Dear Kaitlyn,
Take a look around. Maybe you can turn your head to the left and right and move it up and down. You can move your eyes around in a bunch of different directions, and perhaps you can even cross them.
Read More ...Dear Emma,
For most of human history, people have enjoyed chocolate in a spicy, bitter drink. But when people discovered how to turn chocolate into a solid, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities.
That’s what I found out from my friend Omar Cornejo, a scientist at Washington State University who is very curious about the history and life of the cacao tree. Chocolate comes from the seeds of leathery fruits that grow on the tree.
If we cut open the fruit, we would find about 20 to 60 seeds on the inside. In ancient times, people would grind up the seeds … » More …
Read More ...Dear Friends,
If you are anything like me, maybe you’ve suddenly felt a chill while listening to music. Perhaps, you got goosebumps and saw your arm hairs stand on end. Maybe you even teared up.
Read More ...Dear Bailey,
Our planet is home to all kinds of lizards. Maybe you’ve seen one climbing up the wall, scurrying through the grass, or at the pet store. Just the other day I saw a big green iguana when I visited the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in search of an answer to your question.
Read More ...Dear 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 ...Dear 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 ...Dear Lucy,
There are a lot of different grasshoppers living on our planet. In fact, scientists have discovered more than 11,000 species. Exactly how these grasshoppers spend their winter depends on what kind of winter they experience.
Read More ...Dear Joseph,
If you’ve ever had a headache, it might have felt like pain was radiating right out of your brain.
Read More ...Dear Bushra,
Our ancestors weren’t very picky eaters. In fact, they ate pretty much whatever they could find, wherever and whenever they could find it.
Read More ...Dear Susan,
It just so happens the Great American Eclipse is coming up on Aug. 21, 2017. This solar eclipse will be the only one visible from across the lower 48 states in nearly a hundred years. When it happens, parts of the country will experience darkness for a couple minutes during the day.
Read More ...Dear Anita,
Ants are pretty good little weightlifters. My friend Rich Zack, a scientist at Washington State University who studies insects, knows a lot about ants. One kind of ant that he has studied can carry up to 20 times its own weight.
Read More ...
Dear Riley,
Humans have hair all over their bodies, including above the upper lip. Of course, not all hair is quite the same. A lot of people have very fine hairs on their faces. Others can sprout a thick beard or mustache.
Read More ...Dear Kalitia,
Believe it or not, pretty much all animals shed their skin. Some animals make it a bit more obvious than others. Snakes, and some other reptiles, will often shed all at once.
Read More ...Dear Christina,
You know summer is just around the corner when the smell of barbecue is in the air. It’s a great question you ask and it leads us to the Meats Lab at Washington State University. That’s where I met up with my friend and animal scientist, Jan Busboom.
Read More ...Dear Reader,
You’re right, turtles and tortoises live a lot longer than most other animals. If you were a turtle, you might live for more than 150 years. One giant Galápagos tortoise named Harriet even lived to be more than 170 years old, said my friend Donna Holmes.
Read More ...
Dear Gianni,
Our planet is home to more than seven million amazing animal species. While we have our differences, we also have something in common: We are all made up of a bunch of cells.
Read More ...Dear Tanya,
You know it’s springtime when animals start coming out of hibernation. That includes ladybugs that crawl out from their cozy winter hiding places.
Read More ...Dear Daiwik,
If you are anything like me, you like watching the night sky. The stars we see are a lot like our nearest star, the sun. They are just much farther away. That makes stars look like small twinkly things instead of a big, furious thing like our sun.
Read More ...Dear Gabby,
Our brains are pretty busy. They are constantly thinking, feeling, and sensing our world. One thing that can help some people relax is spending time with an animal friend. You might play fetch with a dog, sit with a cat, brush a horse, or even watch a goldfish zip around its bowl.
People who spend a lot of time with animals might tell you that something special seems to be going on here. But scientists are looking for evidence and want to find out for certain just what is going on. They want to know … » More …
Dear Ammon,
Everything our computers do, they do because we program them to do it. Maybe you want to design a game or an app that’s brand new. To create that game or app, you have to help your computer understand what to do.
Read More ...Dear David,
When I was a kitten, I used to keep track of my growth. Every now and then, I’d make a little pencil mark on the wall right above my ears.
Read More ...Dear Tammy,
No matter if you are a cat, a person, or a snowball, we have one thing in common: We are all made up of matter. Most everything that we see in our world is made of matter.
Read More ...Dear Jarrett,
Animals can get through winter in all kinds of ways. Us cats like to curl up on a cozy couch. Some penguins huddle in groups to create heat. A lot of birds fly south to warmer weather. Perhaps you put on mittens and a coat.
Read More ...
Dear Aidan,
Our brains have an incredible ability to help us remember all kinds of stuff. Of course, memory isn’t perfect. Sometimes we forget our homework or where we left our favorite cat toy.
Read More ...Dear Sara,
Pain is unpleasant, but we need it for survival. Just the other day I was out exploring when I stubbed my paw and let out a big meow. My nervous system was doing its job.
Read More ...-
Dear Andrew,
The human eye can see millions and millions of colors. But believe it or not, some colors exist in our world that the human eye can’t see.
Read More ...Dear Lawrence,
Deep underwater, not too far from Guam, lies a crescent-shaped canyon called the Mariana Trench. It is home to the deepest known spot in the ocean: The Challenger Deep.
Read More ...Dear Arielle,
Language changes all the time. Words get new meanings. New words get made up.
I talked about it with my friend Rich Zack. He’s an insect scientist at Washington State University. He does taxonomy. That’s the science of naming and classifying living things.
The way language changes is amazing—and skibidi. It’s neat that language morphs as we use it. But that can limit how well we understand each other. Some readers might see “skibidi” and think I passed out and hit random keys.
That’s the main reason scientists use Latin or ancient Greek to name things. They’re dead languages. Nobody uses … » More …
Read More ...Dear Susan,
Cats aren’t usually big veggie-eaters. But working with humans means that I get to taste all kinds of new delicacies—like Brussels sprouts.
I talked about food preferences with my friend Carolyn Ross. She’s a chemist and food scientist at Washington State University.
She told me that some people are extra sensitive to how foods taste. They’re called supertasters.
“Supertasters actually have more taste buds,” Ross said. “We’ve found that people who are supertasters are particularly sensitive to bitterness.”
Bitterness really strikes at a supertaster’s fungiform papillae. Those are the mushroom-shaped lumps on your tongue that house your taste buds. Because of … » More …
Read More ...Dear Carlos,
Your question almost stumped me. I don’t really have dinosaur scientist pals. So, I turned to an expert on finding answers.
My friend Emily Cukier is a science librarian at Washington State University. She helps students and scientists find information. I asked her what dinosaur is the largest—and how she figures that out.
Cukier told me that I should think hard about my question. Are we looking for the tallest dino? The longest? The heaviest? Those might be different answers.
Then it’s time to ask the internet.
“I’m a librarian, but the first thing I would do is put it into … » More …
Read More ...