No. The Coriolis force (a twisting force caused by the Earth's rotation) causes tornados and hurricanes, but on a smaller scale its effects are negligible. It is commonly believed that water goes one way down the plughole in the northern hemisphere, and the other in the southern hemisphere, but this is not true. Factors such as movement in the water and the way the plug is removed have a far greater effect.
QandA
Most Viewed
Diverse thinkers, from the ancient Greek philosophers through contemporary quantum cosmology and eternal inflation theory, have called time an illusion. For them, the perception of time passing...
It depends on how high (or low) you set the bar of fluency. Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, brought up in Beirut and now living in Brazil, claims to be the world's greatest living polyglot, with a...
To avoid sinking, you need to generate thrust equal to your weight. You generate this by pushing water down and backwards with each step. For a size 9 shoe, you can’t push more than around 3...
Air crash investigators have found that flight stewards in rear-facing seats have suffered less severe injuries in accidents than forward-facing passengers. This is because the energy from the...
Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so...
- 227672 reads
-
Recent Q&A...
It’s a technique called chroma keying, where someone is filmed standing in front of a green screen. Any green colours are digitally filtered out and replaced by the desired video. If the...
Well, despite what you might think, we won’t all be flung into space. It would mean the loss of the 24-hour cycle of day and night. The end of the daily grind would have another spectacular...
When you’re truly shocked, you don’t cover your mouth; you just scream. Covering your mouth seems to be a secondary reaction, when you’re trying to moderate your initial response...
In humans there may be no point at all. Goose pimples (or goose bumps, or goose flesh) are caused by the contraction of tiny muscles called arrectores pilorum at the base of each hair. In much...
No. If you mean opening the mouth very wide and breathing deeply then some fish, birds and even snakes yawn. Baboons, guinea pigs and Siamese fighting fish yawn to show aggression. Some penguins...
Light is a form of electromagnetic (EM) radiation, and theory shows that the mass of photons f light is related to the range of this radiation. If, as most scientists believe, EM radiation has an...
Launched in 1977, NASA’s two Voyager probes surveyed Jupiter and Saturn, with Voyager 2 also visiting Uranus and Neptune before heading out of the Solar System. Voyager 1 has since become...
In cars and motorbikes, superchargers and turbochargers both use rapidly spinning impellors (rotors) to suck extra air into the engine, causing bigger explosions in the cylinder when the fuel is...
The smell is called petrichor, or sometimes geosmin, and is caused by the chemical Dimethyl-9-decalol. This substance is found in the spore coat of certain species of Actinomyces and Streptomyces...
At school, we learned about the dynamo effect, where moving a magnet within an arrangement of copper coils generates an electrical current. The Earth's magnetic...
This month:
The science of deduction
In this month’s Focus, the cutting-edge methods that will solve Sherlock’s biggest mysteries PLUS Simulating alien worlds, revealing the secrets of conscious thought, exploring the Great Barrier Reef and more
Focus TV
Who edits Wikipedia?
Focus interviews three guys who edit Wikipedia articles in their spare time.
Forum
Mars an Unlikely Place for Life After 600-Mil...
M Paul Lloyd
Feb 4th, '12, 19:16
News & Links- How to Grow a Planet BBC Two
M Paul Lloyd
Feb 4th, '12, 19:12
General Discussion, the Grey Area - Super-Earth Detected Within the Habitable Zon...
M Paul Lloyd
Feb 4th, '12, 19:05
Astronomy Discussion - Millisecond Pulsar Paradox Explained
Shadowwolf
Feb 4th, '12, 17:10
Astronomy Discussion - Hubble Zooms in on a Magnified Galaxy
Shadowwolf
Feb 4th, '12, 17:08
Astronomy Discussion - Science versus Religion
Shadowwolf
Feb 4th, '12, 16:56
General Discussion, the Grey Area - Super Smart Animals BBC One
M Paul Lloyd
Feb 4th, '12, 13:13
General Discussion, the Grey Area - North Pole and GPS
Graham Ogle
Feb 4th, '12, 09:23
General Discussion, the Grey Area - Global Warming, Climate Change, The Environme...
M Paul Lloyd
Feb 3rd, '12, 07:06
General Discussion, the Grey Area - Shipwreck in Baltic Sea? A UFO? Mystery to Tr...
M Paul Lloyd
Feb 3rd, '12, 07:00
Q & A
- Blast from the past! MT @geoffrey: Issue of @sciencefocus from 1995 with pull-out-and-keep guide to the Internet! http://t.co/DSD98f85 — 1 day 7 hours ago
- It's quiz time! http://t.co/eOmIqhFq — 1 day 8 hours ago
- The intriguing question is how the siblings with an 'addictive brain' manage to beat their genetic predisposition http://t.co/IQvGsxE2 — 1 day 9 hours ago
Tag Cloud
Diverse thinkers, from the ancient Greek philosophers through contemporary quantum cosmology and eternal inflation theory, have called time an illusion. For them, the perception of time passing...
Air crash investigators have found that flight stewards in rear-facing seats have suffered less severe injuries in accidents than forward-facing passengers. This is because the energy from the...
While Britons have pioneered all sorts of things from the steam engine and the computer to passenger jets and rugby football, we have dismally failed to maintain world dominance in much at all...
Most people agree that the years seem to pass at an ever-accelerating rate. That’s because traditions, anniversaries and celebrations gradually accumulate and merge, so that the difference...
Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so...