x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Question of the Week

Naked Scientists

Each week we set out to solve one of the world"s weirdest, wackiest, funniest and funkiest scientific puzzles. And along with the answer there"s a brand new question to think about for next time...

science

All Episodes

3:54

What time should I water my plants?

Question of the Week ·

2020/11/09

Kevin asks: "Does watering my veggie garden in the morning mean that water uptake will coincide with the intake of sunlight, and give my vegetables the best chance? Or is it just as good to water in the evening?" Phil Sansom dug out the answer by asking Anthony Bridgen from Cambridge University's Sainsbury Laboratory and Guy Barter from RHS... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

5:10

How do bats roost upside down?

Question of the Week ·

2020/11/02

Satish asks: "how does a bat sleep the whole day hanging from a tree? Won't being upside down affect blood circulation?" Phil Sansom went to find the answer, with help from Western University's Brock Fenton... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:40

Which water is better: hard or soft?

Question of the Week ·

2020/10/20

Hard... or soft? That's the watery wrangle on which listener Jo asked us to weigh in. She said: "my question is about drinking water. We drink gallons of the stuff in a lifetime, but which is better for us, hard or soft? My skin and hair prefer it soft, but what about teeth and bones? And which do our kidneys prefer?" Adam Murphy got the answer with the help of University of Cambridge chemist Ljiljana Fruk... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:39

Do insects have a stress response?

Question of the Week ·

2020/10/05

Charlie sent in this question "Humans have adrenaline for our fight or flight situation, do bugs have this too?" Eva Higginbotham put the question to insect-lover and expert, Eleanor Drinkwater from the University of York... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:56

Why does anxious sweat smell worse?

Question of the Week ·

2020/09/28

This week's question is a sweaty one! It comes to us from listener Margaret: "Why, why, why can I work in the yard and be covered in sweat for hours, and only stink a little; but reveal one personal thing to a group of friends, and immediately stink to high heaven?" Phil Sansom got the answer from the International Hyperhidrosis Society's Angela Ballard, and University of Cambridge physiologist Christof Schwiening... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:41

How would you measure time when in space?

Question of the Week ·

2020/09/21

This week we've been against the clock to get the answer to this question from David "What measurement of time would you use in travelling through space as a day, week, month or a year would become meaningless, and how would this affect the body clock?" Eva Higginbotham spoke to space sleep expert Cassie Hilditch, and also former NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, to find out the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:48

Why do I need to pee more nearer the loo?

Question of the Week ·

2020/09/07

This week we're flushing out the answer to this question from Charlie: "Maybe this is just me, but it dawned on me that whenever I have to hold in a pee, the need to go increases exponentially when I know that relief is close. Why is this?" So to relieve Charlie of his question, I asked physiologist Bill Colledge from Cambridge University to expel the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:40

Why do particles gather in a bucket's centre?

Question of the Week ·

2020/08/24

Six-year-old listener Jonathan asks: "when you stir a bucket of water, I know the water is pushed to the outside; however, why do any particles end up the centre after the water has finished spinning? I have asked my Dad, but he doesn't know." Phil Sansom found someone who does know - and it's fluid dynamics expert Dan Nickstroem... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:50

Do our brains process sound or light faster?

Question of the Week ·

2020/08/17

Lionel got in touch to ask us about a curious phenomenon he's noticed since installing a new sensor, raising the question whether our brains process light or sound faster. Eva Higginbotham spoke with Brian Moore of the University of Cambridge who helped us unpick the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:01

Does burying paper sequester carbon?

Question of the Week ·

2020/08/10

Johnny asked us if burying paper counts towards carbon sequestration. To dig up an answer, Adam Murphy spoke to Shaun Fitzgerald, Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge, about how useful that really is... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:37

Should you wash, rinse, and repeat?

Question of the Week ·

2020/07/20

Julie got in touch to ask whether there was any reason to wash, rinse and repeat, or if it was just marketing hype. Phil Sansom spoke to two hair specialists, Sally-Ann Tarver and Eva Proudman, about this hairy issue... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:42

Why do hospitals need so much PPE?

Question of the Week ·

2020/07/13

Carol got in touch to ask "The government has provided more than a billion items of PPE to hospitals. There have been 130,000 COVID cases in hospitals, about 10,000 items of PPE per patient. Can you find out why so much?" Eva Higginbotham put the question to medic Isabelle Cochrane... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:41

Why does coffee dissolve so fast?

Question of the Week ·

2020/07/06

Neerav wanted to know why some things dissolve faster than others, so we spoke to University of Cambridge chemist Ljiljana Fruk to find out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:53

How alike are the kids of identical twins?

Question of the Week ·

2020/06/29

Sam got in touch to ask: "If identical twin brothers marry identical twin sisters, and each of those couples has a child, will those two children be like twins?" Eva Higginbotham put the question to Tessa Bertozzi - a geneticist at the University of Cambridge. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:33

Why aren't planes dimpled like golf balls?

Question of the Week ·

2020/06/15

Darren got in touch to ask us: "Golf balls are dimpled to disrupt the air around the ball. As far as I can gather, this reduces their drag and allows them to fly further than they would if they were perfectly round. Why do we not see dimpled cars, aircraft, and trains? If this effect is so effective for golf balls, why not use it on Formula 1 cars, for instance?"Adam Murphy went looking for a hole-in-one to this question, and spoke to Sam Grimshaw from the Whittle Lab at the University of

en

3:47

Could saponins help fight coronavirus?

Question of the Week ·

2020/06/08

We've been hunting down the answer to this questions from Denise: "There are plants that contain saponins and were used by Australian aboriginal people as bush medicine. Is there any research on the antiviral properties of saponins in, for example, Australian Acacia species, or other plants?" Eva Higginbotham spoke with Maher Mohamed Abed El Aziz from the University of Tripoli in Libya, and Anthony Davenport from the University of Cambridge, to find the answer. Like this podcast? Please help us by

en

3:38

Has life changed on the ISS due to COVID-19?

Question of the Week ·

2020/06/01

We're blasting off to the International Space Station to answer this question from listener Fady: "has life changed for astronauts on the ISS due to coronavirus, and are astronauts still allowed to be sent to and from the ISS?" Phil Sansom roped in flight surgeon Filippo Castrucci from the European Space Agency... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:33

How do electrons flow in electric current?

Question of the Week ·

2020/05/26

Rakesh got in touch with this question: "Typically when electrons flow for the electric current, do they come out from the atoms and flow as electric current? Is it not true that when electrons come out from atoms light and energy is released? So why don't electric wires change their colours?" Eva Higginbotham got in touch with Dr Ankita Anirban to find out the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:29

Do we all have the same skin sensitivity?

Question of the Week ·

2020/05/19

Matt got in touch with this question: "Do all humans have the same number of nerve endings in their skin, and if so, do those of us who are bigger, either taller or fatter, have reduced sensitivity in a given area of skin?" Eva Higginbotham spoke with Professor Francis McGlone from Liverpool John Moores University to feel out the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

3:38

How do C-section babies get their microbiome?

Question of the Week ·

2020/04/20

Pavel asked us "On one of the Naked Scientists programmes it was mentioned that a newborn baby has initially sterile intestines and gets most of its microbiome during the passage through the uterus and vagina. What happens to children that are brought into this world via caesarean?" We reached out to Peter Brocklehurst from the University of Birmingham to find out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

en

150 results

Similar Podcasts

Classic Radio Science Fiction

solgoodmedia.com

Mission to Mars

Inception Point Ai

The 365 Days of Astronomy

365DaysOfAstronomy.org

Creek Devil

william Jevning

UFO Chronicles Podcast

Nik Hunter