“A popular tale, usually told before weddings, is that rice can cause birds to explode if they consume it. Is there any science to back up this claim or is it just an urban legend? Does rice really make birds explode?… it’s time to find out.” w/ photos

“Some report feeling as if they are hovering above their own bodies, while others find themselves drawn towards a blinding light. But out-of-body experiences are nothing more than a trick of the mind, scientists claim. They say that common spooky scenarios, such as floating above a hospital bed or walking towards the light at the end of a tunnel, can be explained by the brain trying to make sense of the process of death… ‘The most parsimonious explanation is not that you are traveling to some spiritual realm – it is simply your brain trying to make sense of the unusual experiences you are having,’ Dr Watt said. Feelings of being out of the body can also be explained by the brain’s behavior, the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences reports.” w/ photos

“The moon. Exposed to the vacuum of space for billions of years. It has no atmosphere and has been bombarded by meteors since it’s creation. We’ve sent astronauts there, and they’ve smelled the moon. So what does it smell like?… it’s time to find out.” w/ photos

“The onion… how could something that tastes so good cause so many tears? Common in cuisine from all around the globe, onions are world renowned for their ability to make us all look like cry babies. We’ve taken it upon ourselves at Bytesize Science to get to the bottom of this teary phenomenon. In our latest video, we dug up the roots of this culinary annoyance to figure out exactly what chemical mechanisms trigger this reaction in our eyes, and we even threw in a couple techniques you can try at home to stop the tears before they start.” — BytesizeScience

“Here is some good news for you: you can blame the sounds and odors that come from your body on bacteria. Yup — those little critters are the ones responsible for a lot of what goes on inside our bodies. People can be uptight about all these bodily sights and smells, but understanding the science behind what may appear gross may make these things a little less gross.” — BytesizeScience

“We see instances of humans breathing liquids in sci-fi movies, TV shows and books. They get immersed in an exotic fluid solution and don’t drown. Usually, they’re able to breathe normally after a brief fit of panic. Probably the most easily recognized example of this is portrayed in the movie ‘The Abyss’. Actor Ed Harris, who plays ‘Bud’, needs to go deeper than anyone has ever been. He must go to the bottom of The Mariana Trench to save his crew-mates by defusing an armed nuclear bomb. They know that a normal gas based diving suit couldn’t handle the immense pressure. Luckily for them, liquids diffuse pressure evenly and are harder to compress than a gas. Much harder. Enter the experimental liquid breathing suit. In the end, after some difficulty adjusting, he is able to ‘breathe’ the liquid and ends up saving the day. But is there any science behind it?” w/ photos

“Richard Hartel, Ph.D., professor of food engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison boils a mixture of sugar, water and corn syrup at temperatures over 300 degrees Fahrenheit to produce hard candy. The video demonstrates how the molten liquid candy cools to form what from a technical standpoint actually is a glass. Unlike window glass made of silica, this tasty glass is made of sugar.” — BytesizeScience

“So what is cotton candy? Watch as University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Food Engineering Richard Hartel explains how to spin piping-hot melted sugar into tasty threads, eventually cooling off and forming cotton candy.” — BytesizeScience

“The Moon is unique among our observed celestial bodies. There is no other satellite closer in size and composition to its host-planet (if one excludes the dwarf planet Pluto), and the Earth-moon system is the only tidally locked pair. Besides the obvious; no moonlit walks, no ‘Moon River’ and no Apollo Moon landings, how would life without the Moon affect us here on Earth?” w/ photos

“Listening to the noise of fingernails down a blackboard is near-intolerable for many people. Now researchers have analyzed why it is we find the sound so awful. The researchers, from Cologne and Vienna, found that our ears may actually amplify the screeching sound. Our ears are ‘built’ to hear sounds at that frequency because it’s similar to human speech. The researchers used a test where some listeners thought they were listening to ‘difficult’ experimental music, and others were told they were listening to various horrible sounds. Nails on a blackboard ranked above sounds such as a fork scraping on a plate and squeaking polystyrene… But why… It’s time to find out.” w/ photos