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How are plants considered living if they don’t have a heart or brain?
melissamayer
Dear Lily,
You and I are both animals with backbones, so we have lots in common. Our ways of being alive look similar. We have hearts to pump blood. We have brains that help us think and communicate.
But plants don’t have the same body systems we do.
I talked about your question with my friend Michael Knoblauch. He’s a plant scientist at Washington State University.
He told me plants are seriously good at being alive. In fact, 80% of all the living things on Earth are plants.
“Go out in the forest and look around,” Knoblauch said. “You might see birds and … » More …
Read More ...Why do plants need water?
melissamayerDear Emma,
When I’m thirsty, I pick up a glass of water with my paws and drink it—just like you do. But plants don’t have paws or mouths, so how (and why) do they drink it?
To find the answer, I talked with my friend Helmut Kirchhoff. He’s a scientist at Washington State University. He studies plants and biochemistry.
He told me plants need water inside their cells. Water makes plant cells strong and flexible. It also dissolves stuff. That makes it possible for chemical reactions to happen inside plant cells—like the reactions a plant uses to make energy during photosynthesis. Plants also need water to move around nutrients and other molecules required for life.
“Water is essential for life, but plants must move nutrients from the soil to the leaves,” Kirchhoff said. “So, they have this very nice transport system called xylem. Xylem is an ancient Greek word that means wood. It works like a straw to move water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves.”
Read More ...What and where is the rarest plant in the world?
melissamayerDear Thomas,
Every few years, a smell like a rotting corpse wafts around a stairwell at Washington State University Vancouver. But it’s not really a dead body. It’s the bloom of the corpse flower plant.
There are fewer than 1,000 corpse flower plants left in the wild. It’s one of the rarest plants in the world.
But the list of rare plants is massive. If you look at all the plants we know about in the world, there are about 435,000 different kinds of plants—and many more we don’t know about. Some scientists say that more one-third of all plants are “exceedingly rare.”
I asked my friend Dawn Freeman what makes a plant rare. She’s responsible for the WSU corpse flower.
Read More ...How do plants that need very little water survive?
melissamayerDear Alivia,
My neighbor has a very prickly garden. It’s full of cactuses—including one thorny plant nearly as tall as my house. That’s not something you see every day in the Pacific Northwest. Cactuses usually live in dry places like deserts.
I talked about your question with my friend Linda Chalker-Scott. She’s a garden scientist at Washington State University.
Read More ...How can plants help rivers?
Larry Clark
Many types of plants grow around rivers and help keep rivers healthy by filtering pollutants and more. Read More ...
How do plants know when it’s spring?
rcwebber
When we see little green plants sprouting up from the soil, it is indeed a sign that spring has arrived. To find out how they know to grow, or germinate, I asked my friend Camille Steber.
In her U.S. Department of Agriculture lab at Washington State University, she studies the source of almost all plants: seeds.
A seed holds pretty much all the information a plant needs to know how to grow. The shell that holds all the seed parts inside even contains food for the plant. But the seed is very dry and needs to sense clues from outside to know when to germinate at the right time. Read More ...
Do plants get sunburns?
erik.solvesonHey cool cats, I’m Dr. Universe here to answer your baffling science questions. Like this one, “Dear Dr. Universe, Why don’t plants get sunburns?” That’s a great observation. For as much time as plants spend outside, we don’t see too many with a sunburn. Plants need sun to grow, but not too much sun. Since they can’t move into the shade, put on a hat or sunscreen, they have their own way of staying safe in the sun. They make their own kind of sunblock. Of course, it isn’t much like the sunscreen … » More …
Read More ...Why are plants green?
rcwebberDear Nadia,
A lush tropical rainforest, a field of sunflowers, a garden in your neighborhood. Our Earth is home to all kinds of plant life. From trees to catnip, there are thousands of different species of plants. Most of these plants are green, but not all of them.
Read More ...Why don’t plants get sunburns?
rcwebberDear Elijah,
That’s a great observation. For as much time as plants spend outside in the sun, we really don’t see too many with a sunburn.
Read More ...Plants: How do they hold dirt?
rcwebber
Dear Gordon,
The other day, I wandered into a Washington State University greenhouse and ran into my friend Mechthild Tegeder, a professor and expert on plants.
She gently dug a small plant out of a pot so we could take a closer look. When she lifted it up, I pawed at the clumpy soil hanging from the bottom to reveal some stringy roots.
Read More ...How many atoms are in a leaf?
melissamayerDear Lily,
I love thinking about things I can’t see with just my eyes. Like the atoms that make up everything.
I asked my friend Fred Gittes how to figure out the number of atoms in a leaf. He’s a physicist at Washington State University.
He showed me a worksheet he gives his students. It included a question exactly like yours!
“It’s a question I assign college students for fun,” Gittes said.
So, you’re in great company when you ponder big questions like this.
We decided to use stoichiometry to find the answer. That’s a kind of math that scientists do to understand chemical reactions.
Read More ...What makes pee so bad that I have to get rid of it?
melissamayerDear Jeff,
The worst thing about being an anthropomorphic cat is that I have to scoop my own litter box. It’s a real drag.
I asked my friend Henry Mroch why we need to pee in the first place. He’s a doctor at Washington State University. He teaches medical students about the organs that make urine—called kidneys.
He told me that most people have two kidneys. Each one is about the size of your fist. They sit near your back, right under your ribcage.
