A recent survey conducted by the Department of Health (DOH) showed that one out of every four junior high school students is currently overweight. The survey sample included roughly 4,400 junior high students in Taiwan. It found that 35% of boys and...
Pop quiz: You have a flat table and two billiard balls. You and your strong-armed friend each roll one of the balls off the table so they pass the edge at the same time, only his ball is traveling much faster than yours. Which one hits the ground fir...
If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours is a familiar saying people use when they expect another person to pay them back for a favor. Humans don't usually scratch each other's backs at the office, but we do find a similar behavior in our closest c...
Charles Darwin is best known for his studies of evolution by means of natural and sexual selection, but did you know he was also a pioneer in the study of earthworms? After watching an earthworm s-l-o-w-l-y drag a leaf into its burrow, Darwin became...
In theory, shaving ought to be simple: the razor cuts the hair. In practice, it's not just a matter of razors and hair, there's also shaving cream to consider-- foamy stuff that you smear around your hairs before shaving. How come? Is shaving cream r...
The electroencephalograph, or EEG, is a machine commonly used by doctors and researchers who want to know what the brain is doing without having to open up someone's head and look inside. In fact, even if you were to look inside the head, you still c...
If you've ever had a spill when working with SuperGlue, then you know that the warning on the side of the tube is the absolute truth: SuperGlue will indeed bond skin in a matter of seconds. You may have wondered, as you were trying to pry your finger...
The first picture an expecting mother is likely to see of her developing fetus is not, technically, a picture at all. Most likely, it's an ultrasound image, produced by technology that has more to do with hearing than with seeing. On today's program...
Yal: Hey Don, why the sad face? Don: Yal, I am beginning to think my son will never move out of the basement. Y: I wouldn't worry. Natal dispersal is a perfectly natural thing. D: Natal what? Y: Natal dispersal. That's what happens when young animals...
Don: Hello, Yal. Yal: Don? Where are you? D: I'm behind this door. How did you know it was me? Y: I recognized your voice, of course. D: Did you know dolphins can recognize each other in a similar way? Only instead of using voices, they use whistles....
Mike: Hey, Amanda, is that a green light or just a turn signal up there? Amanda:It's a turn signal. Can't you see for yourself? Mike: No, that's why I asked you. I need glasses, but I don't want to wear them. Amanda: That's really not very bright of...
Yal: Today's Moment of Science is about seed banks. Don: You mean like to store seeds? Y: That's right. D: Haven't people been saving seeds for centuries? Y: Sure, but on a different scale, and for different reasons. Seed saving has long allowed farm...
Sometimes it's easy to understand how an evolutionary change took place, but it's more difficult to understand why. For example, consider the beautiful birds of paradise which live in the forests of New Guinea. The males of many bird-of-paradise spec...
Our ancestors developed agriculture about twelve thousand years ago. As they harvested the first crops, they undoubtedly congratulated themselves on their cleverness--after all, cultivation is far more efficient than hunting and gathering. Little did...
Dear Annie: The holidays are fast approaching and I need your advice. Since they were married six years ago, my son and daughter-in-law have been to our home twice for a short Christmas holiday. Two years ago, they had three weeks of vacation and sta...
