0:00

Oh right, that is that time of

0:02

the week explorer. When. We

0:04

leave planet Earth just where they'll

0:07

be, and we searched the solar

0:09

system to seek out some science

0:11

secrets. My

0:14

name's Dan. Welcome to a brand new

0:16

fun Kids Science Weekly! Thank you so

0:18

much for being there Now this week

0:20

we will look up what really how

0:22

it's a bit grow sexually. You will

0:24

look at what really happens when you

0:26

are. Snotty. Yes,

0:29

Sniffling and need to get it

0:31

all out. What's happening in your

0:34

sinuses. It

0:36

is trying to help you and it may

0:38

not feel like it, especially if you have

0:40

a cold in your nose, gets really sore,

0:42

or you have allergies and kind of this

0:45

nasal drip situation going on. But really it

0:47

is your body trying to help you. And

0:51

in our ongoing quest to

0:53

discover the best science of

0:56

the mole, it's a big

0:58

question will hear why studying

1:00

spiders should come top. Spiders.

1:04

They are super smart. They have super

1:07

skills. I study spiders from something that

1:09

you can't see. I study that the

1:11

yeah no I study the dna that

1:13

makes up a spider that let's do

1:15

what it does. Did you know that

1:17

they can throw silken? Last use Did

1:19

you know they can use this silk

1:21

own water as a rudder? And.

1:25

You can join me on a tiny

1:27

Japanese island to find one of the

1:29

most elusive cats in the world. It's

1:32

all in a brand new fun, good

1:34

science weekly. And

1:42

we started off this week with our

1:44

science in the news and millions of

1:46

people across North America look to the

1:49

sky is a few days ago to

1:51

see a total solar Eclipse that plunged

1:53

parts of the continent into complete darkness.

1:56

Now total Solar Eclipse is the happened

1:58

once every year and. Half of often

2:00

in very remote areas. So to be

2:03

able to see this across North America

2:05

was a huge the Big deal. It

2:07

stretched across North America, parts of Mexico

2:09

and Canada, the United States status with

2:12

the right moment the moon passes between

2:14

the sun and earth and it blocks

2:16

the sunlight out. Now it's your in

2:18

the Uk and you're a little bit

2:21

jealous about the eclipse. Worry the next

2:23

time you can see one the there

2:25

is in Twenty Nine. see. Just.

2:28

Sixty Six years to wait, Then. Also.

2:30

An extremely rare Blind Harry Mole

2:33

as been spotted and photographed in

2:35

the Australian Outback The Northern marsupial

2:37

moleeds in one of the most

2:40

remote parts of the nation. It's

2:42

rare that people in charge don't

2:44

even know how many there are.

2:47

It's about as big as yeah

2:49

Hadn't discussed Suki golden locks know,

2:51

eyes assured, stumpy tail and hands

2:54

that looked like slippers. that sightings

2:56

of mostly be almost usually only

2:58

happened a couple of times. Every

3:01

decade every ten years only two

3:03

or three is when we spoke

3:05

these things. It's amazing that we

3:07

know that they're they're the We.

3:09

Not too sure how many their

3:11

Ross, it just shows you how

3:13

much of the world we know

3:15

and how much is still undiscovered.

3:17

And our final story this week.

3:19

Scientists say a collection of Viking

3:21

combs is extraordinary and unique in

3:23

the Uk. The ambler and bone

3:26

fines were discovered in Ipswich, which

3:28

is in Suffolk Steering forty excavations.

3:30

Over the course of twenty years

3:32

he and Riddler is a lead

3:34

archaeologist on the project and joins

3:36

us Now he and think he

3:39

the being there now extraordinary and

3:41

you need our special words to

3:43

describe. These. Fines. What makes

3:45

their The Combs so incredible? Well,

3:47

several things really. I mean. Generally

3:50

ensued work that we do. We

3:52

don't pick up Scandinavian poems from

3:54

the site as a mess of

3:56

cool, so it's kind of rare

3:59

saying. The Issue: Something you

4:01

expect coming. those molecule aegis won't see

4:03

one in the call for their entire

4:05

career. really say to have thirteen of

4:07

them come out his it switches in.

4:09

I just fantastic for us and with

4:12

with love it you know they're wonderful

4:14

things rarely. So what makes the claims

4:16

themselves quite unique? So they caught me

4:18

from Scandinavia out. What are they made

4:20

out of? What do we think they

4:22

would have gone? They're made out of

4:24

and the and we suspect that some

4:27

of them are red deer antler and

4:29

some us in the ranger and thus

4:31

and that's something that's going to be

4:33

investigated scientifically over the next year or

4:35

so. People as you going to take

4:37

samples of them worked as hard times

4:40

really show you. At this period they

4:42

show you the movement of people, they

4:44

demonstrate where people are going because a.

4:46

Scandinavians, Came into Ipswich

4:49

and were there for long

4:51

enough to be able to.

4:53

Work. And disclose these combs at

4:55

some point, and it's quite early

4:58

in the sequence of Scandinavians coming

5:00

in to England. These kinds of

5:02

somewhere around appeared from file eighty

5:04

Eight, seventy Suits about eighty nine

5:06

to find, so they're quite a

5:09

quite close he dated because we

5:11

can look at the Scandinavian totalities

5:13

for them and work everything out.

5:15

From that said, we we know

5:17

quite a lot about them, but

5:20

we just don't get them very

5:22

often, you know? So. It's a real

5:24

privilege to be able to work on them,

5:26

so. If. We talking Scandinavians?

5:28

Ian? Do. We mean Vikings here?

5:30

Where we to? I mean it's just

5:33

that it's a word that gets used

5:35

and probably misuse of it as well.

5:37

So but yes, I mean the these

5:39

these a Scandinavian Visa Vikings coming from

5:42

the New. We. Think

5:44

most likely see earliest to the

5:46

kinds a reindeer endless, a nurse

5:48

or relief of mental senior. They're

5:51

coming from Northern Sweden or perhaps

5:53

New Way simply because that's as

5:56

far south as vein the I

5:58

go. You know that. They much

6:00

as an outtake species really. The

6:02

lights, a combs, oh, red deer

6:04

antler, and those. We think we

6:06

can pinpoint those two sites in

6:08

southern Scandinavia more or less the

6:10

source of Danish German border. We

6:12

think that's probably where they were

6:14

being made. So these are found

6:16

during forty excavations over the course

6:18

of twenty years which is a

6:21

long time and clan or digging

6:23

where they were found at. Is

6:25

there any similarities in the places

6:27

where we found them yet? I

6:29

mean the science. Fair He really? I

6:31

mean I think site said the bus

6:33

the market and Gray Fries road near

6:35

the river in in in Ipswich. I'm

6:37

in alone A Smooth sites as well

6:40

and. That. Pretty well distributed them

6:42

between these sites, but they tend to

6:44

concentrate up in the center of the

6:46

town, and there aren't many from the

6:48

southern part of the town, so that

6:51

gives you an image that maybe that

6:53

was the important part somewhere around the

6:55

bus market or least if this important

6:57

part as far as the Vikings are

6:59

concerned, when they came the now I

7:02

know that. We. Don't wanna

7:04

push the idea of Vikings too

7:06

hard with this because he said

7:08

he softened a term that we

7:10

miss that. What we know about

7:12

these people from Scandinavia, Denmark, Norway

7:14

and I talked to Sweden. Perhaps

7:16

what we know about them and

7:18

the use of these combs? How

7:20

much have we learned about what

7:22

they would have been doing in

7:24

the Uk in the eight hundred

7:26

eighty and on woods? Will We

7:28

know quite a lot from other

7:30

sites and is com a question

7:32

that Ipswich was. On the site that

7:34

was ever really mentioned in these terms,

7:37

but. now we're able to kind

7:39

of etti as a big dose on

7:41

the map and say we know vikings

7:43

came to ipswich at this time and

7:45

of the pretty early time as well

7:47

research on all these things is ongoing

7:49

but these kinds of sizes comes don't

7:51

turn up very often i'm looking forward

7:53

to sign ten the next one but

7:55

it won't be any time soon he

7:57

knows gonna be a while i think

8:00

So it's helping us an awful

8:02

lot in trying to understand what

8:04

happened to England at that period

8:06

because you have an area known

8:08

as the Dane Law, which

8:11

is the Scandinavian area, and then you

8:13

have an area beyond that to

8:15

the west and the south, which is

8:18

the Anglo-Saxon area. And we

8:20

can build a picture and

8:22

start to develop images of how these

8:24

two areas worked across the 9th century

8:27

and the 10th century, and then again

8:29

in the 11th century before the Normans

8:31

arrived. And it is a

8:33

fascinating picture. There's a sense of

8:36

people moving about an awful

8:38

lot. There's a sense of

8:40

industries and crafts developing in

8:42

some areas, but also of

8:45

economic recession in other areas too.

