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Must-See Science: Videos From Science Friday

Scientists Study Dancing Babies ... Enough Said?

In perhaps the cutest study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, psychologist Marcel Zentner and Tuomas Eerola found that babies will spontaneously groove to music. While babies are not great dancers, they smile more when they do hit the beat.

Scientists Study Dancing Babies ... Enough Said?

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Studying Leaves With Physics And Fluorescent Dye

Leaves have an intricate web of veins that transport nutrients and water and provide structural support. But what determines the pattern of venation? Physicists Marcelo Magnasco and Eleni Katifori investigated this question using sophisticated algorithms and a little glow-in-the-dark dye.

Studying Leaves With Physics And Fluorescent Dye

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What's In That Fish Stick? Give It A DNA Test

Brenda Tan and Matt Cost, high school seniors from Trinity School in New York City, used a technique called DNA barcoding to find out what species were present in over 200 animal products. Their results suggest buyers should beware!

What's In That Fish Stick? Give It A DNA Test

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Stashing Carbon Dioxide In Rocks

Basalt formations off the East Coast of the U.S. could suck up a billion tons of carbon dioxide, according to a new study. Paleontologist Paul Olsen, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explains how to get the CO2 into the rocks, and why scientists believe it won't leak out.

Stashing Carbon Dioxide In Rocks

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Forget Sledding, Try A Snowflake Safari

Winter weather means more than skiing and snowmen. Bullet rosettes, stellar plates and capped columns are just a few of the crystal varieties commonly found in snowstorms. Science Friday asked Kenneth Libbrecht, physicist at Caltech and snowflake expert, for guidance on snowflake hunting.

Forget Sledding, Try A Snowflake Safari

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Eggnog: Spike And Let It Sit, For Safety

A perennial holiday dilemma: Will alcohol kill bacteria like salmonella in homemade eggnog? Microbiologists Vince Fischetti and Raymond Schuch, from The Rockefeller University, ran an experiment in the lab to see whether salmonella can survive in a vat of spiked eggnog.

Eggnog: Spike And Let It Sit, For Safety

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Paralyzing Worms With Light

Feed nematode worms a particular light-sensitive chemical and after the meal, the worms become paralyzed when exposed to UV light. Remarkably, the effects can be reversed under visible light, Neil Branda and colleagues report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Paralyzing Worms With Light

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Talking Turkey About Holiday Stress

The holiday season is here and for many that can mean a surge in stress. But what is stress exactly? Science Friday hit the streets of New York City to gauge stress levels and consulted with experts on the effects of stress and strategies for how to cope.

Talking Turkey About Holiday Stress

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Clone That Smile, Digitally

Researchers have figured out how to track the facial expressions of one person and map those movements onto a digital image of another person's face in real time. The result is something like a digital video puppet, which psychologists say may reveal something about human nature.

Clone That Smile, Digitally

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Seeing Through The Eyes Of An Armadillo

Sam Easterson has refined the art of the critter cam. He is the curator of the Museum of Animal Perspectives — an online repository of "remotely sensed wildlife imagery." All the footage comes from cameras implanted in the landscape or strapped to the backs of animals.

Seeing Through The Eyes Of An Armadillo

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A Bird In Hand To Save Those In The Bush

Braddock Bay, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, is a prime pit stop for migrating birds. In a converted hot dog stand near the Bay, ornithologists and volunteers capture, study and release about 10,000 passing birds each year.

A Bird In Hand To Save Those In The Bush

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Cooking Up A River In The Lab

For almost 100 years, scientists have been trying to create a meandering river in the laboratory. Christian Braudrick and Bill Dietrich of University of California, Berkeley, finally found a recipe and published it in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

Cooking Up A River In The Lab

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Saving Turtles From The Wrong Side Of The Tracks

Michael Musnick is a citizen scientist who studies wood turtles in the Great Swamp — a stretch of wetland 60 miles north of New York City. He found turtles dying in the railroad tracks and proposed a solution to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority: tiny turtle bridges.

Saving Turtles From The Wrong Side Of The Tracks

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Video Pick: Why Do Squid Light Up?

Squid (the kind served as calamari) can make their skin pulse different colors. Biologist Casey Dunn and his student Sophia Tintori were interested in how this light show works, so they asked their colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara for an explanation.

Video Pick: Why Do Squid Light Up?

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Golfing In Space, Astronaut Included

The New York Hall of Science in Queens opened an unusual mini golf park this summer. Every hole illustrates a different scientific principle. Charles Camarda, a NASA engineer and former astronaut, agreed to play a round and explain some basic space science as he putted.

Golfing In Space, Astronaut Included

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Fried Hollandaise Sauce: Achievable With Science

Chef Wylie Dufresne, the owner of New York City restaurant wd-50, experiments with food, literally. He has lab notebooks detailing what certain chemicals do to certain dishes. Science Friday stopped in to see him prepare his scientific spin on eggs Benedict.

Fried Hollandaise Sauce: Achievable With Science

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Science Roundup: Worms, Snorkels, Cell Battles

Science Friday highlights science news from the week, including: sea worms that drop bioluminescent bombs, how deepwater rice avoids drowning and what happens when bacteria and fruit fly immune cells meet.

Science Roundup: Worms, Snorkels, Cell Battles

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Lasers And Glowing Dye Illuminate Ocean Processes

John Dabiri, bioengineer at Caltech, has developed new techniques for studying the motion of aquatic animals. In a recent study in the journal Nature, Dabiri and colleagues explain how swimming animals contribute to ocean mixing — the process that distributes heat, nutrients and gasses throughout the sea.

Lasers And Glowing Dye Illuminate Ocean Processes

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Engineering A Band-Aid Of Beating Heart Cells

Jordan Lancaster and Steven Goldman, of the Southern Arizona Veterans Administration and the University of Arizona, put rat heart cells on a piece of synthetic mesh and within a few days, the mesh started beating. The hope is that the patch could be used to treat damaged hearts.

Engineering A Band-Aid Of Beating Heart Cells

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Some Moths Escape Bats By Jamming Sonar

For over 50 million years, bats and moths have been engaged in an evolutionary arms race. A study in the journal Science identifies another weapon in the moth arsenal: the ability to jam bat sonar. Aaron Corcoran, of Wake Forest University, explains the research.

Some Moths Escape Bats By Jamming Sonar

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Want To Cut Grass Out Of Your Life? Try Moss

Summertime doesn't have to mean hours behind the lawn mower, at least for shade-dwellers. Forty years ago, David Benner, horticulturist and moss enthusiast, killed all the grass on his property and cultivated moss in its place. Benner has 25 different moss species growing in his garden near New Hope, Pa.

Want To Cut Grass Out Of Your Life? Try Moss

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Fireworks Are Packed With Chemistry

Why do some fireworks shoot golden flaming balls while others produce green sparks? It's just chemistry. Bassam Shakhashiri, chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains the science of fireworks.

Fireworks Are Packed With Chemistry

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