Brains-on Universe.

You're listening to Brains-On, where we're serious about being curious.

Science and sports go hand in hand.

Yeah, every game is a complex mix of physics, material sciences, statistics, and more.

And scientists love to study sports.

After all, games are fun, and so is learning about them.

That's why we're back again talking softball and baseball.

We're going to learn about bats.

And that black paint some players use under their eyes.

Yeah, what is that all about anyway?

We're going to find out. Keep listening.

Hey, Sandin here.

You know, before Brains-on, I was a science reporter.

I wrote about cool animals, like legless lizards, which are not just snakes, by the way.

I wrote about mind-blowing inventions, like robots to help the elderly.

I even once met a Mars rover before it was sent into space.

I had to wear like a special suit that covered my whole body when I went in to see it too,

because those rovers have to be absolutely sparkling clean before we send them to another planet.

We wouldn't want to spread our germs to Mars and then think,

hey, we discovered some life forms on Mars,

but it turns out it was just germs that came on a rover

because some reporter forgot to put their big white suit on

...