In the final show of 2006, Dr Chris, Dr Dave and Dr Kat answer all your science questions including why poppadoms curl upwards in the pan, how seedless grapes grow, and if lightning really does strike twice. To celebrate the coming of Christmas, Professor Colin Humphries from Cambridge University joins us to explain the astronomical phenomenon behind the Star of Bethlehem, and in Kitchen Science Derek Thorne and Alicia Webb knock back a few shots of vodka to find out how breathalysers catch drink-drivers. In the second part of the Science of Colour series, Anna Lacey finds out about the history of mauve and how hair dye conceals those dreaded greys.
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Anna looks at pigments and their sometimes surprising uses.
Colin Humphreys details his theories about what the star of Bethlehem really was and when it could have appeared.
If you could drill a hole from the North Pole to the South Pole, and it was big enough to drop a stone through, would the stone go all the way through and out the other side and keep going? Or would it just go to the centre and stop? Or would it go h...
When you fry popadoms, why does it curl upwards away from the layer of oil?
Humans spend all our lives one way up. So when we stand on our heads, everything is upside down. Bats spend half their life hanging upside down, so which way does a bat think is the right way up?
We can successfully insulate against heat, and against light, and against sound. Is it possible, do you think, that we may one day be able to insulate against the force of gravity? And is anybody working on it?
I'm right in thinking that matter cannot be destroyed. So is it such that everything that has been created in nature, which creates matter, is still in existence somewhere somehow in another form?
Is it true that lightning never strikes in the same place twice?
How are seedless grapes grown?
Is it true that if you add fizzy mixers to alcoholic spirits you get drunk more quickly than if you added the same amount of still water?
Can the muscles in the lower part of the bowel be repaired?
If you've ever wondered how a police issue breathalyser works - this kitchen science is for you. This week Derek, Mick McReedy the friendly policeman and Ali the Aussie backpacker visit Ely Firestation to investigate science of alcohol, drinking, and breathalysing. Find out if y...
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