A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… we wondered, could you ever build a real lightsaber like the ones in Star Wars? A lightsaber is a glowing sword that can cut through metal – and pretty much anything else you can think of. It’s the favorite tool of heroes like Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, as well as villains like Darth Vader. That’s just in the movies, but could we make them real? We asked mechanical engineering professor Sayan Biswas to help us find the answer.

Got more questions than Luke when he was training with Yoda? Send them to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help use the force to find an answer!

People think alligators and crocodiles are really scary - and lots of people don’t understand the difference between them. But wildlife biologist Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez says they are very cool and helps us get to the bottom of their distinctive qualities!

Got a Moment of Um question that’s chomping away at your curiosity? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help hunt the answer.

Our world is FULL of microorganisms, or microbes for short! They’re tiny microscopic living things like bacteria– and they do so much for us! They help us digest our food. They help make some medicines– like antibiotics. They even help make some of our favorite foods like bread and cheese. Microbes sure are busy, but do they ever sleep? We asked microbiologist Daniel Bond to help us find the answer.

Got a question that’s keeping you up at night? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we won’t sleep on it!