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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Am I safer on Mars?

« on: 05/01/2025 08:34:58 »

If I worry about an asteroid hitting earth and killing everyone, including me, are my odds better if I hitch a ride from Elon Musk and move to Mars? On the one hand, the Earth has a stronger gravitational attraction to asteroids, but Mars is much nearer to the asteroid belt. Is there a clear winner here?

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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Where would I find King Kong?

« on: 15/05/2023 15:18:15 »

While enjoying the totally fictional King Kong remake, I wondered if I were to get funding to find the real Skull Island with its giant gorilla, where would I look? Climate has something to do with animal size, such as the largest bears are found in the arctic and the smallest bears live in the tropics. But living on an island makes for small wooly mammoths and large rodents. Besides, great apes tend to be mostly vegetarian and would more likely be found in rain forests than in deserts or swamps. Any suggestions?

3

General Science / Can Medicine solve Global Warming?

« on: 10/11/2021 01:55:36 »

While everyone seems concerned about shutting down fossil fuel combustion and the meat industry, I recall hearing an easier solution lies in the field of medicine. Is it true that if we offered birth control pills free of charge to the world's population, then our population growth will slow then decline after several years, thus reducing our needs for more energy, steel, concrete, and deforestation.
Is this just talk or is there some research behind this idea?
I cannot find the source.

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Physiology & Medicine / What medicines can relieve Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)?

« on: 10/10/2021 22:38:01 »

I heard that people with certain intestinal parasites will not suffer from Crohn's disease. It seems the parasite will cause the lining of the intestine to secrete extra mucus to avoid the irritation of the little creature. So then, to treat irritable bowel, instead of offering parasitic worms is there a medicine that will cause the intestinal lining to secrete more mucus and therefore reduce or eliminate IB?

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General Science / How would I recognize the Adams Event?

« on: 09/06/2021 15:53:14 »

42,000 years ago something changed earth's atmosphere and seriously affected life here. Researchers speculate a nearby star sprayed large amounts of radiation that was recorded in ancient trees found in new Zealand. Ancient humans at this period seemed to have survived by covering their exposed skin with ochre and spent more time living in caves.
So my question is: if such an event were to happen this year and I was living away from civilisation and radio (and Naked Science podcasts) how would I recognise the danger? Would the sky change colour? Would my skin burn easily?

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General Science / Which animal will fall with the greatest velocity?

« on: 25/07/2020 03:52:50 »

The peregrine falcon is ranked as the fastest animal in the world, reaching 242 MPH in a dive. However a comedian remarked that an elephant, if pushed out of a high-flying cargo plane, could beat that bird and thus become the fastest animal on the planet. After a laugh, I wondered if that were true. Of course air resistance would be the limiting factor in a free-fall calculation and so I wondered about the poor aerodynamics of the elephant's body and thought a sperm whale might achieve a higher speed if it kept its orientation as "head down".
any thoughts on this? Is there a list of animals ranked by body density and streamline shape?
And please, no rude comments from PETA (physicists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

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Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Why are estimates of deaths from the 1918 flu pandemic so wide?

« on: 04/06/2020 08:35:02 »

In my effort to better understand the current pandemic I read the Wikipedia article on the 1918 flu pandemic and was surprised to see the number of deaths at between 17 and 50 million, possibly as high as 100 million.
Why such uncertainty? I can accept a number such as 25 +/- 5 million but a number between 17 and 50 seems strange. I understand many countries kept reported numbers low to prevent panic, and many deaths were incorrectly diagnosed.
Any thoughts or explanations?

8

General Science / What was the sound I heard when I was shocked by an electric fence?

« on: 04/06/2020 07:54:52 »

I got a nasty shock from an electrified fence last month. I was trying to take a photograph of a hazelnut grove shrouded in mist and was so careful to avoid touching the expensive camera to the metal that I failed to look where my head was and got a jolt when my scalp touched the cable. At that moment I heard a distinct "ting", which at first I thought may have come from the wire's reaction to a surge of current. But I wonder now if it was something else, such as an artifact created in the ear when the electricity passed the nerve or organ. Any thoughts? BTW, the Nikon was unharmed.

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General Science / If we need to colonize Mars in a hurry, how do we choose the best people?

« on: 19/10/2019 03:06:32 »

Thinking of a sci-fi movie where a big asteroid will destroy the earth next week, but NASA announces there are enough large rockets available to take 50 people with supplies to the Red Planet and start a viable colony. Here's the question: who do you choose, and why? Obviously genetic fitness, ability to cooperate, health, and practical intelligence are top traits needed. We might consider ability to survive on a starvation diet, withstand radiation and cold, and a diversity of immunity to ensure a simple virus won't kill everybody. Any more ideas? I would like to hear something creative, amusing, or simply pragmatic.

10

Physiology & Medicine / For Athletes, how does the Carbohydrate Mouth Wash work?

« on: 23/09/2019 22:48:57 »

When I run a long race I lose water & salt and consume carbohydrates (glucose mostly), all of which must be replenished if we wish to avoid crashing into the pavement. Sugary sports drinks are available to runners but they are usually made from a powder and not mixed well so that as time passes the bottom layer becomes a syrup that causes me to gag.
The latest advice I heard is that we don't have to drink the sometimes sickening sugary drinks supplied along the route, but instead to take a big sip and slosh it around one's mouth before spitting it out.
What is the advantage of doing this? I can see the psychological benefit but can we absorb any appreciable nutrition through the oral membrane?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Does the Fermi paradox suggest that superluminal speeds are unachievable?

