by dark matter. A few researchers have suggested an alternative theory for why dinosaurs died. They think dark matter may have seeped into the Earth's core. Dark matter is a kind of matter that makes up most of the universe. We cannot see it, but we know it is there because we can detect its effects on visible matter. These researchers think dark matter got into Earth's core and triggered massive volcanic eruptions and tore apart continents. The good news is that the researchers think this happens only once every 30 million years. Most scientists still think dinosaurs were wiped out after an asteroid or comet hit the Earth.


• How long it would take to fall through the Earth? So, you dig a tunnel through the center of the Earth, jump in and let gravity pull you through to the other side. How long would it take? For years, physic students were taught the correct answer was 42 minutes. But now, researchers say the trip would only take you 38 minutes and 11 seconds. The change is due to the fact that the old figure did not take into account the differences in density in different parts of the Earth's crust. The scientists have to make some pretty broad assumptions to come up with this new answer because, as you may have guessed, you can't jump through the Earth. But the scientists who came up with the new number says his experiment show that “with the right idea, it is still possible to make, not a monumental discovery, but an incremental one.”

Scientific American suggested these top science stories for 2015:

• Newly discovered human species could change our view of the past. Researchers in South Africa unveiled 1,500 fossil specimens that represent at least 15 individuals of a new ancient human species, Homo naledi. They found the bones inside a cave system. The bones show this ancient human had a hip that looked like bones from one old species but a foot that looks more like modern humans. Other researchers say that this isn't a new species, so more testing is being done.





• Pluto is amazing! New Horizon flew past Pluto in 2015 and took the best pictures we have of this dwarf planet. The photos show that Pluto has evidence of active geology, flowing glaciers of frozen nitrogen, wrinkled ridges of water ice and maybe ice volcanoes. Pretty cool!

And finally, Business Insider lists these remarkable achievements of 2015:

• A new bionic lens. Researchers have developed a new bionic lens that will allow people to see three times better than normal vision. They say it is a painless procedure to implant the lens and that it should be available as early as 2017.



• 

  Mars has water. Studies show that Mars has a hidden belt of underground glaciers. Scientists think that the glaciers might contain enough frozen water to cover the entire planet's surface. Finding water could be important for future human exploration of Mars.


• Is there life out there? New calculations show that billions of stars in the Milky Way may have one to three planets in a habitable zone. That might mean these planets have liquid water and maybe life.

Check back next week for my favorite science stories of 2015.

Have a great week.

December 28, 2015

Happy Holidays!

This week, I've pulled together some of the most unusual science stories of 2015.

• David Whitlock hasn't take a shower in 12 years, on purpose. He believes humans don't need to shower and that showering actually takes away helpful bacteria. He has been culturing the bacteria on his skin. He thinks washing with water takes the good bacteria away, allowing the bad bacteria to make us smell. The good bacteria, nitrosomonas, are killed by soap and are very slow growing. To grow a healthy coat of nitrosomonas could take months, so following Mr. Whitlock's suggestion of not showering to get a coat of good bacteria takes patience. There is no other scientific study to back up Mr. Whitlock's belief, but researchers in 2015 found small amounts of nitrosomonas bacteria on the skins of people from an uncontacted Amazon tribe. Just for the record, Mr. Whitlock does wash his hands every day to prevent disease transmission. To read more about this science story, check out this link from LiveScience.


• Researchers found the smallest snail on Earth in 2015. The Acmella nana has a shiny, translucent white shell and is so small researchers couldn't see it with the naked eye. It measures about 0.027 inches tall and lives on limestone hills on the tropical island of Borneo. It feeds on films of bacteria and fungi that grow on wet limestone. Read more about it in the article from LiveScience.


• Scientists in Singapore have developed a urine-powered battery. It is the size of a credit card and is going to be used for medical test kits. To make the battery, the researchers soaked a piece of paper in copper chloride and put it between two strips of magnesium and copper. This “sandwich” was laminated between two transparent pieces of plastic. There is a small slit in the top and when a drop of urine is put onto it, electricity is formed. The urine-battery produces about 1.5 volts, about the same as an AA battery and runs for about 90 minutes. This technology could lead to all sorts of body-fluid-powered batteries. Read more about it in this article from National Geographic.


• And finally, slugs the size of guinea pigs are invading England. Spanish cannibal slugs are moving slowly across southern England. Normal pest control methods don't work on these large slimy creatures, so they are endangering native species. They also produce so much slime that hedgehogs and slug-eating birds don't go near them. The mild winter has allowed them to survive and entomologists warn that people should kill them as soon as they see them in their gardens. How? Boiling water, beer traps, bands of copper around your plants and drowning them in buckets of soapy water are a few suggestions. Read more about this infestation in this report from the Mirror.

Next week, I'll post my top normal science stories for 2015. Have a Happy New Year!

December 21, 2015

Happy Holidays!

This week marks the beginning of winter. The Winter Solstice happens at 9:49pm in Boise on December 21^st. The Winter Solstice is the moment when the Earth's north pole points most directly away from the sun. It is also considered to be the shortest day of the year, though technically, it may not actually be the day with the latest sunrise or the earliest sun set. That can vary slightly depending upon where you are on the planet. If you want to know what is the actual shortest day is in your area, check out the full list of sunrise and sunset times for your location on the U.S. Naval Observatory calculator. Regardless, the days should start growing longer until we hit the Summer Solstice on June 20, 2016.

The days may be short but Christmas night should be bright. We will have a full moon, the first time we have had a Christmas full moon since 1977. We have only had nine full moons on Christmas in the course of U.S. history. The most famous Christmas full moon happened December 25, 1776. That night, George Washington and his Continental Army famously crossed the Delaware River from Pennsylvania into New Jersey in pursuit of Hessians fighting for the British. Washington's army battled ice to cross the river to reach Trenton before daybreak. Fortunately, there were dense clouds and a storm that night to hide the men, horses and cannons from Hessian lookouts. So if bad weather means you can't see the Christmas full moon, it might be a lucky sign. It was certainly lucky for George Washington and for America.

One more note for this week's blog: NORAD will be tracking Santa again this year. The scientists and officials there have been doing it for 60 years. Check out their fantastic website for lots of information about the North Pole, the Earth, for games, movies and best of all, for real time reports on Santa's progress. Click here for NORAD's Santa Tracker.

Merry Christmas to all! God bless us everyone.

December 7, 2015

Think old people are slower, unhappier and not as bright? Science suggests you should change your attitude about aging or you may be predicting your own future.

Scientists from the National Institutes of Health found that a negative attitude about aging puts you at risk of developing heart disease and memory problems later in life.

Researchers looked the volunteers in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Again. In this study, the participants, who were healthy, all received yearly brain scans. The volunteers also filled out surveys about their attitudes toward aging. The scientists looked at how the volunteers' brains changed over time. The compared those changes in people who held a positive attitude toward aging and those who held a negative view. The MRIs showed that those who held the most negative views about aging developed over time the greatest amount of shrinkage in the part of the brain that is central to memory, the hippocampus. Shrinkage of the hippocampus is also a physical sign of Alzheimer's disease. The researchers also found more evidence of brain issues in the volunteers with negative attitudes.

So, start now. Think positively about getting older and respect those elders. Your attitude makes a big difference life long. Read more about this study in this article from the LA Times.

Speaking of aging well, how about those peaches? Scientists have found eight, two-and-a-half-million-year old fossilized peach pits in southwest China. It turns out that the peaches of old are very similar to peaches today. Scientists don't really know much about how peaches have changed over the span of time. This find gives them a better idea how peaches evolved. It also suggests that peaches started in China. Peaches are important there, symbolizing good fortune and beauty.

The scientists think that these ancient peaches probably looked like the smallest peaches you find at the store today, about five centimeters in diameter. So next time you eat a peach, you are carrying on an ancient and delicious tradition centuries old.

Read more about the first fossil peach find in the article from ScienceDaily.

Have a good week!

November 30, 2015

Looking for the best sports drink? Skip all the sports drinks and try water and sugar. Researchers at the University of Bath in England tested a team of cyclists to see what happens to stored carbohydrates or glycogen in the liver when the athletes exercised. The scientists then tested various sports drinks to see what was best at preventing the decline of glycogen during exercise. If you run out of glycogen, you run out of “energy” to exercise and your performance goes down.

First, let me explain a little bit about sugar. There are different kinds of sugar. Table sugar is called sucrose. Glucose is the sweetener commonly found in sports drinks.

The researchers found that sucrose and glucose drinks helps the liver hold onto glycogen during exercise and that should mean better performance. But significantly, the cyclists found exercise easier and their stomachs felt better when they used drinks with sucrose rather than drinks with glucose.

So the scientists suggest if you are trying to improve your exercise performance, exercise that last more than two and a half hours, drink 8 grams of sugar dissolved in 100ml of water every hour. And there is a bonus. Sugar water costs less than sports drinks. Read more about this research in this article from The Guardian.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Have a great week.

November 23, 2015

Happy Turkey week! While we are thinking of eating, consider breakfast. I must confess that I am not a morning person, but I am trying to eat a good breakfast each day. You should too, especially if you want to do well in school.

A study from Cardiff University shows that the odds of getting an above average score on an assessment test were up to twice as high for students who ate a healthy breakfast compared to those who did not.

Scientists studied 5000 nine to eleven-year-olds at more than 100 primary schools in England. The students were asked to list everything they ate and drank for just over 24 hours before taking an assessment test. The period covered two breakfasts. The scientists then looked at how well the students did on their tests. Here's what they found:

• Students who had a healthy breakfast were up to twice as likely to do well on the test.
• Eating unhealthy things like sweet rolls or potato chips for breakfast or eating nothing didn't help improve test results.

They also found positive links between other good eating habits and school performance but that breakfast link really stood out. So, take some time to eat something healthy for breakfast every day. It is not only good for your health; it is also good for your grades! Read more about this study in this article from Cardiff University.

If you missed it, click here on a link to watch our newest broadcast show all about Volcanoes.

Have a great week!

November 16, 2015

Check out our newest Science Trek broadcast show this Tuesday, November 17^th. Find out more about volcanoes starting at 2:00/1:00pm MT/Pac on Idaho Public Television or here on the website. You can read more about volcanoes here.

Speaking of volcanoes, scientists think they have found volcanoes on Pluto. And surprisingly, these volcanoes spew a mixture of water ice, nitrogen, ammonia and methane instead of hot lava. These frozen volcanoes have been tentatively named Wright Mons and Piccard Mons. They are each more than 160 kilometers wide and four kilometers high.

The discovery of recently active volcanoes on Pluto should open up new questions about this dwarf planet. Scientists want to know what is creating heat in the inside of Pluto that resulted in making the volcanoes. They think it might be the result of radioactive elements in Pluto's core.

The scientists say these findings are tentative because they are still looking at all the pictures taken by the New Horizon probe last July. Ice volcanoes are also found on Saturn's moon Enceladus and on Neptune's moon Triton. You can read more about this discovery in this article from ABC News.

Have a great week.

November 9, 2015

Dinosaurs are in the news again. Scientists report finding the skeleton of a heavily feathered dinosaur. The Ornithomimus was a fast moving, two-legged, mostly meat-eating dinosaur that looked a lot like an ostrich. It lived in the Late Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. This find is particularly interesting because the skeleton was found with fossilized feathers and skin.

Lead researcher Aaron van der Reest found the fossil in 2009 and has been studying it ever since. The fossil is one of just three feathered Ornithomimus specimens in the world. It is the only one with a well-preserved tail.

While this dinosaur had feathers, the scientists figured out that it had bare skin on its legs. They think the dinosaurs used its feathers and bare skin to help regulate its body temperature. The fossil also gives us more evidence that today's birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs.

Read more about this find in this article from LiveScience.

We have a new broadcast show coming up next week. Check out our show all about volcanoes on Idaho Public Television on November 17^th at 2:00pm MT. You can watch the streaming show, the Web Show and the video short here on the website afterwards.

Have a good week.

November 2, 2015

Not only is today All Soul's Day or Día de los Muertos, it is also a day to celebrate the International Space Station. Monday, November 2, 2015 marks the 15^th anniversary of people living continuously on the International Space Station. The first permanent crew moved in on November 2, 2000. Since then, 220 people from 17 countries have lived in space there. NASA says more than 26,500 miles have been served over the years. Currently six men, from the U.S., Russian and Japan, are living there, including Commander Scott Kelly who is on a yearlong mission. If you want to see what the International Space Station looks like, check out the “On Location” tour we took of the Earth-bound mock up.

You can read more about the International Space Station and its missions at NASA's site here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Scientists announced the find of a new bat species, one found in an unusual place... in a vault of London's Natural History Museum. It had been in a jar of alcohol for 30 years. Charles Francis collected the specimen in Malaysia in 1983 and preserved it in the jar. Researchers took a recent look at the bat and decided it was a new species. It was named Francis' woolly horseshoe bat, after its discoverer.

Because the specimen was so delicate, researchers used a CT scanner to analyze the creature's bones. The scan shows the bat's skull had spiky, sharp-edged teeth to chomp down on insects. You can read more about it in this article from The Guardian.

Have a great week!

October 26, 2015

Scientists have found a new pterosaur in the Utah deserts. This yet-to-be-named flying dinosaur had about 110 teeth and four fangs. Yikes!

It lived 200 million years ago, had a wingspan for about 4 and half feet and spaces in its braincase and lower jaw. Researchers think that its bones were air-filled in life like the bones of birds, though this pterosaur is not related to birds. It had small eyes and a large head. Researchers thing it probably flew in areas where there were trees because the wings were really not designed for soaring over large distances. This new dinosaur probably ate small land-dwelling animals and insects. The scientists who found the new bones plan to announce the name of the new pterosaur later. Read more about this discovery in this story from LiveScience.

As it is almost Halloween, I thought I'd pass along some Halloween facts as my treat to you all.

Halloween, or All-Hallows’ Eve, can be traced back 2000 years to a pre-Christian Celtic festival called Samhain. Samhain means “summer's end” in Gaelic.

Trick-or-treating may have come from a medieval custom of
“souling” in which poor people who knock on their neighbors' doors on November 1^st and ask for food in exchange for prayers for the dead.

Black cats are often associated with Halloween. In the Dark Ages, elderly women were sometime accused of being witches and their pet cats were their “familiars” or demonic animals. In some places, a black cat crossing your path was a sign of bad luck. But in Ireland, Scotland and England, a black cat crossing your path is a sign of good luck.

And finally, Jack-O’-Lanterns used to be turnips not pumpkins. Celts thought placing a hallowed out turnip with a small candle inside outside your door on Halloween would help guide lost spirits home. When the potato famine of 1846 forced Irish families to move to America, they brought their traditions with them. But in America, they couldn't find large turnips so they started using pumpkins.

So get out and enjoy Halloween. You'll get some exercise, candy and know you will be celebrating an ancient tradition.

Boo!

October 19, 2015

You need to get a good night's sleep. Scientists have tied getting enough sleep to doing better in school and reducing your chances of catching a cold. Your brain also flushes toxins out of your brain while you sleep. There are lots of good reasons to sleep, but how much sleep do you really need?

Scientists decided to test the sleep patterns of some of the world's last hunter-gatherers to see how much sleep humans who live the way our ancestors did 10,000 years ago really get. Researchers visited three tribes: the Hadza of Tanzania, the San of Numibia, and the Tsimane of Bolivia. All three tribes are cut off from electricity, media and other modern distractions. 94 tribe members wore a medical version of a Fitbit to track their sleeping patterns.

The scientists found that, on the average, all three groups slept less than 6.5 hours a night, do not generally take naps and do not go to sleep when it gets dark. They do spend about 6.9 to 8.5 hours per night in bed, but not all of it sleeping. Scientists say that “sleep efficiency” is similar to today's modern populations.

Now, the scientists couldn't track very short “power” naps so they don't know if the tribe members took any catnaps during the day. They also found that, while the tribe members stayed up after dark, they did tend to get up with sun, within an hour either way depending upon the season of the year and the group. Scientists are still trying to figure out what this means. So, until they decide, we will just have to sleep on it. You can read more about this research in this article from the Washington Post.

We are about to answer your questions about insects. Our newest broadcast show airs on Tuesday, October 20^th at 2:00/1:00p.m Mt/Pac. Check it out on Idaho Public Television or watch the streaming here on the website.

Have a great week.

October 14, 2015

Hummingbird tongues are not what we thought they were. Yes, scientists have finally figured out how hummingbirds' tongues actually work. They used to think that hummingbirds used a process called “capillary action” when they drank. You can see capillary action when you put a long, thin tube in a glass of water. The water travels up the tube without any suction. Scientists saw long, narrow grooves on a hummingbird's tongues. Researchers thought that when a hummingbird sipped tiny bursts of nectar, it took advantage of the capillary action to get the nectar to its mouth.

But no! Scientists Alejandro Rico-Guevara and Kristiina Hurme of the University of Connecticut report that the grooves in the hummingbird tongue don't reach the throat, so the bird can't use them like tiny straws. Instead, the scientists found a hummingbird's tongue works like a tiny pump. They discovered that the bird drinks, it squashes its tongue flat. When the tongue springs open, the force of that springing action pulls the nectar into the grooves of the tongue and the liquid flows into the hummingbird's mouth.

This process happens fast and is very efficient. A hummingbird can drain all the nectar out of a flower in under a second. Pretty nifty! Find out more about this research in this article from the Washington Post.

Our next new broadcast show airs next Tuesday, October 20^th. We will be answering all your questions about insects. Tune in at 2:00pm Mt or watch the streaming version of the broadcast show and the Web Only show here on the website anytime afterwards.

Have a great week.

October 05, 2015

Scientists have found a way to get you to eat your vegetables: pair them with something you don't like as much. Researchers are trying to find ways to improve school lunches and get kids to eat their veggies. Remember, they are really good for you and nine out of ten kids don't eat enough healthy veggies.

Researchers from Texas A&M University looked at “plate waste data” from 8,500 elementary schools. They found that kids don't eat their vegetables when they have popular main dishes like burgers or chicken nuggets. Kids do eat more of their vegetables when the main dish is something like deli sliders. It seems when vegetables are paired with a favorite main dish, the main dish gets eaten first and veggies go to waste.

Maybe this will lead schools to serve only veggies first and then when you have eaten your veggies, you can go back for the burger. Or schools could offer lunches with a favorite vegetable and a not-so-favorite main dish. Psychologist Traci Mann, says the simplest way to eat better is to make it easier to eat better. Read more about this study in this article from the Washington Post.

The Washington Post had another fun article. It features a video clip from National Geographic Explorer David Gruber. He and his team were looking at biofluorescent coral when they found something else: a biofluorescent turtle. This glowing turtle may be the first biofluorescent reptile ever discovered. Now, bioluminescent creatures create their own glow through a chemical reaction. Biofluorescent creature glow when you shine a high-energy light, like an ultraviolet light, on them.

Check out this video from National Geography or read more about it here.

We are hard at work on our next broadcast show and will be answering your questions about insects. Check it out on Idaho Public Television or here on the website on October 20^th.

Have a great week.

September 28, 2015

Did you see the super moon lunar eclipse? Here are some photos from Idaho Public Television staffers of the moonrise over Boise.

Pretty amazing! One note: It will be 33 years until the next super moon lunar eclipse can be seen here in Idaho. The next regular full lunar eclipse to be seen here in Idaho will be 2018.

Did you know giraffes hum? Listen.

So a team from the University of Vienna recorded nearly 1000 hours of audio of giraffes from three different zoos just hanging around. They found that giraffes do communicate vocally in a range humans can actually hear. They just do it in a very low frequency and they do it at night.

Giraffe hums come in different lengths and in different combinations of notes. Scientists aren't sure why giraffes hum. It might be a sound made while sleeping, like snoring, or it might be the way giraffes in the dark tell one another who is around. Researchers haven't actually seen a giraffe humming. All they have are the recordings. So, they say the next step is to try to catch the animals humming and to figure out what giraffes are trying to say. You can read more about giraffe humming in this article from Science Alert.

We are looking for questions for our show about television. Be sure to send your email or video question here.

September 21, 2015

There's a super moon lunar eclipse coming. On Sunday, September 27^th we in North America will get a chance to see this fairly rare event. What is a super moon? Well, this video from NASA should explain.

Be sure to watch the eclipse on Sunday. In Boise, the maximum eclipse happens at 8:47PM. You can use this link to find out what time the eclipse happens in your location and how much you will be able to see.

Send me your pictures of the eclipse and I'll try to post the best ones in a future blog. Don't miss this event because there won't be another total lunar eclipse here in Boise until January 31^st, 2018.

Did you catch our latest Asteroids and Comets show? If not, check it out here.

Asteroids made science news recently. Scientists in Sweden have announced they have found evidence of a double meteor strike on Earth about 458 million years ago. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg found two craters in central Sweden. The two meteors were just a few miles from each other and hit the Earth and about the same time. One crater measures 4.7 miles wide and the other is only about 2,300 feet across.

The asteroids hit a place that was 1,600 feet below sea level at the time. Scientists think that when the meteors hit, they displaced all the water in the seabed for about 100 seconds and then the water rushed back in.

This isn't the first ancient meteor hit in Sweden but it is the first time scientists think they've found a double hit. Read more about it in this report from Livescience.

Have a great week!

September 14, 2015

Hey!! We begin our new season this week. Check out our broadcast show about Asteroids and Comets on Tuesday, September 15^th at 2:00/1:00pm Mt/Pac on Idaho Public Television or watch it here on the website. Also check out our Asteroids and Comets Web Show here on the website. Take the time to look at all the topics we are doing this season and send in a question too!

