1

Physiology & Medicine / Why would snow make me sleepy?

« on: 22/12/2016 15:23:02 »

Chris McCullough  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
I am a policeman and often work night shifts finishing up at 6am. I never feel sleepy behind the wheel but on Sunday morning, driving home, there was a blizzard with snow seeming to fly towards the windscreen of my car.

The effect of the snow was to make me really tired to the point where I was finding my eyes heavy and needed to pull over for 5 minutes.

Could the visual impact of the snow have been making me more sleepy than usual?

Thanks,
Chris

P.S Love the show, keep up the good work!
What do you think?

2

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Do pigs return to their own hut?

« on: 22/12/2016 14:23:02 »

Margaret asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Can you tell me if the pigs that you see dotted around the countryside go back to the same little hut each evening.

Margaret
What do you think?

3

Physiology & Medicine / Can we treat tinnitus?

« on: 22/12/2016 12:53:01 »

Susan Purchase  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
I am so fed up with this problem.  I have tinnitus in both ears, and it is driving me crazy.  I have learnt to subconciously block it out, but i know it is there.  What is the cause of this and is there a treatment to help cure it?

Thanks

Susan Purchase, South Africa

P.S. I really enjoy your talk show on 702.  Pity it is so short. So many questions and too little time!
What do you think?

4

Radio Show & Podcast Feedback / What do Alzheimer’s and Bacterial Biofilms have in common?

« on: 22/12/2016 12:45:08 »

New research takes advances in the Alzheimer’s field and applies them to the field of infection biology to help combat biofilms and antibiotic resistance.

 Read the article then tell us what you think...

5

That CAN'T be true! / Does scuba diving in cold water help you to slim?

« on: 22/12/2016 11:23:02 »

Bjoern Brembs  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Thanks for a great show. I usually listen to you when I prepare my experiments, which is a boring manual labor task: I glue fruit flies to little hooks:

Anyway, the other day you first talked about how inexperienced scuba divers use much more air then experienced divers and right afterwards you discussed the question if you could slim down just by drinking cold water. Friends of mine (a couple) are scuba divers. Every spring
they go scuba diving in cold water - their motto: freeze yourself slim. They protect themselves against dangerous cooling, of course, but keeping the body at normal temp as well as the exercise of diving burns enough calories to get the waistline perfect for summer beach time :-)
So while cold water taken orally may not shed any pounds, external application may work :-)

Keep up the great show!

Bjoern

What do you think?

6

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / What is the aquatic ape theory?

« on: 22/12/2016 09:23:02 »

Guillermo Davies Ore  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Maybe Dr. Helen Scales would be interested in this issue.  I'd like to know your opinion about the Aquatic Ape Theory, developed by Alistair Hardy and Elaine Morgan.  Is it a valid theory, or should we completely discard it?

Thanks

Best regards


Guillermo Davies
Lima, Perú
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7

Technology / On a car, where is the exhaust pipe located?

« on: 22/12/2016 05:23:10 »

Sebastian Dieu asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Love your podcast show, really really addictive just like a "Neighbours" TV Soapie.. Keep up the good discussions.

Here's my question,

I noticed looking at the back of Cars, for Single exhaust piped cars. Is it true that the Fuel Pump panel is (mostly) located on the opposite side to the exhaust pipe? eg if if Exhaust pipe is located at RHS, the Fuel Pump is on the LHS of the car.

Is this is safety design features or is it just car designer choice ?

Sebastian Dieu

What do you think?

8

That CAN'T be true! / Does drinking enough water actually satisfy hunger?

« on: 21/12/2016 22:53:01 »

JB Kurinsky asked the Naked Scientists:
   Does drinking enough water actually satisfy hunger?

What do you think?

9

Physiology & Medicine / How do you treat Dry Eye Syndrome?

« on: 21/12/2016 20:53:02 »

Anni Feely  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Do you have any information on "dry eye syndrome"?  How to deal with it and how to treat it.

Would be most grateful for your assistance - I suffer very badly from this syndrome and have no option but to work at a computer most of the day.

Kind Regards

ANNI FEELY

What do you think?

10

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Can the Hubble Telescope see the lunar landing sites?

« on: 21/12/2016 20:23:01 »

Gray asked the Naked Scientists:
   If telescope's like the Hubble telescope can see so far out into space, how come we can't make a telescope to look for the object's left by the lunar mission's on the moon!

Thanks Naked Scientists, love the show.

What do you think?

11

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is there a critical temperature above which gas cannot be liquefied?

« on: 21/12/2016 19:23:01 »

David and Judith Coley  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
There was a BBC 4 science programme about making 5 common gases into liquid and the history of the scientist that did it. They began with the easiest gas, I think it may have been Hydrogen, and cooled through a coiled heat exchanger and also expanded it through a nozzle to cool it. Then they compressed it and did this a nunber of times until it was liquefied.
 
Then they used this as the coolant to do the same to the next difficult gas, ie the one with next the lower temperature of changing from gas to liquid, and so on until they had liquefied the gas with the lowest liquefying temperature.
 
They explained that there was a certain critical temperature above which no amount of compression of the gas would turn it into a liquid. This puzzled me and I want to know what the mechanism is that dictates this critical temperature.  Is it something to do with the atomic structure of the molecule - how they are bonded together etc. or the balance or equilibrium of the electrons orbiting the nucleus, or what please?
 
