DIY: Discover it Yourself video series launches on YouTube
Our first at-home science adventure is live on YouTube! Kid viewers totally encouraged. And stay tuned for more!
Science Myths
Does your tongue have different taste bud regions?
No! This was officially debunked back in 1974, but you can even prove it to yourself: Place salt on the tip of your tongue. Do you taste it?
The idea of a tongue map can be traced back to a 1901 study from German scientist D.P. Hänig, who published the work as his PhD thesis. By testing the four known basic tastes with the opinions of his volunteers, Hänig drew the taste map that has been a common feature of elementary school curriculums ever since. However, in 1974, a PhD psychologist named Virginia Collings repeated Hänig's work and found that—while different regions on different people have varying sensitivity—the differences are negligible. We now know that every taste bud has the ability to sense all five major tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami.
Why then, you ask, are these maps still being printed in textbooks and used as an excuse to buy specific wine glasses? Good question! We'd hazard to guess that it's a failure of science communication.
As a side-note, you also have taste buds on the top of your mouth! Try that salt test again, placing it right where the roof of your mouth begins to soften. Cool, right?
Debunking your burning questions:
MBOP Conversation Archive
Q: Are the Brood X cicadas going to destroy my garden?
Oof, those cicadas are coming and, as someone who has never experienced it before, I am half-excited and half-dreading it, too!
According to some good scientific sources, like this article on Scientific American, cicadas do not eat plant matter (unlike locusts, which are a completely different class of insect). So, nope, your garden should be fine!
Female cicadas do lay their eggs in weak twigs and branches on trees, which often results in trees dropping those limbs. However, this is considered very good for the trees, as it helps with turnover of old, weak material and prompts the growth of new branches. In addition, as cicadas burrow up through the ground they help aerate the soil, and they provide an apparently delicious food source for birds, fish, and land animals.
Isn't it crazy that they take 17 years to develop underground? That's longer than any other insect, and even than other cicada species. I wish we knew why!
Reply by Katelyn C. Cook
Q: Should I be worried that the COVID vaccine will make me shed virus?
The short answer to this is: No, absolutely not!
In general, vaccines are made of a biological material (e.g., a virus protein, a 'dead' virus, or—in the case of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines—genomic material) that can emulate the real pathogen and elicit an immune response, but are not infectious. This means that the response caused by a vaccine does not result in making infectious viral particles, and therefore your body does not produce virus and you do not shed virus.
The COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna use RNA to teach your body how to make, recognize, and respond to a piece of coronavirus protein. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses DNA for the same purpose.
Because your body is never receiving the full, 'live' virus—as it would when you actually get infected with COVID—it does not have the instructions to make more copies of virus. Rather, it only codes for a tiny piece of protein that is sufficient to warn and prepare your immune system about an actual infection.
So, get those vaccines, and then go spend time with family and friends you haven't seen in over a year! You no longer have to worry about getting them sick.
Reply by Katelyn C. Cook (a virologist who studies herpesviruses, flu viruses, and coronaviruses)
MBOP Virtual Science Highlights!
MBOP YouTube Channel
We recently created a YouTube channel that encourages at-home science adventures. More videos coming soon!
MBOP Medium Blog
Tune into our MBOP Medium Blog for more fun and relevant science-related topics of conversation!
Most recently, Katelyn C. Cook and Elene Tsopurashvili discussed how scientists characterize emerging viruses.