How long is your lunch break? Do you eat everything on your plate? Officials are trying to improve school lunches. They have been changing the food, but that doesn't seem to be enough. Now, new research suggests a different approach. Make lunch breaks longer.

Researcher looked at the eating habits of more than a thousand elementary and middle school students in Boston-area schools. They found that the more time students had to finish their lunches, the more fruits and vegetables they ate and the more milk they drank.

One school in the study had a 20-minute lunch break. By the time the students got their food, they had about 10 minutes to eat. Other schools in the study had 25 and 30-minute lunch periods. The researcher found that when the students don't have a lot of time, they are less likely to eat healthy food like fruits and vegetables. In schools with longer lunch periods, the students ate more food.

So researchers think if officials want students to eat more healthy food, they need to make lunch periods at least 30 minutes long or offer faster service so kids have more time to eat. Read more about this research in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

Have a great week and enjoy our Asteroids and Comets show.

August 31, 2015

Credit: Luigi Novi

Some people use an alarm to wake them in the morning. Roosters use an internal body clock to know when to crow at the dawn, but apparently only if they are the top dog. Scientists have discovered that roosters will hold back on their cock-a-doodle-do to let the rooster at the top of the social structure have the first chance to crow.

Biologists at Nagoya University in Japan took four roosters and put them in a soundproofed room. They watched as the birds challenged and pecked at each other until the scientists knew which rooster was at the top of the social structure and the status of the other three. Then they moved the birds into separate cages in the same room and waited for the sun to rise. The top-ranking rooster almost always was the first one to make the wake up call. If the scientists removed him from the room, then the second top rooster made the first crow. Even though roosters are biologically set to cock-a-doodle-do at sunrise, they will hold back and let the top rooster crow first.

Why is this important? Well, perhaps it allows male roosters to let the hens in the coop know who is on top in the chicken social world. You can read more about it in the article from Student Science.

One of my favorite scientists passed away. Oliver Sacks was a neurologist and author who explored and explained the brain. His book, “Awakenings.” told the story of a group of patients who were catatonic from an unusual form of the disease encephalitis. These people appeared to be asleep or unresponsive. In 1966, Dr. Sacks tried a new treatment that “woke” them up. It was made into an amazing movie in 1990. He wrote all about various workings of the brain and with the help of his patients and his brilliant writing style, he made us all better understand what it is to be human. Among my favorite of his books is “Seeing Voices, a Journey into the World of the Deaf.” It profoundly changed my view of the world in which my hard-of-hearing son lives. I would hope all of you take the chance to read one of his books and watch the movie “Awakenings.” You can read an article about Sacks in the New York Times.

Our Season 17 topics are almost ready for viewing. Keep checking the website this week and hopefully it will be up this week.

Have a great week!

August 24, 2015

For those of you who started school this week, welcome back!

If you want to start the school year by being more creative, start walking. Scientists have found that walking improves creativity.

The scientists did four experiments involving 176 college students and other adults. The volunteers were placed in one of four situations: walking indoors on a treadmill, sitting indoors, walking outside or sitting outside. The participants did tasks used by researchers to test for creative thinking. The results were dramatic. A volunteer's creative output increased by an average of 60 percent when walking. It didn't matter if he or she were walking inside or outside; it was the walking that mattered. The study also showed that the creative ideas continued to flow even after the person sat back down. A walk made the difference.

The researchers did find that people who sat did better at tasks that required a specific answer, so doing math or spelling while walking probably isn't a good idea. But if you have a creative or brainstorming task to do, you might try taking a walk. You can read more about this study in this Stanford Report.

We are busy working on our first show of the season. We are answering questions about asteroids and comets. We are also busy on updating our website. We expect the topic sites for this season to be posted within the next week or so and a whole new update for all the topics on the site should be done by the end of September. Keep checking back for updates.

We are also taking questions for our volcano show. Send in your questions here.

Have a great week!

August 17, 2015

School started yet? It probably is starting too early. I don't mean too early in the calendar year. I mean too early in the day, and that may be making teens sick.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics issued another recommendation to start school later than 8:30a.m. for teens. Five out of every six middle schools and high schools start classes earlier than 8:30a.m.

In a new report, the CDC called “insufficient sleep among the nation's teenagers a substantial public health concern.” Getting enough sleep is vital for good health, the ability to learn and for a good mood. Teenagers need between 8.5 and 9.5 hours of sleep each night, but their natural sleep rhythms makes it hard for most teens to fall asleep before 11:00pm. So if they have to get up at 6am to make it to school, they just aren't getting enough sleep.

So school officials, listen to the doctors and give kids a chance to sleep! And kids, learn good sleep habits. Turn off screens (computers, phones and televisions) an hour before bed and keep regular go-to-sleep and wake-up times. A good night's sleep is a great way to start your school day. Read more about the CDC's report and find out how your state rates on school start times in this article from the Washington Post.

Here's a totally different science story for you. Scientists have found frogs that can kill you with a head butt.

Herpetologists from Utah State University and the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo found two species of Brazilian frogs with venomous spikes on their noses, jaws and the backs of their heads. The frogs have long flexible necks. If they are grabbed, the frogs jab and rub their spines into whatever captured them. A gram of venom from the Corythomantis greeningi frog could kill six humans. A gram of venom from the Aparasphenodon brunoi frog would kill 80 humans.

Biologists say these frogs have no know predators, not a big surprise. Read more about these frogs in this article from LiveScience.

Keep checking back here on the Science Trek website. We are just a few weeks away from launching an important update. We are also working on the first broadcast shows of the new season. So back to school for you all, back to work for us, and everybody avoid these new Brazilian frogs!

Have a great week!

August 4, 2015

What to improve your thinking? Go climb a tree. A study from the University of North Florida suggest that climbing a tree or balancing on a beam, even for just a few minutes, can improve cognitive abilities.

Researchers tested volunteers, aged 18 to 59, on the working memory. They then asked the volunteers to complete a physical activity like climbing trees, crawling or walking on a beam, running barefoot, and navigating obstacles.

After two hours, the researchers retested the volunteers' working memory and found that it had increased by 50 percent. As a control, the researchers also tested volunteers in a new college class with no activity and a group of volunteers taking a yoga class. The two control groups showed no improvement in their working memory.

The researchers say their results could suggest some changes in the classroom. They think by taking a break and doing some physical activity that challenges your thinking skills could boost students' performance in class. When school starts again, why not ask your teacher to give it a try? You can read more about this study in this press release.

Have a great week!

July 20, 2015

Which president served before slavery ended, John Tyler or Rutherford B. Hayes? Don't remember? Don't blame it on summer vacation; blame it on how our brain remembers things. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found that there is a pattern to how we forget things. Memory fades with distance and time.

Psychologists did four studies from 1974 to 2014. In the studies, the scientists gave college students five minutes to write down as many presidents as they could remember in the order in which the presidents served. The researchers ranked the best know presidents and plotted “presidential memorability” on a curve for each group.

Almost everyone could name George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. They could remember Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant and then the Roosevelts and Harry S. Truman. The presidents in-between, however, were forgettable.

Baby boomers could remember Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Gen Xers could remember the elder President Bush, but they couldn't remember Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Researchers say the brain remembers things that are useful now or in the future. If a skill or knowledge isn't used or rehearsed, it fades. The less you hear or read about or refer to a president the less likely you will to remember his name. We get help remembering Washington and Lincoln because their names are everywhere from monuments to our coins. But whoever mentions Millard Fillmore?

This same memory pattern is true of anything we try to remember. So if you are given a list of spelling words, it is likely you will forget them if you only memorize them once and never use them again.

The researchers predict by 2040 the presidents like Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter will be remembered by less than a quarter of the population. Test your parents and see how well they remember their presidents. Test yourself. You can read more about this memory study in this article from the New York Times.

Oh, the answer to which president served before slavery ended is John Tyler.

There is good news for bats. Scientists think they may have found a possible treatment for white nose syndrome. This infection is a major killer of American bats. Check out the piece I did on scientists in Idaho testing for this infection.

Over the past ten years, white nose syndrome killed more 5.7 million bats in the U.S. and Canada. It is called white nose syndrome because it causes a white fungus grows over the bat's nose and wings. Researchers in Columbia, Mo are trying treating a control group of infected bats by exposing them to bacteria. The bacteria give off a gas so the scientists don't have to touch the bats, just expose them to the gases. About half of the treated bats survived. That's pretty good for a disease that could lead to the extinction of the entire species.

There is a lot more testing needed to see if this treatment would work and if the money is available to save these amazing creatures. This report is good news, but just a first step. Read more about it in this article from the website: Science News for Students.

I'm on vacation next week, so look for a new blog on August 3rd.

Have a great couple of weeks.

July 16, 2015

I put off posting to my blog this week until the end of this week, waiting for a “home run.” The whole world got a home run this week. That's how scientists working on the New Horizons project describe the mission to Pluto.

New Horizons flew past Pluto on Tuesday and the scientists have been getting some amazing images ever since. A new close-up image of a place near Pluto's equator shows a mountain range with peaks as high at 11,000 feet tall. That's as tall as many of the peaks in the Rocky Mountains.

Scientists think the mountains were formed no more than 100 million years ago. That's pretty young, considering the age of the universe. They think this section of Pluto may still be geologically active. That's unusual because Pluto cannot be heated by gravitational interactions with a much larger planetary body, so scientists have to rethink what is going on.

New Horizons also got a good look at Charon, Pluto's largest moon. Originally, researchers thought scars from asteroid strikes would cover Charon's surface, but scientists were surprised by the lack of craters. Instead, they found cliffs and troughs stretching about 600 miles. They found a canyon four to six miles deep. The scientists think Charon also shows signs of internal geological processes.

New Horizons took pictures of Pluto's four other moons: Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos. Hydra's surface is probably covered with water ice, harder than rocks on Earth.

You can learn more about Pluto and the New Horizons project at NASA.

Scientists will be getting more data from the Pluto fly-by over the next several weeks. Just to give you an idea how far away New Horizons is from Earth, it take four hours to send the space probe a radio signal from Earth and it will take 16 months for the probe to send all the scientific data back to Earth.

NPR author Adam Frank did a fun story on how long it would take to “drive” to Pluto. If your car could just drive 65 miles-per-hour in a straight line the 3.7 billion miles to Pluto “ignoring each planet's motion as well as the need to stop and pee,” it would take “6,293 years (give or take a few decades).” That's a long time, especially without a pit stop. :-) Check out the article here.

Have a great week.

July 06, 2015

Does your Mom want to be seen as a better cook and a more loving parent? Tell her to add a vegetable at dinner. No really.

A study at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab asked 500 American Moms to look at one of five common menus for dinner. The meals either contained a side vegetable or no vegetable. The moms said that those meals with a side vegetable meant “the main dish would taste better and that the server was a better cook.” That finding held true even if the moms in question didn't like the vegetable being offered.

In a second study, the same 500 people were read one of two stories: a woman named Valerie woke up, went to work, ran errands, made dinner for her family and watched TV before going to bed. In one version of the story the woman served green beans with dinner and in another version she did not. The listeners were then asked to describe “Valerie” as a person. Those who got the green bean story describe “Valerie” as “thoughtful,” “attentive” and “capable.” When she was not mentioned as serving a vegetable, she was more often described as “neglectful,” “selfish” and “boring.” Just the idea of serving a vegetable made the story-book-Valerie seem like a better parent.

So what do the researchers advise? Moms and Dad should make the effort to serve a vegetable at dinner, even it if it just a can of green beans. And you should probably make the effort to eat it. It will help out your body and make your parents feel like they are doing a good job. Read more about this study from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.

Oh, as long as they are cooking, tell your parents that scientists report that there are some food combinations that, when eaten together, help the body absorb more nutrients.

If you are serving a salad with tomatoes and carrots, add a cooked egg. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating an egg along with your salad makes it easier for the body to absorb the carotenoids in raw vegetables. Carotenoids are the pigments that give fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes and carrots, their color. Carotenoids help fight inflammation.

Other food combos work well together. Hummus and whole wheat bread eaten together give you all the amino acids you need for a complete protein. That's key if you are vegetarian and need protein in your diet.

If you are going to add the spice turmeric into a curry, be sure to also add black pepper. Together, the make a pigment in turmeric called curcumin easier for the body to access. Curcumin has anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.

Read more about these great combos to get more out your food at this report from NPR.

Next week, I'll report on the news leading up to the space probe New Horizon and its closest approach to the dwarf planet Pluto. If you can't wait, check out NASA's website.

Have a great week.

June 29, 2015

Prepare yourself for a bit longer day on Tuesday, June 30^th. NASA, which oversees the Universal Coordinated Time for the Earth, announced that it will be adding a “leap second” to the atomic clock on June 30^th.

“Earth's rotation is gradually slowing down a little, so leap seconds are a way to account for that,” said Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Why? The Earth's rotation is gradually slowing down a bit, due to a kind of braking force caused by the gravitational tug of war between Earth, the moon and the sun. Also, various changes in the atmosphere due to changes in the climate and dynamics of the Earth's inner core can change the Earth's rotation slightly.

Generally, our day is 86,400 seconds. But scientists have very precise ways of measuring the Earth's rotation. So our day is actually about 86,400.002 seconds long. That extra .002 seconds start to add up over a year to about a second. A unit within the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service decided to add the leap second at just before midnight on June 30^th.

Now officials don't do this very often because sophisticated computers and electronic devises that need accurate times don't like these types of disruptions. This is only the fourth “leap second” the scientists have added since 2000 and there is talk of getting rid of “leap seconds” all together. But for now, enjoy your extra second of June. Read more about this at NASA's website.

Have a good and ever so slightly longer week.

June 15, 2015

Quick, what was the last thing you drank? If you a kid or teen, you probably didn't say water. A study out of Harvard University finds that most children and teens aren't drinking enough fluids and one fourth of young people 6 to 19 don't drink water at all.

In a report published in the American Journal of Public Health, scientists studied the urine tests of thousands of students. They found that more than half were a bit dehydrated. Mild dehydration isn't serious, but it can affect your mood, make you feel tired and impact your ability to learn.

Researcher Erica Kenney says she was also astounded to learn that the students in the study were drinking little or no water. Children and teens should be consuming two to three quarts of water a day, depending upon age, size and sex. Teenage boys need more water than teenage girls, for example.

Not everyone has access to clean tap water and you do get some water in foods like soup, fruits and vegetables, but it seems young people need to make an effort to drink more overall all and drink more water in general. More liquids will prevent dehydration and water is much, much better for you than soda. Read more about this study in this report from NPR.

Speaking of consuming, scientists suggest that eating peanuts and nuts may lower your risk of death. It seems that men and women who eat at least 10 grams of nuts or peanuts (which aren't nuts but are legumes), have a lower risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, respiratory and neurodegenerative diseases than people who eat no peanuts or nuts. Researchers in the Netherlands have been studying the health and diet of 120,000 men and women since 1986. They have found this relationship between nut and peanut consumption and lower mortality rates. Peanuts and tree nuts contain vitamins, fiber, antioxidants and special fats.

Sadly, the scientists didn't find the protective effect in consuming peanut butter. So no PB&J, but eating nuts and peanuts each day is an easy way to perhaps stay healthy. So, enjoy a handful with a glass of water every day! Read more about this study in this article from Medical News Today.

Have a great week.

June 09, 2015

Life on Mars? Maybe? Scientists report finding glass deposits in impact craters on the Red Planet's surface. They think there may be a chance to find evidence of past life on Mars found within the left over glass. Glass can form in the heat that happens with something like a comet slams into a planet's surface. If there were life on the planet at the time of impact, evidence of it might be sealed within the glass. It is at least a good place to investigate. Read about this in this article from the Times of India.

Do you text or tweet in class? It is probably not a good idea. A study shows that students who text in class remember less about what was being taught. They also found that students who tweeted a lot took lower quality notes than the control group who did not text or tweet.

That finding doesn't surprise me. What was news is that students who texted each other in class and solely texted about what was being taught scored higher on multiple-choice tests than did students who texted about non-classroom related stuff. So, I'd suggest not texting in class, but if you are going to do it, make sure it is about whatever the teacher is teaching. Read more about this study in this article from Inside Higher Ed.

Have a great week!

June 01, 2015

Did you just yawn? Did you know just by reading the word yawn, you will probably shortly yawn? Scientists who study yawns know that humans, dogs, chimpanzees and a type of rodent called the high-yawning Sprague-Dawley rat all experience contagious yawning. Contagious yawning happens when one person yawns and someone else yawns and then the yawns just spread. Now they have discovered that these few mammals are not the only creatures that suffer from contagious yawns. Birds do too.

Andrew Gallup of State University of New York and his team just published a paper in the journal “Animal Cognition.” He and his team report finding that budgies, parakeets and parrots not only yawn but experience contagious yawns within their flocks.

The scientists had birds in a number of cages side by side. When they showed one bird video of a bird yawning, it would yawn. Its neighbors would yawn too. If the scientists blocked the view between birds, the yawning didn't spread as much.

These scientists think contagious yawning is a “primitive form of showing empathy.”

So next time you yawn and your friends start yawning, perhaps they are showing that they are paying attention to how you are feeling. Just be sure to cover your mouth when you yawn. It is the polite thing to do.

If you want to learn more about yawning birds, you can read the journal article here.

If you are finishing with school, congrats! If you have classes for a while longer, hang in there. While we won't have a new broadcast show until September, there are lots of videos to watch and things to learn on the Science Trek website all summer long! Check it out.

Have a great week.

May 25, 2015

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day started as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves and honor the memory of those soldiers who died in the Civil War. Officially, we are all suppose to take a moment of silence at 3:00pm local time to remember those men and women who gave their lives for our country. So, please join me at 3:00pm and thank those who, as Lincoln said, “gave the last full measure of devotion.”

In science news, I pass along another good reason to get vaccinated for measles...it may save you from getting all sorts of other infectious diseases.

Scientists at Princeton University and Emory University noticed that once kids started getting vaccinated for measles back in the 1960s, the rate of childhood death from all infectious diseases dropped dramatically. They saw the same trend in developing countries that are just getting measles vaccines today. Why? Why did getting a measles vaccine make a difference for other diseases?

The researchers looked at data from the U.S., Denmark, Wales and England going back to the 1940s. They found the number of measles cases predicted the number of deaths from other infections two or three years later. Researchers found that if you get the measles, the measles virus “erases” immune protection to other diseases.

Here is the explanation from an article by NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/07/404963436/scientists-crack-a-50-year-old-mystery-about-the-measles-vaccine
“Well, say you get the chicken pox when you're 4 years old. Your immune system figures out how to fight it. So you don't get it again. But if you get measles when you're 5 years old, it could wipe out the memory of how to beat back the chicken pox. It's like the immune system has amnesia.”

That means after getting the measles, a child is more vulnerable to getting another serious disease. The amnesia, researchers suggest, last two or three years.

So, double check with your parents to make sure you got a measles vaccine when you were a baby and encourage others to make sure all kids get their vaccines.

Be sure to check out this week's episode of Idaho Science Journal. Researchers at Boise State University are trying to find ways to help officials balance the needs of golden eagles for a home in the Owyhee Front and the desire for off-roaders to recreate in the same space. You can see it Thursday, May 28^th at about 7:45pm MDT on Idaho Public Television or watch the streaming here.

Have a great week! Enjoy the unofficial kick off to summer.

May 18, 2015

Alert: We have a new broadcast show coming up tomorrow. Check out “Soil” on Idaho Public Television at 2:00pm MDT or watch it anytime afterwards here on the website.

Scientists just reported a turn-the-world-on-its-head finding. They found a warm-blooded fish. Now, I was always taught that mammals are warm-blooded and fish are cold-blooded. Warm-blood creatures make their own body heat and keep a fairly constant body temperature. Cold-blood creatures depend upon the temperature in their environment. So when it is cold, they are cooler. When it is warm, their body temperature goes up.

That being the case, researcher from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the discovery of the world's first warm-blooded fish, the opah. The opah has special gills, which allows this fish to be warm-blooded.

Fish have two kinds of blood vessels in their gills, vessels carrying blood from the body heading to pick up oxygen and another set carrying oxygenated blood back into the body. Opah's blood warms up as it is circulated through the fish's body. Usually that warm blood hits the cold incoming blood and loses all its heat. But in the opah's case, those blood vessels are so tightly bundled that the warm blood warms up the cold blood before it has a chance to go into the body. That means the opah's blood is always warm.

The opah lives hundreds of feet deep in the ocean, in some of the darkest and coldest places. Most of the fish there are pretty sluggish. The waters are very cold so the fish don't move fast. But the opah moves quickly. It swims by flapping its fins rather than undulating its body like many other fish. This motion creates heat just as you create heat when you exercise. This extra body warmth helps warm up the fish's blood. Warm blood means the opahs' hearts and eyes work more efficiently. Being faster and having better vision means opahs are better predators.

Now that they have found one warm-blooded fish, scientists wonder if there might be more deep-water species with similar adaptations. We don't know a lot about creatures that live this deep in the ocean, so it will be an interesting area of study for years to come. You can read more about opahs in this report from the Washington Post.

