I Saw the Science

Defending the Common Mahang

My very first memory was of me falling from a great height. I had no idea what was happening as I plummeted down, my surroundings whizzing by in a green blur. Then it hit me. The soft, damp ground that enveloped my entire being. My heart was cold from being abandoned by Mother, but my…

10 Unique Plants That Influenced Today’s Modern Medicine

Forests cover 31% of the Earth’s surface and hold many secrets that are waiting for us to uncover. Over the centuries, humans have ventured into the forest to find plants for medicinal purposes. Fortunately, with today’s technological advancements, the medicinal powers of some unique plants have been harnessed to better fight against diseases. How are…

Science: Changing the World of Sports

With the latest release of the Nike Alpha Fly Next%, My curiosity in the role of technological advances in sports over the past couple of years was peaked. These advances are what help humans to push the limits of sports achievements to greater heights. Over the years, scientists have made use of everything given by…

Terrarium: A garden in a jar

Tarrium? Terranium? It’s terrarium. Sometimes misspelt and confused with an aquarium, this garden in a jar has much to offer. Terrariums create therapeutic space for your office desk – for those moments where meetings or deadlines have had you face down on your desk. With their stylish looks, they can be fantastic greenery additions to…

Our Local Heroes: Interview with Nurse Clinician Tan Soo Hui

Six months ago, an invisible, deadly enemy hit our shores and those of our neighbours. As the scourge of the Coronavirus proliferated globally, many countries imposed lock downs for citizen safety. As we were confined to our homes, we witnessed human acts on both ends of the spectrum ; the good and the ugly. As…

A Singaporean’s Guide to 8 Common Street Trees

Singaporeans are slowly resuming life as per normal. As shops start to reopen, those brave enough to venture outside swiftly flock with their SafeEntry apps in hand. But for the more cautious, they might not have seen any other form of life except through their TV, computer, or phone screens for 3 months and counting…

The Moon: Boring ball of rock, or not?

In a modern country like Singapore, people still rely on cultural traditions to determine the dates to celebrate different festivals. The Chinese use the Chinese calendar to determine the dates for Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, a new moon to mark the beginning of a new year and full moon for mid-autumn. The Muslims…

Game Review: Crossing into Science

Spending most of my free time at home during this challenging pandemic period meant that I needed to find things to do in order not to get bored to death. One of the few things that I did was playing new video games, like many others. I chanced upon the Nintendo game, Animal Crossing: New…

Mala: When Ma meets La

Mala has taken the world by storm – a strong spicy sanguine storm that has picked up countless chilli-craving consumers in its path. In return, it threw out products such as Mala Xiang Guo, Mala hotpot, Mala fish skin, Mala potato chips, leaving Mala fans craving for more. But in the eye of the storm,…

Light Years

As I gaze up upon the night sky in Mersing, I am in awe at the majesty displayed above me. Millions of stars twinkling across the sky, flooding it like pearls on a black canvas. I point my telescope at a specific area in the night sky in the constellation of Orion the Hunter, at…

Cutting Edge

Anyone with a fair bit of cooking experience knows the joy of working with sharp knives. With the proper technique, a sharp blade makes slicing, dicing, deboning a chicken or gutting a fish more efficient compared to a dull one. At its most rudimentary level, a knife’s edge is an inclined plane with a small…

Once Upon a Pitcher Plant

The first time it happened, Hems was greatly displeased. In fact, ‘greatly displeased’ might be an understatement of the reaction one would usually have to being pooped on. However, Hems was, in fact, a plant, and thus there was not much he could do about the uninvited guest’s droppings. The perpetrator, a funny looking furball,…

Liquid Gold

One and a half years ago, I embarked on a journey that is fulfilling yet lonely at times. However, I am glad that I am still going strong with no qualms of slowing down. My body has been working hard to produce ‘liquid gold’, to provide for my little bundle of joy. For the first…

The Hoarding Mentality

Hoarding has been in the news recently because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shelves in supermarkets across the world have been wiped clean as people have been buying more than they need. But what is it and why are we hoarding? The Cambridge online dictionary defines hoarding as:“the act of collecting large amounts of something and…

Alternative Meat: Yay or Nay?

For most of us, meat is a big part of our diet. Think steak, shabu-shabu, fried chicken… I’m starting to salivate as I list down my favourite meat dishes, especially since it’s the Circuit Breaker period. Humans have been eating meat for at least 2.6 million years now. However, it was only in the last…

Science Behind Spaghetti Bolognese

At the age of 9, I began learning how to cook from my grandmother. What started from just helping her crack eggs and sauté vegetables, had evolved into an understated passion of mine to try out new recipes and cooking techniques. It is surprising to see that even with the proliferation of online cooking videos,…

The Ocean

I have always wondered what it is like to go under the ocean and swim with the fishes. With a sense of curiosity and fascination with the life that thrives beneath the surface of the ocean, I took my first dive at Bunaken Island, Indonesia. Beneath the surface of the ocean lies a world very…

Plants vs Zombie Game Review

I’m sure most of you have played (or heard of) the game Plants vs Zombie before. Since its launch in 2009, Plants vs Zombie has kept many people busy for hours. Players are challenged to unlock the different levels by fighting zombies with the use of plants. The backyard, lawnmowers, garden plants and the tsunami…

Social Distancing: If Trees Can Do It, So Can You!

This is not another article about how social distancing will flatten the curve. It’s not a plea for you to stay home. We trust our readers have the good sense to do so. Instead, this is an article about crown shyness. A fascinating story of how some trees got this whole social distancing thing right,…

Bee Our Friend! 12 Fun Facts About Bees

Bees live in a colony.A colony of bees consists of 20 000 to 60 000 worker bees. Honey could be considered as bees’ vomit.Bees draw nectar from flowers using their long proboscis and stores it in its ‘honey stomach’ which is different from its stomach that digests food. When the bees return to the nest,…

Never Enough Food – Can We Change Our Ways?

