Answers to Science Questions

I've been suffering from hayfever ever since I was in junior high school, but suddenly two years ago when I was in...

What is it about sleep that makes it so beneficial to us when we're ill? Are we better able to mobilise our...

I am 100% allergic to onion, garlic, leeks, chives and the rest of those allium-based things. What is it about this...

I heard a report that bacteria in our gut and our immune system respond to things in our local environment. So is there...

The common reaction to allergy is a rash. Why is this and what good does it do?

Is there any scientific reason why a key suspended from a length of string held over food always seems to indicate...

I tend to get awful headaches that fall under the migraine classification but I notice that they're weather...

How cold is it in outer space and how do you protect satellites from extreme cold?

Why do we assume that life on other planets would be a carbon-based, Homo erectus type of being that breathes oxygen?...

If as a human I share 98% of my genes with a chimpanzee and 60% of my genes with a banana, how come I only share 50% of...

Why do people go bald?

I'd like to hear about recessive genes and why they say that blondes and ginger people have more of these genes...

Why is it, that despite all this talk of evolution going on, humans have not evolved for the last 4000 years?

Do scientists have any understanding of the mechanisms that skills, that animals such as humans, learn and pass to...

Why is it that when I eat spicy foods my tongue burns and I sweat like crazy? Also, why is it that when I drink water,...

Why do living tissues turn black after being exposed to critically low temperatures?

When I go to the GP, I often get my blood pressure tested. How often do the instruments that are used for this kind of...

My children can make the screw tops of their plastic soda bottles 'talk'. You wet them and place them upside...

In response to your discussion last week about whether you can use urine on jellyfish stings: I lived in Hawaii for...

I have hay fever and I was wondering why grass has pollen.

Using equal amounts of fruit squash and water, a drink is always stronger when the squash is poured in before the water...

What's the highest possible temperature that you can achieve?

What causes labyrinthitis and is there a cure?

There's a myth (or is it truth) that urine from a human can negate a jellyfish sting. Is that an urban legend?