HOW MUCH DO you understand about your life in this very moment? What are the invisible forces letting your phone or computer receive this article? How were the clothes you’re wearing made? And where in your body is your last meal sitting right about now?
Science is one of those fantastic things that makes us realise that the more we understand, the more there is to understand about our world, and this month, Science Week is challenging us to #StopAndAsk these questions. And since it’s hard to know where to start, we gave you the floor to ask scientists whatever you wanted to know.
So here are just a selection of the fascinating answers they had to your burning questions about science and the world we live in.
Professor Peter Gallagher, space expert at Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies.
1. Why doesn’t the sun explode?
I’m a solar physicist so I spend all my time understanding the sun but it will eventually – sort of! At the moment it’s burning hydrogen gas and eventually (in around four and a half billion years), there won’t be a lot of hydrogen left.
Then, the sun will begin to collapse rather than explode, it will get really hot in the core then the outer layers of the sun will expand after it has burnt up all of its hydrogen.
2. What is a black hole? Is it kind of like the universe’s vacuum cleaner?
That’s pretty accurate! A black hole is a star that is so massive that even light cannot escape. It represents the end of a star’s light when they’ve exhausted all of their nuclear fuel. At that point, gravity wins and squashes them down to tiny objects that are very dense, they are so heavy that even light cannot get out of them – nothing can escape!
… And how do we know they exist?
When I was studying as an undergrad, their existence was pretty controversial but now we see evidence through the ways that stars move around them. There’s actually thought to be a supermassive black hole in our universe that we see this with.
3. Is there life on other planets?
At the moment, we have no evidence for life on any other planet. When I was a kid there were nine planets and now we have over 3,000 planets that have been detected and there’s going to be billions more that will be detected.
We need to start looking for biomarkers, things like water or oxygen – all of these things to say that there might be life. That will happen in our lifetime I think, when that happens it will be like the moon walk for our generation!
4. Will we ever get to see space for ourselves?
Programmes like Elon Musk’s Space X and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic both hope to put people in space within the next 10 years. I do think it will be just the atmosphere first about 100 km away – only the distance of Dublin to Tullamore, but it’s so hard to get away from the earth’s surface because of the pull of gravity. In relation to other planets, we’re decades away from that if not centuries.
But I do think humans will go back to the moon in the next decade – NASA are aiming for this and to put a person on Mars in the next 20-30 years. We also have our own Irish space agency, working with 60 companies in Ireland, so if you want to be an astronaut growing up in Ireland, it’s now possible and it’s about time we had one!
Dr Clodagh Murphy, gut health specialist at UCC’s APC Microbiome Ireland.
5. Why can anxiety and stress have such an impact on your stomach?
They say the gut is the second brain, and it is actually wired to your brain via your spine and a nerve called the vagus nerve. This nerve sends out messages to your stomach and when you’re stressed, there is increased activity along this nerve, along with messages to your heart to beat faster, and glands to start to sweat.
What we’ve found is that certain bacteria in the gut can send messages to the brain via this nerve which can even affect your mood. There are a lot of studies in UCC’s Microbiome labs that are looking at how they can change bacteria in the gut in order to lessen negative moods and depression, and we’re leading the way worldwide in it.
6. Why do you tend to get more digestion issues as you age?
As we age, our gut also ages and that can cause everything to slow down. You’re also more likely to take other medications that can change your gut. At the Microbiome labs in UCC, we’ve actually found that elderly people who live independently and tend to be in better health are more likely to have a good level of gut diversity (the range of bacteria that are present) than those who live in nursing homes.
7. Do probiotics actually work?
A probiotic is a way of introducing beneficial bacteria into your gut but in order for them to work, they must interact with each other and with bugs that are already there so you need to take them regularly for them to take effect. Probiotics can be broken down by stomach acid so that’s where the idea of the plastic coating comes from.
However, as it’s a supplement rather than medication, there can be a huge difference in quality between various probiotics. Consequently, a healthy diet is the best way to achieve it. So try to follow a diet that is low in processed foods and high in fruit and fibre. You can also eat fermented foods like kefir and kombucha.
8. What’s a sign that your gut health needs TLC and how can you improve it?
If there’s a sudden change in your gut, you need to get that checked by a doctor. But more generally, things like bloating, loose stool, constipation and reflux can be a big sign. The most important way of improving gut health is quitting smoking to encourage the growth of bacteria, and eating a high fibre diet in order to feed them.
Dr Naomi Lavelle, general scientist and educator with Dr How’s Science Wows.
9. Where does dust come from and why can it cause such a strong response in some people and not others?
Dust is made up of a number of different things – it can be anything from specks of sand, minerals, cosmic dust from outer space, man-made pollutants like smoke, skin cells from humans (we shed up to 500 million a day), animal dandruff and synthetic fibres.
A strong response is caused by dust mites as some people are allergic to the proteins produced from their faeces when they feed off our skin cells. This can manifest as sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes, nose or throat, asthma attacks and skin allergies, but it’s mainly felt in your respiratory system., and it can really interfere with your sleep.
10. Can you really get sick from going out in winter with wet hair?
In general no. Colds and flus are viruses so you need to catch them to get sick. However there is a little bit of truth in it that getting particularly cold can suppress your immune system a bit. So if you are exposed to the flu or cold virus during that time you could be more susceptible as you’ll be less well able to fight it off.
11. How do painkillers know to target just the exact location of pain?
Some painkillers actually numb everything – the likes of morphines and other opioids take a general approach and send signals to the brain to reduce pain messages. But the likes of aspirins and ibuprofens work differently.
When we get injured, we produce chemicals called prostaglandins in our damaged cells. These trigger nerve cells around the area and send a message to your brain that you’re injured. Most painkillers work by mopping up an enzyme to stop these prostaglandins from being produced. When they’re gone they can’t produce that pain response.
12. Why is it that sometimes you can have a terrible night’s sleep and feel fine the next day, and vice versa?
There are various stages of sleep and we tend to go into a deeper sleep at each stage, we start off at a very light sleep where we can easily be woken. REM stage is the last stage and it’s a very deep state of sleep where dreaming takes place. In this the brain is very active but the body is asleep. We go back through these cycles throughout the night.
REM is when you get your best rest and when your brain gets a chance to process everything from the day. My guess would be you are being woken up and this is being disturbed, that’s why you can feel really tired and unable to function the next day, regardless of the hours you’ve gotten.
Science Week 2018 runs nationwide from November 11th -18th, with numerous events across the country. There will be 12 regional science festivals which will take place in Cavan/Monaghan, Cork, Eureka, Festival of Farming and Food (Teagasc), Galway, WexSci, Limerick, Mayo, the Midlands, Sligo, Southeast, Tipperary.
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