Before I wrap up this posting, I want to take time to thank all the great people who make Science Trek happen. With the ‘Soil’ show, we finish our 16^th season and that's a good time to tell everyone how much I appreciate all the people who makes Science Trek happen. Here is a list of Idaho Public Television folks who work on the show and the website:

Joan Cartan-Hansen, Producer/Host
Al Hagenlock, Director/Editor
Jay Krajic, Videographer
Hank Nystrom, Videographer
Pat Metzler, Videographer
Troy Streve, Videographer
Aaron Kunz, Videographer
Cassandra Groll, On-air Digital Graphic Designer
Kris Freeland, Content Producer
Peggy Hurd, Web Content Writer
Tony Merrick, Web Coder
Stephanie Dickey, Web Designer
Rick Penticoff, Webmaster Emeritis
Aubrey Kravetz, Webmaster
Toni Rome, Site Redesign and Coding
Lisa Sommer, Print Graphic Designer
Jim Hadley, Print Graphic Designer
Anne Peterson, Promotion
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Craig Koster, Chief Engineer
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Aaron Kunz, Production Manager
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Ron Pisaneschi, General Manager

We had lots of other people help us this year: scientists who answered questions, teachers and lots of students who submitted great questions, kid actors and their parents, folks at the places we shot the shows. I appreciate each and every one of them. And I appreciate you, the folks who watch the show and visit the website.

Thank you.

Be sure to watch the ‘Soil’ show and come back to the website all summer long. We are already starting production on the next season and taking questions for the next set of shows. Send in your questions here.

Have a great week!

May 11, 2015

Put down that drink with high-fructose corn syrup. A study out of the University of California-Davis showed that drinks with even 10 percent high-fructose corn syrup increased the risk factors for heart disease.

In this study, 85 men and women were put in four groups. For 15 days, the group drank liquids containing high-fructose corn syrup at various concentrations. Group one drank liquids with no high-fructose corn syrup. Group two drank liquids with high-fructose corn syrup that met 10 percent of their total daily calorie requirements. Group three drank liquids with 17.5 percent and group four drank liquids with 25 percent of the total daily calorie requirements. At the beginning and the end of the study, the doctors did blood tests and found that as the amount of high-fructose corn syrup went up, so did the risk factors for heart disease. The risks were higher for men than women, but still not good for anyone.

The researchers think the risk of death from cardiovascular disease increases as the amount of added sugar in your diet increases. So for kids, the best thing to do is not get into the habit of drinking sugary drinks. Try water instead! You can read more about this study in this article from ScienceDaily.

For our viewers in the Pocatello, Idaho area, check out this week's Idaho Science Journal. We have a report on a special smart phone application for citizen scientists to use to help officials decide how to manage the area around the Portneuf River. Even if you don't live in Pocatello, check it out starting this Thursday, May 14^th. You can find a link to the story and the rest of the Idaho Science Journal reports here.

We have a new broadcast show coming up next week. We will be answering your questions about soil. Be sure to tune into Idaho Public Television on Tuesday, May 19th at 2:00/1:00pm Mt/Pac or check out the streaming versions here on the Science Trek website.

We are also taking questions for show for the next school year. Check out our topics and send in your questions here.

Have a great week!

May 4, 2015

What is the greatest magic of Harry Potter? Scientists think it may be that students who have read and identify with the Harry Potter books or movies have more positive attitudes about people from disadvantaged groups.

Researchers from Italy analyzed the attitudes of elementary, high school and college students from Italy and Britain. They measured the students before and after they read the books or watched the movies.

Now, if you aren't familiar with the stories, Harry wasn't brought up in a rich, happy environment. Many of the villains come from privileged backgrounds. Harry stands up for those facing discrimination.

The scientists found that reading the Harry Potter books or watching the movies changed students' attitudes about people from disadvantaged backgrounds, specifically, refugees, immigrants and gay people. The researchers say Harry Potter may be a good tool against prejudice. Why? Some argue the best way to fight discrimination is through storytelling. Storytelling allows us to step into someone else's shoes and gain a better understanding of their point-of-view. You can listen the story NPR did on this study here.

School may be winding down, but we are just getting started on our work for the next school year. Send us a question for one of our first three shows of the next season. Find the topics and how to send us a question here.

Have a great week!

April 29, 2015

Water, water everywhere but where I wanted it... For the first time in Science Trek history, our new broadcast show missed its airdate. Our Water show was suppose to air on April 21^st, but that morning the computer system that plays it out failed. There wasn't much we could do until our nice IT people fixed it, so our Master Control people played the “Science Trek: Earth” show.

Everything got fixed and our new Water show aired on April 28^th and is now available for streaming on the website. Check it out here.

So sorry we didn't get it to air as scheduled. We have decided to do a show next season on the technology involved in television, so we can all learn more about this crazy business.

Speaking of crazy, scientists in China have found what they describe as one of the weirdest flying creatures ever discovered. It is a pigeon-sized dinosaur with wings like a bat.

The dinosaur is named Yi qi and lived about 160 million years ago. It is thought to be a cousin of birds, but had wings more like flying reptiles known as pterosaurs.

Each wing had a clawed, three-fingered hand. It had feathers around its head. Paleontologist Corwin Sullivan of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing doesn't think the Yi qi flew very well. He thinks it probably did more gliding with “inefficient flapping.” Read more about it in this article from NBS News.

Have a great week.

April 20, 2015

PROGRAM CHANGE: Technology sometimes doesn't work. We had a computer fail and it took our newest broadcast show, Science Trek: Water, with it. Instead today we will air Science Trek: Earth.

We hope to recover the Water show and have it air on Idaho Public Television next week, April 28^th at 2:00pm/1:00pm Mt/Pac. We will put up the Water show on the website for streaming as soon as it is ready, so you may be able to see it here before it airs on Idaho Public Television.

I'll keep you updated and my apologies for the problem. Such are the joys of working with technology.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog...

Snap. Crackle. Pop. That's the sound my ankles make when I walk. I fell when I was about 10 and sprained both of my ankles. Afterwards, my ankles always popped when I walk. Can you make the knuckles on your hand pop by pulling a finger?

My doctor told me the sound came from gas bubbles in my joints popping. Later, I read research that said no, the sound came from bubbles forming. So which is it?

Well, researchers from the University of Albert have answered the question. Professor Greg Kawchuk and his team had a friend put his hand in a special MRI machine and they watched as his friend cracked his knuckle.

They saw that the cracking sound come when a bubble forms between the bone and the joint-not when that bubble collapses. The researchers also weighed in on the old myth that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis. Dr. Kevin deWeber, another researcher, thinks cracking your knuckles might actually be good for your joints. He says it is sort of a massage of the cartilage.

Now, despite the fact that cracking your knuckles may be good for your joints, it is not always good for the folks around you. That sound drives some people crazy. So don't worry if your joints snap, crackle and pop-but be thoughtful of others around you. You can read all about this study in this article from NPR.

Have a better week!

April 13, 2015

Bored in school? It might not be your teacher's fault. It may be in your genes.

Researchers looked at 13,000 twins aged 9 to 16 from six countries. They looked at how much the kids liked difference academic activities. The students were also asked to rate their own abilities in different subjects in school. The researchers looked closely at the answers because the twins share the same DNA. In theory, their answers should be about the same.

The researchers found that answers from identical twins matched more than answers from fraternal twins. They also found that 40% to 50% of the difference in twins in what motivated learning could be explained by genetics, by something in the twins' genes. About the same amount could be due to “non-shared environment,” that is having different teachers or living in different homes.

So what does this mean? Scientist say there probably isn't a gene responsible for how much children enjoy learning, but it does suggest that teachers and parents may need to find different ways to inspire kids to learn and may also not feel guilty when the old ways don't work. You can read more about this study in this article from ScienceDaily.

We have a new broadcast show next week. Join us and learn all about water. Our two guest scientists are part of MILES, which stands for “Managing Idaho's Landscapes for Ecosystem Services.” You can find out more about MILES here. Be sure to check out the show on Tuesday, April 21^st at 2:00pm Mt on Idaho Public Television or online here on the Science Trek Website.

Have a great week.

April 06, 2015

An apple a day doesn't keep the doctor away. Researchers at the University of Michigan decided to test that old tale that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Lead researcher Matthew Davis at first found that of 8,728 U.S. adults, 9% ate an apple each day. He found that those individuals were less likely to see a doctor several times a year.

But when they dug a bit further, they learned that people who eat an apple a day were also less likely to smoke and had more education. So when they adjusted out those factors, apple-a-day eaters were just as likely to see a doctor as non-apple eaters.

The news wasn't all bad for the old saying. The researcher did find that, even adjusting for the statistics, that apple-a-day eaters were slightly less likely to take prescription drugs.

So an apple a day keeps the pharmacist away. Read more about this study in this article from USA Today.

Speaking of old tales, scientists at the University of Nottingham in Britain have tested some very old medicine recipes and found a new weapon against superbugs.

MRSA is a deadly drug-resistant bacterial infection found in some hospitals. Because it is drug-resistant to modern drugs, scientists are looking elsewhere for treatments.

A 1,000-year-old book called “Bald's Leechbook” had recipes for the best medicines used by medieval age doctors. Viking studies professor Christina Lee translated the recipe for an eye salve and got chemists at her university's Center for Bimolecular Sciences to make the brew and test it.

The chemists found that the 1,000-year-old recipe had a powerful killing effect. It killed 90% of the MRSA bacteria in infected wounds in mice. So the ancient cure is as good as a single modern day antibiotic.

This is good news in our fight to come up with new and better antibiotics. But if they decide to market the ancient medicine, I think they will have to come up with a better name than “Bald's Leechbook”. Read more about it in this story from the Los Angeles Times.

Have a great week!

March 23, 2015

“Thar's gold in that there poop!” Yes, it turns out that there are traces of gold, silver and platinum in our sewage and some scientist think it is enough that we should start “mining” it.

Kathleen Smith and her colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey collected sewage samples from small towns in the Rocky Mountains and found microscopic amounts of gold, silver and platinum. There were enough valuable metals in the sewage to compare to the levels found in some commercial mines. Smith's view is that we should process out the valuable metals at the sewer plant. The plant would be able to contain the harsh chemicals needed to extract the metals. Mining poop would help the environment in another way. Treated sewage solids are sometimes used as fertilizer or are buried. The metals left in that waste could get back into the environment and cause problems.

So where does the gold, silver, and platinum come from? Apparently it comes from products like shampoo and detergents. Even some clothes have metals build into the fabric and those particles end up in our poop.

Mining poop isn't a new idea. A sewage plant in Tokyo is already mining waste. If you want to know more about mining poop, check out this article from the Guardian.

Here is a health alert. Another study show drinking diet pop is bad for you. A study out of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio reports that older adults who drink diet soda may find their waist sizes get larger than adults who don't drink diet pop. This is important because larger waist sizes are linked to a risk for heart disease and other illnesses. A 2011 study showed that people who drink diet pop every day may be at greater risk for heart attack. Researchers think there is something in the sweeteners used in diet pop that causes these problems. I mention this because more and more kids are drinking diet pop and should be warned. Read more about it in this LiveScience article.

Enjoy a nice glass of water and have a great week!

March 16, 2015

Hungry? Looking for food? How about finding your place on the food web. Our newest broadcast show airs Tuesday, March 17^th at 2:00pm MDT and we will be answering your questions about the food web. Be sure to watch it on Idaho Public Television or online here on the website.

Science answers another one of those strange questions this week-why do we have eyelashes? It turns out that there is a good reason why humans and dozens of other mammal have eyelashes and why they are the length they are.

Now, mammal eyes are all wet. The liquid and oils in our eyes keep dust and other contaminants from getting into our eyes and causing problems. Air across the eye causes that liquid to evaporate, not a good thing.

Guillermo Amador, a scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology studied nearly two dozen mammal eyes. He and his students measured the eyelashes and eye slits of animals like chimpanzees, red pandas, porcupines, cougars, and camels. He put the eyes through wind tunnels and other experiments. They found something amazing. The scientists proved that eyelashes reduce the airflow that goes across the eye and thus protects them.

They found out something else. They discovered the best length for eyelashes are one-third the length of the eyes. Mammals of all kinds have different size eyes but the ratio of the length of the lash compared to the length of the eye stayed the same, one third. The scientists tried to see if longer eyelashes would do a better job of protecting the eye. It didn't. It did the opposite. Longer lashes caused more evaporation. Shorter lashes also don't give the eyes enough protection either. They need to be just the right length to do the job right.

Now thicker lashes did make a difference. Animals that live in bright dusty places, like giraffes and kangaroos, have several rows of eyelashes and more lashes did help. But the ratio length stayed the same. So bat those lashes and protect your eyes. You can read more about this research in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

Have a great week and be sure to check out our newest show: The Food Web!

March 9, 2015

A jawbone and a trip to dwarf planet made science news this week.

Scientists who study ancient humans found a 2.8 million year old jawbone in the deserts of Ethiopia. They believe it is a fossil of a creature that eventually evolved into humans. In this part of Ethiopia, other scientists have found the bones of 4-foot-tall, apelike creatures called Australopithecus who lived on the Earth about three million years ago. Bones of our human genus, Homo appeared about 2 million years ago. Scientist didn't have a fossil record of how we humans evolved from Australopithecus to Homo, until now. Brian Villmoare, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, thinks that this fossil may be part of that link. The fossil is part of a lower jawbone with several teeth. The teeth are important because they show a more human like than ape like structure. You can read more about this discovery in this article from NPR.

Now onto our second big story... Pluto is not the only dwarf planet in our solar system. Ceres is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Thanks to the NASA spacecraft, Dawn, Ceres is about to be explored. After nearly eight years, Dawn is now circling Ceres, ready to start taking pictures and learning more about this heretofore-mysterious object.

Ceres was first thought to be a comet, but it was re-classified as a dwarf planet, just like Pluto, in 2006. It has a diameter of about 600 miles and is thought to have a rocky core surrounded by an icy mantle. The first pictures showed a pair of bright spots inside a crater. Scientists think the dots might be exposed ice or salt.

Dawn will study Ceres for 16 months. You can find out more at the mission's NASA website.

Now, there is one more big thing happening before my next blog post that you should know about. This Saturday, March 14^th, is unique in this century. It is a very special Pi day.

Pi (Π) is a mathematical term. It is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Numerically, it is written as approximately 3.1415926. While Pi has been calculated to over a trillion digits, most of refer to Pi as 3.1415. People all over the world celebrate Marcy 14^th as Pi day because we American's shorten our month and day as 3/14 .

3/14 or 3.14 or Pi. Get it? Well, add the year to that and you get 3/14/15 or 3.1415.

As the year 15 only happens once a century, this is the only day you get to celebrate Pi day with greater accuracy. You get to have a mini-celebration at 9:26 am and 9:26pm when it is 3.1415926. And who said mathematicians don't know how to party?

Enjoy your Pi day and have a great week.

March 2, 2015

Maybe it wasn't the rats...maybe it was the gerbils.

For years, scientists and historians blamed black rats and the fleas that lived on them for causing outbreaks of the bubonic plague. Bubonic plague was a disease caused by bacterium that lived in rodents. It killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe starting in the 1300s until it disappeared in the early 1800s.

But now researcher has a new theory. The carriers of this disease came from Asia were not black rats. The culprits might well be Great Asian gerbils.

Nils Stenseth of the University of Oslo and his follow scientists studied ancient tree rings to learn about climate change in Asia and Europe. Plague jumps from wild rodents to humans in times of climate change. The scientists found 16 times when the climate in Asia would have made conditions right for the disease to jump to humans. Gerbils and other small mammals could have easily hitched a ride from Asia to Europe on ships and caravans traveling between Asia and Europe and spread the disease. Read more about this research in this article from the New York Times.

So for at least one group of scientists, rats are free of the crime of spreading the bubonic plague. And if you have a gerbil at home...well, you have been warned.

Have a great week.

February 23, 2015

Are your clean dishes hurting your health? A study out of Sweden suggests that doing dishes in a dishwasher could increase the chances kids will develop allergies.

There is this idea called the “hygiene hypothesis” that suggests that we in developed nations use too many things like hand sanitizers and too much detergent in an effort to be “clean.” Researchers think that kids are not being exposed to bacteria when they are young because their environments are so clean. They think that if your immune system isn't exposed to bacteria when you are young, then your immune system can misfire and you will develop problems like allergies and asthma.

So these scientists wanted to test to see if kids in households that use dishwashers instead of hand washing dishes were at greater risk of developing allergies. The idea is that hand washing dishes doesn't do quite as good of a job of getting rid of bacteria as dishwasher do. The researchers studied 1,029 Swedish children aged 7 or 8 and looked at who lived in a home with a dishwasher and who lived in a home where someone hand washed the dishes. They found that in households where someone hand washed the dishes, the kids in those homes had significantly fewer cases of eczema, a skin disease kicked off by a reaction of the immune system and somewhat fewer cases of asthma and hay fever compared to households where the family used a dishwasher.

Now the researchers remind us that this is just one study and no reason to throw out your dishwasher. But the next time your folks ask you to help wash the dishes, go for it. It might be good for you. You can read more about this study in this report from NPR.

Be sure to check out our newest broadcast show: Robotics. Be sure to watch the Web Only and video shorts! You'll find it here.

Have a great week!

February 9, 2015

Both girls and boys can do well in science and math. Don't let anyone tell you differently, especially your teacher. According to a new study, teachers may be unconsciously discouraging girls to go on with math and science.

Starting in 2002, researchers in Israel tracked three groups of sixth grade students until the kids finished high school. The students were periodically given two tests, one graded by their teacher and one graded by outsiders who didn't know any of the students' names. In the math tests graded by the outsiders, the girls outscored the boys. But on the same tests graded by teacher, the boys did better. The researchers think that, in math and science, the teacher overestimated the boys' abilities and underestimated the girls. The researchers didn't see the same effect in subjects like English. The teachers apparently didn't realize that they were sending a message to the girls that “girls” can't do math or science. This really should be a wake up call to all educators to look at how they teach math and science and ways to encourage everyone, especially girls, to continue their math and science education and to go onto careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.

People ask me why I produce Science Trek. This is why. Kids need to know how much fun science is and how important it is to think about STEM jobs for their future. Read more about this study in this article from the New York Times.

Have a good week!

February 2, 2015

Happy Groundhog Day!

According to folklore, if the groundhog sees his shadow, then we are supposed to have six more weeks of winter. And it turns out that more cold weather could be bad for our health.

We seem to get sick from colds more often in the winter than in the summer. Scientists now think they know why. We get sick when rhinoviruses get into our nose and make their way into our body. Our noses have special cells designed to fight infections, but it turns out that when we breathe in cold air, that lining of cells can't do quite as good a job and we get sick.

Scientists tested looked at what happened to those fighting cells at different temperatures. When the cells were at body temperature, they did a good job fighting off the rhinoviruses. But if that temperature dropped just a few degrees, the body's cells just couldn't fight as well and the rhinoviruses multiplied. So, scientists think that when our nose gets cold, our immune system falters.

Now, all the tests were done in a lab, so the scientists involved caution things might be different in the human nose in the real world, but it is a pretty good explanation why we get more colds in the winter. Read more about the study in this article from the New York Times.

So, hope the groundhog doesn't see its shadow and we all get an early spring and warm noses.

Have a great week!

January 26, 2015

Taking music lessons? You are also training your brain and it may make a difference in your emotional health.

In a study released this month in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, scientists studied the brains of 232 young people aged 6 to 18. They were looking at brain development in children who play musical instruments. They found that the more a child was trained to play music, the greater the difference in the areas of the brain that control anxiety, emotions and attention skills. Kids who played musical instruments seemingly had more mature emotional growth in their brains. That should translate to better emotional skills.

It apparently does not make a difference what musical instrument the kids played, so the lesson here is to find your favorite and practice. By the way, the level of improvements in the brain so impressed the lead scientist that he started taking lessons to learn to play the viola. I guess it is never too old to improve your brain. Read more about this study in this article from the Washington Post.

There's lots of space news this week. A mountain-sized asteroid will zoom past Earth today. It won't be too close, about 745,000 miles away, but close enough to give scientists a chance to study its surface. The asteroid is named Asteroid 2004 BL86 and is about 1,800 feet wide. Scientists hope to take enough pictures to get a 3-D image of it and, maybe, some moons that might spin around it. About 17% of asteroids this size have smaller objects trailing them. Scientists also want to figure out 2004 BL86's path around the sun, just to make sure it won't get too close to the Earth. Find out how NASA plans to track this asteroid here.

This past weekend also marked the 11^th anniversary of the landing of NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars. NASA released a special photograph to celebrate the moment.

This panorama is from one of the highest elevations that the Opportunity has ever reached. The view is from the top of “Cape Tribulation,” a section of the Endeavour Crater. You can even see a small American Flag printed on one of Opportunity's extended tools. The Opportunity rover holds the record for having been driven farther on the surface of another world than any other vehicle. It has traveled almost 26 miles in 11 years. Learn more about Opportunity here.

If you missed our latest broadcast show all about blood, check it out here.

Have a great week!

January 19, 2015

Happy Martin Luther King Day! I hope you enjoyed a little time for yourself and your family today. You will get a bit more time in 2015, exactly one more second. It turns out that astronomers at the International Earth Rotation and Reference System Services have decided to add a “leap second” to 2015.

Scientists have two official ways of measuring time- measure how long it takes the Earth to make one complete spin on its axis and measure how long it takes for 9.192,631,770 oscillations of a ceasium-133 atom, which is defined as one second. The second measurement comes from what is known as an atomic clock. The atomic clock determines what time pops up on your cell phone. Atomic clocks are very precise, but the Earth is not. NASA geophysicist Richard Gross says the speed of the Earth's rotation varies and changes. Every now and then, the scientists have to adjust the “official” time to keep the two measurements in sync. So, they have decided to add a second to 2015.

So when do you get your extra second? It will be added to the last minute of June 30th, so you have some time to prepare. You can read more about “leap” seconds and official time keeping in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

We have a new broadcast show this week. Check out our show answering your questions about “Blood.” You can see it on Idaho Public Television or on our website on Tuesday, January 20^th at 2:00pm MST. Be sure to watch the video shorts and Science Trek: The Web Show.

Have a great week!

January 5, 2015:

Happy New Year! As promised, here are my top 10 science stories for 2014.

10. Oldest human poop: Okay, poop itself isn't a big science story unless it is poop that is 50,000 years old. Scientists learned a lot more about our ancient ancestors this year. Here is a bit of my post about the really old poop:

Scientists think Neanderthals, a close relative of Homo sapiens or modern humans, left the feces near the remains of a fire.

Scientists call fossilized poop 'coprolites.' Chemists study ancient coprolite to learn more about life thousands of years ago. Based on the chemicals found in this ancient coprolite, scientists think these Neanderthals ate plants as well as meat. That's big news.

It was long thought that Neanderthals ate primarily meat. Some scientists thought a meat-only diet could have been one of the reasons why Neanderthals went extinct. But this new poop indicates that Neanderthals in this part of the world had a fairly balanced diet. In other words, they ate their veggies. So, scientists who study human evolution have a lot more thinking and exploring to do. If you want to learn more about ancient poop, check out this article from the BBC.

9. Chocolate lovers celebrate: While this isn't a really big science story, it was one of my favorites of the year. Scientists figured out why dark chocolate is good for you. Here's my post on the story:

Researcher John Finley reports that when you eat dark chocolate, your body turns it into compounds that help your heart.

Finley says they found a specific microbe in your digestive tract. When you eat dark chocolate, this good microbe feasts on it. As these good microbes grow, they produce anti-inflammatory compounds. These anti-inflammatory compounds are good for your heart. And there is another bonus. As the good microbes grow in numbers, they push out bad microbes that cause stomach problems. So eating dark chocolate is really good for you — unfortunately, not so much for the more popular milk chocolate. Read more about this study in this press release from the American Chemical Society.

8. Mixed messages about screen time: We got lots of different science reports about the good and bad of using our electronic devises. It seems it is good to spend a little time playing video games but we don't learn as well reading from a screen. Scientists also say it is better to hand write our notes than type them. We retain the information better that way. Also, it is not good to read e-books at night. The light coming from the devise disturbs your sleep patterns. So, enjoy a moderate amount of screen time but if you really want to learn something, read it in a paper book and take your notes by hand.

7. Total lunar eclipse: In April, we here in North America experienced a total lunar eclipse. It turned the Moon a blood red color. Very cool!

6. Really big dinosaurs: Paleontologists made a number of discoveries this year. My favorite were two really, really big dinosaurs. Here's my blog post about them:

Lead discoverer, Drexel University paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, calls it a Dreadnoughtus. Researchers think the dinosaur was 85 feet long, 30 feet tall and weighed 65 tons! That is the same weight as a dozen elephants. Scientists think the Drednoughtus could have been even larger because the bones of the creature they did find were still growing. The Drednoughtus had a 37-foot-long neck and would need to eat about a half ton of food every day. It lived during the Late Cretaceous Era, about 77 million years ago.

So is this plant eater the biggest dinosaur? Some paleontologists think so. Others say the Argentinosaurus was bigger at 70 to 90 tons. Researchers say they have a more complete skeleton of the Dreadnoughtus; so right now it has a better claim to the title of biggest dinosaur. Time will tell. You can learn more about this big find at this article from NBC News.

A team from the Ohio University reports finding another new Late Cretaceous period dinosaur. This dinosaur comes from Tanzania and is called the Rukwatitan bisepultus. This dinosaur is another large-bodied plant eater with a long neck and an estimated two-meter long forelimb. Find out more about this dinosaur in this article from mainenewsonline.com.

5. Orion tested: In December, NASA had a successful test of the next vehicle designed to take humans far into space. Here's my blog posting about it:

This flight was designed to see if the craft's heat shield and parachutes would work properly. The heat shield is the largest of its kind ever built and needed to withstand temperatures up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The parachutes needed to deploy at just the right time to slow the capsule's landing in the Pacific Ocean. NASA scientists also used about 1,200 different sensors onboard Orion to make sure the computers and all the other systems would work well in space. They particularly wanted to see how well Orion would survive the high levels of radiation in space. Everything went really well and now the researchers will use the test flight data to prepare for a manned flight to someplace like Mars. You can read more about Orion at NASA's website.

4. Climate change deal: The United States and China agreed to halt the growth of greenhouse gases. This is a big deal because greenhouse gases are a big factor in global warming. These two nations are the biggest polluters, so having their governments agree to do something is an important step in dealing with this environmental crisis.

3. Polar vortex: Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote in my blog that it would be warmer in Boise, Idaho than in Atlanta, Georgia. That was when the Polar vortex hit the United States. Here's my blog:

What is a polar vortex? One meteorologist describes it as a cold air hurricane. This vortex is a swirling pool of air that has been stuck in Arctic Canada for a long time. That means the air has grown colder and colder. The vortex usually dips into northeastern Canada, but this one is heading across America. This particular polar vortex is worse because of its extreme cold and very strong winds. Fargo, North Dakota will be 32 degrees below zero with a wind chill of 50 or 60 degrees below zero. The cold air will dip as far south as Atlanta, making it colder than my home in Idaho.

2. Ebola outbreak: Sadly, by the end of the year, this disease in West Africa infected more than 17,000 people and killed more than 6,000.

1. Landing on a comet: Last summer, the European Space Agency Rosetta's mission landed a probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It was an amazing scientific achievement. They have found out lots of things, including what a comet smells like — a combination of rotten eggs, bitter almond and cat urine.

As I wrote in my blog: The bad smells are good news. By detecting the molecules that make up these smells, the scientists hope to learn more about the earliest days of the universe. Scientists also hope that they will be able to detect even more as the comet gets closer to the sun, warms up and releases more scents. Right now, the molecules that make up the smell are in very low concentrations. You wouldn't be able to smell it, but according to the head of the project, your dog probably could — a good reason to keep your dog off a comet! Read more about this smelly story in this article from New Scientist.

That's my list of top science stories for 2014. Lots to look forward to in 2015.

Have a great week!

December 29, 2014:

As 2014 winds down, I've started my research into the top ten stories of the year. While doing so, I ran across a different, fun list and decided to share it with you today.

So, to end 2014, here are some of the top weirdest science stories of the year, according to the Australian Science Media Centre. In no particular order, they are:

• Research shows that women only like beards if they are a rarity. Too many beards aren't attractive, so Australian scientists suggest we may have seen the end to the recent beard-growing trend.
• Yeti search still failed to find Bigfoot. Scientists analyzed 30 tufts of hair that supposedly came from Yeti, or Bigfoot. The hair came from bears, horses, cows, dogs and one person. There were two pieces of hair that were unusual. They belonged to a polar bear thought to be extinct.
• Dutch researchers found kissing for 10 seconds transfers as many as 80 million bacteria between the kissers. While that sounds yucky, it is a good thing. Scientists think regular kissing helps our immune systems be ready to fight off any infections we might pick up from our partners.
• Hurricanes with female names were deadlier than hurricanes with male names. Researchers looked at all the hurricanes between 1950 and 2012 and found that, on average, more people died during hurricanes with female names than those with male names. Why? Some think that people don't think hurricanes with female names are as deadly, so they don't take the right precautions. Others say that since all hurricanes were given female names until 1979, the numbers are off. Still, it's something to think about . . .
• And finally, the oldest human poop shows Neanderthals liked to eat salads with their dinner, sort of. Analysis of 50,000-year-old fossilized poop showed Neanderthals ate berries, nuts and other vegetables along with their mammoth steak. It also showed this particular Neanderthal was infested with parasitic worms, something not normally found in today's salads.

So, that's some of the Australian Science Media Centre's list of weirdest stories of the year. I hope you have had an only-occasionally-weird 2014. Look for my real top 10 science stories next week.

Have a great week and a Happy New Year!

December 22, 2014:

It is almost Christmas! And if you want to track Santa's progress on Christmas Eve, turn to science. For more than 50 years, the men and women who work at the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD have "tracked" Santa and his sleigh. At first, children called the NORAD office to find out where Santa was. Now kids and the young-at-heart can go to NORAD's website to follow the man in the red coat. Scientists use advanced radar and satellites to track Santa's progress. They also use "ultra cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras" to take pictures and video of Santa as he delivers presents. Follow along at the NORAD site.

As you are watching Santa, think a little bit about reindeer. Not Dasher and Rudolph, but the reindeer that live in our northern ecosystems. Reindeer numbers have dropped by nearly 60 percent in the last 30 years because of climate change and habitat disruption. LiveScience has some interesting facts about reindeer. Here are a few:

• Reindeer and Caribou are different names for the same species. 'Reindeer' generally refers to those animals we humans have domesticated. They are typically found in Scandinavia and Siberia and are smaller than their wild counterparts.
• Reindeer or Caribou can travel up to 3,000 miles in a year, giving them the record for longest documented movement of a land animal.
• Reindeer run as fast as 48 mph. However, they walk slowly.
• Reindeer don't make many sounds. Females mostly make sounds in the first months after the birth of a new baby. Males make sounds during autumn mating season. Other than that, they are pretty quiet creatures.
• Most scientists disagree with the "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" story. The reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh have horns, so that means all of Santa's reindeer are female. Male reindeer shed their antlers at the end of mating season in early December. So Rudolph is probably a lady!

Have a Merry Christmas and a great week!

December 15, 2014:

What do the residents of Lakeview, Oregon; Meeker, Oklahoma; and Cordova, Alaska have in common? They all experienced an earthquake today. None of the quakes registered more than a 3.0, so folks probably didn't feel them. When it comes to earthquakes, the residents of all three towns have something in common with you. All of you can watch our new broadcast show about Earthquakes. It airs tomorrow, Tuesday, December 16th at 2:00 p.m. MT on Idaho Public Television or you can watch it here on the Science Trek Website.

We have a special feature in our Earthquake show. We followed the Boise State University Geophysics club as members studied the "earthquakes" caused by fans attending a BSU football game. Scientists use a device called a seismograph to measure the intensity of earthquakes. There are some great online seismographs you can follow; here are links to some that measure real-time earthquakes:

The USGU Earthquake hazard program: This site shows you all the 2.5+ earthquakes detected around the world in the last 24 hours as well as significant earthquakes for the past 30 days. The site has lots of great real-time and historical earthquake information.

Boise State University Department of Geosciences seismograph — Wiggles: This link shows you the most recent 24-hour recording from the seismograph located in the lobby of the Geosciences building. They have dubbed their seismograph, "Wiggles."

University of Utah — Earthquake Information Center: This link takes you to the Station Location Map for the Yellowstone Region. Here you can see the locations of earthquakes in and around Yellowstone National Park.

Of course, there is a lot more information about earthquakes at the Earthquake section of the Science Trek website. Be sure to check it out.

One other thing to note: this Sunday, December 21st is the shortest day of the year (for us folks in the Northern Hemisphere.) The Winter Solstice happens when the North Pole is tilted the furthest away from the sun. This year, the Winter Solstice officially happens December 21st at 4:03 p.m. MT. In Boise, we will have only 8 hours and 56 minutes of daylight on December 20th and only 8 hours, 56 minutes and 57 seconds on the 21st. For us, the 20th is a slightly shorter day because our latitude, that is, where we are on the Earth. While we in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the Winter Solstice, our friends in the Southern Hemisphere will have their longest day of the year, their Summer Solstice. So folks in the south, enjoy that sunshine. Our days will soon start getting longer and your days will start getting shorter.

You can find out how much daylight you will have on December 21st where you live on the Time and Date website.

Check out the Earthquakes show. Have a great Solstice and a great week.

December 10, 2014:

Last week, we told you that NASA's Orion spaceship was going to be fired into space. Well, it survived its test and scientists are thrilled. This flight was designed to see if the craft's heat shield and parachutes would work properly. The heat shield is the largest of its kind ever built and needed to withstand temperatures up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The parachutes needed to deploy at just the right time to slow the capsule's landing in the Pacific Ocean. NASA scientists also used about 1,200 different sensors onboard Orion to make sure the computers and all the other systems would work well in space. They particularly wanted to see how well Orion would survive the high levels of radiation in space. Everything went really well and now the researchers will use the test flight data to prepare for a manned flight to someplace like Mars. You can read more about Orion at NASA's website.

Back here on earth — just when you thought it was safe to go outside, Chinese researchers have found 30 new spider species. Scientists have spent years of their lives studying the creatures found in the Xishuangbanna tropical rain forest. This rain forest is located in the southern part of Yunnan Province and has the Lancang (Mekong) river flowing through it. Within it is the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, which is famous for its more than 10,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants. The scientists collected about 700 spider species and found a whole bunch of new ones. The scientists think there may be many more new types of spiders in this area, so more news to come. Eek! You can read about this discovery in this release from EurekAlert.

Have a good week!

December 1, 2014:

NASA's newest spacecraft — the Orion — gets a big test this week. Orion is the spacecraft designed to take humans deeper into space, possibly to Mars. For its maiden flight on Thursday, the Orion capsule will be launched into a two-orbit, four-hour flight to test the onboard systems and check for the safety of things like the heat shield. There won't be any people on board, but there will be some other items going into space.

Scientists are sending up a radiation experiment designed by students who won the Exploration Design Challenge. The students are looking at ways of protecting future astronauts from the effects of radiation. The scientists are also sending up a few things just for fun: a prehistoric fossil from a T-Rex; an oxygen hose from an Apollo spacesuit; and a microchip with the names of more than a million people. They are sending up these artifacts as a nod to the history of our planet and with the hope of inspiring people's interest in exploring space. If you want to see inside the Orion capsule, check out our tour of the Space Vehicle Mock Up Facility from our Astronaut show. Toward the end of the video, we get a glimpse inside this spacecraft. And you can read more about the Orion mission at the NASA website.

Sit! Stay! Does your dog understand what you are saying? Perhaps. Scientists think dogs' brains process human speech much the same way that humans' brains process speech. That is, dogs may not understand the exact words but may be able to understand the tone and emphasis. It's like if you've ever heard your Mom yell something and not understood exactly what she said, but you could tell she was mad about something. That's understanding what someone says by "reading" the tone, in this case, "Mom is mad," and the emphasis, "react now!" That's how scientists think dogs understand human speech. That means your dog really is responding to what you are saying, or rather how you are saying it. Read more about this research in this article from The Guardian.

We are editing our next show, "Earthquakes," and taking questions for our upcoming "Blood" and "Robotics" programs. If you have a question for us, send it in!

Have a great week!

November 25, 2014:

Happy Turkey Week! I hope you are going to have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. When you are getting together to eat all that wonderful food, just make sure you avoid trans fats. They slow down your brain.

Artificial trans fats are made in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. It is found in foods like frozen pizza, microwave popcorn, non-dairy creamers and canned frosting. We have known for a while that they are bad for your heart; now scientists think trans fats are bad for your brain too.

Researcher Beatrice Golomb presented a paper to the American Heart Association which showed that older and younger men who ate the most trans fat in their diet did worse on a memory task than men of the same age who didn't eat trans fats. In this study, the people who ate the most trans fats recalled 10% fewer words in a memory test. So remember this — look for terms like "partially hydrogenated oils" on your food packaging and avoid them.

Golomb's study did have one other interesting fact. She noted that chocolate boosts the "biogenesis of mitochondria" in cells, "thus benefitting delivery of oxygen and other energy substrates." So where trans fats are bad for your brain, chocolate is good. Add that to your list when you give thanks this week. Read more about this study in this article from the Maine News.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out our newest broadcast show, "Astronauts." We had a great time touring the Johnson Space center and appreciate all the folks who helped us. Be sure to watch our tour of the Space Vehicle Mock Up Facility.

Finally, just because it is Thanksgiving, I leave you with four fun facts about turkeys (With thanks to this article from LiveScience).

• Wild turkeys can fly up to 55 miles per hour on short flights. Domestic turkeys (the ones we eat) cannot fly because they are too heavy.
• You can tell a turkey's gender by its poop. The feces of male turkey are J-shaped, straighter and longer than female turkeys' poop. Hens' poop looks more like a spiral.
• When it comes time to breed, the heads of male turkeys can turn the colors of red, white and blue. Their bodies are green, bronze and gold, so altogether they are quite colorful when they are in love.
• And lastly, only male turkeys gobble. Female turkeys (hens) make a sound more like a chirp and a cluck.

Happy Thanksgiving and have a great week!

November 10, 2014:

Are you an e-reader or do you pick up an actual book? It turns out that not all reading media are equal. A study out of Norway's Stavanger University shows readers using a Kindle were "significantly" worse than were paperback readers at remembering when events happened in a mystery story.

In this study, 50 readers were given the same short story. Half read it on a Kindle. The other half read it from a paperback book. All of the readers were then tested on the details of the story. Both Kindle and paperback readers did about the same remembering objects and characters in the story, but Kindle readers did a lot worse remembering the timing of events. Researchers hypothesized that the difference is because the brain "reads" by making a mental picture of the text based where the word is on the page and where the page is in the book. Lead researcher Anne Mangen suggests that when you read a physical book, you have a tactile sense of progress. That helps your brain get things in order. E-devices really only have one page, and it's only the content that changes each time a page (screen) is swiped. That limits the sensory information an e-device reader gets and so reduces his or her long-term memory of the text.

Mangen's research is supported by another study from Norway. 72 Norwegian 10th graders were given text to read either in print or as a PDF on a computer screen. They were all tested on the material. The students who read the information on paper scored significantly better than did the students who read on a screen. You can read more about both studies in this article from The Guardian newspaper.

These were both small studies, but the results suggest there should be more research. What's not in doubt are the benefits we all get from reading. You get more from reading than just good information or fun entertainment. Studies show six minutes of reading reduces stress by 68%. Reading keeps your brain functioning better as you age. Reading before bedtime might even help you sleep better. So go read, and if you really need to understand and remember what you are reading, consider reading an actual book.

What is it like to be an astronaut? Find out on our upcoming new show next week! Check out "Astronauts" on Tuesday, November 18th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT on Idaho Public Television or here on the Science Trek website.

Have a great week!

November 3, 2014:

Are you itchy? Don't scratch. That's what your Mom would say, and now science says she's right. New research published in the journal Neuron says that scratching does not really end the itch.

When your scratch your skin, nerves in your skin send a pain signal to the brain. The brain sends out a chemical called serotonin to control the pain of the scratch. Researchers found that as serotonin moves from the brain to the spinal cord it moves from the pain-sensing neurons to nerve cells that influence "itch intensity." So scratching just makes your itch itchier.

Lead researcher Zhou-Feng Chen did tests in mice and found that mice that did not have serotonin in their system didn't scratch as much as mice that did have serotonin. So, scratching might distract you from your itch, but it won't stop it and may make it worse. Find out more about why scratching makes you itchier in this article from New York Magazine.

The general election is this Tuesday, and scientists can probably guess for whom your parents, older siblings and friends will vote just by seeing how their brains react to disgusting pictures. Yes, disgusting pictures. A team of scientists from Virginia Tech asked 83 volunteers to take a test to see if they considered themselves liberal or conservative. Then they had the volunteers look at 80 different images while having their brains scanned. When showed a disgusting image, the brains of the volunteers who said they were conservative reacted differently than the brains of those who said they were liberal.

The researchers think that people's political views are not purely cognitive, that is, based on learning and discussing the issues. They think that emotion plays a bigger role and that you may have inherited your political views in the same way you inherited how tall you will grow. Tell your voting family and friends to think about that on Election Day. Read more about the study in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

Have a great week!

October 27, 2014:

Happy Halloween week! In honor of this holiday, I picked a couple of weird science stories for your reading enjoyment.

First, what does a comet smell like? How about this: a combination of rotten eggs, bitter almond and cat urine. Scientists working at the European Space Agency studied the smell of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using spectrometers on the space probe Rosetta. The bad smells are good news. By detecting the molecules that make up these smells, the scientists hope to learn more about the earliest days of the universe. Scientists also hope that they will be able to detect even more as the comet gets closer to the sun, warms up and releases more scents. Right now, the molecules that make up the smell are in very low concentrations. You wouldn't be able to smell it, but according to the head of the project, your dog probably could — a good reason to keep your dog off a comet! Read more about this smelly story in this article from New Scientist.

And second, paleontologists have discovered a very weird looking dinosaur. The Deinocheirus was the size of a T-Rex and had arms eight feet long. It was a beaked, humpbacked, ostrich-like dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago, ate small animals, fish and plants. It had a bony "sail" on its back, and its bill was toothless. It was 36 feet long and weighed about 14,000 pounds. It also had hoof-like claws. Scientists think the odd feet kept it from sinking into muddy ground when it looked for food. Scientists classify it as a theropod — a group of dinosaurs that includes the T-Rex and the ancestors of modern birds.

Paleontologists had known about parts of this weird looking dinosaur for years but didn't know exactly what it looked like until recently. A team of researchers found fossils in Mongolia and were able to piece the odd-looking dinosaur together. The dinosaur's full name is Deinocheirus mirificus, which means "unusual horrible hand" in a combination of Latin and Greek. Check out more about this discovery in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

I close this post with a link to the American Chemical Society's most recent video explaining why things taste sweet. Enjoy it and your Halloween tricks and treats!

October 20, 2014:

We have a new broadcast show airing Tuesday, October 21st! Check out "States of Matter" program at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT on Idaho Public Television or here on the Science Trek website.

If you have good weather on Thursday, October 23rd, check out the partial solar eclipse. Most of North America (except the northeast) will be able to see it. A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets in between the Earth and the sun. If you are in Boise, the eclipse starts about 2:52 p.m. MT. The maximum happens at 4:15 p.m. MT and it ends at 5:31 p.m. MT. We here in the Pacific Northwest can expect more than half of the sun to be covered by the passing moon. WARNING: Do not look at a solar eclipse directly. You can damage your eyes if you look directly at the sun. Space.com has tips for viewing a solar eclipse safely.

If stargazing is not your thing, how about really large spiders? Scientist Piotr Naskrecki was walking though a rainforest in Guyana when he found a South American Goliath Birdeater. This spider was puppy-sized and is considered the world's largest. Its legs can reach up to one foot long and it weighs more than six ounces. Its feet have hard tips and claws and make a clicking sound like horse's hooves hitting the ground. To defend itself, this spider sends out a cloud of hair bits with microscopic barbs on them. If the hairs get into the eyes or nose, it can be extremely painful, with the pain lasting for days. It also has a pair of two-inch-long fangs and is venomous, though not deadly to people. The South American Goliath Birdeater can eat small birds or bird eggs, but its main dinner is earthworms. Read more about this giant spider in this LiveScience article.

Finally, the American Chemical Society has a fun video on the chemistry of pizza. If you are in a States of Matter mood, this is a fun watch. Check it out.

Have a great week and be sure to watch the new show!

October 13, 2014:

It is a once-in-a-million year opportunity. On October 19th, NASA scientists will be studying Comet Siding Spring as it zooms past Mars. This comet will be coming within about 87,000 miles of the Red Planet. That's about one-third the distance between Earth and the moon. NASA is planning to use all of its Mars orbiters and rovers to check out Comet Siding Spring, giving researchers a truly unique opportunity.

The comet is making its first trip into our inner solar system. It came from the Oort Cloud, which is about 50,000 astronomical units from the sun. Because this comet has never been close to our sun before, it hasn't been "heat-treated." That means the comet is unchanged since it was first created 4.6 billion years ago. Scientists hope that by studying it, they can learn more about the conditions that existed at the birth of the solar system.

Scientists have some information on Siding Spring already. They think its core is between one half to five miles in diameter and its tail about 300,000 miles long. You can read more about this comet in this article from Space.com.

Our newest broadcast show airs next Tuesday. We'll be answering your questions about States of Matter. Be sure to watch it on October 21st at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT on Idaho Public Television or here on the Science Trek website.

We are also just back from our trip to the Johnson Space Center. We traveled there to get answers to your questions about what it is like to be an astronaut. That show will air November 18th. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at our trip. I'm in the Apollo Mission Control Center.

Have a great week!

October 6, 2014:

Sky watchers have a rare opportunity early Wednesday morning. For folks in the western United States and across the Pacific, you will be able to see a total eclipse of the moon. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth gets between the sun and the moon. The Earth's shadow blocks the sun's light. There are three kinds of eclipses — total, partial and penumbral. When the moon is in a full eclipse, it appears red. This is how it got the name 'blood moon.'

In Boise where I live, the total eclipse begins at 4:27 a.m. At 4:55 a.m., the moon will be closest to the center of the Earth's shadow, and at about 5:22 a.m. the eclipse will end. The sun rises at 7:51 a.m., so we won't have a chance to see the rare sight of the sun rising and an eclipsed moon in the sky at the same time. That's called a "selenelion." You wouldn't think this would be possible because during a lunar eclipse the sun and moon are 180 degrees apart. But because of the Earth's atmosphere, the light of the sun and the moon are lifted above the Earth's horizon for a few minutes. The is called "atmospheric refraction." It allows you to see both the rising sun and the setting, eclipsing moon for a few minutes. Here is a link to timeanddate.com to find out when the eclipse happens in your area and what you might have a chance to see. NOTE: the link displays the eclipse time for Boise; if you live somewhere else, just type in your own city's name in the "Eclipse Calculator" box. If you want to learn more about refraction, check out the "How Light Behaves" section of Science Trek's Light and Color Facts page.

Here's a good reason to get up and run around for an hour: it will help you think better. Researchers from the University of Illinois studied two sets of kids, aged 7-9. All were tested for their fitness levels and their cognitive abilities. Half were enrolled in an afterschool program and the other half went home. The afterschool kids started their time with a quick fitness task like jumping jacks. Then they did things like learn to play soccer or eat healthy foods. Following that, they put on heart rate monitors and played physical games.

At the end of nine months, the physical fitness rates of the afterschool kids improved by 6%. The at-home group improved just 1%. The afterschool kids showed a 10% increase in cognitive skills while the at-home group saw just a 5% increase. These results suggest that getting a couple of hours of exercise after school improved the kids' ability to think, stay focused and do better in school.

So after school, get moving. Join a sports team. It may make you a better student. You can read more about the study in this article from the L.A. Times.

Have a great week!

September 29, 2014:

Where did the water on Earth come from? That's a question that has puzzled scientists for years. Now some think they know. Astronomers from the University of Michigan reported in the journal Science that between 30 and 50 percent of the Earth's water existed before the birth of the sun.

The scientists ran computer models looking at two kinds of water, "heavy" water, which contains a substance called deuterium, and regular water. It turns out that interstellar water has a high ratio of deuterium because of the cold conditions in space. After some testing, scientists learned that the solar system could not have formed without at least some water already there.

Why is this important? Well, scientists think that if water existed before the sun, then interstellar ice may be found in all young planetary systems. That might be important as astronomers look for life in other parts of the galaxy. You can read more about this discovery in this article from CNET.

There was news of another scientific study that isn't on such a grand scale. A Japanese team has learned why banana peels are slippery when you step on them. Kiyoshi Malbuchi and his colleagues measured the friction in the banana skin. They found polysaccharide follicular gels in banana skins. That gives them their slippery properties. That's why you can slip on a banana peel and not an apple peel.

The study may seem a little silly, but it turns out that the polysaccharide follicular gels are also found in the membranes where our bones meet. Understanding more about the health of our joints could improve our health overall. The Japanese scientists received one of this year's Ig Nobel prizes for their work. The Ig Nobel prize honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then makes them think. You can read more about the Japanese study and the other Ig Nobel winners in this report from the BBC.

Have a great week!

September 22, 2014:

Welcome Fall! The autumnal equinox happens at 8:29 p.m. MDT on Monday. During the spring and autumn equinox, the sun is exactly over the equator at noon and the day and night are about the same length. Now, we in the northern hemisphere can expect the days to get shorter and the nights longer until we hit the winter solstice on December 21st.

What did you have for lunch today? If your parents went to college, you probably ate a healthier meal. A study from the University of British Columbia found that children of college-educated parents eat more vegetables and drink less sugar. Good nutrition is important because it leads to good health. So why is this happening? Researchers aren't quite sure. It could be healthy foods are more expensive or perhaps some parents aren't as educated as they could be about the importance of good nutrition. But regardless of the parents' educational level, all kids were not drinking enough low-fat milk or eating enough whole grains and fruits and vegetables while they are at or around school.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 students in grades 5-8. They asked the students to list what they ate and also focused on what they ate at school or on their way to and from school. Less than half of the kids ate fruits or veggies while at or around school. 31% said they drank sugary drinks like soda pop. 15% said they went hungry. The scientists hope this study will encourage school official to do more about teaching good nutrition and providing students with healthy food alternatives. You can read more about the report in this news release from Eurekalert.org.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out our Bats show.

Have a great week!

September 15, 2014:

Bats! Yes, that's the topic of our newest broadcast show which airs Tuesday, September 16th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT. Be sure to watch it on Idaho Public Television or on the Science Trek website. The show is available for streaming starting at 2:00 p.m. MT.

To get us in the mood, here is some bat trivia for you:

• Bats make up more than a quarter of all mammals.
• Bats wash behind their ears.
• Bats can fly up to 60 m.p.h.
• Bat poop is called guano. Guano is a valuable fertilizer. Guano was once Texas' largest mineral export before oil was discovered.
• More than 50 percent of bat species in the United States are listed as endangered or in severe decline.

Check out the show and the bat topic area for more bat information!

After all the dinosaur news last week, you may have thought we were totally up-to-date. No, we have more dinosaur news this week too. Scientists report the discovery of Spinosqurus aegyptiacus, a 95-million-year-old dinosaur that would have been the largest predatory dinosaur to walk, or in this case, swim on the Earth. The Spinosqurus aegyptiacus was nine feet longer than a T-Rex. Its nostrils were pushed toward the top of its skill, and it had teeth just right for snapping up fish. It had strong arms with blade-like claws and short legs. That's why scientists think it was a water-based dinosaur rather than a land animal. There is a very interesting story about how the scientists put the bones together. Read this article from the L.A. Times to learn more.

Have a good week and be sure to watch our Bat show!

September 9, 2014:

We are going bats at Science Trek! Our new season of broadcast shows start on Tuesday, September 16th with a program answering your questions about these amazing flying mammals. Check it out on Idaho Public Television at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT or here on the website at that same time.

Lots in the news about dinosaurs. Scientists have found a new "biggest" dinosaur. Lead discoverer, Drexel University paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, calls it a Dreadnoughtus. Researchers think the dinosaur was 85 feet long, 30 feet tall and weighed 65 tons! That is the same weight as a dozen elephants. Scientists think the Drednoughtus could have been even larger because the bones of the creature they did find were still growing. The Drednoughtus had a 37-foot-long neck and would need to eat about a half ton of food every day. It lived during the Late Cretaceous Era, about 77 million years ago.

So is this plant eater the biggest dinosaur? Some paleontologists think so. Others say the Argentinosaurus was bigger at 70 to 90 tons. Researchers say they have a more complete skeleton of the Dreadnoughtus, so right now it has a better claim to the title of biggest dinosaur. Time will tell. You can learn more about this big find at this article from NBC News.

A team from the Ohio University reports finding another new Late Cretaceous period dinosaur. This dinosaur comes from Tanzania and is called the Rukwatitan bisepultus. This dinosaur is another large-bodied plant eater with a long neck and an estimated two-meter long forelimb. Find out more about this dinosaur in this article from mainenewsonline.com.

Have a great week. Enjoy the Super Moon/Harvest moon on September 9th and be sure to tune into our Bats show next week.

September 2, 2014:

Can't tell if someone is happy or sad? Maybe you've been spending too much time in front of a computer, television, smart phone or tablet. Scientists discovered that kids who spend too much time in front of a screen might lose some of their ability to understand other people's emotions.

Researchers from UCLA took two groups of sixth graders from a California public school. All of the students said they spend about four and half hours each day in front of a screen. The researchers started by showing students photos and video of people. Each picture or video showed a specific emotion like happy, sad, angry or scared. The scientists asked the students to identify the emotions they saw. Half of the students then went to a camp for five days, where they were not allowed to use a computer or smart phone or watch TV. The other half stayed in school and didn't make any change to their usual screen-time habits. After the camp group returned, all of the students were tested again. The children who spent the time without any electronics showed more improvement in identifying emotions than did the students who kept using their screens.

The researchers think their study is important, especially because more schools are using tablets in the classroom. They think there is a negative side of using digital media in education. Patricia Greenfield, the lead researcher and a professor of psychology says, "Decreased sensitivity to emotional cues — losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people . . . " is one of the costs of too much screen time. You can read more about this study in this article from LiveScience.

One note: the study was pretty small, and the scientists couldn't rule out the possibility that just spending time in nature also helped improve the students' ability to read emotions.

So, enjoy my blog and spend some time checking out the Science Trek website, but then turn off the electronics, find a friend and play outside.

Have a good week — and welcome to school if you have just started classes!

August 25, 2014:

School started this week for many young people, but for some, the school day itself starts too early. The American Academy of Pediatricians thinks middle and high school should start later each day. These doctors recommend an 8:30 a.m. start time for these grades. They say making the change is based on good science.

Teens need at least 8.5 hours of sleep each night. Not getting enough sleep can lead to problems like obesity, diabetes, mood changes, behavior problems and lower grades. A team of doctors studied teen sleep for four years. They say that something about hormonal changes in teens' bodies causes a shift in their body clocks, keeping them up later. Also, in teens, the body's normal level of tiredness that builds up during the day is slower to develop, so teens don't get that body cue to go to sleep. They just stay awake longer. Studies show 87% of teens don't get enough sleep. So doctors say for better teen health and better grades, the school day should start later. Read about the doctors' recommendation in this article from Time.

The American Academy of Pediatricians has some suggestions for very young kids too. They now think parents should start brushing children's teeth with fluoride toothpaste as soon as teeth begin to appear, typically between four months and one-year-old. Why? Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease among American children. Fluoride helps reduce tooth decay, which means fewer cavities and better health. Researchers hope making more of an effort to brush sooner could do more to prevent cavities from forming. Doctors also think children should have a fluoride varnish applied to their teeth every three to six months. They do not think young children should use a fluoride rinse because of the risk that the kids might swallow it. You can learn more about teeth at this Science Trek site, and read about the AAP's dental recommendations in this ScienceWorldReport.org article.

Be sure to check out the new and improved topic sites for this season's broadcast shows. Look for these topics: Bats, States of Matter, Astronauts, Earthquakes, Blood, Robotics, Food Web, Water and Soil. These are the broadcast shows we are doing this season, and the websites that support these topics are all up and running. Read through them and send me questions for those shows!

Many thanks to Peggy Hurd, Tony Merrick, Stephanie Dickey, Kris Freeland, Lisa Sommer and Rick Penticoff for getting season 16 of Science Trek off to a great start!

Have a great week!

August 18, 2014:

Quick, what is four plus five? Did you do that in your head or did you need to use your fingers? Scientists have been watching kids' brains as they learn their math skills and have a piece of advice: Do those math fact flash cards.

Children start learning math skills by counting, but when they turn 8 or 9, they start being able to do what is called "fact retrieval." Instead of counting on their fingers, they just know the answer. When that happens, the brain is able to retrieve the answer from memory.

Researchers from Stanford University tested 28 children in a brain-scanning MRI machine. They gave the kids simple math equations and asked for the answer. The scientists then watched what parts of the brain became active. They also tested the same kids face-to-face to see if they moved their lips counting or used their fingers.

They tested the kids twice, a year apart. They found that as the kids got older, their answers came faster and their brain's memory center became more active.

The scientists did similar tests with teenagers and adults and found that older individuals don't use that memory center as much when answering simple math questions. Instead answering math questions was more automatic.

So the researchers think that as children learn math, they start by counting and then move to being able to pull the answer from memory. They also think the more often you pull the answer from memory, the faster or more automatic that effort becomes. Your brain becomes more efficient. Doing addition and subtraction, multiplication and division in your head over and over again creates faster pathways in your brain.

Studies show that how well kids make that jump to answering math questions by memory is a good predictor of how well they will do in math in school overall. So drilling kids on simple addition and multiplication skills when they are young can really can pays off later in school. Read more about this study in this article from the Kansas City Star.

We are looking for questions about what it is like to be an astronaut and what it is like to work in space. If you have a question, send it in. Check out how to do it.

Have a great week!

August 11, 2014:

They say the world will beat a path to your door if you invent a better mousetrap. How about if you invent a better ice cream? Physicist Manuel Linares thinks he has what the world wants. He has come up with a new ice cream that changes colors as you lick it.

He calls his new invention "Xamaleón." It turns from periwinkle to pink when it touches the tongue. It tastes like "tutti-frutti." The color change happens when there is a change in temperature and because of the acids in your mouth.

Unfortunately, you may have to go a far distance to get this new treat. Linares has opened up an ice cream shop in Blanes, Spain. He promises all sorts of new exotic ice cream flavors in the future. So until you can feast on this colorful treat, read more about it in this article from Discover.

Scientists report they have found a new bat, sort of. Drs. Ricardo Moratelli (from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil) and Don Wilson (from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.) were studying some museum specimens and found one that they thought was classified incorrectly. After some more study, they have decided that the bat from Bolivia is a "new" species. Myotis midastactus, or Bolivian golden bat, has golden yellow, very short, wooly fur. It eats small insects and lives in holes in the ground, in hollowed trees, or under roofs. It is part of the bigger group of mouse-eared bats.

The scientists have yet to actually catch a live Bolivian golden bat, so its numbers may mean this type of bat is "near threatened." Read more about this new bat in this article from the BBC. You can find out a lot more about bats very soon. Bats are the topic of our first broadcast show this school year. Check out the new Bats site coming soon and watch for the Bats show on September 16th.

Have a great week!

August 08, 2014:

A little video game time is a good thing for kids. According to an Oxford University study, young people who spend less than an hour a day playing video games are better adjusted than those who don't play at all.

In research published in the journal Pediatrics, Psychologist Dr. Andrew Przybylski asked 5,000 young people aged 10 to 15 years old about their lives. The team asked the students how much time they spent playing video games on either a computer or a console. They also asked the kids other questions like how well they got on with their peers, how likely they were to help people in difficulty, and how happy they were with their lives. Students who played games for less than an hour a day on average were happiest and had the highest levels of “positive social interactions,” — that is, got along with other people well. Dr. Przybylski thinks playing video games give students a common language that helps make social connections. Students who don't play any video games might end up not being part of the conversation and feel shut out.

Don't think this gives you a reason to play video games all the time. The same study showed that children who spent more than three hours a day playing video games were the least well adjusted. So, a little is good, a lot is not. You can read more about the study in this article from the BBC.

Does this dark matter make me look big? Apparently, it does. Astronomers have wondered how much galaxies weigh. By figuring out the mass of a galaxy, scientists can learn more about how galaxies are structured. So, a team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh compared the mass of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, with our closest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. In a report published this week, the researchers found our home galaxy has about half the mass of its neighbor, making it the lighter of the two. They think Andromeda has twice as much dark matter as the Milky Way, so it is twice as heavy. Dark matter is an invisible substance that makes up most of the outer regions of galaxies. Read more about this discovery in this BBC article.

Speaking of space, we are happy to announce the topic for our November show. We are working with the folks at the Johnson Space Center to answer students' questions about what it is like to work in space or be an astronaut. We are actively looking for questions to pose to scientists who work in space or whose careers support those who do. Do you have a question about working in space? Send it in today!

Just a reminder, August 10^th is the next “supermoon.” Find out why it's called a supermoon here.

Have a great week!

July 28, 2014:

Almost all dinosaurs probably had feathers. That's news! Scientist had found a number of dinosaurs with feathers that were part of the family from which birds evolved, but now there is a new report of dinosaurs with feathers from a completely different line.

In the journal Science, lead author Pascal Godefroit of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science in Brussels reports finding a new dinosaur species, Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus. This dinosaur was about 4.5 feet long and ran on two legs. It lived around what is now Siberia's Kulinda River. Kulindadromeus had distinct feathers. It had feather tufts on its legs and elbows and flatter feathers on it back. Godefroit says it had “ribbon-shaped” feathers on its shins. No one had seen these ribbon-shaped feathers on a dinosaur before.

Godefroit and his team think that most dinosaurs had feathers for insulation, to help them stay warm. He says the biggest dinosaurs probably didn't have many feathers because they were large enough to retain heat, just like elephants today don't have fur. But Godefroit says this new discovery suggests that, “the common ancestor of all dinosaurs had feathers,” and that “feathers are not a characteristic [just] of birds but of all dinosaurs.” Read more about this discovery in this article from National Geographic.

Do you like pears? Plums? Cherries? If you were to grow all these stone fruits, you could have a whole orchard or, thanks to one man, you could grow all these fruit and more on just one tree. Artist Sam Van Aken has grown a new variety of tree that produces 40 different types of stone fruit each year.

Van Aken is an artist, but he loves trees. In 2008, he found out that an orchard at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station was about to be shut down due to a lack of funding. If the experimental station closed, it would mean hundreds of rare fruit trees would be lost. So Van Aken bought the land and the trees. He then spent the next five years creating the “Tree of 40 Fruit.”

He used a technique called grafting. You can read how he did it in this article from Science Alert. Aken's “Tree of 40 Fruit” looks like a normal tree, but in spring it blooms with a beautiful variety of pink, white, red and purple blossoms. In the summer, the tree produces an array of plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries and almonds. So you could have one tree that would provide you with different fruits at different times of the summer.

Right now, Aken has planted the “Tree of 40 Fruit” in a few museums, city centers and a few art collectors' private gardens. No word when it might be available to plant in your back yard, but stay tuned!

We are collecting questions for the first few shows. If you have a question about bats, states of matter, or what it is like to be an astronaut in space, send it in now.

Have a great week!

July 21, 2014:

Have you written anything lately? I mean written by hand, not by keyboard? If not, you should. Scientists think writing things by hand is important for your brain, and they think learning to write by hand is especially important for kids. New reports show children learn to read more quickly if they first learn to write out their letters.

Researchers showed children who had not yet learned to read a letter and asked them to do one of three things: trace the letter on a page with a dotted outline, draw the letter on a blank piece of paper or type it on a computer. The kids were then put into a brain scanner and shown the image again.

They found that the brains of the kids who had drawn on the blank piece of paper showed activity in the areas of the brain used when one reads and writes. The kids who traced the letter or typed it on the computer showed no similar brain activity. There appears to be a link between handwriting and educational development.

And the handwriting effect isn't limited to just little kids and reading. Students learn better when they take notes by hand rather than typing them on a keyboard. And there is a difference in the brain if you print or if you use cursive. Printing, writing in cursive, and keyboarding are associated with different brain patterns. Studies suggest students who hand-write assignments produced more words more quickly than they did on a keyboard and were able to express more ideas.

So, get out the pencil and paper and start writing. If you want to read more about this research, here is an interesting article on the subject from the New York Times.

Here is a science story for these hot weather times. Three students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a creative use of ice cream. They have combined a Cuisinart soft-serve ice cream maker and a 3-D printer and are able to make super-cooled 3-D printed shells of ice cream. They “printed” out ice cream stars and other shapes. They don't think ice cream printed-in-the-shape-of-your-choice will be available anytime soon, but they did want to gets kids’ attention. The three students want kids to know that working with technology can be fun. Read more about the experiment in this article from Techcrunch.com.

Have a great week!

July 16, 2014:

Chocolate fans celebrate! Scientists know why dark chocolate is good for you. Researcher John Finley reports that when you eat dark chocolate, your body turns it into compounds that help your heart.

Finley says they found a specific microbe in your digestive tract. When you eat dark chocolate, this good microbe feasts on it. As these good microbes grow, they produce anti-inflammatory compounds. These anti-inflammatory compounds are good for your heart. And there is another bonus. As the good microbes grow in numbers, they push out bad microbes that cause stomach problems. So eating dark chocolate is really good for you — unfortunately, not so much for the more popular milk chocolate. Read more about this study in this press release from the American Chemical Society.

Did you see the super moon last Saturday? A super moon happens when the Earth is at its closest point in its orbit to the full moon. These full moons appear to be noticeably larger. The scientific name for a super moon is called a perigee moon. If you missed it, don't fret. We will have two more super moons this year. Check out the night sky on August 10th and September 9th. The super moon on August 10th will be extra super because the time of the full moon happens at the same hour of perigee, the point when moon enters its closest orbit to Earth.

Speaking of the moon, we should all take time on Saturday to celebrate the 45th anniversary of human's first landing on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren stepped onto the moon's surface. I wasn't very old at the time, but I remember how amazing it was to see the grainy black and white pictures of the surface of the moon. It was totally awesome. Check out the “We Choose the Moon” website to experience that Apollo 11 mission for yourself. The website was built for the 40^th anniversary, but it still remains a very cool website to explore. Buzz Aldren is asking people to share their memories of the landing on social media. You can find out more about that way to celebrate here.

I plan to mark the occasion with some dark chocolate!

Have a great week.

June 30, 2014:

Scientists have discovered the oldest human poop. Researchers found 50,000-year-old poop in a “caveman campground” in Spain. They think Neanderthals, a close relative of Homo sapiens or modern humans, left the feces near the remains of a fire.

Scientists call fossilized poop ‘coprolites.’ Chemists study ancient coprolite to learn more about life thousands of years ago. Based on the chemicals found in this ancient coprolite, scientists think these Neanderthals ate plants as well as meat. That's big news.

It was long thought that Neanderthals ate primarily meat. Some scientists thought a meat-only diet could have been one of the reasons why Neanderthals went extinct. But this new poop indicates that Neanderthals in this part of the world had a fairly balanced diet. In other words, they ate their veggies. So, scientists who study human evolution have a lot more thinking and exploring to do. If you want to learn more about ancient poop, check out this article from the BBC.

I will be on vacation, so enjoy the 4^th of July holiday and check out my blog in two weeks.

June 23, 2014:

Big news for your teeth! Researchers at King's College in London have developed a way to fix a cavity without drilling. The technique is called “Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation” or EAER.

A cavity happens when food particles get left on teeth. The bacteria in your mouth digest the food, turning it into acids. Those acids combine with other things to form plaque, which clings to your teeth, dissolving the enamel and making holes or cavities. To fix a cavity, the dentist drills around the hole to clean out the area and then fills it with a resin. The procedure can be painful and expensive.

But this new technique uses tiny electric currents to draw in the calcium and phosphates already found in your teeth to replace the minerals lost during decay. This process “repairs” the hole. No drilling and no fillings needed! The technique not only helps your body self-repair a cavity, but it also whitens teeth. It costs about the same as the old way and doesn't hurt.

Now, this doesn't mean you can stop brushing and flossing your teeth. It is far easier and cheaper to prevent tooth decay, and this new treatment won't be available for another three years at least. But since 2.3 billion people suffer from tooth decay every year, news of this discovery is enough to make us all smile. Read more about this research in this article from the Independent.

Ever wonder why your earbuds always get tangled? It's physics! Dorian M. Raymer and Douglas E. Smith of the University of California at San Diego Department of Physics studied what happens to cords that are sealed in a rotating box, simulating what happens when you stuff your earbuds in your pocket. They found that it only takes about two tumbles for the cords to start creating knots.

The researchers found that knots don't seem to form in cords less than 46 centimeters in length. But the probability that knots will form rises dramatically when the cord is longer, between 46 and 150 centimeters in length. Most earbuds are about 133 centimeters, putting them at the peak of the risk of tangling. And the fact that earbuds are a “Y-shaped” cord makes the odds of tangling even worse. So put your earbuds in your pocket and move even a little, and the cords “spontaneously knot.” Researchers hope someday manufactures will make earbuds with thicker wires to prevent bending and looping and thus reduce your daily tangle. Read more about this study in this article from the Business Insider.

We have rearranged our 2014-2015 schedule of shows a bit. Check out the new list and send in your questions!

Have a great week!

June 9, 2014:

Who would have thought the moon, which shines so peacefully and beautifully in the night sky, started out as part of a possible planet killer? Well, scientists of course.

Researchers from the University of Goettingen in Germany think they have found evidence that the moon is the result of a crash between the Earth and a planet called Theia. They think that Theia collided with the Earth 4.5 billion years ago and that the moon formed from the leftover debris. Scientists have accepted this theory for years, but until now no one has provided proof.

Scientists in Germany think they have done just that. They analyzed some of the lunar rock brought back by the Apollo astronauts and found a “chemical fingerprint” of an alien planet. The scientists were looking for differences in the amount of oxygen contained in the moon rocks as compared to oxygen levels in Earth rocks. The difference in this case was pretty small, but it is still there.

Now, not every scientist thinks the evidence presented by the German researchers is proof, so there are still questions. Next time you look up at the moon and admire its beauty, you can still wonder where it came from. Read more about this scientific debate in this BBC article.

BTW, Theia was a goddess in Greek mythology who was the mother of Selene, goddess of the moon. Nice name for a planet that tried to wipe out the Earth.

On to my next science story . . . Rats feel regret. That's what scientists from the University of Minnesota think and it's a big deal. If true, this is the first time regret has been found in a mammal other than humans.

It is important to understand that regret is different from disappointment. Regret, according to Professor David Redish, is “the recognition that you made a mistake, that if you had done something else, you would have been better off.”

The researchers developed an experiment they called “Restaurant Row,” in which rats had to decide how long they were willing to wait for different foods. Rats could choose whether to wait longer for foods they really liked or to move on to a different option in order to get food more quickly. Sometimes the food in the shorter line wasn't as good. When the rats made a bad food choice, they would pause and look back at the reward they passed over. These same rats then changed their behavior and were more likely to wait longer for the good reward and ate that food faster.

Professor Redish said they found similar brain activity in these regretful mice as they did in regretful humans. They hope to use this information to better understand how regret affects the decisions we humans make. Read more about this study here.

Professor Redish noted something important about rats and regret, something you should think about. Activity in the rat's brain represented what the rat should have done, not the missed reward. “This makes sense because you don't regret the thing you didn't get, you regret the thing you didn't do.” That is an important lesson to learn whether you are mice or men.

Have a good week.

June 2, 2014:

How would you like to find the “Godzilla of Earths”? Scientists report finding just that, an exoplanet with a mass 17 times that of Earth. It is called Kepler-10c and it is about 560 light years away. What makes this exoplanet so remarkable is that scientists didn't think planets this big could be solid. Comparably-sized planets in our own solar system are gas planets, that is, they are really big balls of gas rather than solid rock.

This mega-earth revolves around a star that is about 11 billion years old. That means this star formed early in the history of the universe. That has scientists even more puzzled. Is there life on this “Godzilla of Earths”? Professor Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, is not sure, but he says, “If you can make rocks, you can make life.” Read more about this discovery in this BBC article.

Speaking of old things, scientists report finding an ancient sea animal thought extinct for four million years. The very small sea animal called the Protulophila forms tiny holes on the tubes of marine worms. Researchers didn't think the creatures lived outside of Europe, but some scientists studying marine worms in New Zealand found the Protulophia living on them. Scientists call these creatures “living fossils.” Read more about it in this CNN article.

Want to live well for a long time? Here is one suggestion from science. Learning a second language improves your brain. A new study published in the Annals of Neurology found that reading, verbal fluency and intelligence were improved by learning a second language.

Researchers looked at intelligence tests from kids tested at age 11. Then they re-tested the same volunteers, who were now in their seventies. Of the group, 195 learned a foreign language before they turned 18 and 65 learned a second language as an adult. The scientists found that those people who knew more than one language had much better cognitive skills than those who did not learn a second language. It did not seem to matter if they learned the language as an adult or as a child. Other studies have shown knowing a second language helps delay dementia. So maybe you and your parents should take that foreign language class! Read more about this study in this BBC news article.

Here's something just for fun — to find out why bacon smells so good, check out this American Chemical Society "Reactions" video. Enjoy!

By the way, we've started going bats! We have started pre-production on next season's shows, and our first show of the new season is all about bats. Videographer Pat Metzler and I joined scientists from Idaho's Department of Fish and Game and representatives from Idaho Power to check out a bat maternity ward. Here is a picture, but you'll have to wait until September 16th to see the video. If you have a bat question, now is the time to submit it. Send it in here.

Have a good week!

May 20, 2014:

Check out the newest Science Trek show where we will answer your questions about garbage! Watch on Idaho Public Television on Tuesday, May 20th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT or or watch it here online.

Great science news this week . . .

There is a new meteor shower coming up Friday night/Saturday morning (May 23/24). This is the first time the Earth has run into the debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR. It orbits the sun every five years and was discovered in 2004. Scientists call this the Camelopardalid meteor shower and say it is unique. The debris from the shower is influenced by Jupiter's gravity. William Cooke from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center says they don't know if it will be a few meteors or a couple hundred per hour. But they do know that the showers we see are from dust the comet ejected back in the 1800's. In North America, look for the peak from midnight to 2:00am Saturday night. Read more about it in this article from USA Today.

Scientists this week also claim to have found the bones of what would have been the world's largest dinosaur. This yet-to-be-named dinosaur is thought to have been 130 feet long from the top of its head to the tip of its tail and stood 65 feet high. That's equal to a seven-story building. They think it would have weighed 80 tons. The previous largest dinosaur, the Argentinosaurus, was about 10 tons lighter. Scientists think this new dinosaur lived nearly 100 million years ago. The fossils were found near the town of El Sombrero in central Argentina. There are some folks who think it is too early to give this new dinosaur the title of the biggest because researchers haven't found a complete skeleton, so more news to come. Read about the find in this article from the Washington Post.

Now, as promised, I am announcing the topics for our next season, with one exception (we still need to confirm it).

Here is the 2014-2015 Science Trek schedule:

• September 16: Bats
• October 21: Earthquakes
• November 18: TBA
• December 16: States of Matter
• January 20: Blood
• February 17: Robotics
• March 17: Food Web
• April 15: Water
• May 20: Soil

Start sending in your questions today!

Be sure to tune into the Garbage show or watch it here online.

May 12, 2014:

Feeling the pressure of school tests? Run out ideas? Go take a walk. Scientists from Santa Clara University have published a new study that says people generate more creative ideas when they walk than when they sit.

Marilyn Oppezzo, a psychology professor, asked volunteers to come up with new and different uses for common items like a tire. In the first experiment, the volunteers had four minutes to come up with a list of ideas. The first time, they were sitting. The second time, they were walking on a treadmill. Of the 48 people in the study, 81% improved their creative output when walking. In a second experiment, volunteers were given three words and asked to come up with one word that could be combined with the first three to make common phrases. On this test, walkers did a little worse than sitters. The researchers think that means walking doesn't improve brainpower overall but that creative thinking is enhanced by walking. So next time you need a new way of looking at a problem, walk! You can read more about this study in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

Scientists this week report photographing the deepest-ever living fish. A UK-Japan team found the shoals 4.8 miles deep in the Japan Trench of the Pacific Ocean. The fish's official name is Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis, and they have been seen eating shrimp. The fish live in complete darkness and use vibration receptors on their snouts to navigate and to find food.

Scientists are very curious about animals that live this deep in the ocean. There isn't a lot of food at that depth, and there is a lot of pressure from all the weight of the water, so not a lot survives. It is also tough to do research at that depth.

Researchers have found a different fish, an Abyssobrothla galathaea, at a depth of more than five miles, but it was dead by the time it reached the surface. These new pictures give scientist new clues as to how animals live so far deep in the ocean.

We have one more show in our 15^th season. Be sure to tune in next week on Tuesday, May 20^th to learn all about garbage! Next week, I will be announcing the topics for most of our 2014-2015 shows, so stay tuned for that too!

Have a good week.

May 5, 2014:

Science can help you win at rock-paper-scissors. Chance predicts the odds of winning at this game at one in three, but researchers at Zhejiang University in China have discovered a way to help you win more games.

The scientists divided 360 students into groups of six. Each student played 300 rounds of rock-paper-scissors against another member of their group. The researchers tracked who won, who lost and how each game was played. They found something surprising.

When a player won a round, he or she tended to repeat the winning rock, paper or scissor move more often than would be expected at random. Losers tended to switch to a different move, going from rock to paper to scissors in that order. This “win-stay lose-shift” way of doing things is known as conditional response and may be hard wired in our brains. So, if you want to win at this game, watch what your opponent is doing and anticipate his or her next move so you can counter and win.

One other study note — a previous experiment found that rock-paper-scissor players unconsciously mimic the actions of their opponents, so another way to win is to do something different. Read more about this study here on the BBC.

Oh, by the way, may the 4^th be with you! Yes, I am a Star Wars fan. Here is the May 4^th greeting developed by NASA to celebrate the day.

As you celebrate this day, just remember . . . Tuesday is “Revenge of the Sixth”! :-)

Have a great week!

April 29, 2014:

I am spending my week with a bad cold. It is hard to breathe when your nose is stuffed. I suppose it is even harder to breathe when you are upside down. Most mammals can't spend too much time upside down because it becomes too hard to breathe. One notable exception is the sloth.

Scientists have studies sloths and found that they have a special “adhesions” that help anchor their internal organs in place. That means that when a sloth is upside down, its other internal organs don't push down on the lungs as would happen to most mammals. If the internal organs don't move, then sloths can breathe easier upside down.

This adhesion is important because a sloth's internal organs can get quite heavy. Sloths only come down from the canopy of the trees to the ground about once a week to poop. Sloths can hold up to one third of its body weight in poop and urine in its bowels. So everything inside needs to stay in place for sloths to survive. You can read more about this sloth study in the journal Biology Letters or in this LiveScience.com article.

We are working on our last show of the season. We'll be answering your questions about garbage on May 20^th. We'll be announcing the new topics for next season soon so stay tuned!

Have a good week. Achoo!

April 21, 2014:

We celebrate Earth Day this week. Earth Day happens on April 22nd and we mark it to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth.

NASA is planning a big Earth Day celebration. They are asking folks to take a selfie and upload it to NASA. They'll take all the pictures and make a composite Earth shot. I'll post my selfie here next week and post the NASA picture when it is available. Find out how you can participate here.

Scientists have found the first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting in a habitable zone. An exoplanet is a planet orbiting a star in another solar system. Most of the exoplanets discovered are either too far away from their suns or too close and are not the right size to sustain life. This one — Kepler-186f — is about the same size as Earth and is in what is called the “Goldilocks Zone,” meaning it isn't too close or too far from its sun. Scientists don't know if the planet has water necessary for life or if it has a protective atmosphere like Earth, but they do think finding this one means there are lots more like it out there in the universe. You can find out more about exoplanets on the exoplanet site or you can read more about this discovery in this article from the Los Angeles Times.

And last week I promised to post my picture of the full lunar eclipse. Here it is.

We had cloud cover so it isn't a great shot, but it was fascinating to watch the eclipse of the moon. Here are some much better pictures of the moon turning red during last week's eclipse. Check out NASA's Lunar Eclipse Flickr Group for many great shots.

Have a great Earth Day and a great week.

April 14, 2014:

We have a new Science Trek broadcast show for you this week! Check out our show about the Earth, Tuesday 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT or view the streaming version here on the Science Trek website. Be sure to also watch Science Trek: The Web Show. It is really good!

2014's first lunar eclipse happens this week. It will occur overnight April 14th and 15^th, peaking about 1:00 a.m. MT. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth's shadow blocks the sun's light. This one should be a total eclipse and visible from the Americas, Australia and out in the Pacific Ocean. The moon may turn a red color during the part of the total eclipse because some light from the sun is passing through the Earth's atmosphere and getting bent as it heads toward the moon. Red light tends to make it through a bit easier. The exact shade of red seems to depend upon how much dust and clouds are in the atmosphere. Send me a picture of the eclipse in your area and I'll post it next week.

My other bit of science news for the week is a report answering the vexing question: How do flies escape the fly swatter? Researcher Florian Muijres and colleagues used high-speed cameras to film flies' quick escapes. They found that flies can make a quick sideways turn in a just a few beats of their wings. Instead of rotating like an airplane, flies can make sharp pitches and rolls, and when threatened they do it five times faster than their normal in-flight turns. The researchers think flies have special sensory-motor circuits in their brains to help them respond so quickly to a threat like a fly swatter. Read more about it in this EuekAlert report.

Enjoy this week's new Earth show and be sure to send in your best pictures of the total eclipse of the moon.

Have a great week!

April 7, 2014:

Spend less time in front of a screen and you may feel better and do better in school. Studies show that kids currently spend about 40 hours a week on average in front of a screen: a TV, a computer, a gaming device, tablet or smart phone. A report this week suggests we would all be better off turning off those screens now and then and that parents need to step up to make sure the kids hit the off button.

Researchers at Iowa State University studied the effects of parental monitoring of screen time. They looked at the media habits of more than 1,300 4^th and 5^th graders.

They found that when parents take an active role in monitoring screen time, kids spend less time in front of their electronics. The researchers also found something else. They discovered that kids who reduce their screen time get more sleep, perform better in school, both academically and behaviorally and registered a lower body mass. They said parents might not see the changes because each one happens in small ways, but adding it all up it leads to more healthy kids.

I hear what you are saying. I produce videos to watch on a screen as well as this blog to read on a screen. The research suggests that kids should spend less time in front of the screen. So pick and chose the best (that's us) and enjoy some time off the screen. Go outside. Read together. Get some exercise. All good advice.

And in the name of planning ahead so you can save some screen time for Science Trek, I just want to remind you that we have a new broadcast show next week. Be sure to watch our episode answering questions about the Earth! Watch it on Idaho Public Television on April 15^th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT or view the streaming version here on the Science Trek website. We are also looking for any Garbage questions. Send in your question.

Enjoy a little less screen time and have a good week!

March 31, 2014:

Learning math? Wave your hands! Yes, gestures help kids learn math.

According to research by Miriam Novack from the department of psychology at the University of Chicago, eight-year-olds learned math concepts better when they used gestures.

In a study, 100 children were taught to solve a formula like

4+2+6 = __+6

One group made a V-point beneath the numbers being added. The students then pointed at the blank. The second group used magnetic tiles on a white board to solve the problem. The third group just mimed, or pretended to use the magnetic tiles. Then the scientists tested all the children on the underlying mathematical principles. The children who used gestures were the only group able to solve other problems that used similar concepts. Using gestures helped the children learn what psychologists call “generalization.”

Psychologists think that when children move and make gestures, they are able to express ideas physically. That helps the learning process. These scientists think that abstract gestures may be a better teaching tool than manipulating or touching objects. So the next time you are trying to do your math homework, try adding a little movement with your math. You can read more about this study in this article from the BBC.

How smart are crows? A new study suggests that in some ways, crows may be as smart as a 5-7 year-old child. Scientists from the University of Auckland tested some New Caledonian crows to see if they understood how to displace water in a tube to receive a reward.This is called “causal understanding.”

The crows completed four of six water displacement tasks, like preferring to drop stones into a water-filled tube instead of a sand-filled tube. The crows failed two more challenging tasks, ones that required the crows to adjust for a wider tube or a U-shaped tube. Still, the researchers say crows have some understanding of the “causal properties of volume displacement,” at about the same level of understanding as a 5-7 year-old. Pretty smart crows! Read more about the study in this ScienceDaily article.

We are editing our Earth show that airs on April 15^th and taking questions for our Garbage show. Send those questions in today. Click here to find out how.

Have a great week!

March 17, 2014:

Do you follow the ‘5 second rule?’ According to study conducted by researchers at Aston University's School of Life and Health Sciences, 87% of us would eat food dropped on their floor. But is it a good idea? These same researchers decided to find out.

Biology students studied the transfer of bacteria from the floor to a piece of food. They studied different types of flooring (carpet, laminate and tiled) and different types of food (toast, pasta, biscuits and sticky sweets). They wanted to know how much bacteria transferred onto the food from three to 30 seconds.

Here is what they learned:

• The longer the food was on the floor, the more bacteria transferred.
• Carpet transferred the least amount of bacteria and the most bacteria transferred from laminate or tiled surfaces.

Professor Anthony Hilton says the ‘5 second rule’ is probably true, though there is some bacterial transfer anytime you drop food. So if you drop that piece of toast on the carpet, go ahead and grab it right away and eat it. You'll probably be just fine. Read more about the study in this article from Science Daily.

You might not know it by the weather outside, but spring starts on Thursday, March 20^th at 10:57 p.m. MDT. Spring starts with the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox happens when the tilt of the Earth relative to the sun is zero, which basically means the day and night are approximately 12 hours long. Now the days in the northern hemisphere will start getting longer! Enjoy!

Something else to enjoy . . . our newest broadcast show airs tomorrow, March 18^th!! Check out our Birds of Prey show at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT on Idaho Public Television or here on the Science Trek website.

I am taking spring break next week so the blog will be back on March 31st. Since March came in like a lion, let's hope it goes out like a lamb. Check out the new show and have a great couple of weeks.

March 10, 2014:

Tired today? Having trouble paying attention? Blame the shift to daylight savings time. Research shows car accidents rise 6% on the Monday and Tuesday after we “spring forward.” Productivity at school and work also falls. Why? We are sleepy. The risk seems to fade by the end of the week, but sleepy Monday and risky Tuesday are something to be aware of.

By the way, Ben Franklin did suggest daylight savings time but he didn't “invent” it. And we don't move the clocks forward because of farmers either. In fact, the farm lobby opposed the idea of daylight savings time. Instead, the change first happened during World War I and World War II to save fuel. From 1945-1966, there was no federal daylight savings time. It was up to the states to decide whether to adopt it or not. In 1974, President Nixon signed the law making daylight savings time more uniform across the nation, though Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands still do not change their clocks. Most European nations observe daylight savings time but many African and Asian nations do not. Daylight savings time does save fuel but we spend more money on evening activities. And what is the solution to the dangers of shifting the clock forward? Go to bed earlier! Read more about the impact of daylight savings time in this article from USA Today.

Now here's some news about people who never seem to tire. Preschoolers might just be smarter than college students. Researchers at the University of California, Berkley and the University of Edinburgh were studying how people learn. They gave 106 preschoolers and 170 college students a game called “blickets.” In this game, the player has to place differently-shaped clay pieces on a red-topped box. The right combination of the shapes would make the box light up and play music. The researchers found that the preschoolers were better at figuring how to get the box to work. Why? They think young children are more flexible and less biased than college students (and adults) are in their ideas about cause and effect. As we grow older, we gain experience and use that experience to solve other problems. Usually it works, but sometimes all that experience can close our minds to unusual ideas. Scientists are going to keep studying what makes young children's minds more flexible in hopes of finding out how to teach machines to learn in more human ways. Read more about this study in this article from Eurkealert.

Have a great week and get some more sleep!

March 3, 2014:

Archaeologists have found the world's oldest cheese. How old you ask? How about dating back to as early as 1615 BC! Archaeologists were investigating graves at the Small River Cemetery, Number 5 in northwestern China. Swedish archaeologists first looked into this ancient site in the 1930s. Scientists often found ancient bodies with oddly shaped crumbs on their necks and chests. So they sent their findings to a lab at Germany's Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. Researchers there finally figured out that the clumps were cheese. The cheese was made by mixing milk with a “starter” of bacteria and yeast, a process some use today to make kefir, a sour dairy drink. The cheese came out looking something like cottage cheese and was very low in lactose. Some people have a problem digesting lactose found in milk and milk products.

Scientists were surprised to find this type of cheese so early in human history and made by this process. They thought cheese was invented when humans began carrying milk in bags made of animal gut. Cheese today is made with rennet, a substance from the guts of a calf, lamb or kid that curdles milk.

The cheese was able to survive so long because of the unusual conditions at the gravesites. The dry desert air and the salty soil sort of freeze-dried the remains, both of the people and of the cheese.

So why did these ancient people bury cheese with their dead? Archaeologists aren't sure but they guess it may have been food for the afterlife. You can read more about it in this article from USA Today.

Have a great week.

February 25, 2014:

Scientists in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia have found the oldest scrap of the Earth's crust. Researchers found a tiny crystal and dated it to 4.4 billion years old. The Earth itself is about 4.6 billion years old. Researchers think this means the Earth had formed a solid crust much sooner than previously thought. Very little of the Earth's early crust is around for scientists to study. Plate tectonics and weathering have disturbed most of the Earth's early surface. Scientists can still find 3.5 billion year old rock formations in a few spots on the planet. This small piece of ancient zircon was found in newer sandstone. Scientists studied the crystal's uranium and lead atoms to determine its age. You can read more about it in this article from the BBC.

The Hyundai Company announced a new car fueled by an unusual source: poop! The car will use fuel made from processed sewage. Here's how it works: the waste from toilets and sinks is converted into hydrogen. Solids are separated from the water. Microbes are added, and these microscopic bugs turn the sludge into methane and CO2. The methane gets filtered and is finally turned into hydrogen gas. The cars come with unlimited hydrogen refueling at a dozen pumps in southern California. Filling the tank takes about three minutes and is good for about 300 miles. Read more about it on LiveScience.

And these are my favorite science news highlights for the week!

February 17, 2014:

Our newest Weather show airs on Idaho Public Television and on the Science Trek website on Tuesday, February 18th. Check it out starting at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT.

Speaking of weather, scientists from Rutgers University in New Jersey reported on a major change in the jet stream over North America and Northern Europe this week. Professor Jennifer Francis says the jet stream has increasingly taken a longer, more meandering path. The jet stream is a high-speed air current in the atmosphere that brings the weather with it. So, if the jet stream is hanging around longer, it means the weather stays the same longer. The change in the jet stream's path also means colder weather gets driven further south and warmer weather gets pushed higher north. England and the U.S. Mid-West and East coast have experienced some wild winter weather this year. Scientists say the change in the jet stream means folks in these parts of the world can expect more of the same. Not good news.

The researchers think the change in the jet stream is a result of recent warming of the Arctic. The jet stream is fueled partly by the temperature differences between the Arctic and the mid-latitudes of the Earth. You can read more about this study in this article from the BBC.

One other quick bit of science news of note for the week. It turns out crocodiles can climb trees. Four different species can climb really high. Scientists think it helps the animals regulate their body temperatures and gives them a chance to check out their habitat. The climbing crocks live in Australia, Africa and North America, so if you are in a place were crocodiles live, you might want to look up occasionally. Yikes! Read more about it in this LiveScience article.

Have a good week!

February 10, 2014:

Good news out of North Idaho and Western Montana. Scientists there have identified a new species of freshwater fish. It is called the cedar sculpin and it has a really big head compared to its body. It is about 3.5 inches long. Researchers at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station have been studying sculpin and were able to find a difference between the cedar sculpin and its cousin, the shorthead sculpin. The newly identified fish differs in its spine and tooth patterns. Sculpin are found in headwaters of the rivers in this region and are an important food supply for trout. They are also considered an “indicator species” because they are sensitive to water quality. How well they are doing tells us a lot about the health of the stream in which they live. Being identified as an official new species is good news for the fish too. It means it is now against the law to use the bigheaded fish for bait. Read more about the fish and how it got its name in this National Geographic article.

Valentine's day is coming up this week and I must confess to having a bit of a sweet tooth. Honeybees like sweets too but apparently they have a sweet claw. Scientists at the University of Toulouse, France have found that honeybees have hair-like structures on their mouthparts, antenna and the end part of their legs. This tarsi or claw-like structure at the end of a bee's leg has receptor nerve cells that are particularly sensitive to sugar. The scientists studied hundreds of honeybees. They put sugary, bitter and salty solutions on their tarsi to see if the bees would put out or pull in their tongues. Bees really reacted to sweet tastes. Scientists think having sweet-sensitive claws would allow worker bees to detect nectar as soon as they landed on a flower. That would save time, handy if you are bee that has to visit lots of flowers. And if you thought tasting sweets via your front claw was impressive, bees also have amazing abilities to detect salt from afar. The scientists found that the part of the bee's leg just before the claw, known as the tarsomere, was highly sensitive to salty tastes. Bees hovering over water ponds can detect the presence of salt in the water through their hanging legs. Read more about this research in this article from Eurekalert.

Have a great week, a happy Valentine's Day!

February 3, 2014:

Do you smell like the one you love? If you were a lemur, you would.

Researchers at Duke University studied the scents given off by Coquerel's sifaka lemurs. They found that the stronger the connection between two lemurs, the more they smelled alike. How did the scientists figure this out? The sifaka lemurs have glands in their throats and in other areas of their bodies that secrete sticky goo. The scientists collected that goo and analyzed each lemur's individual chemical signature. They then compared the chemical signatures of groups of lemurs. It turns out that the scents of lemur couples with babies smelled the most alike. Couples without offspring were less in sync than the parent lemurs, but they still had very similar scents. It seems the stronger the love, the more similar the smell.

So why do lemurs in love smell alike? The scientists aren't sure. It might be a way or defending territories or it might be a way lemurs shows off to others that they are in love. I am hoping my Valentine sends flowers instead. Read more about the lemur study in this Popular Science article.

Have a great week!

January 27, 2014:

Three science reports caught my attention this week.

First, scientists in Brazil have found a new species of river dolphin. River dolphins are among the rarest creatures in the world. The new river dolphin is called the Araguaia River Dolphin, named after the river in which it lives. Researchers think there are only about 1,000 of them living today. That means they are considered critically endangered. River dolphins are distantly related to their sea-going cousins. They have long beaks so they can hunt for fish in the mud at the bottom of rivers. You can read more about them in this article from the BBC.

The BBC also reported today on what scientists think ancient hunter-gathers looked like — and it is a surprise. Researchers were able to take DNA from the bones and teeth of two skeletons discovered in a cave in the mountains of Spain. The men lived 7,000 years ago. The scientists used the results to create a drawing of what the men might have looked like. Their DNA is most closely linked to modern-day residents of Finland and Sweden, but these ancient peoples had an unusual combination of dark skin, dark hair, and blue eyes. Scientists had thought ancient people's skin grew lighter when they moved from Africa into Europe because they would be exposed to less sun. But these findings show differently. The scientists also learned a bit more about how these ancient people lived. These particular ancient hunter-gatherers ate mainly protein, were lactose intolerant (unable to digest a protein found in milk and milk products), and were unable to digest starch. Read more about it here.

Finally, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reports on the amazing abilities of the mantis shrimp. The mantis shrimp have 12 different types of photoreceptors in their eyes. Most mammals have two types. Humans have three. Some birds and reptiles have four. So why do these shrimp have so many? Well, researchers think it has to do with where and how these shrimp live.

Even though these shrimp have four times as many photoreceptors in their eyes, they can't tell the difference between similar colors. Researchers taught some mantis shrimp to associate food rewards with various colors. They found that the shrimp couldn't tell the difference between light orange and dark yellow.

Still, having 12 photoreceptors in their eyes is an advantage. Scientists think that each of the 12 photoreceptors have a different sensitivity to look over objects and recognize the basic colors almost immediately. When looking at color, our human eyes send a signal to our brain for comparison. Mantis shrimp seem to skip that step. That speed may help them recognize a predator or prey more quickly, especially in the colorful coral reefs in which they live. Read more about it here.

Have a great week!

January 21, 2014:

Our newest broadcast show airs today! Find out more about simple machines. Watch Idaho Public Television at 2:00/1:00pm MT/PT or check out the online show on the Science Trek website.

The Sun is quieting down. That surprises scientists because the Sun is suppose be in an active phase. The Sun has an 11-year cycle of activity like sunspots, flares and coronal mass ejections. The Sun is supposed to be at its peak of activity this year, but scientists say it is being very inactive. Dr. Lucie Green from University of London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory says it feels like the Sun is asleep.

Scientists have been looking at ice-cores. These ice-cores show a long-term record of solar activity. These tests suggest that the Sun's decline in activity is the fastest that has been seen in 10,000 years.

This has happened before. During the latter half of the 1600, the Sun went through a quiet period scientists call the Maunder Minimum. This sleepy Sun period coincided with very cold winters in Europe. Conditions were so cold that some thought of the period as a mini-Ice Age. Scientists think low solar activity reduces the amount of ultraviolet light radiating form the Sun so colder temperatures on Earth. Read more about the sleepy Sun in this article from the BBC.

Have a great week and be sure to check out “Simple Machines” broadcast show, the “Simple Machines” Web show, our “Simple Machines” video short and all the information available at the Science Trek “Simple Machines” website.

January 13, 2014:

Never be afraid to admit you were wrong. Science is all about trial and error. About a year ago, I reported on a study that proposed a reason why humans get “prune hands” or wrinkly fingers after a long soak. Those researchers thought wrinkly fingers would give you a better grip when your hands were wet.

But a new study couldn't reproduce the first report's results. The second researchers had 40 volunteers grab 52 items. Sometimes the volunteers had dry hands and some times they had “prune hands.” They found that the volunteers with wrinkly fingers weren't able to pick up the objects any faster than the folks with dry hands. So, the mystery continues. Is there an evolutionary reason why we get “prune hands?” Read about the second study here.

Our next new broadcast show airs next week. Check out Simple Machines on Idaho Public Television or watch the live streaming here on the Science Trek website at 2:00 p.m. MT on Tuesday, January 21^st. We are also about to tape our Weather show. If you have a question, send it in today! You can submit an email or video question here.

Have a good week!

January 6, 2014:

Here is something I never thought I would write: Boise, Idaho is going to be warmer today than Atlanta, Georgia. Boise's high is predicted to be 34 degrees and Atlanta is expected to be 26 degrees. We can thank the polar vortex for all the cold. What is a polar vortex? One meteorologist describes it as a cold air hurricane. This vortex is a swirling pool of air that has been stuck in Arctic Canada for a long time. That means the air has grown colder and colder. The vortex usually dips into northeastern Canada, but this one is heading across America. This particular polar vortex is worse because of its extreme cold and very strong winds. Fargo, North Dakota will be 32 degrees below zero with a wind chill of 50 or 60 degrees below zero. The cold air will dip as far south as Atlanta, making it colder than my home in Idaho.

Scientists aren't quite certain what caused it to dip so low. It might be because of a build-up of warm air over Greenland or Alaska pushing the vortex down, or it may be due to just the right weather conditions or maybe both. Temperatures are supposed to start warming up in a few days, but officials expect the cold to freeze the Great Lakes and other northern bodies of water. Meteorologist Ryan Maue says that means cold temperatures will last the rest of the winter in those areas.

Now for a warmer science story: dogs align with magnetic fields while pooping. According to an article in the LA Times, biologist Sabine Begall and her colleagues at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany report dogs can sense the Earth's magnetic field and tend to poop along a north-south magnetic axis. The scientists studied 70 dogs of 37 different breeds as they pooped and urinated. They found that dogs “did their business” along a north-south axis as long as the magnetic field was stable. Solar storms can cause the Earth's magnetic fields to shift and Begall says when that happens, it is harder to see dog-pooping patterns.

Dogs are not the only animals that have this special sense of the Earth's magnetic fields. This sense is called magnetoreception. Birds have it. Bees do too and cows even line up along magnetic fields when they are standing in actual fields. Scientists aren't sure why animals do this. It is just something the scientists say they will continue to study.

Have a good (and warmer) week.

December 30, 2013:

From ancient words spoken today to a Voyager traveling beyond our solar system, 2013 had lots of interesting science stories. So, as promised, here are my favorite science stories of 2013, in no particular order.

10. Coldest Temperature on Earth recorded:

You think your weather is cold? Try visiting the newest coldest place on the planet. As reported in the Guardian, a NASA satellite recorded a new lowest temperature on Earth at -135.8°F (-94.7°C). It happened on August 2010 in east Antarctica. We came close again this year with a -135.3°F (93°C) temperature in July. The old record was -128.6°F (-89.2°C) at Vostok, Antarctica. The new location is northeast of Vostok and not far from the South Pole.

While this is a new coldest temperature detected on Earth, it will not be the new "official" record cold. The Guinness Book of World Records requires the temperature to be recorded by a thermometer rather a satellite, so this new record doesn't count. But ice scientists say the new data gives them more information to help them understand the possible range of conditions here on Earth.

9. Listen to your gut:

When making a decision, has anyone ever told you to "listen to your gut"? It is a phrase that means you should act on your feelings or instincts. But scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles now think our guts may really influence the way we think.

Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine and psychiatry, thinks the bacteria in our digestive system helps mold our brain structure as we grow and may shape our moods and behavior. Looking at brain scans from 60 volunteers, he compared brain regions of folks with different types of bacteria in their digestive system. He found brain regions differed based on the type of species of bacteria found in the subjects' guts. Now this doesn't mean there is a direct connection between the two things, but it was an important indicator.

Another scientist, Stephen Collins of McMasters University in Hamilton, Ontario, did research that supports the idea that gut bacteria can influence mood and personality. He had bold mice and shy mice. When he put bold mice's bacteria in shy mice's guts, the shy mice became more fearless. When he reversed the experiment and put shy mice's bacteria in bold mice's gut, the bold mice became more anxious. Changing the gut's bacteria changed the chemistry of the mice's brains. If you want to read more, check out this article from NPR.

8. Sleep cleans your brain:

Scientists have a new idea about why we sleep . . . to clean up our brains! Researchers at the University of Rochester did some experiments on mice. They found that cerebral spinal fluid, the liquid found in the brain, is pumped around the brain while we sleep and acts like a "biological dishwasher."

As part of their day-to-day operations, brain cell produce waste products. Scientists think some of these waste products are toxic proteins that can build up and damage the brain and lead to a condition know as dementia. But researchers did some experiments on mice and found that brain cells shrank when sleeping, making the space between cells much wider. This made cerebral spinal fluid flow ten times faster around the brain than it does when the mice were awake. It takes a lot of energy to push all the fluid around, so the mice didn't do much of it when they were awake. But when they were asleep, the cerebral spinal fluid flowed freely. Researcher Maiken Nedergaard said it was kind of like having a house party. "You can either entertain the guests (do all the thinking you do during the day) or you can clean up the house (wash out the cells), but you can't do both."

Eventually those brain waste products are swept out of the brain and make their way to the liver where they are broken down and removed by the body in your poop and urine. Now, is this the only reason for sleep? Scientists aren't sure. Many think there are lots of other good reasons for sleep. They all do agree that we need to get enough sleep to stay healthy. Read more about the study in this article from the Guardian.

7. Really, really meatless burger:

We already have meatless burgers made from grains, but how about a "cow-friendly" meat burger? Scientists have unveiled the first lab-grown burger. Researchers took cells from a cow and grew them into strips and then combined the strips into a patty.

Professor Mark Post of Maastrict University and his team said the "burger" was made up of tens of billions of lab-grown cells. Researchers are developing lab-grown meat as a way to someday help feed people who don't have easy access to meat and as a way to produce meat in a way that is easier on the environment and on animals.

And how does a lab-grown burger taste? Food writers said it felt like meat but because there is no fat, it didn't quite have the right taste. More salt and pepper maybe? Read more about it in this BBC article.

6. New old carnivore discovered:

Sometimes scientists "discover" things that have been around for a long time. A team from the Smithsonian Institute announced that they have discovered a new species of carnivore (meat eater). The olinguito is the smallest member of the raccoon family. It lives in the cloud forests of the northern Andes in Ecuador and Colombia. It eats fruit and insects and spends its time in tress. It is about 14 inches long, weighs about two pounds and has a 13-17 inch tail.

How did they find the olinguito? Zoologist Kristofer Heigen was looking at some bones and animal skins at a museum in Chicago. He didn't recognize the anatomy and thought it might be a new species. The National Museum of Natural History houses more than 600,000 specimens, many of which are packed in flat trays and had been collected years ago. Heigen did some DNA tests on the bones and found that indeed it was a new species. The next question was were there any of these animals still alive? They looked in the cloud forests and sure enough, there they were. The scientists think that some zoos in between 1967 and 1976 actually had an olinguito on display. The zookeepers thought it was an olinga, a close relative, and the people couldn't understand why it wouldn't breed.

Find out more about this new creature and the story of its "discovery" in this article from the BBC.

5. Solving a pruney mystery:

This bit of science news caught my eye and it answers one of life's biggest mysteries: Why do your fingers and toes get pruney in water?

I always thought it was because the skin absorbed a lot of water and kind of puckered up, but apparently, that's not the reason. In the journal Biology Letters, researcher Tom Smulders reports that pruney fingers and toes are the result of the body's nervous system constricting blood vessels below the skin. Now why would our body do that? Well, scientists have learned that pruney fingers and toes grip wet surfaces better.

They had 20 volunteers pick up wet marble and small lead weights of different sizes. The volunteers either tried with dry hands or with hands that had been soaking in warm water for 30 minutes. The scientist found the folks with wet, wrinkly fingers picked up wet items 12 percent faster than those with dry hands. Smulders compares the effect to the treads on car tires. Good treads help your car's tires better connect to the road just as wrinkles on your fingers help you better grip wet marbles.

That begs a third question . . . why would our bodies adapt like this? Smulders thinks it may have once been a way for our ancient ancestors to get a better footing in the rain. You can read more about it in this Livescience article.

4. Really, really old words:

You use something every day that is probably at least 15,000 years old. Can you guess what it might be? How about a word? Researchers at the University of Reading in England say they have identified words they think date back 150 centuries.

Linguists, scientists who study language, used to think that words didn't survive more then 8,000 years. They believe that other languages force ancient words into extinction. But Mark Pagle, an evolutionary theorist, reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that he and his team of scientists have identified a list of about two-dozen words that they think hunter-gatherers in Asia spoke 15,000 years ago. They call them "ultraconserved" words.

How did they decide what was an ancient "ultraconserved" word? Researchers started with 200 words that were known to be "core vocabulary," words found in all known languages. The researchers then studied "cognates," words that sound similar and have the same meaning even though they come from different languages. By the way, the 700 or so languages spoken in the world are grouped into families based on from where they come and how they evolved. So after doing all that work, the researchers found 23 words that are "cognates" in four or more language families.

Here is their list of "ultraconserved" words:

Thou, I, not, that, we, to give, who, this, what, man/male, Ye, old, mother, to hear, hand, fire, to pull, black, to flow, bark (like the stuff on trees), ashes, to spit, worm.

The researchers think that if these words survived for all this time that there must have been a language that was the common ancestor to the all the languages we humans speak today. That's going to be an interesting language to discover!

If you want to read more about "ultraconserved" words, check out this article in the Washington Post or the original article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

3. Global Climate Change:

I can't say this is a favorite story, but it is an important one. I didn't actually write a blog on this issue, but I thought it was important to include it in this year's list.

The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had some pretty scary findings (Read about them in this BBC news story). Scientists found increasing evidence that ice sheets are losing mass, that glaciers are shrinking, that Arctic sea ice and global snow cover is decreasing, and permafrost is thawing in the Northern Hemisphere. The average concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide hit 400 parts per million in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, in May. Researchers say levels like that haven't been seen in about 3 million years. The scientists believe that humans are responsible for at least half the increases in global average temperatures seen since the 1950s. The question is what to do to and to do it soon!

2. Life on Mars:

Was there life on Mars? The Mars rover Opportunity may have found some evidence that suggests the answer could be yes. Opportunity spotted clay minerals in some very special rock. After testing the rock, scientists say that about a billion years ago, the area probably had water flowing through it.

Opportunity has found areas where water has flown before. Why is this one so special? Well, scientist found that the PH level of this water was neutral. Drinking water's PH is pretty neutral. Life can't exist in areas where the water is too basic or too acidic. With the discovery of this type of water, Steve Squyres of Cornell University says, "The fundamental conditions that we believe to be necessary for life were met here." So, Opportunity found evidence that ancient Mars may have been habitable. If you want to learn more about Opportunity's latest discovery, check out this article on Space.com.

1. Beyond our solar system:

When scientists first watched the launches of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977, they were not sure either probe would survive to reach interstellar space. Thirty-six years later, Stone announced that Voyager 1 had become the first human-made object to pass beyond the heliosphere. The heliosphere is the giant invisible bubble inflated by subatomic particles from the sun. Based on measurements from the probe's instruments, Voyager entered into space beyond our solar system in August 2012. It just took scientists until this year to confirm the crossing. Read more about some of the interesting particles Voyager is finding in its journey in this article from Science News.

That's my list for 2013. Keep reading my blog for all the science news for kids in 2014. Have a great week and a very Happy New Year!

December 23, 2013:

Okay, I confess. I am a bit of a clean freak, but I am a slob compared to Brazilian leaf-cutting ants. Scientists from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom report that these ants keep themselves clean by regularly bathing in antimicrobial secretions that come from glands in their butts. These ants also sanitize their young and scrub their broods and nesting materials using these same secretions.

Researcher Christopher Tranter and his colleagues took two groups of Brazilian leaf-cutter ants. With one group, the scientists sealed off the antimicrobial glands and left the other group alone. They placed the ants with broods for about two weeks. They also placed a set of sealed and nonsealed ants in brood-free nesting materials and then measured the fungal growth in the materials after two weeks.

They found that the baby ants raised by the nonsealed adults survived better than did those raised by the sealed ants. They also found that there was more fungal growth in the nesting material in the sealed ants than in the nonsealed ants. The antimicrobial secretions played a difference in maintaining a healthy environment.

So, two thoughts: One, the ants show us why it is important to keep your room cleaned; and two, be glad you don't have to be cleaned the way the ants are cleaned. You can read about the ant study in this LiveScience article.

Did you enjoy the shortest day of the year? The Winter Solstice occurred on December 21st. That's the day the Earth's north pole tilts the farthest away from the sun, giving us the shortest day and longest night of the year. From now on, the days will start to lengthen a little bit each day until we get to the Summer Solstice on June 21^st, the longest day and shortest night of the year. If it doesn't seem like the days are getting longer, that may be because the Earth reaches perihelion a couple of weeks after the winter solstice. Perihelion is the point when the Earth is at its closest point to the sun. This shorter distance from the sun causes Earth to move faster in its orbit, so it takes a few seconds more than 24 hours for the sun to reach the same point in the sky. That means the latest sunrise happens about January 8 in our part of the world. Why is it so still so cold if we are closer to the sun? Remember, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun this time of year. That is what gives us winter. Read more about this in an article from the Washington Post.

The NORAD website tracking Santa's flight is up. Check it out at this festive NORAD page.

Next week, my blog will be about the best science stories of 2013. Until then, have a Merry Christmas!

December 16, 2013:

You think your weather is cold? Try visiting the newest coldest place on the planet. As reported in the Guardian, a NASA satellite recorded a new lowest temperature on Earth at -135.8°F (-94.7°C). It happened on August 2010 in east Antarctica. We came close again this year with a -135.3°F (93°C) temperature in July. The old record was -128.6°F (-89.2°C) at Vostok, Antarctica. The new location is northeast of Vostok and not far from the South Pole.

So what is it like at this temperature? Scientists who did the analysis said a human can survive outside for about three minutes at -100°F. The new record is almost 36° colder! Another pointed out that these new record cold temperatures are colder than dry ice. A National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist said, “If you took your glove off, you hand would freeze off very fast.”

While this is a new coldest temperature detected on Earth, it will not be the new “official” record cold. The Guinness Book of World Records requires the temperature to be recorded by a thermometer rather a satellite, so this new record doesn't count. But ice scientists say the new data gives them more information to help them understand the possible range of conditions here on Earth.

Our newest broadcast show airs Tuesday, December 17^th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT. We will be answering your questions about muscles and the muscular system. You can watch it on Idaho Public Television or here on the website. And save time for the new Muscles Web Show too!

Have a great week!

December 9, 2013:

The U.S. government dropped 2,000 dead mice attached to tiny cardboard parachutes into Guam. Now that you have that picture in your mind, try to guess why they did it.

Scientists are trying to eliminate invasive brown tree snakes. These snakes first came to Guam in the 1940s or 1050s and been causing big problems. The snakes eat native birds and lizards and have caused some species to go extinct. The snakes also get into electric substations, triggering power outages.

So the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to drop dead mice loaded with painkillers for the snakes to eat. The amount of painkiller in the dead mice is enough to kill the snakes but not enough to kill other animals that might eat the carcass. Oh, what we do in the name of science! You can read more about the dead mice drop in this LiveScience article.

Speaking of science, I am crazy about it and I am not alone. "Science" was named the word of the year by Merriam-Webster.

According to an article in the LA Times, Merriam-Webster kept track of how many times someone looks up the definition of a word in its online dictionary. Based on 100 million lookups, "science" showed the highest increase compared to last year, up 176%. That made it the word of the year. Way to go "science"! And just in case you don't know, the definition of "science" is: "the knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation." And what was the second most looked up word? It was "cognitive," or "of, relating to, or involving conscious mental activities (such as thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering)." So think about that!

We are working on our next broadcast show. Tune in next Tuesday, December 17th to learn more about muscles. You can watch it on Idaho Public Television at 2:00/1:00 p.m MT/PT or here on the Science Trek website. Be sure to tune in. We are also looking for questions for our Simple Machines show. Send them in now!

Have a good week! Stay warm!

December 2, 2013:

When making a decision, has anyone ever told you to "listen to your gut"? It is a phrase that means you should act on your feelings or instincts. But scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles now think our guts may really influence the way we think.

Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine and psychiatry, thinks the bacteria in our digestive system helps mold our brain structure as we grow and may shape our moods and behavior. Looking at brain scans from 60 volunteers, he compared brain regions of folks with different types of bacteria in their digestive system. He found brain regions differed based on the type of species of bacteria found in the subjects' guts. Now this doesn't mean there is a direct connection between the two things, but it was an important indicator.

Another scientist, Stephen Collins of McMasters University in Hamilton, Ontario, did research that supports the idea that gut bacteria can influence mood and personality. He had bold mice and shy mice. When he put bold mice's bacteria in shy mice's guts, the shy mice became more fearless. When he reversed the experiment and put shy mice's bacteria in bold mice's gut, the bold mice became more anxious. Changing the gut's bacteria changed the chemistry of the mices' brains.

While this research is new, it is leading to some interesting hope for people with autism and some mental illnesses. So, if you are feeling anxious, consider eating some yogurt. That's one good way to get good probiotics or bacteria into your gut. If you want to read more, check out this article from NPR.

Two updates for you. Last week, I wrote about a study that showed that male fruit flies were less aggressive when they were exposed to female fruit flies. A study this week suggests that male fruit flies exposed to female fruit flies don't live as long. Apparently being around all those female pheromones causes male fruit flies to age faster. On the upside, if the male fruit flies had a chance to mate, their health improved. If not, then the negative effects on their health continued. Read more about this new study in this EurekAlert article.

My other update is from a story a long time ago. Several months ago, NASA invited people to wave at the planet Saturn. Saturn was going to be between the sun and the Cassini probe and it was a great time to take a picture. The Earth would be in view as well. So I sent my picture waving at Saturn.

Now NASA has released a composite picture of all the folks who sent in a picture of their wave and recreated a mosaic picture like the original picture of Saturn taken by Cassini. See if you can find me waving! Read more about it here.

Have a great week.

November 25, 2013:

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Hanukah! Lots to celebrate this week.

I have three quick science stories to share. The first two have to do with your brain.

There are great reasons to learn more than one language. You understand more about the world. You make connections and, according to a new study out of India, you help protect your brain.

Scientists at a hospital studied 648 patients in their memory clinic. 391 of them were bilingual, that is, they spoke more than one language. Not all of the bilingual patients could read and write, but they all spoke at least two languages. The study showed that bilingual patients suffered from a disease called dementia onset 4.5 years later than patients who only spoke a single language. So knowing a second language helped protect patients' brains for almost five years. The delaying benefits of knowing a second language applied to people who suffer from Alzheimer's and other similar dementia diseases. The best time to learn another language is when you are young, so start now, but starting at any age is a good thing for your brain.

Something else good for your brain: exercise. Researchers from the University of British Columbia report that physical activity helps rats do better on memory tests. Rats that ran on a treadmill for at least four months had more blood vessels and white matter in their brains than did sedentary rats. The active rats improved their mobility and had higher levels of dopamine, a brain chemical important for movement.

So get out and exercise and study another language. Do it for a better brain. You can read about these two studies in these articles from NPR: The brain and bilingualism and Sweat your way to a better brain.

My final story has to do with males and females . . . male and female fruit flies. It seems female fruit flies have a secret power. Female fruit flies keep male fruit flies calm. University of California professor Yuh Nung Jan and his team discovered that fruit flies behaved differently depending upon their company. Two male fruit flies in a cage together will start acting aggressively toward each other. They will head butt each other or toss one another around. But the researchers found that male fruit flies that had spent time with a female fruit fly the day before were much less likely to fight.

It apparently has to do with chemistry. Males and females send out chemicals called pheromones. Like fruit flies, we humans also unconsciously detect these chemicals and we react in response.

The scientists found that a pheromone-sensing structure on a male fruit fly's leg bristles when it picks up a communication pheromone signal from the female fruit fly. The researchers found the part of the fruit fly's brain that receives these chemical signals. They discovered the signal activates a group of neurons in the brain that dampens aggression. So having some female company keeps the males from fighting.

Do you suppose the same thing happens when brothers and sisters get together for a big family celebration? Something for science to study. If you want to learn more about the fruit fly report, check out this article from livescience.

Have a great holiday week.

November 18, 2013:

We are all about trees this week. Our new show, “Trees,” airs Tuesday, November 19^th at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT. The broadcast show and the Web Show will go live here on the site at the same time. Check it out.

Speaking of trees, Google Earth has released a new interactive online tool which tracks changes in the world's tree canopies from 2000 to 2012. The tool was built from 650,000 images taken by the satellite Landsat 7.

Over those years, the Earth lost 2.3 million square kilometers of tree cover. If you combined all those lost forests, you would have a forest the size of Mongolia or six times the size of the United Kingdom. Most of the loss was due to logging, fire, disease or storms.

On the positive side, the Earth gained about 800,000 square kilometers of forest-land over those same 12 years. Brazil showed the best improvement, cutting annual forest loss in half between 2003-2004 and 2010-2011. Indonesia has the largest amount of deforestation, doubling its annual loss in 2011-2012. Researchers say overall tropical forest loss is increasing by about 2,100 square kilometers per year.

How about here in America? The maps show a “disturbance rate” in the southeastern forests was four times that of South American rainforests. That means more then 31% of the forest cover in that region was lost or re-grown.

Climate change scientists are excited to have this new tool. It can help them monitor the impacts of deforestation and make sure forest management programs are effective. You can read more about the new tool in this BBC news story.

Be sure to watch our new “Trees” show, Web show and video short and check out the “Trees” website. Have a good week.

November 11, 2013:

I have blue eyes. They stay that color year-round and life-long. But if I were a reindeer, that wouldn't be true. Scientists have discovered that reindeer change the color of their eyes from gold in the summer to blue in the winter.

Neuroscientist Glen Jeffery from the University College London was looking at a collection of reindeer eyeballs. He found a reflective layer behind the retina of reindeer's eyes. There are fibers in that reflective layer. Reindeers apparently can increase the pressure inside the eyeball during the winter and that compresses these fibers together. Reducing the space between these fibers makes the eyes reflect a bluer light. In the summer, when there is lots of sunlight, the reindeer's eyes turn golden and reflect a lot light through the retina. In the winter, when there is hardly any sunlight, reindeer's eyes turn blue to capture more light inside the eye and help the reindeer see in the Arctic's winter darkness.

So far, reindeer are the only mammals that can change their eye color. But now that scientists know what to look for, they are peering into the eyes of other Arctic animals to see if their eyes might change color too. If you want to learn more about the eye, check out our eye site. If you want to learn more about light and color, check out this light and color video short. You can read more about the reindeer eye color study in this article from LiveScience.

This has nothing to do with eyes, but I thought it was fun. November 12^th is a special day. Can you guess why? It will be 11-12-13. Apparently, there are lots of wedding scheduled on the 12^th so people will have an easy time remembering their anniversary. I think it is also a good excuse to celebrate. After all, we only get one more of these funky sequential dates in this century. After December 13, 2014 (12-13-14), we will all have to wait almost a hundred years for another such combination.

We are working on our Tree show. Be sure to tune in on November 19^th to watch. If you have a question for one of our upcoming shows, send it in. We are taking Muscle questions until the 15^th.

Have a good week!

November 4, 2013:

Do you know your left from your right? Your dog does. Scientists now think that dogs recognize a left-sided wag from a right-sided wag and that the direction dogs' tails wag is an indication of their feelings.

An Italian research team found that dogs wag their tails to the right when they feel positive emotion and to the left when they feel negative emotions. Researchers showed dogs videos of other dogs wagging their tails. When the dogs saw another dog wagging its tail to the left, the viewing dogs' heart rates went up and they looked anxious. When they saw another dog wagging its tail to the right, the viewing dogs stayed relaxed.

The scientists don't think dogs do the left or right wagging tail on purpose. They think it has to do with how dogs' brains are wired. Dogs, like people, have what's called “asymmetrically organized brains.” That means the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. Researchers think the direction of the dog's wag is sort of hardwired by the brain rather than the dog making a decision to wag one way or the other.

This can be useful information. Next time you see a dog, look at the direction of the wag. It could give you a good idea how the dog is feeling. Read more about it in this article from Eurekalert.

Have a good, right-tail wagging week.

October 28, 2013:

The researchers also found that few children were getting the recommended 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise. The boys got an average of 28 minutes a day and the girls got just an average of 18 minutes. The scientists don't know why more exercise improves grades, especially for girls and science, but the exercise-good brain connection isn't just true for kids. Studies have shown that exercise improves brain function in older people too. So, put down the electronic tablet, turn off the TV and computer, and go outside and exercise — and take your parents with you! It's great for the whole family.

We are starting editing our November Trees show. That means we are looking for questions for December's “Muscles” show. Send in your questions now!

Have a good week!

October 22, 2013:

Scientists have a new idea about why we sleep . . . to clean up our brains! Researchers at the University of Rochester did some experiments on mice. They found that cerebral spinal fluid, the liquid found in the brain, is pumped around the brain while we sleep and acts like a “biological dishwasher.”

As part of their day-to-day operations, brain cell produce waste products. Scientists think some of these waste products are toxic proteins that can build up and damage the brain and lead to a condition know as dementia. But researchers did some experiments on mice and found that brain cells shrank when sleeping, making the space between cells much wider. This made cerebral spinal fluid flow ten times faster around the brain than it does when the mice were awake. It takes a lot of energy to push all the fluid around, so the mice didn't do much of it when they were awake. But when they were asleep, the cerebral spinal fluid flowed freely. Researcher Maiken Nedergaard said it was kind of like having a house party. “You can either entertain the guests (do all the thinking you do during the day) or you can clean up the house (wash out the cells), but you can't do both.”

Eventually those brain waste products are swept out of the brain and make their way to the liver where they are broken down and removed by the body in your poop and urine.

Now, is this the only reason for sleep? Scientists aren't sure. Many think there are lots of other good reasons for sleep. They all do agree that we need to get enough sleep to stay healthy. So this is another good reason to stick to your bedtime tonight! Read more about the study in this article from the Guardian.

I have some sad news to report. If you have been a long time viewer of Science Trek and D4K before that, you may have seen my pet rabbit Winslo. He joined me on the set for my 10^th anniversary special and was “the bad bunny” in the video short we did for the CSI show. Winslo passed away this past weekend. He was a wonderful pet and I and my whole family will miss him. You can watch Winslo in action at the end of this CSI video. Click on the video short.

Have a good week. Think good thoughts of Winslo.

October 14, 2013:

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Science tells us that a consistent bedtime makes a kid behave better.

Researchers in England looked at data from a long-term study of more than 10,000 children. Their parents filled out surveys when the kids were 3, 5 and 7. Included in the survey were questions about bedtime and behavior.They found that kids with a regular bedtime (every night, not just school nights) had fewer behavioral issues than kids with irregular bedtimes. And kids who had late bedtimes behaved the worst.

Kids this age need 10 to 12 hours of sleep and doctors say sleep-deprived kids don't say they are tired. They act out. So, you kids might not like a more regular and perhaps earlier bedtime than you are getting now, but you will be healthier and everyone will be happier if you get a consistent night's sleep. Read more about it and sleeping tips in the LiveScience article.

Check out our newest broadcast show! Science Trek: “Salmon” airs on Idaho Public Television on October 15^th at 2:00 p.m. MT, and you can find it on the Salmon website. Be sure to watch the Science Trek: “The Web Show” too!

We are now taking muscle questions, but if you have a tree question, I can still slip it in. Send a question on any of our active topics today!

Have a great week!

October 7, 2013:

Want to understand others better? Increase your emotional intelligence? Science has a suggestion. Try reading a really good book.

Okay, first a couple of definitions. Literary novels like War and Peace are complex works that make you think. “Popular” novels tend to have more consistent characters and predictable settings. Empathy means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Okay, back to the science.

Scientists at New York's New School for Social Research divided volunteers into four groups. One group read literary fiction. One group read best-selling novels. Once group read Smithsonian magazine and one group read nothing at all. The volunteers then took a computerized empathy test. They found that “reading literary fiction temporarily enhances your Theory of Mind.” In other words, reading a really good back improves your empathy. They believe having to really think about how the characters in a book are feeling may help you better judge how real people are feeling. The scientists think the way to improve your empathetic skills isn't limited to just reading good books. Seeing complex plays, studying great art may also help you be a better person. Give it a try! Read more about it in this article. (though reading the article will not make you more empathetic!)

Our newest broadcast show airs next week. Learn more about salmon. Tune in on Tuesday, October 15 at 2:00/1:00 p.m. MT/PT on Idaho Public Television or here on the Science Trek website.

Have a great week!

September 30, 2013:

La-la-la-la-la-la-la. Vocalists will sing or trill the scales to warm up their voices, but they are not the only ones that trill. Two species of tawny brown mice “sing” too. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have found that the Alston's singing mouse and the Chiriqui singing mouse trill to set their territory. When the smaller Alston mouse hears the song of the larger Chiriqui mouse, it steers clear.

Bret Pash, from the Department of Integrative Biology wrote a paper about the mice for the journal The American Naturalist. He says the mice songs are a series of rapidly repeated notes. He says, “The notes are produced each time an animal opens and closes its tiny mouth, roughly 15 times per second.” Because the animals live in the same areas of the mountain cloud forests of Costa Rica and Panama, they can have overlapping territories. The mice sing to protect their turf and let others know to stay away. Many small rodents make sounds, many too high pitched for human ears. Scientists study the genes from singing mice to better understand the genes that lead to language in humans. You can read more singing mice and watch a video of an Alston's singing mouse at this EurekAlert article.

Our deadline for Tree questions is this week. If you have a question about Trees, send it in now! Here is the link. Have a great week!

September 23, 2013:

Which is better Bach or Stravinsky? Don’t know? Ask your goldfish.

A new study shows that goldfish can tell the difference between classical music composed by Bach or Stravinsky. Researchers at Keio University first taught a group of fish to nibble on a food-filled ball while Bach music was played. This would teach the fish to associate food and Bach. Then the scientists played Stravinsky and the fish didn’t go for the food. That suggests that the fish could tell the difference between Bach and Stravinsky.

Other animals can tell the difference between types of music. Lead Researcher Kazutaka Shinozuka did similar tests with Java sparrows, pigeons and rats. He says only Java sparrows showed a preference for Bach over the more modern Stavinsky. Why? Well, that is up for debate. Other research has shown that monkeys, cats and dogs react to music that is designed to match their vocal frequencies and heart rate. We humans like sounds in similar frequencies and beats. You can read more about this research in this article from LiveScience.

Our new broadcast show is available for your viewing pleasure. Check it out here. To watch the 30-minute show, click on “The Show.” To watch the less-than-ten-minutes Web Only show, click on “Web Extra” and to watch the video short, click on “