Milo Fenwick
Science and space made graspable
Pasadena, CA
Milo Fenwick writes Fun & Facts' science and space coverage. A science communicator at heart, he turns big, intimidating ideas — physics, astronomy, the human body — into vivid, accurate explanations that stick. He's allergic to confidently-wrong 'fun facts'.
What Milo covers
- Everyday science 'why' questions
- Space and astronomy basics
- The human body's oddities
- Physics made intuitive
- Busting popular science myths
Articles by Milo
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How Fast Does the Earth Spin? The Answer Might Surprise You
Earth spins at 1,670 km/h at the equator but you can't feel it. Learn why earth rotation speed varies by latitude and the physics behind why we don't feel it.
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Why Does the Moon Have Craters?
Why does the moon have craters covering its surface? Billions of years of asteroid impacts with no atmosphere or erosion to erase them—here's the timeline.
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What Killed the Dinosaurs? The Asteroid Impact That Reset Earth
An asteroid roughly 10 km wide struck Mexico 66 million years ago, triggering the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction. Here's how the impact cascaded through the food
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How Do Bats Navigate in Darkness? The Science of Echolocation
Bats navigate darkness using ultrasonic echolocation—emitting high-frequency calls and interpreting echoes with millisecond precision to hunt, avoid obstacles, and fly.
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What Animals Live in Earth's Coldest Places?
From emperor penguins to microscopic tardigrades, discover the remarkable animals that survive Antarctica's -89°C and the Arctic's brutal cold through antifreeze
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Why Do Some People See Colors Differently?
Some people see colors you can't, while you see colors they don't. Color blindness, tetrachromacy, and synesthesia reveal the surprising spectrum of human color vision.
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How Do Polar Bears Stay Warm in the Arctic?
Polar bears survive -50°C air and freezing seawater using hollow fur and blubber layers with measured insulation values. Here's the actual science.
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How Do Bats Use Echolocation to Navigate in the Dark?
How do bats use echolocation? Bats emit ultrasonic calls 20-60 kHz and process returning echoes in under 1 millisecond to build spatial maps—faster than human vision.
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Why Do Whales Beach Themselves?
Why do whales beach themselves? The honest answer: we often don't know for certain, but research points to navigation errors, disease, pollution, and social bonds.
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What Causes Ball Lightning? The Science Behind the Glow
Ball lightning is real but rare. Scientists have three competing theories for what causes it—plasma vortex, chemical oxidation, and fractal discharge.
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Why Do We Blush? The Science Behind This Honest Signal
Blushing is an involuntary signal of social emotion controlled by your nervous system. Learn how it works, what triggers it, and why humans are the only animals that
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How Do Monarch Butterflies Migrate Thousands of Miles?
Discover how monarch butterflies navigate 3,000 miles using sun compasses, magnetic fields, and a four-generation relay—no individual butterfly completes the round trip.
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Why Do Birds Fly in Formation? The Physics Behind the V
Why do birds fly in formation? Trailing birds save 15-30% energy by riding upwash from wingtip vortices—but the lead bird pays a cost. Here's how it works.
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Why Did Dinosaurs Go Extinct? The Science Behind the K-Pg Event
Why did dinosaurs go extinct 66 million years ago? An asteroid impact at Chicxulub triggered a catastrophic chain reaction that paleontologists decoded through iridium
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How Do Cuttlefish Change Color—While Being Colorblind?
Cuttlefish change color in 200 milliseconds using chromatophores, yet they're colorblind. Discover the three-layer system and skin-sensing that makes it possible.
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Why Is the Ocean Salty? The Full Story Behind Seawater
The ocean is salty because rivers carry dissolved minerals from rocks, and salt stays behind when water evaporates. Here's why salinity stays stable.
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How Did Dinosaurs Go Extinct? The Impact That Changed Earth
The asteroid impact 66 million years ago didn't kill dinosaurs instantly. Here's the cascade of heat, darkness, and cold that ended their reign—and why some survived.
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How Do Homing Pigeons Find Their Way Home?
Homing pigeons navigate using three overlapping systems—magnetic, visual, and smell—but scientists still debate which is primary. Here's what we know.
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How Do Octopuses Change Color Instantly?
Octopuses change color in 200-500 milliseconds using three layers of specialized cells. Learn how chromatophores, iridophores, and leucophores work together for instant
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What Is Dark Matter and Why Is It Invisible?
Dark matter makes up 85% of the universe's matter but doesn't emit or absorb light. We know it exists through gravity — here's how scientists discovered invisible matter.
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Why Do We Dream? What Science Actually Knows (and Doesn't)
Why do we dream? Scientists have theories about memory, emotion, and survival—but the honest answer is we still don't fully know. Here's what the evidence shows.
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What Is Ball Lightning? The Atmospheric Mystery Science Can't Solve
Ball lightning is a rare, glowing sphere that appears during thunderstorms. Scientists have documented it for centuries but still can't explain what causes it or how it
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Why Do Some Insects Produce Light?
Why do some insects produce light? Bioluminescence converts chemical energy into light with exceptional efficiency, powering mating signals, predation, and defense.
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What Is the Oldest Living Organism on Earth?
The oldest living organism depends on how you define it. Meet Methuselah, a 4,850-year-old tree, and Pando, an 80,000-year-old clonal colony.
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How Do Butterflies Taste With Their Feet?
Butterflies taste with their feet using chemoreceptors on their tarsi. Learn how this sensory superpower helps them find the right plants to lay eggs.
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How Do Tornadoes Form? The Physics Behind the Spin
Tornadoes form when wind shear creates horizontal rotation that an updraft tilts vertical. Here's the physics behind how supercell thunderstorms spawn twisters.
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How Do Bees Communicate?
Bees communicate through waggle dances, pheromones, and vibrations, encoding distance and direction—about 1 second of waggling signals roughly 1 kilometer.
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How Big Is the Universe? The Mind-Bending Scale Explained
The observable universe is 93 billion light-years across and contains 2 trillion galaxies. Here's how we measure it, why we can't see further, and what it all means.
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What Is a Black Hole, Simply Explained? Gravity, Light, and the Point of No
A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing—not even light—can escape. Here's how black holes work, what happens inside, and why Earth is
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Why Do We Yawn? (And Why the Oxygen Myth Is Wrong)
Yawning doesn't boost oxygen—that's a 2,000-year-old myth. The real reason involves brain temperature, arousal, and a contagion effect scientists still don't fully
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Why Does Time Feel Faster as You Get Older?
Years seem to fly by faster with age. The science behind why time perception accelerates involves memory, routine, and how your brain encodes novelty.
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Why Is the Sky Blue? The Science Behind the Color We See Every Day
The sky is blue because of Rayleigh scattering: blue light's short wavelength makes it scatter 9–10 times more than red light. Here's the physics, why sunsets turn