Each kidney attaches to a tube called a ureter. Those tubes take urine to a storage pouch—called the bladder. When you pee, another tube called the urethra moves the urine from the bladder out of your body.
Read More ...Do butterflies have meat in their bodies?
melissamayerDear Fiona,
When I was a kitten, I loved chasing butterflies. It’s fun to run after them as they flit and flutter.
But I didn’t eat them.
I asked my friend Rich Zack if that was an oversight. He’s an insect scientist at Washington State University.
He told me that insects are animals with muscles just like other animals that people eat—like cows and chickens.
“Insect muscle tissue is almost exactly the same as mammalian muscle tissue,” Zack said. “So, if there were a way to get that muscle tissue and process it, you could eat an insect steak or an insect hamburger.”
Read More ...Recently there was an online news article that mentioned cold magma that was flowing on the land. What is cold magma?
melissamayerDear Matt,
When I think about volcanoes, I picture molten magma deep inside the Earth. Or burning hot lava pouring down the side of a mountain. But you’re right that there have been news reports that mention cold lava.
I talked about what that could be with my friend Katie Cooper. She’s a geologist at Washington State University.
She told me the news may be using “cold lava” to describe a lahar. That’s a mix of water and rocky debris that sometimes whooshes down the side of a volcano. It’s also called a debris flow or a volcanic mud flow.
Read More ...Why do we need to hydrate?
melissamayer
Dear Victor,
Is there anything better than lapping up cool water on a hot day?
I talked about why we need to hydrate with my friend Ed Johnson. He teaches classes about the human body in the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University.
It turns out that up to 60% of an adult human’s body is water. A kid’s body contains even more water than a grown up. When you were a baby, you were about 78% water.
Humans use that water for all kinds of things. It keeps you cool when you sweat. It removes waste when you pee. It moves important stuff around inside your body. It even cushions your brain and spinal cord.
But staying hydrated is really about your cells.
Read More ...Why do we need the sun?
melissamayerDear Samai ,
Right now, the sun is shining through my window. It feels warm on my muzzle.
I talked about the sun with Guy Worthey. He’s a professor of astronomy and physics at Washington State University.
He told me that our lives depend on the sun.
“The sun keeps you warm and powers everything,” Worthey said. “Without it, Earth would be a frozen nightmare.”
Read More ...Why are some veggies called fruits because of their seeds?
melissamayerDear Valerie,
Every summer I grow peppers in my garden. I always thought they were vegetables. But you’re right that my peppers have gobs of seeds like fruits do.
To figure out what’s going on, I talked with my friend Jacob Blauer. He’s a plant scientist at Washington State University.
He told me that whether something is a vegetable or fruit depends on what part of the plant it comes from.
“Plant products that come from plant parts like roots, leaves or stems are veggies,” Blauer said. “If they come from a flower and bear seeds, they’re a fruit in botanical and scientific terms.”
Read More ...Where do frogs go in the winter?
melissamayerDear Landon,
When the cold weather comes, I bundle up in a sweater and explore the snow.
But my frog friends are never around then. In fact, I’ve never seen a frog in a sweater.
I asked my friend Erica Crespi why that is. She’s a biologist at Washington State University. She studies frogs and other amphibians.
She told me frogs are different from you and me. We’re warm-blooded. Our bodies use energy to make heat. When it’s cold outside, it’s still warm inside our bodies. We just put on warm clothes to keep our heat from escaping.
But frogs are cold-blooded. They don’t spend a lot of energy making heat. So, when it’s cold outside, it’s cold inside a frog’s body, too. That could be bad news during a winter freeze.
Crespi told me that’s why most frogs living in places with cold winters find a slightly warmer place to hunker down.
Read More ...How do flowers use sunlight and water to grow?
melissamayerDear Jackie,
When I was a kitten, my family measured how tall I was. They marked it on the wall. It was amazing to see how much I grew.
I talked about how plants grow with Helmut Kirchhoff. He’s a scientist at Washington State University. He studies plants and biochemistry.
He told me plants grow by making new cells. To make a new cell, an existing cell splits into two. That’s called cell division. Then, the new cells grow bigger. That’s called cell growth. So, a plant can make its stem or roots longer by making new cells in those places. When it’s time to bloom, a plant can make new types of cells that form flowers.
Plants need the right ingredients to do cell division and cell growth.
Read More ...How can we help bees survive harsh winters?
melissamayerDear Carla,
I keep mason bees. They sleep in cardboard tubes all winter long. I worry about my little bees until I see them chew out of their nesting tubes in the spring.
I talked about how mason bees and all kinds of bees survive winter with my friend Brandon Hopkins. He’s an insect scientist at Washington State University. He manages the honey bees on campus.
The honey bees we see in North America today first arrived with Europeans in the 1600s. We love honey bees because they pollinate our crops and make delicious honey. But there are lots of bees that have always lived here—like bumble bees, squash bees and mason bees. Those are native bees.
Most native bees survive the cold by overwintering in the nests where they were born. That could be tucked into the soil or leafy debris. It could be nestled inside hollow plant stems, holes in wood or tubes like my mason bees. Some native bees like bumble bees live in colonies. Only the queen survives the winter. She digs into the earth or finds a hollow tree and hibernates there.
Read More ...Quizzes
melissamayerQuizzes
Yearning for a side of whimsy with your science? Bring on the quizzes.
