Question of the Week, from the Naked Scientists

Listener Android got in touch to ask how octopuses camouflage themselves if they are colour blind. Graihagh Jackson went under the sea to see if the seaweed is always greener on the other side with Cambridge University's Felicity Bedford... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Mark got in touch to find out how noise cancelling headphones work. Can they damage your ears by playing back loud background noise? Fanny Yuen spoke to Trevor Cox to cut the rumble... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Listener Solomon emailed us to find out exactly what role cooking plays in digestion. Emma Sackville met up with Dr. Giles Yeo to break down the question. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Jeff wrote in to ask whether we would be able to recognise and understand an encrypted message from space. Emma Sackville enlisted Dr. Duncan Forgan from the University of St. Andrews to help decode this question... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Listener Paul got in touch to ask if it's true that there's almost no restriction in the speed an elevator could ascend when it comes to the human body, but that there was a limiting speed for the descent. Graihagh Jackson was perplexed and intrigued by the question and so went to meet engineer, Dr Philip Garsed from Cambridge University to get up to speed... Like this podcast? Please help us by s...

Connie Orbach get's to grip with Lebonhang's question and ask Dr Clemency Booth to help... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, Jonathan asked us if it's possible for two planets to share the same orbit. Naked Scientist Graihagh Jackson put this to Dr Stuart Higgins from Cambridge University... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

People can certainly smell whiffy and sometimes this is attractive, other times not so much but is this a feature of pheromones? Lots of species of mammals have them, so what makes us humans any different? This week , Felicity Bedford sniffed out the answer with Tristan Wyatt from the University of Oxford... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Felicity Bedford enlisted the help of Glasgow University's Heather Ferguson for this biting question... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The number of stars in space is huge, so why is it so chilly? Felicity Bedford spoke to Ryan MacDonald from the Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy to find out more... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Why is it that our voice sounds so different to us than when we hear it back on a recording? Connie Orbach persuaded Dr Nick Gibbons, voice surgery specialist from Lewisham Hospital to take her through Che's question... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Unless you are an identical twin it's unlikely you've found anyone else who looks just like you. But, why do we all look so different? Felicity Bedford spoke to population geneticist Sir Walter Bodmer from Oxford University who is characterising thousands of faces as part of the People of the British Isles Project... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We've all had days when we're tired and wish we didn't have dark circles under our eyes. But why do we get these puffy eyes and do they serve a purpose? Felicity Bedford spoke to Dr Sean Lanigan, President of the British Cosmetic Dermatology Group to find out more... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Listener Sterling wanted to know what causes sleepwalking and how to prevent it. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Reduced sea ice is threatening polar bears in the Arctic. Listener Kevin wanted to know if they would thrive at the south pole instead? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jess wanted to know what would happen if she plucked a guitar in space. Would her music be out of this world? Felicity Bedford spoke to Professor Jim Woodhouse from the University of Cambridge to find out. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Winter is coming and with it comes a runny nose but how can we stop a snotty hooter? Listener Amanda was keen to nose the answer, so Felicity Bedford spoke to GP Adam Forman to find out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It would appear that people on go bald on their heards, but why? And why not elsewhere? Rosalind Davis has been pulling her hair our over this one with Professor Robert Foley from the University of Cambridge... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Eleanor wanted to know why people enjoy looking at views. Do we learn this socially or is it innate? Rosalind Davies spoke to Michael Forster from the University of Vienna to find out. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

With Halloween just around the corner, Stephen asks the spooky question, Are zombies feasible?. Charis Lestrange investigates with the help of pathologist Suzie English from the University of Cambridge and immunologist Khalil Thirlaway from the University of Nottingham. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Marco got in touch after his truck tipped over on the motorway. He wanted to know what speed the wind would need to be blowing at to cause this, so he knew when to stop driving in the future. Rosalind Davies spoke to Zephyr Penoyre, a PhD student at Columbia State University, to find out the answer. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Anders asked the electrifying question, "Why do power lines make so much noise?";. This seemed rather complicated so Charis Lestrange asked Dr Andrew Griffiths, a semiconductor engineer from the company IQE. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Katie asked the very seasonal question of Why is gooseberry jam red, when gooseberries are green?. This really baffled the Naked Scientists, so Joanna Kerr put this thorny question to Dr Sarka Tumova, a food scientist at the University of Leeds. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Is it brain fatigue? Or do we go into autopilot? Sam Mahaffey asked Dr Steve Fleming from the Wellcome Trust centre for Neuroimaging at UCL why this happens. And if there is anything we can do to stop it. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Fingernails seem to have obvious uses but what are our toenails for? Was their some evolutionary benefit? And does that mean we'll evolve toenail-less feet? Sam Mahaffey and Dr Isabelle Winder from the University of York go in search of a gripping answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists