What is it that gives toenails their cheesy aroma?
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I guess that the gene that codes for men having hairy chests and backs is an evolutionary advantage in response to an environmental pressure. But why don't women have beards and hairy chests in response to the same pressures?
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Many of us have some extra energy stored as fat, so why do we ever feel hungry? Why doesn't the body manage it's reserves well enough to take advantage of the resources it has available to it?
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We know of transmissible tumours in the animal world, but is there any way you can catch cancer from other people?
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As the old joke goes... if you cross a kangaroo with a sheep you get a wooly jumper. But is it now possible with modern techniques to cross different animals to make one completely new species?
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Could we set up a brewery in orbit, to keep the astronauts refreshed? Is there any reason we couldn't brew beer in zero gravity?
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I am 57 years old. Do I have any original parts? In other words, how much of the baby that was born in 1954 is still part of me? Also, how much of the 18-year-old teenager that I once was is still with me? Do my soft tissues cycle out over time? What about bones, nerves and brain matter?
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Do sunglasses fool your body into not releasing enough melanin to protect you from the Sun's harmful rays? Does this mean wearing sunglasses makes you more likely to become sunburned?
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To assure procreation, nature offers as a "bribe" a certain amount of physical pleasure. This is easy to understand for those species who actually make physical contact during copulation, but fish remain a total mystery: how does ejecting one's eggs or sperm into a stream or the ocean bring an ecstatic experience?
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Do umbilical cords get tangled and knotted?
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The pupil of an eye widens when it looks though dark-tinted glass and due to this the eye gets more sunlight than it does without sunglasses. So why do we wear sunglasses?
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Cats have whiskers, and use them to explore and understand the world around them - does a nice moustache or bushy beard do the same?
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Can human waste be a source of power? Should we be searching sewage for a source of sparks?
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I know that during pregnancy a foetus gets oxygen from its mother via the umbilical cord. I was wondering what effect this has on the mother. Does she inhale more, or simply use oxygen more efficiently? What happens to her oxygen saturation level?
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Why do the tastes of some foods complement each other so well? For example, cheese and wine? What is the chemical reaction that takes place to make it so palatable?
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Over the past 100 years, and much more so in the past 40 years, medical science has been able to save an increasing number of babies (and mothers) being born that would have not survived if they had been born at any other time in human history. Is this having an impact on the human gene pool?
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What is it that gives a wet dog that distinctive smell?
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Why do we have 2 kidneys when we can get on perfectly well with just one? And why don't we have 2 hearts when it's so common for the one we have got to go wrong? Could this change in the future as we evolve, or has it already changed?
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We explore the purpose of junk DNA...
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Why is weetabix so hard to get off the cereal bowl, once it has dried?
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