1

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why don't evolving wings cause problems for a creature before being fully formed

« on: 12/03/2012 00:44:47 »

I understand the process of evolution and I do subscribe to the theory but there are some aspects of it I can't get my head around...

For example, how does a creature evolve wings and become able to fly when the wings will not function until they have completely evolved into a working wing. I can't imagine a creature loping around with half a (non functioning wing), when said stump would probably impede it's ability to survive and cause it's death before it has chance to procreate and spread the stump DNA down into the next generation.

There seem to be many things like this in nature that are too complex to have evolved in 'one step' but would almost certainly have caused problems for a creature before reaching a working stage of evolution.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

2

That CAN'T be true! / Is eating burnt food really bad for us?

« on: 13/07/2010 15:58:42 »

I've heard numerous reports in the past that eating food when it's been in the oven too long and burnt (gone black and hard) can be bad for us.  I've heard various conditions that can arise from consuming such food, even cancer.

What's the craic?

3

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Would putting golfball dimples on fan blades increase efficiency?

« on: 18/06/2010 16:12:38 »

From what I recall, the dimples on the surface of a golfball reduce drag on the ball and allow it to fly smoother and further than a completely smooth ball, from the same powered swing. I've also heard that coating an aircraft fuselage with dimples would have the same effect, but it's not practised because aircraft are so big that keeping the dimples clean is a logistical nightmare and the dimples would only be effective at one cruising speed.

This being the case, could a fan (of the pumping or cooling variety) exhibit improved efficiency or increased speed if the blades were carefully molded with golfball dimples?

I'm assuming not due to the fact that you can't get fan's with dimpled blades, but I thought it was an interesting question non the less.

krytie

4

Radio Show & Podcast Feedback / Sound levels seem to be out. Causing difficulty in my listening environment....

« on: 18/06/2010 16:04:23 »

I've noticed on quite a few of the Naked Scientist Podcasts that a lot of insert segments (interviews, pre-records etc) are at a lower volume to the main studio segments.

In a normal listening environment I can't see this being too much of a problem because you can just twiddle the volume control for the quieter parts of the podcast, but I generally listen to these whilst I'm going to sleep at night, with the computer playing in the corner of the room.  Getting out of bed to constantly adjust the sound levels is quite a pain, and I can't set the volume too loud to start with because it needs to be just loud enough to be heard but just quiet enough that I can fall asleep with it playing.

I'm just wondering if whoever's in charge of the mastering of these could maybe normalize all pre-recorded segments to the same level as the studio volume before the show is recorded/broadcast?

Thanks for considering my request!

Jon

5

Physiology & Medicine / Why is music more enjoyable when the volume's turned up?

« on: 14/04/2010 16:28:53 »

With the exception of some pieces of music which should be played quietly for obvious reasons, most regular modern music is far more enjoyable when played just below the 'it's too loud' threshold than when played at lower volumes.  Several of my friends have mentioned this too.  I was wondering if there's an physiological reason for it?

6

New Theories / The reason we constantly move forward in time in the way we do.

« on: 30/03/2010 00:20:53 »

Many people mistake time as something that constantly flows around us rather than the accepted theory that time is a dimension that we move [forward] through in the same way that we are constantly moving through the three spatial dimensions that we are aware of.

Now, assuming that the accepted theory is correct, it would make sense that when the big bang occured, all 4 dimensions were created and began expanding (as we know the first 3 are).  At the same time, all the matter in the universe was blasted outward and began traveling through not just the 3 spatial dimensions, but through the 4th dimension of time also.  This explains why we move through time in the way we do, the big bang gave us the energy that keeps us moving constantly forward through time.  It also implies a rather handy answer to the age old question of "is time infinite?", that being 'no, but the dimension of time is expanding like the spatial dimensions and hence creating a constant 'area' for us to move into'.

I could be talking absolute hogwash or I may just have come to my own conclusion which is already an accepted theory.  Either way I'd be interested to hear what others make of this.  If I'm correct, does this imply that time travel may one day be possible, once we learn how to slow an object down in just the dimension of time?

7

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Why do fluids in freefall seperate and 'globulise'?

« on: 29/03/2010 23:28:17 »

Whenever you see slow motion video of liquids falling, they quickly break apart into many small droplets.  I was wondering why this happens, considering that whatever is causing it is strong enough to go against the surface tension of the fluid, which I would have thought would 'prefer' the fluid to remain as one larger entity.

N.B. this only seems to be the case when the fluid is falling relative to the atmosphere it's falling in.  Fluids in free fall where the atmosphere is falling at the same rate as the fluid (i.e onboard an orbiting space shuttle), remain in the most part as larger 'globules'.

8

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why don't supercolony creatures such as ants evolve faster?

« on: 29/03/2010 23:16:04 »

I was watching the BBC Nature series "Planet Earth" yesterday and David Attenborough mentioned that large ant colonies can contain up to 8 million individual ants.  Considering the vast number of individuals in the colony and the relative shortness of their lives I would have imagined the rate of genetic mutations and hence evolution of the species to be much higher than it seems to be.

Consider how many ants have existed in the last 1000 years.

Obviously this question applies to other super colony creatures, not just ants.

9

Guest Book / I can't work out how to add a display picture to my profile?

« on: 19/11/2009 19:23:05 »

So yeah, I can't find any control in the profile settings page to add a display picture.

How's it done?

Jon

10

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Where does the energy behind 'capilary action' come from?

« on: 19/11/2009 19:08:51 »

A recent BBC News article ( here ) reminded me how wonderful capilary action is.  It is my understanding that capilary action is the tendancy for a fluid to move through small spaces (a good example of this is that of a sponge sucking up water from a wet surface with no user intervention), with the article mentioning that this method can be used to build a pumpless blood analysis chip.

This being the case, where does the energy that moves the fluid (against gravity in some cases) come from? Surely where ever the energy is coming from, it must 'deplete' over time with some physical change to the source of the energy? How much of this mysterious energy is available and is there any way to convert it into small amounts of power (e.g. for a tiny tiny chip)?

Jon

11

Radio Show & Podcast Feedback / Any chance of a change to the opener of 'Ask TNS' ?

« on: 15/09/2009 01:32:38 »

Anyone else getting fed up of the 'Why do people go bald?  Why are baboons bums red? What's a light year? etc etc etc...' opener to the Ask TNS podcasts?  I know it's trivial, but there's a lot of episodes of Ask TNS available to download, and going through them, sat in bed away from my computer, it's often impractical to skip the opener.

I wondered if maybe it's time for a change? After all, change is the way of the world.  Out with old, in with the new and all that.  No biggy if not, but it's started to annoy!

Cheers!

12

The Environment / Why do clouds maintain their form rather than swirling around?

« on: 15/09/2009 00:46:05 »

I was watching some fast moving clouds passing over head the other day and I noticed something which I realised had been obvious my whole life.  Clouds always seem to move as one 'solid' block with a specific shape.  Now surely if my understanding of the way the atmosphere moves is correct, clouds should be being battered with little gusts and spirals of air all the time.  The effect would seem to be bigger still if one imagines how quickly wind speed can change when out in fierce weather. 

So my question is - Why do clouds maintain their form rather than being blown around and spread out by the winds that are moving them?

13

Just Chat! / I like The Naked Scientists and I also like....?

« on: 15/09/2009 00:38:14 »

So I was thinking that there must be loads of other stuff like 'The Naked Scientists' on the internet, and most of us (all of which must have at least a small interest in science) must have our own little sites and podcasts we often check out.  So I was thinking it might be cool to share them with everyone else.  If you've got something similarly sciencey that you often check out on the web, leave a message here letting us all know what it is, when(if) it is, and a link so we don't have to google it.  Share the love!

Mine is Dr Karl on Radio Five Live.  For those of us who like the Question and Answers sections of TNS and the Ask TNS Podcast.  Australian Doctor Karl answers your science questions on BBC Radio Five Live from 3.00am to 4.00am on thursday mornings (or wednesday nights, however you prefer to look at it).  And for those of us unable to tune in, or not up at that time in the morning, there is a weekly podcast which can be found on the Five Live website herehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/drkarl/.  It is worth noting our very own Dr Chris Smith sometimes stands in for Dr Karl when he is unable to broadcast.

n.b. I was unsure where to put this post, so someone feel free to move it for me!

14

Physiology & Medicine / Do we really have more foreign cells in our bodies than our own cells?

« on: 01/09/2009 16:58:53 »

We've all heard Chris talking about how there are many more cells of foreign material (bacteria etc) in the human body than there are your own cells.  Now the way I see it, either that's a gross fabrication or the foreign cells are much smaller than our own.  Yes I know that living bodies take host to a vast number of microorganisms and they live very happily all over and in us, but I just can't believe that over half my body mass is comprised of foreign material.

For this to be so, the forgein material would have to be intrisicaly part of us (attached) or we would be very different indeed.

So what's the word?