We're moving the Brains On Universe Headquarters, and that means we have to stop putting out new episodes until we get settled. We know: not cool. But, our new home is going to be bigger and better and the absolute BEST. We can't wait until it's ready for you to visit. In the meantime, we still have some live shows planned this fall. Brains On Live will be in Dallas, TX on September 13. And Smash Boom Best will bring the debate heat to Princeton, NJ on October 26. Head over to brainson.org/event...
Jun 11, 2025•3 min
They come in cool colors, catch popcorn kernels and sometimes even have spacers - it’s braces! Ever wondered how braces magically straighten teeth? We asked Dr. ArNelle Wright - a real life dentist! - to help us break down the science of these tiny metal wonders. Bracing for a tough question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll help uncover the tooth .
Jun 06, 2025•6 min
The Milky Way! Neptune! Uranus! Halley’s Comet! There are so many cool features in our solar system – but how did they get their names? We asked space scientist and communicator Maggie Aderin-Pocock to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s out of this world ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll make space for an answer.
Jun 05, 2025•5 min
Waiting for a stoplight to turn green can be really annoying, especially when you’re running late. It would be awesome if you had a magic wand you could wave to get the light to change. But alas, such things don’t exist. But how do stoplights know when to switch colors? We asked Jerry Kotzenmacher with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to help us find the answer. Got a nagging question that just won’t yield ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll put you in the express lane ...
Jun 04, 2025•5 min
Have you ever had a scary or weird dream and wished you could switch your brain-television to another channel? Great news! You can learn to use “lucid dreaming,” a technique that helps you realize when you’re in a dream. Once you know you’re dreaming, you can teach yourself to shape your own storyline. So how does that work? We asked Dr. Ketema Paul, Professor, Integrative Biology And Physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s keepin...
Jun 03, 2025•5 min
There are all different kinds of yogurt: Greek, vanilla bean, blueberry, even sheep’s milk yogurt! But how did people first figure out how to make this yummy food? We asked journalist Allison Conroe to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s whey cool? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll find a legen- dairy answer.
Jun 02, 2025•7 min
Happy Snake Week! Every episode this week explores a different question about our slithery friends. Here’s a mind blower for you: did you know the ancestors of snakes used to have legs? Somewhere along the zigzag path of evolution, they traded in their lizardy legs for a more streamlined look. But why did snakes go legless? We asked biologist and snake researcher Emily Taylor to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s snaking around your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and ...
May 30, 2025•4 min
Happy Snake Week! Every episode this week explores a different question about our slithery friends. Did you know that, out of the roughly 3,000 total species of snakes, only about 10-15% are venomous? But how do those snakes make venom in their bodies? We asked snake scientist Emily Taylor to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s biting at you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll search for the answer-dote!...
May 29, 2025•4 min
Happy Snake Week! Every episode this week explores a different question about our slithery friends. Snakes come in all sizes and colors, but they have one thing in common: no arms or legs! In fact, one might argue they kind of look like sticks. We asked snake expert Emily Taylor why our reptilian neighbors are twig-shaped. Got a question that’s slithering around your brain ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll promise we won’t throw a hisssss-y fit !...
May 28, 2025•5 min
Happy Snake Week! Every episode this week explores a different question about our slithery friends. Zoos have to have all kinds of foods available to feed the different species that they care for. Animals like elephants, zebras and buffalo eat plants. Predators like lions, foxes and bears have a much meatier diet. But what’s on the menu at the snake house? Snake cake? Snake steak? Snake grapes? We asked biologist Emily Taylor to help us find the answer. Got a question snaking throughyour brain? ...
May 27, 2025•4 min
Happy Snake Week! Every episode this week explores a different question about our slithery friends. Did you know snakes hibernate in the winter just like bears, chipmunks and geckos? But what do they do while they’re hibernating? Do they have dreams? Do they wake up for mid-hibernation snacks? We asked snake scientist Emily Taylor to help us find the answer! Got a question you just can’t ssssssleep on? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and maybe we’ll bite !...
May 26, 2025•5 min
Some people have allergic reactions to foods like peanuts, sesame, and raw eggs. But when people with egg allergies eat cooked eggs, there’s no reaction. What’s up with that? We asked pediatrician Liz Placzek to help us find the answer. Have you hatched a really great question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll help find EGG-xactly what you need.
May 23, 2025•6 min
Have you ever heard of a mood ring? It’s a little piece of jewelry that supposedly tells you what kind of a mood you’re in. But how the heck can it know? We asked scientist Edwin Thomas to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s getting you in the mood to learn? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll help w- ring out an answer.
May 22, 2025•7 min
When you’re sick, it’s important to get plenty of rest to help your body heal. But it can be hard to sleep when your brain keeps showing you bizarre fever dreams (Like being chased by a giant fireball! Or swimming in nacho cheese!) Why do we have strange dreams when we’re sick, anyway? We asked dream researcher Michael Schredl to help us find the answer. Got any burning questions? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll search feverishly for the right answer!...
May 21, 2025•6 min
Quick, picture a brain! Did you imagine a rosy-colored little meatball? Us too! But are brains actually pink when they’re inside our skulls? We asked brain expert Gwenaëlle Thomas to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s giving you a real headache ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll wrap our brains around it!
