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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.11.28 - Why do ant bites hurt so much?

« on: 24/11/2021 12:04:55 »

We've had this question in from listener Sarah:

"Why do ant bites hurt so much?"

What do you think?

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.11.08 - Does space traffic control exist?

« on: 24/11/2021 12:03:27 »

We answered this question on this week's show. You can have a listen here:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/how-do-we-prevent-space-collisions

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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How similar is human mitochondria to those of other lifeforms?

« on: 17/11/2021 12:34:48 »

Donald recently wrote to us asking this question:

"Since the mitochondria was enclosed by the eukaryotic cell billions of years ago, how much variation is there between mitochondria of different species, families, classes and phylum? And since mitochondria are now replaced in human embryos, what prevents replacing human mitochondria with nonhuman mitochondria?"

What do you think?

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Technology / Do operating system updates require new computers?

« on: 17/11/2021 12:11:37 »

David wrote to us asking:

"With the release of Windows 11 by Microsoft, is Microsoft forcing people to upgrade (hardware) or buy new computers to meet Windows 11 specifications?"

What do you think?

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Geek Speak / Are the Lorentz transform curve and inverse square law curve the same?

« on: 08/11/2021 15:37:07 »

Michael wrote in to ask:

"Is the Lorentz transform curve the same as the inverse square law curve, mathematically speaking."

What do you think?

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.11.08 - Does space traffic control exist?

« on: 08/11/2021 15:19:53 »

We've this question in from listener Matt:

"With three space missions currently converging on Mars how do the nations avoid orbital collisions? Do they share data, do they have transponders or space traffic control etc?"

What do you think?

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.10.9 - Would a dead body in space decompose?

« on: 05/10/2021 15:50:16 »

This week, listener Daniel asked us:

"If a crew on a mission to Mars has a death on board and the body was released into space, would that body ever decay?"

What do you think? Let us know below!

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.10.05 - Why do we sometimes get the same diseases twice?

« on: 05/10/2021 15:48:43 »

This week listener Rick emailed us to ask:

"Why do we acquire lifelong immunity against some pathogens but not others?"

We got infectious disease researcher John Tregoning to give us his answer, which you can listen to here: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/why-do-we-keep-catching-same-diseases

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.09.13 - Where does the extra energy go when light is stretched?

« on: 06/09/2021 15:29:10 »

Mark wants to know:

Since the Universe is expanding and light stretches across it as it does so becoming more red, what happens to the lost energy when the shorter wavelength, higher energy light towards the blue end of the spectrum is shifted into lower energy red wavelengths?

Do you know the answer?

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.09.03 - How long does it take the food I eat to become part of me?

« on: 06/09/2021 15:17:06 »

As the more eagled-eyed among you spotted, we posted this on the forum twice! Our mistake - we got confused by the long sunny days of the bank holiday.

We answered this question (only once) on the show: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/how-long-food-i-eat-becomes-me

Hope you can digest it!

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.08.22 - How long does it take the food I eat to become part of me?

« on: 06/09/2021 15:15:32 »

We answered this question on our show:

You can listen here: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/how-long-food-i-eat-becomes-me

Hope you can digest it!

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.08.15 - How much of the brain is memory?

« on: 16/08/2021 15:50:28 »

We didn't forget to answer this on the show! Have a listen to what neuroscientist Amy Milton had to say:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/what-proportion-brain-stores-memory

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.08.15 - How much of the brain is memory?

« on: 10/08/2021 12:08:22 »

This week, we'll try to remember to answer this question from listener David:

"How much of the brain is memory?"

What do you think?

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.08.08 - Why do ladybirds have different numbers of spots?

« on: 10/08/2021 12:06:40 »

We asked ladybird expert Helen Roy to answer this on our show, which you can listen to here:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/why-do-ladybirds-have-varying-spot-numbers

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.08.08 - Why do ladybirds have different numbers of spots?

« on: 02/08/2021 16:41:12 »

We got this question from listener Ruomei:

"Why do ladybugs [ladybirds] have different numbers of spots on their backs?"

What do you think?

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.08.01 - Is lava wet?

« on: 02/08/2021 16:39:10 »

Thanks for your responses. Geologist Brooke Johnson answered this question on our show, and you can listen here:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/lava-wet

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Question of the Week / QotW - 21.08.01 - Is lava wet?

« on: 20/07/2021 13:29:03 »

This week's question of the week comes from listener Henk:

"Is lava wet?"

We'd lava to hear what you think.

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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 21.07.13 - Why don't dogs get hairballs?

« on: 20/07/2021 13:25:54 »

We answered this question on the show! You can listen here:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/why-dont-dogs-get-hairballs-when-cats-do

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The Environment / Has the wind been blowing from the North more, and if so, is it climate change?

« on: 15/07/2021 15:06:15 »

Trevor wrote to us to ask:

"Can you explain why we have had so many days of Northerly, North westerly or North Easterly winds this year?

It’s Midsummer's day and here on the Cambridgeshire Fens it’s yet another day with a Northerly wind blowing across from the North Sea right into our garden! When we moved here 22 years ago the prevailing wind was as we’d expect it to be from the South West and the trees we planted bear witness to that with their leaning as a result of those prevailing winds.  However, over the past few years, and this year in particular, it almost appears as though our prevailing wind has been from the North East.

Do you know why this is happening? Is it due to climate change and it’s effects on the Gulf Stream, or just a short term weather blip, or is it just because I’m getting older and notice the cold North Winds more..?"

Can you help?

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Could there be more water in the earth than on the surface?

« on: 14/07/2021 12:15:36 »

I have moved this topic to the Geology board as the Question of the Week board is strictly for questions that will appear on the show.