2006 Series

The Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts

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26th Mar 2006

Naked Science Questions and Answers


Chris Smith

Phil Rosenberg

Dave Ansell

Answering all your burning science, technology and medicine questions this week are Dr Chris, Dr Dave and Dr Phil, who look at why purifying seawater won't solve our water shortage problems, how 3D glasses work and whether a man on a meteor would have to hold on tight or sit back and soak up the stellar scenery. We'll also be receiving an update from Daniel Scuka at the European Space Agency on the Venus Express Mission, Professor Diana Liverman from Oxford University talks about how to turn down the heat on climate change, and in Kitchen Science Anna Lacey finds out why we hear strange voices when we play old records backwards...

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News


 

Flexible Flight

Researchers at MIT have found a way to take the drag out of flying, at least for the wings if not the passengers. Aeroplanes are currently controlled by wing flaps that hinge up and down, which change the shape of the wings and alter the flow of air over the s...


Questions

 

With the ever increasing shortage of water in reservoirs, why can't we purify seawater to overcome the problem?


 

How many satellites are currently circling the Earth?


 

How do 3D glasses work, and if you need these 3D glasses to appreciate the effect at the end, how do they produce them in the beginning?


 

Which way does the Earth travel around the sun and is the sun spinning and moving too?


 

What makes the Earth spin and will it ever stop?


 

We know that meteorites hit the Earth quite well. The sun is hundreds of thousands times bigger than the Earth, and so consequently I would imagine that it would attract many more meteorites. Is this the case?


 

Whenever you replace tyres on your car, you notice that the tread has worn away. Where does all the rubber go? You don't see it piling up on the sides of roads or creating dust anywhere that I know of.


 

If you get an ice cube and put it in a glass of water, when it melts it has exactly the same volume. This is the reason that when glaciers melt, there's absolutely no difference in sea level. So the people who say about global warming and sea level rises have got it wrong.


 

As a radio amateur, I know that trying to get a signal very far away is hard unless the conditions are exactly right. How do NASA manage to get signals all the way into space? Do they have different equipment?


 

New Horizons is supposed to be the fastest spacecraft yet. I'm wondering when it will surpass the Voyagers as the farthest spacecraft from Earth.


 

I have question about meteors. If someone was to land on one, would they have to hold on like if they were on the edge of a car moving down the road or would you even notice you were moving like we don't notice on Earth?


 

If it takes huge dishes to send signals into space, how do things like Venus or Mars rovers send their signals back when they send us their data?



Kitchen Science

 

Decoding a computer generated voice

Listen to strangely distorted voices and see if you can understand them.



Fact or Fiction

A dodecahedron has 12 faces
TrueTrue
James Napier invented the hot air balloon
TrueTrue
A voltmeter measures potential difference
TrueTrue
Cryogenics is the study of language
TrueTrue
Silicon is the second-most common element on earth
TrueTrue
The polaroid camera is named after its inventor Edwin Poler
TrueTrue
A particle of light is called a photon
TrueTrue
Louis Pasteur invented a cure for smallpox
TrueTrue



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