Most bear species spend at least part of the winter season snoozing – a.k.a. hibernating! To prepare for that extended nap sesh, bears snuggle up in cozy dens where they can stay safe and hidden. But how does a bear make a den? We asked biologist Imogene Cancellare to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s making you feel a bit grizzled? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help i-DEN-tify the answer!

Friends rule! The best ones are those that are always there to help you out, embark on a strange adventure,  make you laugh so hard you cry and appreciate all the weird and wonderful things that make you… you! We love our friends! But do we humans need them as a species? We talked to psychologist/biologist Lauren Brent to find the answer.  Do you and your BFF have a question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll be a friend and help find the answer!

Most of us have used a glue stick or Elmer’s, but what about the strongest glue in the WORLD? We got a fantastic question from a couple of listeners who wanted to know what the strongest glue is, so we reached out to biomedical engineer Danna Sheridan to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s sticking in your mind? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help unglue the answer!

Did you know there are 18 species of penguin in the world? Each species has its own differences and quirks, but one thing all penguins have in common is that it can be tricky to tell if they’re standing up or sitting down. One curious listener wondered if they even sit down at all. We asked Dr. Michelle LaRue from the University of Canterbury to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s knocked you off your feet? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll stand up and find the answer. 

Listener Graham wanted to know what solar flares are and what causes them, so we reached out to NASA Heliophysicist Nicola Fox to help us figure out why these bright flashes on the sun’s surface occur.Got a question that’s been flaring up in your mind? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help make you brighter!

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.

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.

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!

Black holes are areas in outer space that have gravity so strong that not even light can escape its pull! Some black holes are formed from stars…so how does a star go from a burning ball of gas to a light-swallowing void?  We asked UCLA astrophysicist Dakotah Tyler to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s really pulled you in? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you gravitate towards the answer.

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!

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!

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. 

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!

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!

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! 

Sometimes, doctors use something called anesthesia to help them treat patients. Anesthesia can be different substances, but they all prevent our bodies from feeling pain during a medical treatment or surgery. So how does anesthesia stop us from feeling pain? We asked Dr. Kaveh Hoda to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s topical? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find a painless answer!

We all have a belly button. Right there, in the middle of our belly, there’s a nub. Some go in, some stick out, but what exactly are they for? We asked pediatrician Emma Gerstenzang to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s hard to stomach? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help digest the answer for you!

Have you ever woken up in the morning with the corners of your eyes filled with crud? Sleepy sand? Eye goblins? Dozy dust? Bed boogers? Why do our eyes make this stuff, anyway? And why does it build up when we’re asleep? We asked Yale eye doctor Soshian Sarrafpour to help us get to the bottom of this issue.Got a question that you can’t keep a lid on? Send it to us atBrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find someone who can answer it in the blink of an eye.  

Bug spray helps us keep mosquitoes and other insects away. But how does it work? We asked insect expert Meredith Cenzer to help us find the answer.Got a question buzzing around your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll bug some experts until we get an answer!

A mosquito bites you. Your grandma knits you a scratchy blanket. Your friend tickles you with a feathery cat toy. What do all of these things have in common? They make you itch! Listener Samantha was wondering just why that is, and neuroscientist Sonali Mali says she’s always wondered the same thing, so that’s why she studies it!Got a question tickling at your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, because we’re just itching to help you find the answer!

Antibiotics are a kind of medicine that a doctor might give you to help you fight off an infection. But there are also things called probiotics in food and vitamins. So what’s the difference between probiotics and antibiotics? We asked Dr. Kaveh Hoda to help us find the answer.Got a question that your gut tells you is a great one? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll send you a small-batch, artisanally fermented answer!

Music boxes are hand-cranked toys that play a tinkly little tune. How do they make their music? We asked music box maker Richard Upchurch to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s making you cranky? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find a harmonious answer.

Pugs! They’re adorable! The internet loves them for their sassy personalities and squishy faces. But how did the pug’s face get so smushed? Why are pug noses different from terrier sniffers or German shepherd snoots? We asked animal geneticist Jeffrey Schoenebeck to help us sniff out the answer. Got a question that’s right in front of your schnozz? Send it to us atBrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find someone who NOSE the answer.

Have you ever played with a Magic 8-Ball? They’re black and white toy balls – but with a twist! People ask the Magic 8-Ball a question, shake it, and it gives you an answer!   How do these toys work? And when were they invented?  We asked Chris Bensch, head curator of the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY to help us out. Got a question that you’re toying with?  Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll shake up an answer.

Our mouths have a lot going on. They have teeth and a tongue and they help us talk and eat. But what about saliva? It seems important, right? How do our bodies know to make it? We asked otolaryngologist Dr. Laura Orvidas to help us learn all about saliva. Got a question that you just can’t lick? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find an answer.

Flannel is a soft, comfy fabric used to make shirts, cozy winter bed sheets and all kinds of other stuff. But how is it made?  We asked fabric expert Susan Brown to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s got you woolgathering? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you weave your way to the right answer! 

A volcano forms when the hot melted rock deep under the Earth’s crust bubbles to the surface and breaks through. Sometimes, a volcano will go from active to dormant, meaning it doesn’t erupt anymore. How does that happen? We asked geochemist Kelsey Woody to help us find the answer.Got a question of seismic proportions? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find a MAGMAnificent answer!

If sharks were around in the time of dinosaurs, how are they still here today when dinosaurs have gone extinct? Were some just really, really good at hiding from the asteroid that hit Earth? For this episode, we talked to Karen Chin, a professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado. Got a question you want to sink your teeth into? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll try our best to fin-ish what you started!