Do you love plants? Let’s see which endangered plant matches your vibe.
(After you hit submit, scroll down to see your results.)
I get lots of cat questions. What’s your feline familiar?
(After you hit submit, scroll down to see your results.)
Take a dip in these dinosaur questions. Then figure out your dino doppelganger.
(After you hit submit, scroll down to see your results.)
Chill on land or water? Who doesn’t love an amphibian? Find your amphi-bestie.
(After you hit submit, scroll … » More …
Read More ...Are mermaids real?
melissamayerDear Maite,
People have thought about mermaids for a long time. Ancient people even drew humans with fish tails on cave walls. So, did they really see mermaids or were they drawing from imagination?
The marine experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say that no mermaids have ever been found in the ocean.
But we’ve fully mapped only about one-quarter of the ocean floor. There are probably between 700,000 and one million different kinds of plants and animals in the ocean. At least two-thirds of those are still unknown to us.
Does that mean mermaids could be swimming around in parts of the ocean we haven’t explored? Maybe. But our best guess is that people mistook other sea animals for mermaids—like manatees and their relatives.
Read More ...What is mutualism in nature?
melissamayerDear Luke and Wade,
When I get the same question from different kids, I know it’s a good one.
So, I talked about your question with my friend Angeliqua Montoya. She’s a graduate student at Washington State University. She works on a mutualism between pea plants and bacteria.
“I study ecology, which is looking at interactions between different species,” she said. “Mutualisms are interactions where both species benefit.”
Read More ...How did one comet kill all the dinosaurs?
melissamayerDear Mya,
It’s hard to imagine that one space rock wiped out the dinosaurs. But it did more than that. It killed 75% of the plants and animals on Earth. Me-OW.
I talked about that with my friend Barry Walker. He teaches geology classes about Earth’s history at Washington State University.
Walker told me that we call a space rock that hits Earth a meteorite. The meteorite that took out the dinosaurs set off changes on Earth. Those changes lasted for thousands of years. That’s how it killed so many things.
Read More ...Why don’t birds get electrocuted when they sit on power lines?
melissamayerDear Angel,
I’ve never sat on a power line. I like to keep my paws firmly on the ground. But birds love resting there, especially in winter. Power lines give off a little heat, so it’s a good spot for birds to snuggle together and stay warm.
I talked about how they do that safely with my friend Javier Guerrero. He’s a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Washington State University.
He told me birds do get electrocuted on power lines sometimes. But that won’t happen if the bird touches just the power line—and doesn’t touch other lines or the pole at the same time.
Read More ...Who invented the calendar?
melissamayerDear Audrey,
I use a calendar to keep up with my work as a science cat. I also love calendar apps that count down to big events—like my birthday. People have always tracked time for work and holidays.
I talked about this with my friend Nikolaus Overtoom. He’s a professor of ancient history at Washington State University.
He told me we use the Gregorian calendar today. That’s a revised version of the Julian calendar. The Romans invented the Julian calendar.
Read More ...How does it rain?
melissamayerLike most cats, I don’t love wet fur. I check a weather app every morning to see if I need an umbrella. But how rain happens was a mystery to me.
So, I talked about rain with my friend Nathan Santo Domingo. He’s a field meteorologist with AgWeatherNet of Washington State University. That’s a weather tool for farmers, gardeners and other people in Washington.
“The first thing to remember is that Earth’s surface is 71% water,” Santo Domingo said. “We also have a giant orb in the sky—the sun—that’s feeding energy into the atmosphere and reaching down to Earth’s surface.”
The sun’s energy changes the water in the oceans, rivers and lakes. The water changes from a liquid to a gas called water vapor. That water vapor floats up into the bubble of gas that surrounds Earth—called the atmosphere.
Read More ...How did our planet get oxygen?
melissamayerDear Jacob,
When I wake up from a cat nap, I stretch and take a deep breath. It feels good to fill my lungs with oxygen.
But that wasn’t always possible on Earth.
I talked about this with my friend Sean Long. He’s a geologist at Washington State University.
“The cool thing is the answer has to do with life,” Long said. “Early life forms on Earth gave us all the oxygen. They were single-celled bacteria.”
Our planet is about 4.5 billion years old. There’s been life on Earth for 3.5 billion years. The first life forms were made of just one cell. They were bacteria and their cousins called archaea.
Read More ...How do you tell if your betta is happy?
melissamayerDear Neely,
As a science cat, I handle going to the veterinarian better than most. I see it as a meeting of scientific minds. But I had no idea some veterinarians specialize in fish.
I learned all about fish medicine from my friend Nora Hickey. She’s a fish veterinarian at Washington State University. She works in the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. She helps fish at zoos and hatcheries stay healthy.
Hickey told me you can watch a betta’s behavior to see if it’s happy. Happy bettas swim around. They interact with things in their tanks and act interested when you come close.
Read More ...Are unicorns real?
melissamayerDear Emma,
My favorite animated GIFs are the ones with cats riding unicorns. I’m delighted to tell you about a real unicorn that lived a long time ago: the Siberian unicorn.
The Siberian unicorn was bulky and furry. It had a big hump on its back. Its horn was three feet long. That’s as big as a human preschooler!
This real-life unicorn was a kind of rhino from Eurasia. But it was bigger than modern rhinos and probably galloped like a horse.
