Quick fire questions

Time for a quick fire round now, one question each for our panel of experts including an insight into motivation, what would happen if you put Saturn in a bathtub and why we have an easter bunny…

Julia - Olivia, we had a question in from Naomi about motivation who asked, why can we feel motivated to do something like a social activity, but not a work activity? So feel motivated to see our friends, but not doing work? What's the difference?

Olivia - It could be the difference in pleasure levels between the two. So when we're thinking about meeting our friends and going out somewhere fun, then of course that's an enjoyable activity. You like to do that. But sometimes with tasks that we may have to do in life, some can be more difficult and time consuming than others. So again, it comes back to those unpleasant emotions that we're feeling and hence the lack of motivation possibly.

Julia - Greger, animals are a huge symbol in many traditions and celebrations, and we don't even question them being there, but why do we have an Easter bunny?

Greger - My favourite bit about the Easter bunny is that the tradition of Easter starts in Germany, comes over to the UK, but is associated with hares, so it was the Easter hare to start, and the hares, as were also European, were introduced to the UK. Then the hare gets replaced by the rabbit, for reasons we're actually working on right now, trying to work out when and how that happened, and the rabbit takes over and becomes part of this indelible part of the whole Easter tradition, which also includes chickens, which have nothing to do with the UK either. So everything we know about Easter in the UK has nothing actually whatsoever to do with the UK, but it's all been component parts which have been pulled from everywhere else. It's great.

Julia - And we are claiming the tradition is ours but it's definitely not. Becky, you wrote a book, “Space - 10 things you should know”, what is your favourite bite of space knowledge you think we all should know?

Becky - I'm gonna go for one that has stuck with me since I was eight years old and possibly was the reason I became an astrophysicist. And that is, if you could find a tank of water or ocean big enough Saturn would float because its density is less than water. That and Saturn's my favourite planet by far.

Julia - That is amazing. That visual, I'm seeing like a huge bathtub with Saturn on the top. And finally, Thor over to you, you wrote a book all about how seeds conquered the planet, which seed has the most fascinating method of dispersal?

Thor - It is hard to narrow it down to a favourite, but the seed of the Javan cucumber, which was well known long before anyone figured out what plant it was coming from because the seed travels so far. The design of the seed is such that it actually led to an aircraft design that is now the basis for the stealth bomber, one of the most dangerous things humans have ever come up with, this single winged aircraft. The Javan cucumber also has a single wing, this thin, filmy membrane around the seed that stretches out and allows it to drift upon the slightest breeze for kilometers. And so sailing ships going through the Southeastern Asian archipelagos would have these seeds dropping upon the ships now and then. They knew all about the seed long before anyone ever realized that they were coming from these particular plants hidden up in the rainforest canopy, these lianas up there that were dropping these seeds out into the wind. So the seed travels so far that people knew about the seed before they knew about the plant.

Julia - Wow. That is a reputation. That is an absolute reputation.