1

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why aren't there more sharks?

« on: 19/08/2009 22:37:45 »

Why aren't there more sharks?

It seems to me that they have an ample food source and no natural preditors. They are at the top of the food chain and are so well developed the seas should be overrun with them yet they seem very rare.

Dolphins seem to be in the same boat and they are all over the place.

So why are there so few sharks?



A Shark.

2

General Science / What is the optimum angle for a solar panel?

« on: 15/07/2009 00:38:55 »

I have noticed the way that the council put up solar panels nilly willy. They seem to just point them at the sun when they put them up.

However, there must be an optimal angle to get the most out of them. I live at 56 degrees north, but if I positioned my mole deterent at 34 degrees then it would only be most efficent at mid day.

There are a huge number of factors to consider...seasonal things, thickness of the atmosphere when the sun is round to the west, the fact that sun might go behind the solar panel.



being delivered next Tuesday.

How do you calculate the best angle?

3

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / What perpetuates the gay gene?

« on: 02/06/2009 23:16:31 »

If two gay people can't actually have a baby you would think that the gay gene wouldn't get passed on and it would die out, if Darwin was to be believed.


A gay.

So, why does there seem to be more gays around these days?

4

General Science / How cold does your fridge need to be to make Red Wine Lollipops?

« on: 01/06/2009 23:08:11 »

How cold does your fridge need to be to make Red Wine Lollipops?

(no image available)

Also, is it possible to make red wine or gaelic ice cream?

5

General Science / Why do office chairs have five wheels?

« on: 27/05/2009 19:56:13 »

Why do office chair always have five wheels?



I'm fed up banging my heels.

6

Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Is it worth growing my Nasal Hair?

« on: 30/04/2009 23:08:01 »

The 'flu virus operates in general the same way any other virus does, by invading the hosts cells, and mounting a takeover and reordering the cell to make copies of
Flu viruses just love epithelial respiratory tract cells, cells that line the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs. In fact, it adores these cells and spends much of its time infecting them, which is why with 'flu you get a cough, running nose, sore throat etc. Sometimes it also likes to attack muscle cells,( usually associated with joint) which is why you feel so achy with 'flu. The high fever associated with 'flu is the body’s way of fighting the infection, virus/bacteria don't like operating at higher temperatures, unfortunately nor do we!! It can also infect the cells of the intestinal tract, particularly in children, which leads to vomiting and diarrhea.

As I approach my elder years I seem to have developed the ability to grow my nasal hair, should I just let this grow in order to fend off the swine flu?

7

Just Chat! / Pain in the back teeth or a good thing?

« on: 31/03/2009 00:09:05 »

I'm starting to think that this controversial dental treatment is going to cause more trouble than its worth. The treatment (a hormone injection) can cause a new secondary tooth to grow, but it has to be the rearmost tooth on whichever quadrant. It looks like there might be a problem if you try to grow a new tooth into a gap since it may push out another tooth.

If, for instance, you had lost your second rearmost tooth, could you have the rearmost tooth removed and then have two treatments?

There is going to be an announcement on Wednesday about this, do you think it may be timed to coincide with the G8/20 summit so nobody will notice this news story?

8

General Science / What's the correct way to climb over a gate?

« on: 19/02/2009 22:55:32 »

I have noticed on two occasions on the Drink For Britain program on the BBC, hosted by James May (motoring expert) and Oz Clark (wine ponce), that May always climbs over gates wrongly. He is supposed to be the one who is technically minded in the Top Gear team, but twice he has climbed over gates wrongly...even by the law of averages he would get it right once.


A gate.


May...a townie?

9

General Science / Can Hawkeye get it wrong?

« on: 01/02/2009 22:56:53 »

How does Hawkeye allow for the force that a ball hits the ground with? If a ball is smashed into the ground it will deform more than a ball dropped just over the net. The imprint it would leave on the ground would be different. I'm sure there are other factors like ball/air temp, air pressure, etc. There must be a point where tennis players realise that when their drop shot was called out, they think Hawkeye might show it as 'in'.



What does the panel think?

10

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why do dogs always favour the drivers seat?

« on: 16/12/2008 23:09:36 »

Whenever anybody leaves a dog alone in the car, they always sit in the drivers seat, why is that?

The dog will never be aloud in the drivers seat when the car is moving and the seat will be the most cramped (for a dog).

11

Geek Speak / Can I set up my printer to accomodate foolscap paper?

« on: 10/12/2008 22:31:34 »

I picked up loads of Foolscap paper at the Woolworths closing down sale, however I can't see how to change my Lexmark printer to accomidate this size of paper. Has anybody else had this problem?

12

General Science / How do the windmills in windfarms all point in the same direction?

« on: 03/12/2008 22:21:53 »

I'm guessing there is some gizmo that picks up the wind direction and turns the windmills to face the wind but I can't see anything on top of them.

Does anybody know how it's done?

13

Physiology & Medicine / Why do seat belts reduce the rate of deceleration during a car accident?

« on: 26/11/2008 23:19:47 »

There is an ad on the telly telling us to wear a seat belt. It shows a man not wearing one and having a head on crash. They say the cause of death was his internal organs being thrust forward and hitting his ribs. Well, wouldn't his rate of deceleration be just the same if he was wearing seatbelt?

If you think about it, you would prably be better without the seat belt and then let the air bag decelerate you a little slower.

14

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why is bird poo white?

« on: 26/11/2008 00:01:37 »

When birds poo on my head, it is often white, why is that?

The food they eat is rarely white.




Nice eh? Being delivered next Tuesday.

15

Technology / Are there any other uses for wind farms?

« on: 25/10/2008 00:20:56 »

Nice eh? being delivered next Tuesday.

Are there any other uses for wind farms for when the wind runs out? Could solar power be used to drive the blades on hot days to produce a gentle cooling breeze? Could the wind farms be positioned beside coal fired power stations and excess power could be used to blow the smoke from the power station harmlessly out over the sea?

16

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How do you safely cut down trees that are already leaning?

« on: 23/09/2008 13:37:41 »

How do you cut down trees, when they are like this, without damaging anymore trees?

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General Science / Why are they called Cream Crackers?

« on: 17/09/2008 23:48:04 »

Why are cream crackers called 'cream' crackers? They don't seem to have any connection with cream.



Nice eh? Being delivered next Tuesday.

18

General Science / Is it a good idea to roll up mains cables?

« on: 22/08/2008 00:23:55 »

I see a lot of people rolling up the cables to their PC and Monitors into neat little coils...is this a good idea?

19

General Science / Why is my Satellite Dish full of holes?

« on: 29/07/2008 00:03:35 »

See this, nice eh? Being delivered next Tuesday [/neilep]

The satellite dish, that my house is currently connected to, is full of holes. Wouldn't it be easier to make it smaller and fill in the holes?

Could I supe it up my current dish by covering it with some of my mums used tinfoil collection?

20

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Can we see Hubble from the planet earth?

« on: 11/07/2008 23:26:44 »

I know we can see a lot of satalites whizzing about at certain times of the day. The Iridium ones are easy to see at dusk, but can we see the Hubble telescope?

I tried doing a search on Starry Night for 'Hubble' and it took me to the bit of space for the Hubble Deep Field image. If you have Starry Night, I would try this just to see how small the bit of space Hubble was looking at.



http://i34.tinypic.com/21l0kzn.jpg