« on: 15/08/2019 10:52:30 »

While pondering the existence and consequence of faster than light particles, I wondered if tachyons are real and useful then we can travel the galaxy in years rather than in millennia. Then, given the large number of planets capable of supporting life, another civilization would have harnessed the ability to travel interstellar distances easily. However, as Enrico Fermi pointed out in his famous lunch time paradox, we have seen zero proof of alien contact. So, either advanced extraterrestrials don't exist or exceeding light speed in space travel is impossible. Any thoughts on this?

12

Physiology & Medicine / Is there a way to burn more fat during a marathon run?

« on: 26/07/2019 02:11:51 »

A few years ago I heard an interview with a Dr Baker then at the Howard Hughes medical something or other, and his claim to fame was that he had created a pill intended to be consumed by a runner. This pill would trick the skeletal muscles into burning more fat than usual during a long run and thus delaying The Wall, or the point where the runner depletes his store of glucose normally used to fuel the muscles. I've heard no more, and have been unable to find anything from a simple Google search.
Anyone in the audience heard of this and can fill me in on where it went?

13

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / anyone found the remnants of the star that gave birth to our sun and its kin?

« on: 18/06/2018 03:47:38 »

Four and a half thousand million years ago a star exploded, spewing heavy elements around our part of the galaxy. This material coalesced into new stars and planets, including our own. Has anyone found the location or the remains of that original parent star?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is there Earth-ejected debris on Mars?

« on: 13/10/2016 00:04:59 »

Scientists have shown that some meteorites found on earth originated on Mars, likely ejected after a meteoric impact on the red planet.
So, how likely is it that after the meteor that crashed into Mexico 65 million years ago
Ejected material may have reached Mars if the two planets were close to one another around the time of impact?
It would make great science fiction if bits of dinosaur or mammalian flesh landed in a warm puddle of water on another planet and started growing.
Love your show!

15

Marine Science / Is there a south Pacific Gyre?

« on: 02/12/2013 04:13:32 »

I've heard of the north pacific gyre, the place where ocean currents swirl in such a way as to bring floating garbage to one location between Hawaii and Alaska.
Is there a similar gyre in the south pacific, or any other ocean? If not, why?

16

Physiology & Medicine / How Does Jean Claude van Damme do the splits?

« on: 02/12/2013 04:10:44 »

Watching the Youtube video for the new Volvo Trucks, one can't help but wonder how JCVD can do a perfect leg split. The majority of males find spreading one's legs apart 180° to be painful or impossible, yet some men do it. Most women have an easier time doing the split because their muscles are more elastic than those found in men, and I suspect the difference in shape of hip bones has something to do with it as well.
Any ideas on this?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is dark energy pushing or pulling or what?

« on: 07/10/2013 11:12:44 »

The other day I thought of how a ground-based explosion causes debris to fly upward, slow, then fall back to the ground. As the explosive force increases, the debris moves higher and takes longer time to fall back to the ground, as described from Newton's famous calculations. However, if the force were very large, the debris would leave the Earth's atmosphere and may pass a point where the sun's gravity overcomes that of the Earth, and that ejected mass then accelerates away from the Earth and towards the solar disk instead of falling back to the ground.
Now scale this idea up to cosmic proportions, substitute the big bang for the ground-based explosion, and stars for debris, then we'd observe the stars accelerating away from the original force instead of slowing and collapsing. Because this matches what astronomers are observing in our skies, I wonder if one explanation could be there is a mass surrounding the universe that is pulling the stars and galaxies towards it. In other words, instead of a "dark energy" pushing space apart, is it likely our universe is within a massive container whose gravity is pulling space apart?
Taking it further, when will our world crash into the walls of this enormous box?
I'm sure this has been talked of before but I've never come across it before.

18

Physiology & Medicine / Why do healthy animals not live as long as humans?

« on: 06/11/2011 18:12:59 »

This question comes from a poem I heard on the radio this morning, asking why a horse that takes in fresh air, sunshine, fresh food, and gets lots of exercise, will not outlive a human who drinks gin, smokes cigars, experiences city traffic jams, and lacks meaningful exercise?
If humans lived as horses do (or if horses drank gin and beer while watching old TV shows) would our lifespans change at all?

19

General Science / How is the odds of winning the lottery calculated?

« on: 20/08/2011 18:24:04 »

Hello Everyone:
This morning I read an Associated Press article about a woman who won 4 major lotteries over 13 years, totalling US$ 20.4 million. The odds of one person winning 4 lotteries was declared to be about 1 in 18 septillion.
I only did one semester of stats in University, but recall much debate about calculating odds of winning versus odds of not winning.
Can someone more educated in this field guide us to how such calculations of winning 4 times are done?
The original article is at this link?
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Meet-luckiest-woman-world-forbeswp-2208865254.html

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Physiology & Medicine / Do you think H2S is useful in emergency medical situations?

« on: 22/03/2010 03:21:42 »

I was just listening to paleontologist Peter Ward's talk on H2S role in mass extinctions, where he suggests that when people breathe H2S at 80ppm while immersed in iced water, their body temperature will drop and they then enter a hibernation-like state until they can be attended by emergency room doctors.
Video at http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/peter_ward_on_mass_extinctions.html
John Berger
Canada