Dear 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 ...Dear Fatima,
A few different things happen when a bee stings you, and a few things happen to the bee, too.
When I got your question, I called up my friend Brandon Hopkins, who works as a honeybee researcher at Washington State University.
Read More ...Dear Jacob,
You have a heart that beats every single day—even when you aren’t thinking about it. It likely beats about 60 to 100 times per minute. That adds up to more than a billion beats in a lifetime.
To find out how exactly how it all works, I talked to my friend Garry Smith, a researcher at Washington State University.
Read More ...Dear Candace,
When we hear a funny joke, there are lots of different things that happen in the brain and body. My friend Paul Bolls, the director of the Media Mind Lab at Washington State University, told me all about it.
Read More ...Dear Ellie,
Take a deep breath. As air travels through your nose and mouth into your lungs, it brings oxygen into the body. To find out exactly how it all works, I talked to my friend Kim Chiok, a researcher at Washington State University.
In the lab at WSU, she designs experiments to help us learn about diseases that impact the lungs and other parts of the body that help us breathe.
When you breathe in, little hairs in your nose help filter out particles like dust, so they don’t enter the body. The air warms up as it flows into a tube-like structure … » More …
Read More ...Dear Rhma,
If you are like me, you’ve probably seen people wearing face masks, face shields or even both at the same time.
Read More ...Dear Zamaria,
When astronauts leave Earth, a spacesuit can help them stay safe in places that are quite different from their home planet.
I learned all about it from my friends Stasia Kulsa, Lauren Reising and Ian Wells, a few members of a team at Washington State University researching how to clean moon dust from spacesuits.
Read More ...Dear Asia,
You may have noticed ice cream and popsicles will melt when they are out of the freezer for too long. To find out exactly why this happens, I headed to the Washington State University Creamery.
My friend John Haugen, the creamery manager, was happy to help with your question. He said a big part of the answer has to do with something called matter. All things in our universe are made up of matter—even ice cream and popsicles.
Read More ...Dear 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 ...Dear Zane,
When you walk around on land, you are walking on top of Earth’s rocky crust. Below the crust is another thick layer of rock. These layers form Earth’s tectonic plates and when those plates collide with each other, they often form mountains.
[caption id="attachment_6257" align="alignright" width="198"] Julie Menard[/caption]
To find out more about how mountains form, I visited my friend Julie Menard, a professor at Washington State University who is very curious about geology.
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Dear Fisher,
Dear Nolan,
If you’ve ever been outside on a cold day, you may have noticed how your arm hairs stood up and you felt some goosebumps.
Humans get goosebumps for different reasons and one of those reasons has to do with temperature.
My friend Ryan Driskell, an assistant professor at Washington State University, is really curious about the innerworkings of skin.
Read More ...Dear Nicholas,
When I got your question, I decided to do a little experiment. First, I tapped my paw on a tablet and sent a message to a friend. Next, I put on a pair of wool mittens and started typing, but the screen did not respond. Finally, I used a banana to see if I could use it to swipe the screen. It actually worked.
I wondered what exactly was going on here and decided to take our questions to my friend Praveen Sekhar. He’s an associate professor in the Washington State University School of Engineering and Computer Science.
Sekhar told me our … » More …
Read More ...Dear Zinnia,
That’s a great observation. When you breathe out, you let a couple of different things into the air.
Not only do you breathe out carbon dioxide, but you also breathe out teeny tiny droplets of water. These water droplets are so small we can’t see them with our eyes.
Read More ...Dear Jasmine,
There are all kinds of different birds on our planet, and they migrate to different places.
My friend Heather Watts, a researcher at Washington State University, is really curious about bird migration and told me more about how birds know where to go.
Read More ...Dear Hanaiah,
There are more than 34,000 species of fish on our planet. It can be tricky to tell the age or sex of a fish, but biologists have come up with a few different ways to find out.
My friend Paul Wheeler, a fish biologist at Washington State University, told me all about it.
Read More ...Dear Bella,
It turns out seasons can be quite different depending on where you live. But no matter where you live, the reason for the seasons has to do with the way the Earth rotates.
To find out exactly why we have seasons, I talked to my friend Vivienne Baldassare, a physics and astronomy professor at Washington State University.
Read More ...Dear Abree,
That’s a great observation. Garden spiders and other orb-weaver spiders can crawl all around their webs, but we often see their heads pointing down toward the ground.
My friend Todd Murray, an entomologist at Washington State University, told me about a group of scientists that had a question a lot like the one you’ve asked.
These scientists used mathematical models to learn about orb-weaver spiders and how they move around the web. They discovered spiders that wait with their head down for prey can reach prey faster than spiders that wait with head up for their prey.
While there are exceptions, … » More …
Read More ...Dear Sam,
Dogs might not use clocks to tell time like humans do, but they are pretty good at following a schedule. They often know when it is time for a walk, dinner, or sleep.
Read More ...Dear T.J.,
Long before humans invented microwave ovens, they had to rely on stoves or an open flame to heat up their food.
These days, we can warm up food in a matter of minutes, or even seconds. A lot of parts had to be invented to make that all happen. These parts help electricity flow through the microwave in lots of different ways.
One part called a transformer helps move the electricity from one area to another. As it does so, it may vibrate or shake a little, and that tiny movement can cause a humming noise.
Electricity is actually a big part of … » More …
Read More ...Hey cool cats. I’m Dr. Universe. Whenever I go out and about, I make sure to wear my face mask. One way that germs enter the body is through the nose and mouth. The mouth and nose are interconnected. That’s why it’s so important that my face mask covers them both. I clean my hands before and after handling the mask and to avoid exposure to germs, I don’t want to touch the front of the mask. When I take off the mask, I use the loops or ties. When worn properly, this little piece of fabric can help make a big difference. We can all do our part to stay safe and healthy.
Hey cool cats, I’m Dr. Universe. When I come home from exploring, I always wash my hands. It takes about 20 seconds. I use soap and water. To keep track of time, I sing my ABCs. It’s important to wash the hands between the fingers and under the nails, anywhere germs might be hiding. I also wash up before making food, eating, using the bathroom, or touching my ears, nose, or mouth, places where germs can enter the body. With a little soap, water, and maybe even a song, we can all do our part to stay safe and healthy.
Hey cool cats, I’m Dr. Universe. When I run errands or explore the outdoors, I make sure to practice social distancing. That means keeping at least six feet of distance between me and others who do not live in my house. How wide is six feet? The length of a female lion, The wingspan of a bald eagle, or about three cats. It’s important to social distance because germs can spread from person-to-person. That’s why I like to give my neighbors plenty of space on the sidewalk and in the grocery store aisle. We can all do our part to stay safe and healthy.
Dear 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 ...Dear Tyler,
At the very bottom of the human spine is a bone that sticks out a bit called the coccyx (cox-ix). We sometimes call it the “tailbone,” but it is actually made up of several different spinal bones.
In some animals that actually have tails, those different bones at the bottom of the spine help them move their tail around. But in humans, those bones partially fused together.
Read More ...