Category: Brain Dump

Question from Eduardo Raffaele Like us, animals carry microbes, most of which live on the skin or in the digestive system. Whole cuts of beef tend to be safe to eat rare because their...

Question from Hannah King According to recent research, the best time to start learning a language is before the age of ten. There are three reasons for this.  First, children have more time to...

Question from Jelka van Hoek Static electricity forms when materials rub together and either gain or lose negatively charged electrons, causing a negative or positive charge to build up (respectively), which can cause a...

Question from Rosie Kay The first known reference to drinking coffee was made in 900 CE in an Arabic medical textbook. However, it wasn’t until the 15th century that the coffee industry took off...

Question from Chelsea Barker Antiseptics and antibiotics are both forms of antimicrobials, which are compounds that kill microbes such as bacteria, fungi and other pathogens. Antiseptics like iodine and rubbing alcohol are applied externally...

Question from Davood Ahmed Each geyser sits atop a unique network of cavities and fractures within a rock, and it is unclear what differentiates regularly erupting ones. Geysers require a rare combination of geothermal...

Andrew Kitchener has the answer for us

(Image credit: Alf van Beem) Question by Penny Walters Hyperbaric chambers work by reproducing high atmospheric pressure to reverse the symptoms of decompression sickness (‘the bends’). When scuba diving, nitrogen from a diver’s air...

(Image credit: Popovkin) Question from Li Yung Playing dead, a  behaviour known as thanatosis, has been observed in several species in the animal kingdom. In most cases, such as that of the American opossum,...

Hoist the Jolly Roger and set sail past the jump for some piratical facts