Question of the Week - From the Naked Scientists

Just what is the point to all those ridges and furrows set into our fingers, toes, palms and soles? We do some detective work on the answer. Plus, we ask how sharks make blood when they have bones made from cartilage.

We discover what it is that makes fewer or more waves crash against the shore each minute. Is it the tides, the sun or the number of surfers? Plus, we ask, why do we have finger prints?

We find out if and how plants might combat little nasties like bacteria and viruses. Plus, we ask what defines the frequency of ocean waves.

We find out why tattoos can hang around for a lifetime. Plus, we ask if plants have an immune system.

We find out how pacemakers keep your heart in check, even if you go running after a bus. Plus, we ask how tattoos manage to stay under your skin for so long.

We find out what it is that makes rice-based cereals so noisy. Plus, we ask how does a pacemaker know to keep step with a human heart?

We find out how developing bird embryos get their oxygen whilst trapped inside an egg. Plus, we ask what makes breakfast cereals go, "snap, crackle and pop?"

In this Question of the Week, we ask if we sneeze in our sleep? What stops us from 'atchoo'ing while we're snoozing? Plus, we ask how oxygen gets into a developing egg.

On this Question of the Week, we askif it makes environmental sense to trade in an old car for a new one, asthere's so much embodied carbon in a car. Find out how efficient your new car would need to be to render the old one ungreen! Plus, we ask why we never sneeze in our sleep...

We clean up the science of washing powders, how they work and why stains rather than dyes are removed by them. Plus, we ask whether it is better for the environment to continue driving an old car or have a new one made.

We ask if the Earth rains outwards and loses water to space! Plus, how does laundry detergent target stains but avoid dyes?

Where would be the best place for an asteroid to strike the Earth? Would deep ocean, land or polar ice cap be the least destructive? We weigh up the options on this Question of the Week. Plus, we ask if the Earth leaks water into space.

We find out how sunflowers follow the sun as it moves from east to west and whether the bloomshave the same attraction to the moon. Plus, we ask where the best place would be for an asteroid to land.

This week, we ask if the human race is evolving to be less intelligent, as those with more education tend to delay breeding and have fewer children. Plus, we ask how sunflowers follow the Sun, and whether they re-set overnight!

How did the waggle dance - the complex dance that honeybees use to describe the whereabouts of good food - evolve in small steps? We find out in this Question of the Week. Plus, we ask where human evolution is taking us...