Scientists have known about Siberian unicorns since 1808. For a long time, they thought the unicorns went extinct 200,000 years ago. Recently, that changed. Now they think the unicorns went extinct closer to 39,000 years ago.
Read More ...How does evolution work?
melissamayerDear Aubree,
When I thought about evolution, I always pictured big changes that happened over long time periods—like how birds evolved from dinosaurs.
But then I talked with my friend Jeremiah Busch. He’s a biologist at Washington State University. He told me evolution is happening all the time.
“As soon as you see that evolution is occurring around us, it changes the way you think about the world,” Busch said.
There are a few ways evolution happens. These include mutation, gene flow, genetic drift and natural selection.
Read More ...Do ants hibernate in the winter?
melissamayerDear Garrett,
When most people think about hibernation, they picture bears snoozing away the cold winter in their dens. You’re right that other animals do that, too.
I talked about your question with my friend Laurel Hansen. She’s an entomology professor at Washington State University. Her specialty is carpenter ants.
“We think most ants in our temperate climate will have diapausing larvae and what I would call overwintering adults,” Hansen said.
Diapausing and overwintering are like hibernating but not quite the same. There are a few things to know about ants to understand what these terms mean.
Read More ...What is the difference between B cells and T cells in the immune system?
melissamayerDear Tanveer,
Everyone who heard your question agreed that it’s a sophisticated one. To get my paws around the answer, I talked with my friend Phil Mixter. He’s an immunology professor at Washington State University.
He told me all living things need to protect themselves from microbes that could make them sick. These are called pathogens. They can be bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites.
“Almost every organism I can think of—from plants to animals and beyond—has a defense system to handle the possibility that another organism might sneak in,” Mixter said.
Read More ...Did dinosaurs eat humans?
melissamayerDear Brileigh,
If you looked inside a T. rex mouth, you’d see some 12-inch teeth. That’s longer than my tail!
I asked my friend Aaron Blackwell if dinosaurs used those big chompers on humans. He’s an anthropologist who studies human biology at Washington State University. He told me dinosaurs and humans didn’t live at the same time.
“Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago—before there were even primates,” Blackwell said. “So, they could never have eaten a human or even a monkey.”
Read More ...What if there were no predators to eat the birds?
melissamayerDear Katy,
Don’t let the lab coat fool you. I enjoy chattering at birds as much as the next cat. Staring out the window and vibrating my mouth to “chirp” helps me relax after a long day.
My wild cousins do take things a bit further—namely, predation. It’s not pretty, but it’s an important part of keeping life in balance.
I talked about predators with my friend Travis King. He’s a Ph.D. student at Washington State University. He studies big cats like lynx and jaguars.
“It’s a balancing act between predators, disease, food and space,” King said. “If you take away predators, you lose one of the factors keeping an ecosystem in balance.”
Read More ...Black History Month
melissamayer
February is a great time to celebrate Black scientists who changed the world—and those transforming science right now.
I talked about Black History Month with Amir Gilmore. He’s a professor and associate dean in the College of Education at Washington State University.
“There are so many things that Black people have created that we just don’t think about,” he said. “So, when I think about Black History Month, it gives me joy that other people made these inventions. Where would we be without refrigerated trucks or stoplights? Where would we be without telephone technology? I’m thankful that Black people thought about what the world needed and provided those things.”
Read More ...How do I make compost?
melissamayerHi Miracle,
My office is just down the road from the Washington State University composting facility. It processes more than 10,000 pounds of organic waste every month. That’s a lot of compost!
I talked about compost with my friend Jim Kropf. He works for WSU Extension. Extension programs connect universities with local communities. They offer classes and trustworthy, science-based resources that anyone can use online.
Kropf told me that composting is how nature recycles. “In the forest, leaves fall on the ground and come in contact with soil,” he said. “Worms, centipedes, microorganisms and fungi all work on those leaves to break them down into organic matter.”
Making compost is copying nature to make fertilizer for healthier gardens. It’s also a way to help our planet.
Read More ...Native American Heritage Month: What is a land acknowledgement? Why does representation matter?
melissamayerWSU’s campuses are on ceded land belonging to the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) Tribe and Palus people, traditional Cowlitz lands, traditional lands of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and historical Spokane Tribe lands. This story was written on land belonging to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
November is a great time to honor historical figures and Native American scientists changing the world right now.
I talked about this with Sara Mills, a Prevention Science graduate student at Washington State University. She’s a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes.
Mills’ research centers Native American student voices. She wants to figure out what makes those students feel like they belong.
“Representation is huge,” she said. “If you can see yourself in these spaces, then you’re more willing to put yourself out there and be in those spaces. I met Native American faculty right away when I got to WSU. I don’t know if I would have been able to visualize myself here if I hadn’t.”
Read More ...When was the first bee made?
melissamayerDear Henry,
It’s easy to love bees. They’re furry and buzzy. Along with other insects, birds and bats, they pollinate about one-third of the plants we eat.
I talked about how long bees have been buzzing around Earth with my friend Silas Bossert. He’s an evolutionary biologist in the Department of Entomology at Washington State University.
“The oldest bee fossil that is really without doubt a bee is between 65 and 70 million years old,” Bossert said.
Read More ...How did life begin?
melissamayerDear Kelsey,
The universe is a big place. Thinking about how we fit into it is part of what makes humans (and cats like me) special.
I talked about your question with my friend Afshin Khan who studied astrobiology and environmental science at Washington State University. Astrobiologists explore how life began. They also look for signs of life outside Earth.
Khan told me your question is a huge mystery.
“We have very good ideas about what could have happened,” she said. “In different labs around the world, we’ve gotten very close to simulating some of those conditions. But simulations can only get so … » More …
Read More ...Do spiders sleep?
melissamayerDear Peter,
At the end of the day, you probably curl up in a cozy bed for a little shut eye. Unlike you, most spiders have eight eyes, and they never shut any of them. They don’t even have eyelids!
I talked about spider sleep with my friend Richard Zack, an entomologist and professor in WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. He also runs the biggest insect museum in the state of Washington at WSU. He told me that spiders and insects do rest. They nestle into a safe spot and enter a “stupor,” which means they’re very still.
Read More ...How does electrical power travel through metal?
Larry Clark
When you watch the zapping bolts during a lightning storm, you know how powerful electricity is. Humans have only been harnessing electricity to bring light and energy to our towns and homes for about 150 years—and metal is one of the main ways we get this powerful tool from place to place.
To learn more, I talked to my friend Bob Olsen, a professor emeritus in the Washington State University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Olsen said it’s important to realize that we don’t need metal wires to move the waves that carry electricity, which are called electromagnetic waves. Some technologies, like cell phones, pick up waves that are sent through the air. Read More ...
Why do leaves fall in the fall?
rcwebberDear Kaitlyn and Aiden,
You’re right, each year during the fall, we often see a lot of trees dropping their leaves. To find out exactly what happens when leaves fall, I talked to my friend Henry Adams, a researcher at Washington State University.
Read More ...What are the strings inside a pumpkin?
rcwebberDear Maggie,
If you open up a pumpkin, you would see all kinds of different things inside. Some people call all this gooey stuff the pumpkin’s “brains” or its “guts.”
There’s the meaty orange flesh, sticky pulp, lots of seeds, and, of course, all those little strings. The strings actually have a really big job.
My friend Lydia Tymon is a plant pathologist. That means she is like a doctor for plants—and she was happy to hear about your question.
The pumpkin’s strings, or fibrous strands, help the seeds get something important while the pumpkin is growing on the vine: nutrients.
You might think … » More …
Read More ...What are cells made of?
rcwebber
Dear Lela,
You have all kinds of cells in your body that do lots of different things. In fact, there are about 200 different types of cells in the human body—from blood cells to skin cells to bone cells. To find out exactly what all those cells are made of, I visited my friend Deirdre Fahy.
Fahy is a scientist at Washington State University who is curious about how and why things work, including our cells. She reminded me the human body is made up of billions of cells. You might think about each cell as if it were a tiny room. But this room, or cell, is so small, you’d likely need a microscope to see it. Read More ...
What are some of the challenges of growing organic food?
rcwebberDear Sabrina,
There are all kinds of different things to think about, along with a few challenges, when it comes to growing organic food.
My friend Lynne Carpenter-Boggs is a soil scientist at Washington State University who works with many different farmers and knows a lot about what it takes to produce food that is organic.
Read More ...How do tiny seeds make huge trees?
rcwebber
Dear Robin,
If you’ve ever eaten a handful of trail mix, you’ve likely eaten quite a few seeds from trees. Some nuts, like cashews and almonds, are also seeds that can give us energy when we hike or play.
Seeds actually store up their own energy in the form of something called starch, which is kind of like the food a seed needs to survive. The seed will use this stored up energy to start growing into a tree. Read More ...
Why are some berries poisonous?
rcwebber
A lot of living things on our planet have defenses they use in the wild to help them survive. For some plants, being poisonous may help keep them from becoming someone’s dinner.
Wendy Hoashi-Erhardt
That’s what I found out from my friend Wendy Hoashi-Erhardt, a scientist who directs the Small Fruit Plant Breeding program at Washington State University. Read More ...
Worms: How do they help the dirt?
rcwebber
Worms can help the soil in a few different ways. One helpful thing worms do is move around different materials, such as leaves and grasses, and make holes in the soil.
That’s what I found out from my friend Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a soil scientist at Washington State University, who was happy to help with your question.
Lynne Carpenter-Boggs
“Worms are actually very strong,” Carpenter-Boggs said. “They can break through soil and make holes that allow air, water and plant roots to follow those channels.” Read More ...
Investigating Seeds
rcwebber
Join Dr. Universe as we investigate seeds and grow a little lentil plant. Read More ...
How do trees give us air to breathe?
rcwebber
Our planet is home to all kinds of different plants, and they help make a lot of the oxygen we breathe. To find out how plants make oxygen, I asked my friend Balasaheb Sonawane.
Sonawane is a scientist at Washington State University who researches photosynthesis, or the ways plants use energy from the sun and make oxygen. He said that in a way, plants breathe, too.
“They don’t have a nose or mouth,” Sonawane said. “They have tiny microscopic organs on their leaves called stomata.” Read More ...
Ask Dr. Universe Videos
rcwebberWONDER. WATCH. DISCOVER.
Welcome to the Ask Dr. Universe video page. Here, you can find short Q&A videos and fun interviews with Washington State University researchers.
What big question will you investigate?
» More …
Podcasts
rcwebberIt’s the Ask Dr. Universe Podcast
Join Dr. Universe and her friends at Washington State University as they investigate science questions from kids around the world.
