TUMBLE
SCIENCE

Ever wondered if dinosaurs sniffed each other’s butts like dogs? In our latest episode, The Dino Butt Fossil , we dig into one of the strangest and funniest fossil discoveries ever made—one that helps scientists understand how dinosaurs communicated, smelled, and even pooped! 🎧 Listen to the Episode 🦕 What Kids Will Learn How scientists studied a rare fossilized dinosaur butt. How comparing it to modern animals helps reveal dinosaur behavior. How scientists use evidence t

EDUCATION RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 3-LS3-2 Crosscutting Concept: Cause and Effect Why and how do cats purr? That’s what Reid wants to know. It sounds like a simple question, but it leads us to a deep challenge: Can we ever understand cats? To find out, we launch a full-scale cat purr investigation. You’ll hear from a puzzled veterinarian, a scientist who studied her cat’s annoying purr, and the author of purring.org, the premier cat purr research website. It’s a purr-fec

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 3-LS3-1 3-LS3-2 Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns Cause and Effect Fish with legs? Crazy, right? Turns out, fish with legs are a lot more real than you might think! We teamed up with What If World, one of our favorite storytelling podcasts, to answer this question both scientifically and creatively! In our “science version,” we consult with the funniest fish biologist you’ll ever meet, Solomon David. He’s obsessed with creating puns for

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 3-LS3-2 Crosscutting Concept: Cause and Effect What are the origins of owls, and why do they stay up at night? We answer questions from two owl-curious Tumble listeners. with the help of Harvard ornithologist Dr. Scott Edwards. He takes us on a journey starting in the time of the dinosaurs, to unravel the secrets of what made owls WHOOOO they are today. THE BIRD FAMILY TREE In the episode, Scott Edwards is looking at the bird family t

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 5-LS2-1, 3-LS3-2, 4-LS1-1 Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect, Systems and System Models How do whales use their blowholes to breathe, and what keeps them from filling up with water? There’s no better way to find out than getting up close and personal with whales! That’s what marine mammal biologist Justine Hudson did when she collected whale snot from belugas. Snot or “blow” is the watery cloud that sprays up when whales exhale.

An interactive episode about why trees go dormant! Discover our gallery of tree images.

EDUCATION RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 3-LS3-2, 4-LS1-1 Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect, Systems and System Models Why do seals have whiskers? Listener Karah’s question dives into the wonderful world of whisker science. Robyn Grant, a self-described “whisker biologist” shares her discoveries of how whiskers work, from training a friendly seal named Moe to making slow-mo movies of super speedy “whisking.” Here's an underwater video of a slightly different experiment,

EDUCATION RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 3-LS3-2 Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect Not a true crime story, but a true science story! Starring a murder of crows, a person in a creepy mask, and one very curious scientist named Kaeli Swift. We unravel the mystery of what appears like scene from a Halloween fright night, but is actually an experiment designed to reveal the reasons for some very weird crow behavior. Turns out, you can get a lot of strange looks on the road to

EDUCATION RESOURCES: NGSS Standards: LS 3-LS3-2, 4-LS1-1 Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect, Systems and System Models Can plants feel pain? Not really, but they can sense a lot more than you might give them credit for! That's right, plants talk to each other. And we're just starting to understand them. Dr. Appel took this research one step further when she discovered "listening plants ." In the study, caterpillars were placed on Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant r