41

Marine Science / Why is the ocean salty?

« on: 26/05/2022 13:50:50 »

Sarah wants to know the answer to this question.

"Why is the ocean salty?"

Leave your answers in the comments below...

42

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.05.30 - Why can't my partner smell certain "countryside" aromas?

« on: 24/05/2022 15:00:46 »

Listener Tim wants to know the explanation for this scented situation.

"Why can't my partner smell certain strong odours when in the countryside? She can smell manure but is immune to smelling certain potent flowers and herbs?"

Why do you think this is the case? Discuss your answers in the comments below...

43

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.05.23 - Where does the potential energy of a spring go in acid?

« on: 23/05/2022 14:41:01 »

Mark was asked this question by his high school chemistry teacher years ago, who didn't know the answer, and wonders if The Naked Scientists could help.

"What happens to the potential energy of a compressed coil spring that is dissolved in acid?"

Let's all spring to action and leave the answers in the comments below...

44

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / What happens when photons leave the sun?

« on: 18/05/2022 16:29:31 »

Donald has submitted this question to be posted onto the forum,

"When photons are on their 1,000,000 year journey out of our sun, are they traveling at 'c', or are photons slowed by the electromagnetic soup called plasma. Also, since it takes energy to escape from the sun's gravity well, do photons lose some of their energy and shift frequency upon leaving the surface of the sun? How much energy and how much Doppler shift is there?"

Discuss in the comments below...

45

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why doesn't evolution revert when environments change back?

« on: 18/05/2022 16:18:27 »

Donald has presented this conundrum to The Naked Scientists,

"It seems evolutionary change though controlled by a physical molecule (DNA/RNA) rarely reversed it's direction, or undoes/reversed a change. Why don't organisms revert to prior, highly successful forms when the stress that made them change is eliminated?  Like nothing has even tried to be another dinosaur."

What do you think? Discuss in the comments below...

46

COVID-19 / Does whistling help spread Covid?

« on: 18/05/2022 16:08:42 »

Frances has written in to ask,

"My almost 90 year old Mum has gone down with COVID. She lives in a care home and the three people that she shares a lunch table all went down with COVID, closely followed by Mum (who thankfully seems to have a mild version). One of the chaps who she has lunch with has a nasty habit of whistling and it set me to thinking could the virus be transmitted that way?"

What have you found? Leave your answers in the comments below...

47

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.05.16 - Can we generate electricity through the spinning of the Earth?

« on: 16/05/2022 14:36:02 »

Linda has this thought and presented it to The Naked Scientists for help.

"If electricity can be made from spinning wind turbines, can the spinning of the earth be used as a source of electricity?"

What answers to this head-spinner do you have? Discuss them in the comments below...

48

Chemistry / Can we make a microwave that cools down food?

« on: 12/05/2022 14:53:43 »

Listener Richard is curious about finding the answer to this question,

"A microwave heats stuff by speeding up the electrons. Why can't we cool stuff by slowing down the electrons in a magnetic field?
Wouldn't it be great to have a Magnacooler next to the microwave, and be able to cool as quickly as you heat?"

Leave your answers in the comments below...

49

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Which is the best animal has the best senses?

« on: 12/05/2022 14:44:05 »

Donald is curious about this conundrum

"Apparently, there is interspecies variation in the olfactory receptors, for example the smell of asparagus in urine.  Obviously, dogs and ants must have different receptors and sensitivity. Which species is the best at smell, or sight, or touch, or hearing, or taste based on density, sensitivity and variety of receptors?"

What do you think? Leave your answers in the comments below...

50

Marine Science / How do we get microplastics out of the ocean?

« on: 12/05/2022 14:37:40 »

Paul has a thought on how to combat microplastics in the ocean.

"Is it possible to dangle two lines behind ships one positive, one negative to entice plastic particles to attach themselves and when the vessel gets to the next port the amount of plastic gathered is used to reduce docking fees?"

Discuss in the comments below...

51

COVID-19 / Can covid tests also detect common colds?

« on: 12/05/2022 14:33:08 »

Andy is looking for answers to this question.

"Given that a cold is a Coronavirus, can a Covid lateral flow test give a positive result for the common cold? What is the test looking for that is specific to Covid 19?"

Can you help him in the comments below....

52

Cells, Microbes & Viruses / How long do unicellular bacteria live for?

« on: 12/05/2022 14:26:38 »

Donald has emailed in to ask this question to the forum,

"Humans and most living organisms have a finite lifespan. How about asexual unicellular bacteria? Do they eventually die if they don't reproduce? Do they have a lifespan?  If so, why would the lifespan reset with reproduction? Do HeLa cells have a lifespan? Can they persist without reproducing? Or the contagious cancers in Tasmanian devil's?  Life! What can it not do?"

Discuss your answers in the comments below...

53

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is there a limit to how hot things can get?

« on: 12/05/2022 14:22:33 »

Listener Jeremy would like some help finding the answers to this question,

"Considering absolute zero, is there also a maximum temperature? Perhaps an "absolute maximum" (infinite temperature)?

Given we hear temperature of exotic celestial objects measured at 10's or 100's of millions of degrees why do humans seem to inhabit a temperature range so close to absolute zero? (Or, is most of the universe actually very low temperature?)"

Leave your answers in the comments below...

54

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

« on: 25/04/2022 12:40:30 »

Adam has been puzzled over this question for a while and would like some help finding an answer.

"Scientifically speaking, what came first the chicken or the egg?"

What findings do you have? Discuss them in the comments below...

55

COVID-19 / Why are my covid tests results still positive after 25 weeks?

« on: 25/04/2022 12:31:21 »

Michelle would like some help with this question.

"I’ve had positive covid laterals continuously for 25 weeks now. I got two negative pcrs but I think that’s because I took them to late as my laterals were negative in the beginning. My tests are ok as husband testing at same time negative. Why is this still happening? And will I have any long term effects from it as one women in same position went on to have Leukemia."

Discuss in the comments below...

56

Chemistry / Why do my drains small like Sulfuric acid?

« on: 25/04/2022 12:25:53 »

Gawie wants our help finding the answer to this question.

"When I use HCL to clean the drains at my house the fumes smells like H2SO4. Is this possible? I cannot think how this could happen."

Why might this be the case? Leave your answers in the comments below...

57

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.04.25 - Does a phone battery weigh more after charging it?

« on: 25/04/2022 12:11:51 »

Tibor recently wrote into The Naked Scientists to ask this question...

"We understand that energy has mass (E=mc^2), but what about potential energy? Does it also have mass? For example, if I charge up the battery in my phone, does my phone become (fractionally) heavier?"


What do you think? Leave your answers to this battery baffler in the comments below...

58

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.03.11 - Why do electric car batteries wear out?

« on: 11/04/2022 12:28:40 »

Barry wants to know,

'What causes degradation in electric car batteries, and what are the upcoming developments in EV technology?

What do you think? Leave your sparking suggestions in the comments below...

59

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.03.28 - How are disease-linked genes identified?

« on: 28/03/2022 13:27:12 »

Malcolm wrote in to the Naked Scientists to ask us this mutating mystery?

"How can we identify a disease? When looking at a sample of chromosomes, what are scientists looking for to spot a diseased gene?"

What do you think? Leave your answers in the comments below....

60

Question of the Week / QotW - 22.03.21 - Does relativity make rocks on the moon older than Earth rocks?

« on: 21/03/2022 12:44:35 »

Ranjit has been lost in this lunar conundrum for a while so he submitted it to The Naked Scientists...

"So, gravity and time relate. Greater the gravity slower time. Time runs faster on moon than on earth. So the question-  When the moonrocks were brought back- they must have looked older than the comparable rocks left behind on earth early on when the moon 'departed' earth? Maybe not by much given the margin of error in measurement. However if that is right (and I hesitate to ask this....) will there come a period when the rocks originated from the earth....BEFORE the earth was formed?"

Do you have any answers that can make things relatively simple? Leave them in the comments below...