A volcano forms when the hot melted rock deep under the Earth’s crust bubbles to the surface and breaks through. Sometimes, a volcano will go from active to dormant, meaning it doesn’t erupt anymore. How does that happen? We asked geochemist Kelsey Woody to help us find the answer.Got a question of seismic proportions? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find a MAGMAnificent answer!

A lot of people like root beer! But it’s kind of hard to describe, right? It’s really got a unique taste. We asked Ashley Rose-Young, a historian from the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, to help explain exactly what the flavor of root beer is, and share a little of the history behind this yummy drink. Got a question that’s poppin’ around your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help get to the root of the issue.

Our body has lots of ways to fight off the germs that make us sick. One of those ways is to crank up our internal temperature to make it too hot for harmful bacteria to survive. This is called a fever. How do our bodies reach those hot fever temperatures? We asked physician Dr. Joe Alcock to help us find the answer.Got a burning question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find an answer that’s a real fever reliever!  

QR codes are little black-and-white squares that you might have seen on food packages, movie tickets, restaurant menus, and lots of other places. You take a picture of the code with your smartphone and then your phone takes you to a certain website! But how does your phone know what all those random little dots mean? We asked computer engineer Sam Dickerson to help us find the answer.Got a question that you just can’t crack? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help decode the answer.

Solar panels absorb light from the sun and turn it into electricity. They can power everything from a calculator to a whole country! How does this sunny science sorcery work? We asked solar power expert Karl Wagner to help us find the answer.Got a sUN-believably cool question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll power through til we find the answer! 

3D printers are pretty awesome. Unlike the machines that print pictures or words on paper, 3D printers can create things you can hold in your hand – like fun-shaped food, cameras and even guitars. So how do they do it? We asked printing expert Robin Schwartzman from the University of Minnesota to help us find the answer.Got a question that jumps off the page? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll see if we can get an answer to materialize. 

Computers are awesome machines. They help us do so many things – from looking up facts to watching hilarious videos. But what exactly makes a computer a computer? We asked computer engineer Sam Dickerson to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s hard to compute? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help process it.

Computers can do all sorts of amazing things, from solving complicated math problems to showing us videos of dancing birds. Computers do all that thanks to something called “binary code”, which is a code that is made up of only two numbers,  1 and 0. But exactly how does it all work? We asked computer engineer Sam Dickerson to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s hard-driving you bonkers? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll  help compute the answer.

Our world is full of sound, but what happens when we leave Earth’s atmosphere? Is it true that there’s no sound in space, or are there ways to listen to the universe? We asked NASA scientist Dr. Kimberly Arcand to help us find the answer.Got a question that sounds interesting? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll make space for an answer!

There are lots of reasons to sneeze - you have a cold, you get a whiff of pepper or someone tickles your nose with a feather! But why is it that dust makes us sneeze? We asked otolaryngologist Laura Orvidas to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s gathering dust in your brain? Send it to us atBrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you sniff out the answer.

Iron is a metal that we dig out of the ground and use to make everything from kitchen knives to skyscrapers. Most of the iron we use comes out of rocks. But do all rocks have iron in them? We asked geochemist Kelsey Woody to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s totally metal? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help iron out the answer!

If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of breaking a bone, it’s not the most fun. But can muscles break in the same way bones can? One listener was wondering about this, and physical therapist Karen Litzy helps us get a leg up on the issue. Do you have a question you’d like to ask? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find the answer!

Sometimes when we get sick, our body reacts by cranking up our internal temperature to make a fever. This helps get rid of invading bacteria or viruses. But sometimes when you have a fever, you feel cold instead of hot. What’s up with that? We asked ER doctor Joe Alcock to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s just chillin’ in your brain?? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll work feverishly to find the answer!

Hermit crabs carry their shells with them wherever they go…but they don’t make their own shells! Unlike other species of crab, hermit crabs use shells from other animals for protection. So why aren’t they born with shells of their own? We asked crab researcher Tuck Hines to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s making you crabby? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll share the answer un-shellfish-ly!

Are you left-handed or right-handed? Chances are you’re right handed, because more people are (though if you’re left-handed, that’s cool too!). So why are more people right-handed? We asked paleontologist Alexander Claxton to help us get to the bottom of this question. Got a question whose answer you can’t quite put your finger on? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help point out the answer.

There are thousands of species of butterflies, all with unique patterns of color on their wings. How did those designs get there? We asked butterfly collection curator Blanca Huertas to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s cocooned in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll send an answer winging your way!

An inevitability of life is that humans have to go to the dentist. Some people love it, some hate it! But taking care of our teeth is super important. Do our kitty friends have to do the same thing? Large animal surgeon Whitney Cutrone answers this very question.Got a question that’s got some bite? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find an answer right meow!

Lava is the red-hot gloop that comes pouring out of an erupting volcano. But what is it made out of? Some sort of supercharged Silly Putty? Volcano guts? Super-spicy habanero sauce? We asked geoscience grad student Kelsey Woody to help us find the answer.Got a real scorcher of a question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, we’d LAVA to find the answer for you.

It’s impressive to see a gorilla beat its chest. But why do they do it? We’ve tackled this question before, but  there’s a new scientific scoop about this primate percussion! We asked primatologist Andrea DiGiorgio to tell us about it. Got a question that you want to get off your chest? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll get an answer ready to GO(rilla).   

Lots of plants are smooth to the touch, and some are even soft and feathery like flowers! So why are cactuses prickly and sometimes even painful? We asked botanist Rachel Jabaily from Colorado College to answer this spine-tingling question. Got a question that’s prickling at your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help sharpen you up.