I’m sure you must have heard this saying: “Waste not, want not”. As kids, our parents taught us the values of consuming only what we need. Who would blame them? In times past, food was not so abundant, and certain foods counted as “luxuries”. These luxury food items were only consumed on special days such…

Bubble Tea: The Drink that Makes our Heart Go Boba-boba

Someone once asked me, ‘Why bubble tea? What’s so great about it?’ Are you kidding me? I can’t even fathom how could anyone ask that! Can’t say the same for everyone, but at least for me, bubble tea solves everything (not literally everything but you get me). It’s both a drink and a snack at…

Invaders All Around Us!

I was enjoying lunch at a hawker centre when I heard a familiar, shrill sound near my feet. A few seconds later, a Javan myna, hopped onto my table and eyed my food curiously. Not wanting to share my yummy meal, I quickly gobbled it up, thinking ‘Wow, these birds are becoming increasingly common’. Javan…

Interview with David from Golden Sunland

Golden Sunland is a company that is built on the principles of harmony between businesses and individuals to ensure profitability and progress within the rice industry. David Chen, the COO of the company, entered the hybrid rice industry with Golden Sunland in 2008. His passion for meaningful partnerships and his entrepreneurial abilities have helped achieve…

Plant Health: A High-rise Container Gardener’s Journey

My journey as a high-rise container gardener started about eight years ago. It was a thoroughly unremarkable beginning: after buying two adorable potted ivy and arrowhead plants from the nursery to ‘beautify’ our apartment, we (the wife and I) discovered to our horror that watering our new ‘acquisitions’ would cause water and soil material to…

Dalgona: The Stay Home Drink

I should have seen this topic coming when I asked my friends on Instagram what kind of science article they’d want to read. The idea that instant coffee could be whipped (quite literally) into something so aesthetically luxurious did intrigue me though. It was never my intention, but I am going to hop on the…

Plague Inc: Evolved Review

Plague Inc: Evolved, launched 5 years ago, has been brought back into the spotlight by the recent COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping the world. Many memes have been made with relation to this wildly popular game. So, for the uninitiated, what’s the hype about? Let’s start off with understanding what this game is all about….

5 Things You Need to Know about Air Plants

You may have noticed these delicate-looking air plants being displayed across walls or hanging from ceilings without any soil or water. How do they survive in the air without any soil and water? The truth is they are hardier than they look! Besides sprucing up your home decor, they also help to purify the air…

Alcohol: is it THE solution?

The current COVID-19 situation has effectively shut down several countries, including Malaysia, South Korea and Italy. It has also caused a global shortage of surgical masks and hand sanitisers. Most of us have heard that hand sanitisers containing at least 70% alcohol can keep our hands clean. Because of this, many people started to make…

Hijackers in Nature

With the fear of COVID-19 haunting the public, many of us have become warier of people coughing and sneezing around us. This sparked some random thoughts in my mind. I understand that our bodies produce mucus to deal with the viral infection. Coughing and sneezing out the mucus are ways for our bodies to get…

It’s all Greek to me

Every species of living things has its own unique scientific name, following a system laid out by Carl Linnaeus in his book “Systema Naturae” in 1758. The rules to naming a new living thing are very vague, it just has to be in Latin and follow a 2 name system with a genus and species…

From Pajama to Suit, a View of Personalised Medicine

It is said that personal encounters in life shape who you are or what you end up doing. My brush with terminal illness and the desperate need for medical therapy came when my father was struck with colon cancer. This was a good two decades back. Then there was no mention of personalised medicine in…

A Sticky Situation

Food was always something that inspired me. The way flavours and textures opened a world of experiences captivated my younger days. Most intriguing to me was the humble rice grain, which is actually the seed of a type of grass. This staple food for a large part of the world’s population held culinary wonders. My…

Nobel Scientists Novel Conversations

Nobel Scientists are like the celebrities of the scientific world. They are recognised for their unique contributions to Science based on ground breaking impact to the existing field of knowledge. They are akin to your Harry Potters of Hogwarts. As rare and magical as they might be, it is even more difficult to have a…

Digging for Dinosaur Fossils

Bite-Science Activities feature bite-sized science concepts that allow you to explore STEM concepts with your children through hands-on activities. Besides having a trove of child-friendly STEM activities, Bite-Science Activities also includes relevant STEM concepts and questioning techniques to better equip you on your STEM expeditions. Can’t get enough of these majestic creatures after DinoQuest? Recreate…

The Dig in Dinosaurs!

We often think of dinosaurs as big, menacing and mysterious creatures. Even though they are no longer with us, most children love everything about them! What draws children, and even adults to these magnificent creatures? My own fascination with dinosaurs began at a very young age. Whilst I could not find them in the zoo,…

Journey of Red Blood Cell

Millions of red blood cells are created in our bone marrow each second. Built with iron-rich haemoglobin, they are able to bind and transport oxygen to every single cell in the human body. Unlike other human cells, a red blood cell lacks a nucleus, giving them the flexibility to squeeze through the tiniest blood capillaries…

Five Amazing Places to Geek Out!

2 Mins Read There are many things and places under the sun hidden from plain sight that will take our breath away. These awesome things and places often defy expectations and definitions. In this edition, we hunt down five experiences for you to indulge your soul and lust for curiosity. So add these to your…

Tarantulas in Singapore?

5 Mins Read The first tarantula I ever saw was on one of my early trips, when I just started out exploring our forests here in Singapore. I was with a couple of friends and one of them suddenly pointed to a tree trunk. It was a scrawny, malnourished tarantula with a mite-infested mouth and an abdomen…