u/TheMuseumOfScience

Can boiling pond water make it safe to drink? 💧🔬

Quinten Geldhof, also known as Microhobbyist, explains that a single drop of pond water can harbor thousands of microorganisms, including bacteria, parasites and amoebas capable of making you seriously ill. Heat destroys the structures these organisms need to survive, wiping out almost all microscopic life. Boiling can kill the microbes but it doesn’t remove chemicals and toxins.

A dangerous Ebola outbreak is prompting a global health emergency.

This outbreak spreading through the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment. It spreads to humans through contact with wild animals like bats, primates, antelopes, and porcupines. Deforestation and climate change are pushing these animals out of their natural habitats and closer to human communities, raising the risk of diseases like Ebola spreading to humans. With more than 330 suspected cases, this outbreak has not been declared a pandemic, but the threat is real.

Why is the night sky dark? 🌌

Erika Hamden breaks down Olbers' Paradox, the cosmic puzzle that helped scientists first hypothesize that the universe had a beginning. In an infinite, infinitely old universe, every point in the night sky should eventually have a star behind it, making the night sky just as bright as daytime. The fact that darkness exists tells us that not enough time has passed for all that light to reach us, or that stars simply have not formed yet in those regions of space.

This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

Why are we turning snack time into a game? 🥬

Our long-tailed chinchillas have always lived in human care, but foraging for food is hardwired into their DNA from their rocky Andes mountain habitat. So we tap into those natural instincts by getting them sniffing, climbing, and exploring their space. Curiosity isn't just cute in chinchillas; it's a survival skill, and these guys have seriously mastered it.

HIV breaks every rule we know about vaccines. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci explains that it is the only virus where there have been no documented cases where a person was infected and fully cleared the virus from their body, making the standard vaccine playbook useless. To beat HIV, researchers need to develop an immunogen and platform that actually outperforms natural infection rather than copying it.

The government just dropped classified UFO documents, and the internet is losing its mind. 🛸

Scientists are pumping the brakes though: these newly released files, now officially dubbed UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), contain little more than fuzzy images and unverified accounts. As the great astronomer Carl Sagan once argued, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and few claims are more extraordinary than saying extraterrestrial life has actually visited Earth. This latest release, while fascinating, just doesn't clear that scientific bar.

Millions of strange, sparkly creatures are washing up on California beaches right now. 🪼

Meet “Velella velella”, aka "by the wind sailors": a colony of tiny hydrozoans that link together like Legos to form a single floating organism, steered across the ocean by a small sail that catches the wind. When storms shift the winds, massive numbers get pushed ashore, where they dry out and die. Their sting is generally harmless, but keep your hands off them since they can be confused with their cousin, the Portuguese man o' war, which has one of the worst stings in the animal kingdom.

You can predict how many segments are inside a citrus fruit. 🍊🍋‍🟩

Alex Dainis explains how citrus fruits develop from the ovaries of citrus flowers. Those ovaries contain multiple distinct sections called locules, and each locule develops into its own segment inside the fruit. By peeling back the tiny stem remaining on the fruit, you can see exactly where each locule connected to the tree. Count those dots and you have your segment count. It is easiest to see on bigger fruits like grapefruits, so try that first. Segment number varies between different types of citrus and based on growing conditions, and even the location of the fruit on a branch can influence how many segments it has. Make your predictions and let us know if it works!

Our friend Chloe Savard, known as tardibabe on Instagram zoomed in 400x on turmeric and it became the most beautiful thing we've ever seen. 🔬

Under polarized light, the rhizome of Curcuma longa transforms into something straight out of a jewellery box. Those shimmering, gem-like particles are starch granules, and the golden droplets floating alongside them are the plant's aromatic essential oils, the same ones responsible for that iconic smell.

Those golden bubbles? That's Chloe adding alcohol to the slide. The essential oils, normally invisible, merge with the alcohol and suddenly bloom into those vivid yellow droplets. 

The dazzling glow on each granule is called birefringence. Starch is semi-crystalline, with molecules arranged so precisely that polarized light bends through them like a prism. And those granules aren't just beautiful, they're distinctive. Turmeric starch granules are heterogeneous, appearing triangular, ellipsoidal, and oval, which is actually how botanists can identify the plant species just from a microscope slide. 

Turmeric has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice, dye, and medicine. The compound behind that legendary yellow color is called curcumin, a polyphenol that makes up around 2–5% of the rhizome and is so pigment-rich it'll stain your fingers for days. Researchers have documented its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor properties, and scientists are still uncovering what it can do.

Watch our latest microscopy video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7odqSeOpQlQ

Citations:

• Nogueira, G.F., de Carvalho, C.W.P., Velasco, J.I., and Fakhouri, F.M. (2025). Extraction and Characterization of Starches from Non-Conventional Sources: Turmeric (Curcuma longa) and Mangarito (Xanthosoma sagittifolium). Polymers, 17(23), 3157. 
• Correa, J.C. et al. (2024). Characterization of a Novel Starch Isolated from the Rhizome of Colombian Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) Cultivars. Foods, 13(1), 7. 
• Hewlings, S.J. and Kalman, D.S. (2020). Turmeric and Its Major Compound Curcumin on Health: Bioactive Effects and Safety Profiles for Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological and Medicinal Applications. PMC. 
• Unlu, A. et al. (2016). Curcuma longa: from Traditional Applications to Modern Plant Medicine Research Hotspots. PMC
• Akram, M. et al. (2010). Anti-inflammatory Properties of Curcumin, a Major Constituent of Curcuma longa: A Review of Preclinical and Clinical Research. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 
• Chakraborty, S. et al. (2020). Advanced Microscopy Techniques for Revealing Molecular Structure of Starch Granules. PMC.
• Chalageri, G. et al. (2021). Coalescence and Directed Anisotropic Growth of Starch Granule Initials in Chloroplasts. Nature Communications. 

Why are scientists paying such close attention to the hantavirus outbreak? 🦠

In April, a fatal outbreak of the rare Andes hantavirus occurred on a cruise ship leaving Argentina. While most hantaviruses spread only to humans through infected rodents, the Andes strain is the only known strain capable of spreading person-to-person. The pandemic risk remains low as transmission requires prolonged, very close contact, and infected people get sick so quickly they're unlikely to spread it widely. Still scientists are stressing that global tracking and research into this virus must continue.

On Wednesday, May 13 join us for Science and Spirituality: A Public Dialogue, an evening of curiosity, conversation, and connection exploring how science, faith, and the ways we make meaning intersect in our lives.

Join us for an evening of curiosity, dialogue, and discovery as we explore the dynamic relationship between science, spirituality, faith traditions, and the ways people make meaning across different perspectives. The night will open with a lively panel featuring youth, leaders, and scholars sharing how these ideas shape their lives, communities, and work. 

Learn more at our website.