Moment Of Um

Did you know that trumpets are the oldest brass instruments? Orchestras rely on them to play the highest notes in the brass section! But how do they make that bbbbrrrrrrr sound? We asked trumpet player and teacher Jim Boyle to help us find the answer.Got a question you’ve been wanting to brass-k? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find an answer that’s music to your ears.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Earth, water gets evaporated by the sun from the planet’s surface, and then drops back down from the clouds when it rains. That’s a great source of water, but..is that water safe to drink?  We asked environmental researcher Dr Jonathan Sexton to help us find the answer.Got a question in your bRAIN? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help filter out the answer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let’s say you want to measure something really, really, really tiny. How do you do that? With inches? Centimeters? Millimeters? What if it’s so tiny you can’t even see it? Particle physicist Jessica Esquivel helps us solve this teeny tiny mystery!Got a question that seems too big to answer? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll try to measure up!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discover how black holes form from massive stars and the dramatic transformation they undergo. Learn about the critical balance between gravity and radiation that leads to a core collapse. A supernova explosion can light up entire galaxies, marking this incredible journey. The process is further illustrated with a balloon and elephant analogy, revealing how stars exhaust their energy and become light-swallowing voids. It’s a fascinating look at the universe’s most mysterious phenomena!

Whether you’re a fan or not, one thing is for sure - most of us have had an encounter with a daddy long legs. They’ve got super duper long legs, and a TON of nicknames, including cellar spider, carpenter spider, daddy long-legger, vibrating spider, gyrating spider, long daddy, and skull spider. But why are their legs so long? Guilherme Gainett helps us solve this mystery.Got a question crawling around your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help figure it out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fireworks are loud and exciting! You light a fuse and the firework rockets up into the air, and then BLAM! It explodes into colorful, sparkling bouquets of light. How the heck does a firework do that? We asked chemist David Chavez to help us find the answer.Got a question exploding in your noggin? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we certainly won’t reFUSE it!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Batteries power lots of stuff that people use everyday, like cellphones, toys and laptop computers. Some batteries can even be recharged after they run out of juice. But how do batteries store electricity? We asked chemistry professor James McKone to help us find the answer. Got a question that’s got you all charged up? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll run a whole battery of tests to find the answer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It seems universal that when a person - old or young - is tired, they rub their eyes. It’s even a way that babies communicate to their adults that they are ready for bed. Are we just born understanding that signal? Or is there something going on with our eyes that they need to be rubbed when we’re sleepy? Otolaryngologist Dr. Laura Orvidas helps us understand the connection in this episode. And stay tuned for the week of May 30, when all of our episodes will be sleep-themed. It’ll be a real “snooze fest”!Got a question you’ve been eyeing? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we won’t sleep on the answer!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever turned on a light and wondered, “How does that thing light up, anyway?” Us, too! We asked Tim Pula of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to help us find the answer.Got a question that has you glowing with joy? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help illuminate an answer for you!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ostriches are super neat! They’re the world’s heaviest birds, and they lay the largest eggs of any bird on Earth. They grow up to 8 feet tall, and can run as fast as 45 miles per hour. But you know what they don’t do? They don’t stick their heads in the ground to hide! There are a few reasons why this misunderstanding is so popular, and Sushma Reddy from the Bell Museum helps us understand.Up to your neck in questions? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find someone who can answer it in the shake of a tailfeather! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.