Image credit:  Peter Blanchard via flickr | http://bit.ly/1q1sNlt. Rights information: http://bit.ly/c34Awz

By:  Benjamin Plackett,  Inside Science

(Inside Science) -- It may be unintentional, but it’s possible that your car insurer may know a lot more about where you go than you’d like.

High resolution photograph of cracks in thin layer of glass atop a silicon wafer. The colors come from optical interference between the thin wafer and the glass above. Image credit: Joël Marthelot (ESPCI). Rights information: Used with permission

By:  Gabriel Popkin, Inside Science

By Marsha Lewis, Inside Science

(Inside Science TV) – Ever wonder why that cold can of beer you opened heats up so fast? Well, there's a scientific answer behind it…literally.

Atmospheric scientists at the University of Washington have new insights on what makes your beverage lose its cool.

“Condensation really has an impact on your drink," said Dargan Frierson, a mathematician at the University of Washington in Seattle.

By Karin Heineman, Inside Science

When tornadoes hit, they are often quick, deadly and come without warning.

In 2013, more than fifty people were killed during tornadoes.

“We have tornadoes at daytime, we have tornadoes at night,” said Dev Niyogi, a climatologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Now, researchers at Purdue say there are certain areas that may be more likely than others to be hit by tornadoes.

“The region just around the city becomes a hotspot for where a tornado can occur,” explained Niyogi.

By Marsha Lewis, Inside Science

From the classrooms to research facilities a cell phone could morph into a portable science lab.

"If we could use a cellphone as a microscope that would be a very cheap and cost effective way to solve a number of our problems," said Thomas Larson, a mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle and inventor of the Micro Phone Lens.

The idea came to Larson while he was working in the lab at the University of Washington.

"We’re using microscopes a lot!" said Larson.

By Allison Jarrell, Inside Science

For centuries, cinnamon has been used to enhance the flavor of foods, but new research shows that the spice could also help make foods safer.

According to a study by Meijun Zhu and Lina Sheng, food safety scientists at Washington State University in Pullman, the ancient cooking spice could help prevent some of the most serious foodborne illnesses caused by pathogenic bacteria.