May 20, 2025•5 min
Dogs come in so many different sizes, from the tiniest teacup terrier to the giant Great Dane. How did we get such a delightful assortment of these furry best buddies? We asked Brains On producer and archaeologist Anna Goldfield to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s been hounding you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll make sure to bark up the right tree !
May 19, 2025•5 min
Dogs come in so many different sizes, from the tiniest teacup terrier to the giant Great Dane. How did we get such a delightful assortment of these furry best buddies? We asked Brains On producer and archaeologist Anna Goldfield to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s been hounding you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll make sure to bark up the right tree !
May 16, 2025•7 min
We chew our food, swallow it, and our stomach goes to work on digesting! Our bodies absorb the nutrients they need and then we poop out the rest. Here on Earth, the whole process takes somewhere between one to three days. But what about in space? Do astronauts digest food as quickly as they do on Earth? We reached out to space scientist and science communicator Maggie Aderin-Pocock to get the answer! Got a question you’re chewing on? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we'll spit out the...
May 15, 2025•4 min
Dogs come in so many different sizes, from the tiniest teacup terrier to the giant Great Dane. How did we get such a delightful assortment of these furry best buddies? We asked Brains On producer and archaeologist Anna Goldfield to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s been hounding you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll make sure to bark up the right tree !
May 14, 2025•6 min
Did you know the tallest building in the world is a skyscraper in Dubai called the Burj Khalifa? It has 163 floors and weighs as much as 100,000 elephants! But how can the Earth even support such a huge building?! Why doesn’t the ground just collapse underneath it? We asked geologist Rónadh Cox to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s weighing heavily on your mind? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll help build you up with a great answer!...
May 13, 2025•4 min
Some planets have lots of moons. Others have none. Earth has just one moon, but it’s a really great one. It can glow bright and white and sometimes it’s shaped like a big round ball. Other times it’s skinny like the white tip of a fingernail. Makes you wonder, why does the moon look the way it does? We asked Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to help us find the answer. Got a question orbiting around your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll illuminate an an...
May 12, 2025•7 min
You fart. I fart. Your dog farts. We all fart! Or do we…? Birds don’t fart, and they’re the closest living descendants of the dinosaurs. So, did dinosaurs fart? We asked paleontologist Kallie Moore to help us find the answer. Got a question rumbling around in your brain ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we'll find you an answer TOOT-suite!
May 09, 2025•8 min
Dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago after an asteroid crashed into Earth. So we know when dinosaurs disappeared from the planet, but when did they appear? What was the first dinosaur, and how long ago did it live? We asked paleontologist Kallie Moore to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s got you full of veloci-RAPTURE? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll TRY(ceratops) to answer it!...
May 08, 2025•7 min
Happy Dinosaur Week! Every episode this week explores the ancient marvels that walked the Earth millions of years ago. Fossilized bones and footprints help scientists figure out what these prehistoric creatures looked like – but how do we know what they sounded like? We asked paleontologist and science journalist Shaena Montanari to help us find the answer. Got a question that makes you want to roar in frustration? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll find a dino-mite answer....
May 07, 2025•5 min
Megalodon was the biggest shark species that ever lived. The biggest ones were almost 60 feet long, which is longer than a school bus! These gigantic sharks went extinct millions of years ago, but why? We asked paleontologist Kallie Moore to help us find the answer. Got a question that you megalo-don’t know how to answer? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll hunt down an expert to explain!
May 06, 2025•8 min
Dinosaurs were reptiles, which means they laid eggs! But what did these eggs look like? Were they big? Small? Speckly? Colorful? We asked paleontologist Kallie Moore to help us find the answer. Got a question you just can’t egg-nore ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , and we’ll help unscramble the answer!
May 05, 2025•6 min
Way out in the deep blue sea, there is a remarkable creature called the immortal jellyfish. This buoyant little blob can deal with being hurt or stressed by going from its adult form back to a baby !! Then it grows up all over again. Holy moly. How does that work? We asked science writer Christina Couch to tell us all about it. Got a question that’s a ten out of TENtacles ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , ‘cause we are READY for that jelly!...
May 02, 2025•7 min
The sounds of the ocean are so relaxing… the waves crashing on the sand, the gentle roar of the surf. And if you pick up a big seashell and put it to your ear, you can almost hear the ocean there too! One of our listeners wanted to know why, so we asked physicist Steve Errede to help us catch that wave. Do you have a great question for Moment of Um? Surf on over to BrainsOn.org/contact and share it with us.
May 01, 2025•3 min
All living things on Earth are related. To help keep track of how close those relationships are, scientists organize life on Earth into groups using a system called taxonomy. Sometimes, taxonomy can be surprising – like, did you know that humans are more closely related to mushrooms and other fungi than we are to plants? How does that work? We asked microbiologist Christine Salomon to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s in a class by itself ? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact , an...
Apr 30, 2025•6 min
We all know that bites from poisonous snakes can be really dangerous, but can a poisonous snake poison itself? We asked snake expert Lawrie Arends to give us the factssssssssss. If you’ve got a Moment of Um question for us, slither your way over to BrainsOn.org/contact to submit it.
Apr 29, 2025•4 min