 Very Curious      
 
Dave Coley
What do you think?

12

Chemistry / Could you make orange-flavoured milk?

« on: 21/12/2016 16:53:01 »

Ramin asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Could you make orange flavored milk by mixing fresh orange juice with milk? If not, why not?

Great show, by the way! Thank you for it.
What do you think?

13

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / What is the rate of heat flow from the Earth's mantle to the oceans?

« on: 21/12/2016 14:53:02 »

Jim Meyer asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi, I guess you all know the Earth is very hot a few miles down below the surface. My question is how much heat flows into the ocean from the mantle through sea vents and volcanoes on the seabed? How much heat flows into the atmosphere through all the geothermal systems of Earth?   
What do you think?

14

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How do we measure plant health?

« on: 21/12/2016 08:53:01 »

Sylvia asked the Naked Scientists:
   Hello Naked Scientists,

I've been enjoying your archived podcasts and also listening to the current ones, which can be a little disorienting; I have a comment on a story that was either aired about a month ago or sometime in 2007 (in which case please disregard). The story was about plants with brown, leaf-mold-imitating bracts.  When the bracts were removed by experimentalists, the plants produced less fruit then the control group.  The conclusion was that the plants were "doing better" when they had their camo coverings on.

We have a lot of trees around our house, mainly oak, hickory, and beech-- all nut-bearers.  Here in Delaware we go through periodic droughts, and during especially bad drought years, the trees produce enormous quantities of nuts.  I would assume that the trees are stressed during those years, rather than "doing better."  I've always just thought that in bad years, the trees work harder to continue the species.  Why would this be different for nut-bearing trees and for fruit-bearing plants?  Were there other objective measures of "doing better" in that study?

Thanks, and keep up the great work, especially Dave the Kitchen Scientist!

Sylvia
Wilmington, Delaware, USA
What do you think?

15

Physiology & Medicine / Is it better to awaken someone who is having a nightmare?

« on: 21/12/2016 04:53:01 »

Jonathan Shapiro  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
If my wife is having a nightmare is it better to let her continue until it settles by itself, and the brain has sorted out the matter that was worrying her, or do I wake her up and by doing so interrupt a process that nature has devised for some reason?

Jonathan
Pardes Hanna
Israel

What do you think?

16

Physiology & Medicine / Why do I sneeze when the weather becomes warm?

« on: 20/12/2016 22:23:01 »

Jenna Ong  asked the Naked Scientists:
   Dear Naked Scientists,

Would you care to address my question on one of your upcoming shows?
 

From personal experience and comments from friends/family, I've observed a tendency to sneeze when the weather suddenly turns very warm. Why might this happen?
 
Thanks!

Regards,
Jenna Ong
N.S. Podcast Listener
Perth, Australia
What do you think?

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / IS there a link between atomic bombs and cancer?

« on: 20/12/2016 22:23:01 »

Marisa Morse asked the Naked Scientists:
   
My grandfather is a World War II Veteran. During the war he flew into Hiroshima and Nagasaki right after the atomic bomb was dropped. In the past few years, he has fought against prostate cancer and throat cancer. When we have recently tried to contact some of his old friends from the Navy, we have noticed that many of them have died from cancer.

I am wondering, is there any possible relative link between World War II Veterans who have been around the after effects of nuclear activity and cancer? If so, could this become hereditary amongst their offspring?
What do you think?

18

Physiology & Medicine / Do we lose weight faster when underwater, and therefore losing heat quicker?

« on: 20/12/2016 20:53:01 »

Linda Scully asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Aloha Chris,

Your discussion of calories burned from drinking cold water got me thinking.  If the average person burns 60cal/hour just maintaining body temperature, how many calories are burned while swimming or diving when heat transfer away from the body would be very high?  As a diver, we are told during training that a diver will lose heat 25 times faster in water than on land, but that can't be right, or everyone could lose weight rapidly just by sitting in a slightly cool bathtub.  I would appreciate your thoughts on this, especially since Victoria is an avid diver.

Thanks,

Lynn Scully
What do you think?

19

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why don't we cough in our sleep?

« on: 20/12/2016 19:53:02 »

Matt Tisdale asked the Naked Scientists:
   Long time listener, few questions you can ponder and answer on the air if you're interested:

My friend was coughing all day then, as soon as she went to sleep, she stopped. In the morning she was caughing again, how is this explained?

Do you suppose evolution...maybe the ones survived that did not make any
ruckus while we are most vulnerable during sleep.

Or could it be to do with the body slowing down and core temperature cooling?

Great work with the show.

Cheers,

-Matt T-

What do you think?

20

That CAN'T be true! / Can eating beetroot stain a developing foetus?

« on: 20/12/2016 19:23:01 »

Luis Limonta asked the Naked Scientists:
   In a recent show, you have talked about a child that ate beetroot and he had a bleeding afterwards that stained the carpet.

During my mother´s pregnancy, she ate too much beetroot (almost everyday) and the baby was born with a red spot on the arm.

I was wondering if the spot has something to do with her habit of eating too much beetroot?

What do you think?