Moment of Um

Are your ears burning? ‘Cause we’ve been thinking about them. Sure, they’re an incredible self-cleaning marvel that we can wax poetic about all day. Sure, they’re a great place for dads to store all kinds of hairs. But do ears have bones?  We asked Olivia Bermingham-McDonogh from the University of Washington to help us find the answer.Heard a good question recently? Send it to us atBrainsOn.org/contact, because we’re ear for you.

Some snakes make a chemical in their bodies called venom. They use it to hunt and protect themselves. Sometimes, if a human gets bitten by a snake, they need to take a special medicine called antivenin.  How does this medicine work? We asked pediatrician Emma Gerstenzang to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s snaking around in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find a sssssatisfying answer!

Have you noticed that there’s a kind of cheese that’s holier than all the rest? Swiss! Why does it have all those holes anyway? We asked Jenny Eastwood of Small Goods to help us answer this delicious question.Hungry for some answers? Send your questions to BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll briepare an answer justfor you.

Ping pong is a super fun game. It’s like miniature tennis, where people use paddles to make balls fly across a table., and sometimes way, way up in the air!  But how do those  tiny plastic balls manage to bounce so high? We asked physicist Dr. Kiley Kennedy to help us find the answer.  Got a question that’s bouncing around your brain? Ping us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll serve up the answer!