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Linking music to colour
17/05/2013
When you listen to a sad, reflective song, what colour come to mind? How about a happy, jaunty tune? Researchers have now shown that people tend to...
News
What’s on (18 – 24 May 2013)
17/05/2013
This week's guide to science on the telly and radio…
News
Scissor-handed creature named after Johnny Depp
16/05/2013
Johnny Depp isn't a name you'd usually associate with science, but a scissor-handed creature that resembles one of Depp's most famous...
Q&A
Why do planes appear to travel so slowly in the sky?
16/05/2013
Our brains judge the speed of objects passing by us through the time taken for them to cross our field of view. Those taking a long time could either...
Q&A
Why do candles only smoke after they've been extinguished?
16/05/2013
Smoke is unburned particles of carbon released when the hydrocarbon chain of candle wax breaks down. When the candle is alight, most of the carbon...
Q&A
Why do we stretch when we wake up?
16/05/2013
When you sleep, your muscles lose tone and fluid tends to pool along your back. Stretching helps to massage fluid gently back into the normal...
News
What Richard Feynman means to me
10/05/2013
To coincide with the new BBC documentary The Fantastic Mr Feynman, the editor of Focus magazine, Graham Southorn, explains how Feynman became his...
News
What’s on (11 – 17 May 2013)
10/05/2013
This week's guide to science on the telly and radio…
Quiz
The Focus Quiz
Science Quiz 10/05/13
10/05/2013
Fingerprints of a supernova, robotic dogs and Britain's very own Atlantis... test your knowledge of this week's big science stories.  ...
News
Top 5 Richard Feynman books
09/05/2013
The Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman would have celebrated his 95th birthday this week. To coincide with the new BBC documentary The...
Quiz
The Focus Quiz
Science Quiz 10/05/13
Fingerprints of a supernova, robotic dogs and Britain's very own Atlantis... test your knowledge of this week's big science stories.   Image credit: NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair
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Poll

Would you buy LG's new curved telly, or are you happy with your flat, black panel? Have your say in our poll...

Would you buy a curved TV? Would you buy a curved TV?

Would you buy LG's new curved telly, or are you happy with your flat, black panel? Have your say in our poll...

Q&A
Could you neutralise a bee sting with a wasp sting?

Although bee venom is slightly acidic and wasp venom slightly alkaline, the difference is largely coincidental. Neither insect relies on the pH of their venom for any destructive power. A typical...

Why do men have nipples?

All humans are built to the same basic female plan with the foetus developing as female or male depending on whether it has XX or XY sex chromosomes and hence different hormones. Testosterone...

Why is it only our teeth that need cleaning twice a day?

Teeth are the hardest structures in the human body, but as a direct consequence of this, they are also uniquely vulnerable.

Tooth enamel is hard because it is almost entirely composed of an...

Is there an opposite to a microwave that can cool food instantly?

Temperature is a measure of the average speed of the molecules in a substance. When you heat something in a microwave oven, the electromagnetic radiation stimulates the molecules to move faster...

What are the little 'worms' that drift across my eyes?

Floaters' are caused by tiny fragments of cell debris within the vitreous humour of the eye - that's the gelatinous substance between the retina and the lens. Despite the name, they do in fact...

Why can I hold my breath for longer in warm water?

A sudden immersion in cold water increases both your breathing and heart rate to try and generate extra heat to warm you up. This vastly raises the oxygen demands of your body and means that your...

Why can't I recycle takeaway pizza cartons?

Takeaway food cartons are usually already partly made of recycled materials anyway - about five to 10 per cent. The material itself can be recycled perfectly well. The difficulty is that any...

Why is eating liver good for you?

It’s not, especially. The claimed nutritional qualities of liver, along with those of bread crusts and apple peel have more to do with keeping the shopping bill down than putting hairs on...

How far away is the horizon?

The horizon isn’t a static property of the Earth, like the equator or the North Pole. It’s an entirely local phenomenon that depends on the shape of the surrounding terrain, the...

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