Claim OwnershipMoment of Um
Subscribed: 1,034Played: 62,199
Subscribe
© Copyright 2025 Minnesota Public Radio
Description
Moment of Um is your daily answer to those questions that pop up out of nowhere and make you go… ummmmmmm. Brought to you by your friends at Brains On at APM Studios.
210 Episodes
Reverse
You might have heard of gravity as the force that keeps us firmly on the ground and not floating off the planet. Big things (like planets, moons, and stars) have gravity that pulls other objects toward them. But what about smaller things? Like… us? Do we have our own gravity? If there’s a question pulling at you like a powerful force, we can help with that! Submit your Moment of Um question at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll find the answer.
Beans are delicious. From edamame to lentils, there’s a bean for everyone! But they can also make us a little tooty. Why is that? We asked pediatrician Wendy Hunter to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s a real gas? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll rip a good one (answer, that is)!
If you get a cut or scratch that goes deep enough into your skin, your body will form a scar. But why don’t scars themselves heal and go away? We asked dermatologist Liz Farhat to help us find the answer.Got a question that cuts deep? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help stitch together an answer.
A boomerang is a specially curved wooden throwing stick that was originally used as a hunting tool by Indigenous Australians. Nowadays, you can find toy versions along with the real thing, and if you throw them just right, they’ll curve around in the air and head right back to you. At least…it works for some people. So how exactly does a boomerang fly? We asked boomerang champion Logan Broadbent to help us find the answer.Got a question that keeps coming back to you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll booma-wrangle some answers for you.
Make no bones about it – fossils are super cool! But what do you do if you find a fossil? We asked Jingmai O’Connor, the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the Field Museum in Chicago, to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s buried in your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help dig up the answer!
Plastic is a part of so many of the things we use every day. But just what IS it? We asked University of Minnesota professor Frank Bates to help us find the answer.Got a question you’ve been bottling up? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll pla-stic to the topic.
Pasta is delicious, whether it’s rigatoni, linguine, macaroni or any shape at all! When you buy pasta from the store, it’s usually hard, crunchy, and dry. But after cooking it, the pasta is tender and toothsome! How does that work? We asked cookbook author and cooking teacher Julia Turshen to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s spa-GHETTING you all worked up? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll explore the PASTAbilities to find the answer
Have you ever looked at an animal and wondered what they were thinking? Us, too! What’s going on in a bobcat’s brain, a newt’s noggin, or a mouse’s mind? We asked science writer and author of Innovative Octopuses, Half-Brained Birds, and More Animals with Magnificent Minds Christina Couch to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s a real thinker? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll enter our mind palace to find the answer!
If you go to the zoo during the day - you can see that things are hopping! Animals are being cared for, people are milling about, and there’s a lot of action to observe. But what happens at night? Who takes care of the animals then? Or is everyone just sleeping? We asked Nancy Hawkes, Director of Animal Care at Woodland Park Zoo to help us find the answer.Got a question that’s zookeeping you up at night? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you find the truth – we won’t be lion!
Have you ever peeled the leaves off of an ear of corn and noticed the white hairy-looking stuff tucked inside? What is that, anyway? We asked chef and cookbook author Kenji Lopez-Alt to help us find the answer.Got an a-MAIZE-ing question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help find an answer that’s a cut above the rest!
Black pepper is in just about everyone’s kitchen. It’s salt’s best buddy. It comes in shakers, grinders, and little paper packets. But where does black pepper come from? We asked historian Jenna Schultz from the University of St. Thomas to help us find the answer.Want to pepper us with questions? Drop us a line at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll serve you some freshly-ground facts.
If you ask us, donuts are one of the most delicious treats in the world. Chocolate frosted with rainbow sprinkles, cinnamon twists, powdered sugar, strawberry jelly-filled, we love them all! But why are they called donuts? We asked food historian Sarah Lohman to help us find the answer.Got a question that has you feeling glazed and confused? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll find an answer you like a hole lot.
Cotton is soft and strong. It comes from cotton plants, and gets turned into everything from t-shirts to cotton balls. But why is cotton so fluffy? We asked biologist Candace Haigler to help us find the answer.Got a question threading through your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help spin up an answer for you.
Couscous is a delicious fluffy, starchy food that people enjoy all over the world. You can find the dried version in stores, but what if you wanted to make it fresh? How does couscous actually get made? We asked cookbook author Kenji Lopez-Alt to help us find the answer.Hungry for answers to your questions? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll dish up an answer!
Kids grow super fast and get taller and taller and taller and then – all of the sudden they stop! How do our bodies know when it’s time to stop? Why don’t we just keep growing until we reach the sky? We asked Dr. Frank Rhame to help us find the answer.Got a question that you think is a tall order? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll answer it shortly.
Heads up! Your hair is always growing. Like your fingernails, hair is a part of our body that will grow and grow unless you cut it. But how come we don’t feel it growing? We asked pediatrician Dr Wendy Hunter to help us find the answer.Got a question that has you tearing your hair out? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help comb through research for the answer.
DNA is the secret recipe that makes you…YOU! The color of your hair…whether you like cilantro…so many traits have something to do with this microscopic, spiralized instruction manual in your cells. But what about plants? Do they have DNA, too? We asked biologist Candace Haigler to help us find the answer.Question gotcha twisted? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help decode it for ya!
Throwing a flat rock juuust right so that it skips across the surface of a pond or river is super satisfying. How many hops can you get? Two? Seven? Sixty-five? But how does the right kind of throw cause a rock to NOT sink as soon as it touches the water? We asked Jon Lambert of Splash Lab to help us find the answer. Got questions skipping through your brain? Send your questions to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll throw you some answers.
Fish swim. Frogs hop. Birds fly. Well, not all birds. Penguins and ostriches, for instance, can’t spread their wings and soar. So then, why do they have wings? We asked paleontologist Jingmai O’Connor to help us find the answer.Is there a question that’s got your tail feathers all in a twist? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll find a reliable answer – we promise not to wing it!
Have you ever raced a cheetah? Hopefully not, that sounds dangerous. But if you have, that cheetah probably left you in her dust. We asked Rick Schwartz from the San Diego Zoo to help us figure out why cheetahs are so fast.Got a question that’s testing you? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you find an answer so you don’t have to be a cheetah!
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
Maging bahagi ng luxebet - https://luxebet-ph.com at simulan ang panalo! Mag-sign up at tanggapin ang $100 bonus na magpapasaya sa iyong unang laro.
Huwag palampasin ang alok ng scorpion - https://scorpion-ph.com! Magparehistro na at tanggapin ang $100 bonus para sa iyong unang taya.
Ang $100 bonus ay naghihintay sa iyo! Mag-sign up na sa stake - https://stake-ph.com at gawing mas kapana-panabik ang bawat laro.
Bagong simula, bagong swerte! Magparehistro sa marvel - https://marvel-ph.com ngayon at kunin ang iyong $100 welcome bonus. Mas malaking panalo, mas masayang laro!
Ang $100 bonus ng drip - https://drip-ph.com ay para sa iyo! Maging bagong miyembro at i-enjoy ang libreng pondo para sa mas masayang paglalaro.
Simulan ang iyong panalong kwento sa inplay - https://inplay-ph.com! Mag-sign up na at tanggapin ang $100 bonus na magdadagdag sa iyong mga pagkakataong manalo.
Ang swerte ay nasa iyong kamay! Magparehistro sa eclipse - https://eclipse-ph.com ngayon at tanggapin ang eksklusibong $100 bonus para sa mga bagong miyembro.
Magsimula ng tama sa wish - https://wish-ph.com! Mag-sign up at tanggapin ang $100 welcome bonus para magamit sa slots, live casino, o sports betting.
Ikaw ba’y naghahanap ng masuwerteng simula? Narito na ang jet - https://jet-ph.com na may $100 bonus para sa lahat ng bagong miyembro! Magparehistro na at tamasahin ang dagdag na pondo.
Panalo mula sa simula! Sumali sa daddy - https://daddy-ph.com bilang bagong miyembro at makatanggap ng $100 bonus na magagamit sa paborito mong laro.
Huwag nang maghintay pa! Ang $100 welcome bonus ng fresh - https://fresh-ph.com ay para lamang sa mga bagong miyembro. Mag-register na at simulan ang kasiyahan online.
Ang kasiyahan ay nagsisimula sa sherbet - https://sherbet-ph.com! Mag-sign up na at tamasahin ang iyong $100 welcome bonus para mas maraming panalo. Siguradong sulit ang bawat taya!
Magsimula ng masaya at panalong adventure sa supernova - https://supernova-ph.com! Mag-register ngayon at makakuha ng eksklusibong $100 bonus na magbibigay sa’yo ng edge sa bawat laro.
Ang howl - https://howl-ph.com ay para sa mga panalo! Maging bagong miyembro at tanggapin ang iyong $100 welcome bonus. Simple lang ang proseso—mag-register, mag-deposito, at simulan ang kasiyahan!
Bagong miyembro? Narito na ang iyong pagkakataon na maglaro gamit ang dagdag na $100 bonus. Magparehistro lamang sa jazz - https://jazz-ph.com at tangkilikin ang walang kapantay na gaming experience.
Huwag palampasin ang pagkakataon! Sumali sa 500 casino - https://500-ph.com ngayon at tanggapin ang $100 bonus para sa iyong unang laro. Maglaro ng slots, roulette, o kahit sports betting gamit ang libreng pondo!
Panalo agad sa highway - https://highway-ph.com! Magparehistro at makatanggap ng $100 bonus na maaari mong gamitin sa slots, table games, at marami pang iba. I-unlock ang iyong maswerteng simula at maglaro na!
Ang swerte mo’y magsisimula sa sol - https://sol-ph.com! Mag-sign up bilang bagong miyembro at awtomatikong makakuha ng $100 bonus. Punan lamang ang simpleng form ng registration at i-enjoy ang mga premium na laro online.
Magparehistro ngayon sa exclusive - https://exclusive-ph.com at tanggapin ang iyong $100 welcome bonus! Napakadaling sumali, at siguradong panalo ka na agad mula sa simula. Subukan ang slots, live casino, at sports betting na may dagdag na pondo para sa mas malaking pagkakataong manalo.
Huwag magpahuli! Mag-sign up na sa pera play - https://pera-play-ph.com at gawing mas exciting ang iyong gaming journey gamit ang $100 welcome bonus.