A GUIDE FOR PODCAST LISTENERS
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How many black holes are in the universe?
rcwebber
Why do trees have sap?
rcwebber
Why do mushrooms grow in rings?
rcwebber
When you see a ring of mushrooms, it’s likely they are exploring for food under the ground.
Giant mushrooms in your backyard are not animals or plants. They are part of another class of living organisms called fungi. But like you and me, they do need food to survive.
That’s what I found out from my friend David Wheeler, an assistant professor at Washington State University, who knows a lot about fungi.
He said the mushrooms are just one part of fungi. The other part that explores the soil for food actually lives under the soil. Read More ...
Why do we get tears when we yawn?
rcwebber
You’re right, a lot of people get tears when they yawn. When you yawn, you actually use lot of muscles in your face. Maybe you can feel the stretch in your jaw, cheeks and eyes.
As the muscles in your face contract, they can put a lot of pressure on the plumbing system that is in charge of making your tears.
That’s what I found out from my friend Karin Biggs, an adjunct professor at Washington State University who teaches anatomy. Read More ...
Why is it effective to wear a face mask?
rcwebber
Dear Marin,
Whenever I go out and about, I make sure to wear my face mask. Like you, I wanted to find out exactly how they work.
First, I talked to Marian Wilson, an assistant professor and nurse at Washington State University who is curious about how face masks protect people.
“When we talk, sneeze, sing, or laugh, we spread droplets into the air all the time,” she said. “With the COVID-19 pandemic going on, we know people may have virus in their droplets.” Read More ...
Why do ants build hills?
rcwebber
Ants build mounds in all shapes and sizes. Beneath those piles of dirt, ants are building their underground homes.
That’s what I found out from my friend Rob Clark, an entomologist who studies bugs on plants. His job is to figure out if bugs make a plant sick or help the plant grow.
He told me ants are one of the most diverse insect families. Scientists know about nearly 13,000 species—and each ant species makes a different kind of nest. Read More ...
What are bee wings made of?
rcwebber
Dear Natalia,
Bee wings may be small, but they are really strong. I learned all about bee wings from my friend Melanie Kirby, a honey bee researcher at Washington State University.
Kirby said you can think about bee wings as if they were a kite. If you make a kite out of thin tissue, it might rip. But if you make it out of a strong plastic film it will be stronger.
Bee wings are made of a material called chitin (KITE-IN) and it’s a lot like keratin, the material that makes up your fingernails. Chitin is what makes up the wings on each side of the bee’s body. Read More ...
What gives leaves their shapes?
rcwebber
We can find all kinds of leaves on our planet. Just think of tiny pine needles, fern fronds, ivy vines, or a big banana leaf.
My friend Eric Roalson is a professor at Washington State University who is very curious about plants. He said there are a few things that give leaves their shapes.
The shape of a leaf can depend on the family history of a plant, the group it belongs to, and the environment where it grows up. Read More ...
How is paper made?
rcwebber
We can make paper in lots of different ways. It often starts with trees. In fact, one of the first kinds of paper we know about was made in China using rags, plants, and bark from mulberry trees.
These kinds of materials are made up of parts called fibers. Fibers are what help give plants strength to stand up. Humans who eat plants like lettuce or celery have actually eaten some of these fibers. A lot of the clothes we wear come from plant fibers, too.
Plant fibers are called cellulose. Humans aren’t able to digest these fibers because they are really hard to break down. But strong fibers are great for making paper. Read More ...
What creatures have been on Earth the longest?
rcwebber
There are many kinds of creatures that lived on Earth long ago and their relatives still exist today. We know about them from fossil records, imprints or remains that we find in rock. Read More ...
What is inside a blade of grass and why is it green?
jaime.chambersDear Luke,
I’ve been wondering the same thing lately. Every time I go on walks, I notice new splashes of color. Watching bugs in the grass, I pretend they’re crawling through a jungle. Everything is bright and bursting with green.
When I saw your question, I knew Michael Neff would know the answer. Green is his favorite color, too. (In fact, when we talked over video, he wore a green Hawaiian shirt.) Neff researches plants at Washington State University, and he is especially curious about grasses.
If you chopped a piece of grass and looked at it with your eyes alone, you might not see much. But if you looked at it under a microscope, you’d see tiny structures containing even tinier parts.
Read More ...Why are carrots orange?
jaime.chambersDear Caden,
When you picture the carrot section at a grocery store in the United States, you probably imagine rows of orange. But carrots can come in a rainbow of other colors: purple, yellow, red, and more.
And the first carrots weren’t orange at all. They were stark white.
That’s what I learned from Tim Waters, a Vegetable Specialist at Washington State University-Extension. He studies how to grow different kinds of vegetables, and helps others learn how to grow them too.
Read More ...How do viruses form?
jaime.chambersDear Samantha,
Viruses are strange things. They’re not alive like you or me. But they behave somewhat that way—spreading, growing, appearing in new forms. How can this be?
There’s a lot scientists don’t know yet about the new coronavirus. But they do know a lot about how viruses work and make people sick.
To learn more, I talked to Sylvia Omulo, a scientist specializing in infectious diseases at Washington State University.
Read More ...Why do I like buffalo wings and not broccoli?
jaime.chambersDear Joe,
You’re not alone—cats don’t like broccoli much either. As a carnivore, I think a nice, meaty buffalo wing sounds great.
