Question Of The Week - From The Naked Scientists

This week, a question from Bill. "My question is about Chernobyl and why it is that wildlife seems to be thriving there and yet we understand that humans still can't survive there. Why is this?" Phil Sansom spoke to someone who's actually been there - Victoria Gill, a science correspondent for BBC News... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Saugat asked "what is the exact cause of monsoon rain, and how will it be affected because of global warming?" Ruth Geen, from the University of Exeter, works with modelling the effect of climate change on monsoons and helped Emma Hildyard pour some insight into this... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Manik from Canberra asked if it's possible to tell whether it's sunrise or sunset from looking at a photo or a painting. Ankita Anirban spoke to painter James Gurney and physicist William Livingston to shed light on the situation... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we are answering a question from Alex: "Are huskies (or dogs in general) able to insulate themselves from the cold of winter and from the heat of a hot summer's day as well?"Matthew Hall asks Christof Schwiening from Cambridge University's Department of Physiology... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week we are answering a question sent in by Mark: "is it possible to have so many blood transfusions that your blood type changes?" Emma Hildyard asks Cedric Ghevaert, from the Department of Haemotology at the University of Cambridge... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Patrick sent us this question: "My wife wants me to light a candle after doing my number two, to get rid of the smell. Does this actually do anything?"Phil Sansom has been sniffing out an answer, with the help of Kit Chapman from Chemistry World. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Greg asked, "When I exhale, my breath contains carbon atoms. How long ago were they in my food or drink?" We were hungry for answers, so Ruby Osborn asked Fred Warren from the Quadram Institute Bioscience to break it down... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Sean asked "Why is it that when you look directly at a small faint star it disappears, but when you look at a point near it, you can see it again?" Ben McAllister has been searching far and wide for the answer to this cosmological conundrum... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We received this question from Aidan, "Consuming orange carrots in high excess can turn your skin orange, because of the beta-carotene. What about purple carrots?" Jack Tavener and Katie Haylor have been crunching through some research to get to the root of this question.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review. Plus, for more podcasts by The Naked Scientists head to nakedscientists.com/podcasts. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We received this question from Chani... "My socks never stay together in the wash. One always disappears. Is there a scientific explanation for where those socks go? Why are they so unhappy in monogamous relationships?"Izzie Clarke asked Rob Eastaway, mathematician and author of "How Many Socks Make A Pair", to sort out the odds. For more podcasts, head to nakedscientists.com or like and subscribe to The Naked Scientists or Question of the Week on your favourite podcast app. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Donald asked us what specific effects ethanol has on the brain and why certain regions are more impacted than others when we have a drink. This week, Joe Galea, from the University of Birmingham, helps us to distil the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Lia asked us why some people seem to be naturally good at imitating voices and accents. To get the last word, Adam Murphy got an answer from Jonathan Goodman, from the Language Sciences Department at Cambridge University... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Richard was wondering why do candles make more smoke and smell after they've gone out. Jenny Gracie has been sniffing out an answer from Duncan Graham at the University of Strathclyde and Ricky Carvel from the University of Edinburgh to help shed some light on the question... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Bree asked: If a person is born completely deaf and can't hear a thing, what language do they think in? We asked Dr Mairead MacSweeney, director of the Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre at University College London... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Marcus was wondering how trees, such as giant oaks, can grow so huge and not make a hole in the ground. Where does their mass come from if not from the dirt? Jenny Gracie has been digging deep to find an answer, with help from Andrew Weatherall from the National School of Forestry at the University of Cumbria... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

When a bar of soap gets used a lot and gets smaller, it seems to struggle to form suds properly. Is something other than just a smaller surface area going on? Eva Higginbotham has been scubbing up to answer this question with the help of Phillip Broadwith, Business Editor at Chemistry World, and Paul Dauenhauer from the University of Minnesota... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Malcolm's been watching the science fiction film, Passengers. He wanted to know what happens to air bubbles in water if gravity was suddenly turned off. Adam Murphy spoke to Stuart Higgins from Imperial College London, and to David Kinahan from Dublin City University, to get an answer to this weighty question... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Do we know if a Great Dane meeting a Chihuahua recognises it as another dog? We asked Professor Donald Broom from Cambridge University and Dr Charlotte Duranton to help us sniff out the answer to Dotty's question. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Daniel wants to know why hurricane researchers seem to use propeller-driven planes when flying into the eye of the storm. Eva Higginbotham spoke to Dr Anna Young of the University of Cambridge's Whittle laboratory, to find out what's 'up' in the field of aeroplane engines. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

With the help of Cambridge University's Professor Robert Foley, Sam Brown took a trip back in time to answer Stuart's question: If you could bring a baby from the past to grow up in the present, how far back could you go before people would notice that this was a time travelling baby? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists