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The Monday morning blues were quickly banished by means of a show of school students and their excellent questions in the live chats. alan1421 : @emma how come on earth there oxygen and in space theres none i mean why doesn’t the oxygen go from earth and fill in the space emmatrantham : @alan1421 Brilliant question! I didn’t know the answer to this until recently. At least part of the reason is that the gravity of the earth attracts the oxygen to it (Niobium Zone) hamsa : Why is there no mammal with green fur? Green is a good camouflage color, and nonmammals (for example, frogs, snakes, and birds) do come in green. Why not mammals? (Earth Zone) mayerar01 : could the moon have moonquakes?? shaunarose : Since clouds contain tiny water droplets, why are rainbows not permanently present? johnwelford : @shaunarose, there needs to be quite a lot of sunlight … Continue reading →

After a busy 2 weeks we want to say a big well done to the student zone winners from I’m a Scientist from June 11th – 25th. We asked moderators and scientists to recommend students in each zone who asked great questions or engaged really well in the Live Chats, or even left some thought provoking comments. The winner in each zone gets a £20 WH Smiths voucher and a certificate. We’ve also listed a few runners up in each zone who we thought participated really well. Thanks to all the students who took part. You asked some great questions and there were some fabulous live chats, from the deep and thought provoking to the more lively where you really challenged the scientists (and their typing skills). So well done to: Animal Behaviour Winner: emily72, Loreto Grammar School – for asking lots of thoughtful science based questions Runners up: lucyluvslemurs, … Continue reading →

What a day, the week has progressively gotten busier and busier! Today seemed to explode with questions – over 460 in laser, with over 200 waiting to be checked by our BEAUTIFUL moderators, and that’s just one zone! Trying to pick highlights for the day has been almost impossible, as there are so many brilliant questions, probably, some of the best of the week: liv99 : are scientist more likely to get ill than other people?? blankasengerova : @liv99. I don’t think they’re more likely to get ill, I think teachers and nursery teachers are actually because they come in contact with lots of people in their work. (Niobium) themadman2477 : r u ever scared of when your doing sciecne that you are going to find something out that u didnt realy want to know (Molybdenum) brokenhalo : is there any possibility of parralel universes?? carolwhite : @brokenhalo – there’s … Continue reading →

Another hefty day of live chats and questions – mods have approved over 1540 questions from over 1320 registered students – scientists are starting to feel the burn, but are thirsty for more! Here are some of today’s highlights, there was quite a bit of focus on evolution and religion throughout: selmae : Do you think that humans will eventually evolve to be completely bald, because we have clothes? andrewthomas : @selmae that is a good question. I don’t really know the answer to this. There are also predictions that we might all evolve big thumbs from playing computer games! I guess there will always be some people who live in very cold climates where the hair + clothes is still necessary to keep wrm since you lose most of your body heat through your head (Molybdenum Zone live chat) nmahammed : how do people predict the human evolution? (Organs … Continue reading →

Today was a big day for live chats, and they all were brilliant – we had quite the collection of questions; Some early morning, morbid questions from Zirconium live chat: alexmizia : would a human explode in a miceowave? hazzabazza123 : how much air time would you have if you jumped off the eifell tower? amberscally : would we suffocate if there was no trees? More ecological and philosophical in Earth Zone: leggooo : @jamespope What does it mean for our future? jamespope : @leggooo I’m a climate scientist working in the geological past, (so I am called a palaeoclimate scientist) I run a climate model in the warmer world 3 million years ago, to try and improve our knowledge of how climate works and what this means for the future! chelsealittle : @nuala why do penguins have wings if they dont fly then And some thoughtful question in Molybdenum … Continue reading →

We’re only at the end of day two but already there are popular topics emerging in questions and live chats. Some are, unsurprisingly, linked to themed zones. In an Earth Zone chat scientists were asked; “rumforde : Have you experienced an earthquake? And did it help you learn more a bout earthquakes“, “capp : why are there so many types of rock and how can you tell the difference between them?” and “cat24 : why is carbon capture needed?“. And in the Laser Zone students are going crazy for lasers; Can lasers be used to benefit people in poorer countries, When you cut through the skin with the lasers how long does it take to heal? and, of course, Do you think that it is possible to make a light saber. Other popular topics are: Space – Since you said that super conuctors are colder than space, what is the … Continue reading →

I’m a Scientist started today, calmly and smoothly, with scientists chatting, answering questions and commenting throughout. It was almost too smooth.. Like a gentle teaser of tranquility before the rest of the week. Have you seen how many live chats are booked!! Top questions of the day go to some in the Niobium live chat; “partypoison : Can we control our dreams? If so, how?” “ellabella1611 : @mike How do computer cheats work?” and “niaisrandomlol : @cees why don’t limbs grow back?” This one from Zirconium – Why do some people have a shorter temper than other people? Is it to do with how they grew up? This from Molybdenum – Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? This one from Laser – If you really could dig a hole to China, and you did, and you fell in, would you stop … Continue reading →

It’s been such an intense two weeks of energised live chats and weird, wonderful and thought-provoking questions, all bringing lots of topical issues and tricky subjects up for debate. The seven winning scientists have made it through four nail biting rounds of evictions. Each student vote counted and in some zones the evictions came down to just a few votes. It’s time to reveal the winner in each zone. Congratulations to: Zone Winner Where they work Bromine Zone John Short University of St Andrews Krypton Zone Kirsty Ross University of Strathclyde Rubidium Zone Nik Ibberson Cambridge University Hospitals Strontium Zone Sarah Martin SynthSys, University of Edinburgh Animal Behaviour Zone Jo Cruden GlaxoSmithKline Genes Zone Anouk Gouvras Natural History Museum Materials Zone Lizzie Eaves University of Manchester The winning scientists all receive £500 to spend on science communication, and we can’t wait to see their wonderful ideas put into practice! Thank … Continue reading →

It’s now under 24 hours until we’ll be announcing the zone winners! Which unfortunately means, saying goodbye to more scientists today. The final set of scientists to go are: Artem in Bromine. Austin in Krypton. Hitesh in Rubidium. Amy in Strontium. Valeria in Animal Behaviour. Judith in Genes. Lindy in Materials. Thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into answering student questions and taking part in live chats. We gave the results out during a live chat in the Rubidium Zone.  Here’s what Hitesh from Rubidium said: “thanks for all support from students, teachers, my fellow scientists…and I’m scientist group for wonderful opportunity..I have learnt so much” Highlights from student questions include: are certain people prone to cancer? (Bromine) if you click your joints in your fingers, will you get arthritis? (Krypton)  how did the seas and oceans become salty? (Strontium)  how do cockroaches survive radiation (Rubidium) … Continue reading →

Second day of evictions today, but only one scientist can win each zone and so today we had to say goodbye to more scientists. The second set of scientists to go are: Matt Gunther in Bromine. Nicola in Krypton. Hywel in Rubidium. Karen in Strontium.. Louise in Animal Behaviour. Seyyed in Genes. Bruce in Materials. Thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into answering student questions and taking part in live chats! Matt Gunther Tweeted about the questions, despite the amount, he’s had a fantastic time answering them!   Highlights from student questions include: Bromine – does the stereotype of scientist being nerd and having no social life affect you? Krypton – How do you like your steak? Strontium – If humans have evolved from monkey’s or apes, why are they still here? Rubidium – What causes spontaneous human combustion? Is it real? Animal Behaviour – What ethical issues have you been … Continue reading →