But humans are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meat. They’ve developed a taste for all kinds of things growing and living all over the world. So where do individual people’s preferences come from?
To find out, I visited Carolyn Ross, a professor of Food Science at Washington State University. Like you, she is very curious about why people like the foods they like.
Read More ...How was popcorn discovered?
jaime.chambersDear Jalen,
There’s nothing like popcorn in progress: the snapping kernels, the warm buttery smell, and the knowledge that a delicious snack will be ready in minutes. It gives you some good time to think and wonder: how did humans first start doing this?
To find out where popcorn came from, I visited my friend Erin Thornton, an archaeologist at Washington State University. Archaeologists study how humans lived in the past—including the things they ate.
To learn the story of popcorn, we have to trace the history of maize.
Read More ...Why does the wind blow?
jaime.chambersDear Odin,
When the wind blows, it can do all kinds of things. It can help pick up tiny seeds and carry them away, so plants and flowers can grow in new places. It can push a big sailboat across an ocean. We can even harness the wind to make clean energy to power our homes and schools.
That’s what I found out from my friend Gordon Taub, an engineer at Washington State University. He is very curious about wind energy and told me more about why the wind blows.
Read More ...How do bugs have poison?
rcwebberDear Wyatt,
There are all kinds of insects crawling and flying around our planet. And you’re right, some of them—but not all of them—are poisonous.
I learned all about poisonous insects from my friend David James. James is a researcher at Washington State University who is very curious about monarch butterflies.
Read More ...What does it mean to go brain dead?
rcwebber
Let’s say we wanted to find out what kind of electrical activity was happening inside your brain at this very moment. Yep, you read that right: your brain is full of electricity. It actually generates enough electricity to power a lightbulb.
In fact, the tiny cells in your body use electricity to send messages to each other. That’s part of what helps the brain and body communicate. I decided to visit my friend Samantha Gizerian, a neuroscientist at Washington State University, to find out more about our brains.
She said if we wanted to observe activity in a human brain, we could do a test called an electroencephalogram (uh-lek-trow-uhn-seh-ful-luh-gram), or EEG for short. We’d attach some small discs with thin wires, or electrodes, to a person’s head. Read More ...
Why are there so many palm trees in California?
rcwebberDear Jenny,
Along with beaches, sunshine, and movie stars, a lot of people picture palm trees when they think of southern California. While there are lots of palm tree species in California, they aren’t all originally from the area. Many were brought from different places around the world.
Read More ...How do trees help the air?
rcwebber
Take a big, deep breath. As you inhale and exhale, you can probably feel the air taking up space in your lungs.
The air we breathe is made up of a few different things. It includes gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide—just to name a few. Animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. But in the plant world, it’s the opposite.
Trees, plants, and even algae in the ocean, take in carbon dioxide from the air and, using the energy of the sun, transform it into the oxygen we all breathe. Read More ...
What can I do to stop ocean pollution?
rcwebber
It’s great to hear you want to help our oceans. After all, they do a lot for us. Life in the ocean provides much of the oxygen we breathe and is also a source of food for many animals, including humans.
One of the most important things we can do to prevent more pollution is to keep our garbage, especially plastic, out of the ocean. That’s what I found out from my friend Richelle Tanner, a marine biologist and researcher at Washington State University.
While a lot of plastic ends up in the ocean, it actually started under the Earth’s surface in the form of oil, leftovers of plants and animals that died long ago. Read More ...
Why do flowers smell nice?
rcwebber
How many types of plankton are there?
rcwebber
We can find millions and millions of plankton in bodies of water all over the world—from oceans, rivers, and lakes to ponds and mud puddles.
That’s what I found out from my friend Julie Zimmerman, a scientist with the Aquatic Ecology Lab at Washington State University. In the lab, researchers can use powerful microscopes to get an up-close look at these tiny creatures. Read More ...
Do fish pee?
rcwebber
What are molecules?
rcwebber
A glass of water has more molecules than there are stars in the night sky. That’s what I found out from my friend Jack (Qiang) Zhang, an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington State University.
“Everything around us is made up of molecules,” he said. “And while these molecules may be different, they are all made of the same things.”
Those things are called atoms. Zhang told me we can think about atoms kind of like Lego blocks. Imagine that you have a pile of red Legos, yellow Legos, and blue Legos. Maybe you use them to build a tiny house, or you can use this same set of Legos to build something else like an airplane or a robot. Read More ...
What do clouds do?
rcwebber
If you’re anything like me, you like to watch the clouds go by in the sky. Even though some clouds might look like they are just floating around up there, they can do quite a lot for our planet.
The first thing to know about clouds is they are made up of tiny water droplets, ice crystals, or a mix of both—and there are many different kinds of clouds.
There are white and puffy cumulus clouds, thin and wispy cirrus clouds, and tall nimbostratus clouds that stretch high up in to the sky. Believe it or not, when you walk through fog, you are walking through a kind of cloud that’s touching the ground. Read More ...
What is the smelliest fruit in the world?
rcwebber
Why does caffeine make us stay awake?
rcwebber
Dear Cooper,
You’re right, caffeine can help us stay awake—but only for so long. To understand exactly why it works, it helps to know about one of my favorite things: sleep. All animals need rest to stay healthy. But sometimes humans don’t get quite as much sleep as they need.