8:48

Amazing. Just so much. It's been brilliant to

8:50

chat to you, Ian Riddler, lead

8:52

archaeologist on this project. And remember, Vikings

8:54

didn't have horns on their helmets. Ian,

8:57

thank you for joining us. Amazing

9:02

to travel through time with Ian Riddler,

9:04

right? Who'd have thought that people way

9:07

back, like thousands of years

9:09

ago, would care so much about

9:11

their hair and their beads,

9:13

I guess, that they would use cones

9:15

and make it out of

9:18

the materials that they had around them. Brilliant

9:20

to time travel with Ian. Let's

9:23

travel through the wonders of science

9:26

and your mind now. I'll

9:29

answer some of your questions. Love this part of the show. Every

9:31

week, if you have a science question that you want

9:34

answered, it can be about anything at all. Some

9:36

it going on in the universe, something that you've heard

9:38

and you're not quite sure if it can possibly be

9:40

true. Let me know. Normally,

9:42

as a voice note on the Free Fun Kids

9:45

app, that's the best way, and I will sort

9:47

it all out for you. First up this week

9:49

is actually a message that was sent to me

9:51

on the website and it is

9:53

anonymous. If you are going to send a

9:55

question, I'd love you to leave your

9:57

name so I can say hello. They

10:00

want to know how does a camera work? Well

10:02

the way cameras work has

10:04

changed so much in over

10:07

a hundred years. The first

10:09

bit of tech that was able to properly capture

10:11

a picture was invented in 1816 and

10:15

it was called the Heliograph. Then

10:17

in 1839 someone called Louis Dauguer

10:19

created the Daguerreotype which is much

10:21

closer to the cameras that we

10:24

use today. Anyway, it works by

10:26

letting a very small amount of light into

10:28

it. The lens over the

10:30

top focuses the light that's in

10:33

the frame, the picture that you

10:35

want to capture, then the shutter

10:37

opens and closes very quickly. The

10:40

light rays focused by the lens

10:43

then form an image in

10:45

the camera. In the

10:47

old days that image would make

10:50

it a mark on film, a

10:52

very special type of material where the light would

10:54

make this lasting mark on there that you were

10:57

trying to take a picture of. Then you would

10:59

take it into a dark room, you would use

11:01

very special chemicals which would bring out originally the

11:03

black and white and then the colour which

11:06

would lift it so it stayed

11:08

on that film forever. Now in

11:10

modern cameras, digital ones and

11:12

now really ones that you get on your phone,

11:15

the light triggers electronic signals

11:17

in the computer which

11:19

tell the camera what is happening so it

11:21

can take a saved memory of it. Thank

11:24

you so much. Whoever sent that in,

11:26

if it was you, brilliant question. That's

11:28

how our camera works. Let's see what

11:30

else we've got this week. This is

11:32

from Cassidy and it's getting quite

11:35

snotty and sniffly. Thank you for sending

11:37

this in Cassidy. Why do we

11:39

blow our nose? Cassidy, thank

11:41

you so much for your question. Something

11:43

so simple that I think

11:46

we never actually wonder. Let's find out.

11:48

Helping us discover why we blow our

11:50

nose. Laurie Dove is with us from

11:52

How Stuff Works. Laurie, thank you for

11:54

being there. Do you remember the last

11:56

time you blew your nose? It

11:58

was just a few moments ago. So I

12:00

am well versed in remembering how to

12:03

do this. But why

12:05

does it happen? What's going

12:07

on, Laurie? That's the question.

12:09

And I love answering this

12:12

because what's so fascinating about

12:15

curious people is that they ask

12:17

the questions that we should probably

12:19

all be thinking about a little

12:22

more often. So, blowing

12:24

our noses, why? The

12:26

big question here is what's

12:29

happening inside of our

12:31

nostrils. There's sort of this rich

12:33

life going on in there. And

12:36

it all works together for health

12:38

and well-being in what

12:41

might seem like a mysterious way. It's

12:43

actually quite simple. So the

12:45

nostril membranes, which are usually

12:47

a nice pink color like

12:49

the gums or whatnot, they

12:53

are healthy membranes. And

12:56

if you happen to have a cold

12:58

or allergies or something else going on,

13:00

you'll notice that they may change color.

13:02

And for children especially, who might be

13:04

looking right up into the nostrils of

13:06

someone quite taller than them, it

13:08

is probably pretty evident what's going

13:10

on in there. So it's

13:13

important to take a closer look.

13:15

So the stuff that we blow

13:17

out, the snot, what

13:20

is it? Well, the snot

13:22

is this defense mechanism. So

13:25

really what's happening is that when

13:28

you have an invader, and think

13:30

of it in kind of a

13:32

Minecraft scenario, right, where you have

13:34

invaders like coming into your nostrils,

13:37

there are certain lines of

13:39

defense. So you have some

13:41

very small hairs in there

13:43

called cilia, and

13:45

they all start waving

13:48

together when a foreign

13:51

contaminant comes in. And

13:53

when they start waving together, we

13:56

may interpret that as an itch

13:58

or a tickle. And

14:00

then suddenly we're compelled to

14:02

help get that foreign contaminant

14:04

out of our nostrils by

14:06

blowing our noses. But

14:09

along with that, we'll probably all

14:11

notice that there is snot by

14:13

whatever word you want to call

14:15

it. And that is

14:17

really just the viscous liquid

14:19

that our body produces to

14:22

encapsulate that contaminant and help

14:24

us expel it out. Right,

14:27

so when we see

14:29

snot, I mean it's a little bit gross. And

14:31

so we must think, well that can't be healthy.

14:33

Why is my body doing that? But really it's

14:35

your body trying to almost

14:39

glue and stick down anything that's trying

14:41

to get in. You've got a nice

14:43

ball that you can snot out. Right,

14:47

that's it. I mean your body's

14:50

helping. It's giving you something to

14:52

work with. And so it's really

14:54

in this partnership that's very nuanced

14:56

and sophisticated between your body and

14:59

your brain and everything that's happening

15:01

there. And it is trying

15:03

to help you. And it may

15:05

not feel like it, especially if you have

15:07

a cold and your nose gets really sore

15:09

or you have allergies and kind of this

15:12

nasal drip situation going on. But

15:14

really it is your body trying to help

15:16

you. It's similar to when you might have

15:18

a fever. And we are

15:20

often quick to treat a fever because

15:22

we know that that's some kind of

15:25

sign of illness. But the

15:27

fever is also working with our body. And

15:30

the same is true of this

15:32

snot, this mucus that we're able

15:34

to expel. So when we have a cold,

15:37

why do we have loads more of it? Is

15:39

it the body making more to

15:42

try and catch more of the invaders?

15:44

Is it more of the invaders actually trying to get

15:46

in? Why do

15:49

we tend to be really snotty when we're

15:51

ill? Yeah, that's the question.

15:54

Because it is different from

15:56

our normal circumstances. And

15:59

so we particularly... wonder why. And it

16:01

is both of those things. So you really have

16:03

a give and take there. So you have more

16:05

of a contaminant, whether it is

16:07

something that's viral, say from a

16:10

cold, or it is a

16:12

foreign object that has made

16:14

it into the body, such as

16:16

an allergen, or even something as

16:18

benign as maybe a fleck

16:21

of cracked pepper. So all

16:23

of those things to various

16:26

degrees will create a reaction in

16:28

the nostrils, and then

16:30

those are encapsulated. And so

16:32

that's why you'll have maybe

16:34

sometimes more mucus, more snot,

16:37

and it might go on for a

16:39

longer period of time. If you just

16:41

have some pepper that you've sniffed up

16:43

your nose, you may have a runny

16:46

nose for a moment and blow that out.

