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!

On Earth, water gets evaporated by the sun from the planet’s surface, and then drops back down from the clouds when it rains. That’s a great source of water, but..is that water safe to drink? We asked environmental researcher Dr Jonathan Sexton to help us find the answer.

Got a question in your bRAIN? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help filter out the answer.

Let’s say you want to measure something really, really, really tiny. How do you do that? With inches? Centimeters? Millimeters? What if it’s so tiny you can’t even see it? Particle physicist Jessica Esquivel helps us solve this teeny tiny mystery!

Got a question that seems too big to answer? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll try to measure up!

Black holes are areas in outer space that have gravity so strong that not even light can escape its pull! Some black holes are formed from stars…so how does a star go from a burning ball of gas to a light-swallowing void? We asked UCLA astrophysicist Dakotah Tyler to help us find the answer.

Got a question that’s really pulled you in? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you gravitate towards the answer.

Whether you’re a fan or not, one thing is for sure - most of us have had an encounter with a daddy long legs. They’ve got super duper long legs, and a TON of nicknames, including cellar spider, carpenter spider, daddy long-legger, vibrating spider, gyrating spider, long daddy, and skull spider. But why are their legs so long? Guilherme Gainett helps us solve this mystery.

Got a question crawling around your brain? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help figure it out!

Fireworks are loud and exciting! You light a fuse and the firework rockets up into the air, and then BLAM! It explodes into colorful, sparkling bouquets of light. How the heck does a firework do that? We asked chemist David Chavez to help us find the answer.

Got a question exploding in your noggin? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we certainly won’t reFUSE it!

Batteries power lots of stuff that people use everyday, like cellphones, toys and laptop computers. Some batteries can even be recharged after they run out of juice. But how do batteries store electricity? We asked chemistry professor James McKone to help us find the answer.

Got a question that’s got you all charged up? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll run a whole battery of tests to find the answer.

It seems universal that when a person - old or young - is tired, they rub their eyes. It’s even a way that babies communicate to their adults that they are ready for bed. Are we just born understanding that signal? Or is there something going on with our eyes that they need to be rubbed when we’re sleepy? Otolaryngologist Dr. Laura Orvidas helps us understand the connection in this episode. And stay tuned for the week of May 30, when all of our episodes will be sleep-themed. It’ll be a real “snooze fest”!

Got a question you’ve been eyeing? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we won’t sleep on the answer!