They might be tired during the day or have a lot of work to do. To feel more alert, they might drink a cup of coffee, tea, or soda. These kinds of drinks contain caffeine, a chemical and stimulant that can trigger changes in the body. Read More ...
Why are apples red?
erik.solvesonHey cool cats, I’m Dr. Universe. Here to answer your baffling science questions. Like this one. Dear Dr. Universe why are apples red? In nature different colors sometimes send a message to different plants and animals. The message might be don’t eat me as is the case of some brightly colored poisonous frogs. Other times it might be a chameleon using it’s colors to attract a mate saying hey look over here. But scientists think the apples red color might just be a way of telling hungry animals we’re delicious. Long before humans … » More …
Read More ...What makes a pepper hot?
rcwebberDear Christian,
If you’ve ever eaten a chili pepper, you know it can make you feel really hot. You might start sweating, get a runny nose, or even cry.
Read More ...How is wasabi made?
rcwebberDear Christian,
When you think of wasabi, you might think of that hot green paste people serve up with sushi. Some restaurants put a bit of wasabi on your plate, but it’s usually not real wasabi. It’s actually a mixture of horseradish, mustard, and green dye. Real wasabi is a lot different.
That’s what I found out from my friend Thomas Lumpkin, a plant scientist who studied wasabi as a researcher at Washington State University. Wasabi is a plant that mainly grows in Japan in the cool, running water of mountain streams and springs.
Read More ...
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Read More ...How did we discover allergies?
rcwebberDear Zion,
Before humans even came up with the word “allergy,” they observed how some people would get rashes, sneezes or become really, really sick from different things in their environment. Historians even noted how people in ancient civilizations talked about something called “plant fever,” which gave people runny noses.
Read More ...Why are French fries so good?
rcwebberA good French fry starts with the right potato. My friend Rick Knowles is a potato researcher at Washington State University and told me all about the spuds.
Read More ...How does land affect the weather?
rcwebberThe surface of the earth is covered in all kinds of landforms. We have tall mountains, deep valleys, wide canyons, and scenic shorelines—I bet you could think of a few others, too. A little less than a third of our planet is land and the rest is mostly ocean. Both affect the weather, said my friend Nic Loyd, a meteorologist at Washington State University.
We get different weather patterns depending on a few conditions, such as how much sun the land gets, if the land is near mountains or ocean, and how air circulates through the atmosphere.
Read More ...Did dinosaurs actually roar?
rcwebberIn the movies, we often hear dinosaurs let out big, scary sounds. If you’ve ever played with toy dinosaurs, maybe you’ve also made your little Tyrannosaurus rex roar.
Read More ...How do some trees survive wildfires?
rcwebberWhile it might seem like wildfires only cause destruction, they are actually a natural and important part of keeping forests healthy. After many years, trees have adapted to their homes. Some are pretty invincible when it comes to surviving a wildfire.
Read More ...Where do bees sleep?
rcwebberDear Annalisa,
Sleep is important for lots of the animals on our planet. Just like you need a good rest, so do bees. But, bee sleep is different than human sleep.
Read More ...What food is sweet and good to eat?
rcwebberDear Sophia,
There are quite a few foods that are sweet and good to eat. A lot of them are fruit, said my friend Pablo Monsivais. He’s an associate professor at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.
Read More ...What is a glacier?
rcwebberDear Addison,
When snow piles up and compresses into a thick mass of ice, we call it a glacier. But a glacier is really more than ice and snow.
Read More ...How do bees make honey?
rcwebberDear Nisi,
All around the world bees are busy turning nectar from flowers into sweet, golden honey. That’s what I found out from my friend Brandon Hopkins, a honey bee researcher at Washington State University.
Read More ...How do cacti survive in such hot and dry environments?
rcwebber-Ravin, 11, London, England
Dear Ravin,
All plants need water to survive. Those that live in places where water is scarce use some interesting strategies to stay alive.
That’s what I found out from my friend Charles Cody, who manages one of the greenhouses at Washington State University. When I went to visit the greenhouse, he pointed out a few different cacti.
One was tall and cylindrical with big spines. Another was small and round with what looked more like little hairs. A rainforest cactus hung on the wall like a vine.
Cody explained that if … » More …
Worms: Why do they come out when it rains?
rcwebberDear Courtney,
That’s a great observation. When it rains, worms sometimes leave their home in the soil and wiggle their way up to the surface, where we see them on sidewalks and roads.
Read More ...Part 3: Where does our garbage go?
rcwebberDear Presley and Brianna,
So far, we’ve investigated how recyclables like plastic, aluminum, and paper can end up in the trash. If our clothes get damaged, or we simply outgrow them, we might toss them in the trash, too. Or send them to a thrift shop. Either way, they often end up buried in a landfill.
Read More ...Part 1: Where does garbage go?
rcwebberDear Presley,
If you’re anything like me, maybe one of your weekly chores is helping take out the trash or making sure all your tuna cans get into the right recycle bin. The truth is, I wasn’t entirely sure where the garbage goes either, so I decided to ask my friend Karl Englund.
Read More ...Why do bees have pointy behinds?
rcwebber
Dear Asma and Friends:
Lots of bees have pointy behinds, but not all of them. The ones that do have a pointy behind, or a stinger, can use it to help defend their homes, food, and fellow bees. That’s what I found out from my friend Megan Asche, a graduate student at Washington State University who studies honey bees and takes super close-up photos of insects.
Read More ...