16:48

And it lasts just a short time. But

16:50

if you're fighting a cold, it

16:53

could go on for days. Laurie

16:55

Dove from How Stuff Works. Thank

16:57

you so much for joining us.

16:59

My pleasure. Thank you. Brilliant questions

17:01

today all about shutters and snots.

17:04

If you have anything you want answered next

17:06

week, make sure you leave it as a

17:08

voice note on the free Fun Kids app.

17:10

Just click a button there. You can do

17:12

it at funkidslive.com too. And

17:17

let's get to this week's dangerous Dan then. Recently,

17:20

we've been searching around the

17:22

universe finding really weird, strange,

17:25

often very deadly things in

17:27

science. And we've been

17:29

looking at some of the

17:31

most rare creatures in the world. Let's

17:34

head to a tiny Japanese island

17:36

to find the Iriamote Cat. It's

17:39

a native to the island of Iriamote.

17:41

It's a wild cat, one of the

17:44

most rare and elusive on the planet.

17:46

Only 100 are thought to be left

17:48

in the wild. They are small, they

17:50

are agile. They've got quite long hair

17:53

but with a short tail covered in

17:55

short hairs there. It's got dark brown

17:57

spots and some stripes stroking. A common

17:59

sight. across its back. Now some people

18:02

think it's a rare type of small

18:04

leopard, others think it's a completely different

18:06

type of cat. It's so

18:08

rare that we know so little about it

18:11

that we don't even know what

18:13

it is. How amazing is that?

18:15

Scientists argue about specifically what species

18:17

it is. It's a

18:19

brilliant hunter, we know that.

18:21

Takes down small mammals, reptiles,

18:23

even birds. It's a brilliant

18:25

climber too. And even though

18:27

it is so rare, we know that it's the

18:30

top predator on Eriamote. It's incredibly

18:32

important on keeping the balance of

18:34

the ecosystem, making sure no other

18:36

species can take over, letting others

18:38

thrive. And it's really important in

18:41

science. So we've got these creatures

18:43

that are almost the apex predators

18:45

of their ecosystem and they keep

18:47

everything else in check. And this

18:49

one looks mean, it looks wild.

18:52

It's so smart, it's brilliant, it's

18:54

hiding, fantastic at climbing, it's stunning,

18:56

it's strikes. And that is

18:58

why the Eriamote cat goes straight onto

19:00

our dangerous Dan list. It's

19:05

the Fun Kids Science Weekly this

19:07

week in our battle of the

19:09

sciences when we try and discover

19:11

which field should come first. We're

19:14

looking at something, well sometimes small,

19:16

something a bit bigger. Often they

19:18

might make you a bit squeamish.

19:20

Let's find out more. Trying to

19:22

prove why their field should be

19:24

first is Sarah Goodacre, professor of

19:26

evolutionary biology and genetics at the

19:28

University of Nottingham. It's all about

19:30

our chronology. Sarah, thank you for

19:33

joining us. You have one minute

19:35

to tell us why our chronology is

19:37

the best. It starts in three, two,

19:39

one, go! So

19:43

thank you so much for asking me.

19:45

Our chronology, the study of spiders. Spiders,

19:47

they are super smart, they have super

19:49

skills. I Study spiders from

19:51

something though that you can't see. I Study

19:53

their DNA. I study the DNA that makes

19:55

up a spider that lets it do what

19:58

it does. Did You know that they... Dr.

20:00

Phil can lawsuit? Did you know they

20:02

can use a silk of water as

20:04

a rudder is? You know that they

20:06

can fly hundreds of meters of in

20:09

fear and many many kilometers just in

20:11

a single they did. You know that

20:13

they fly past Oceanic Island to from

20:15

the first creatures brave pioneers lambasted. You

20:17

know the on your doorstep in your

20:19

garden they'll be eating little insect pests

20:21

that we don't really want. And did

20:23

you know that they let someone like

20:25

me have a blueprint? a template for

20:28

making artificial for the silk? The we.

20:30

Might one day use in medicine or

20:32

an engineering is new ways to cope

20:34

with the world around. There we go.

20:36

Just admit it, Sarah. Thirty five bucks in

20:38

The answer to a lot of those is

20:40

no, I did not know the I'm very

20:43

excited to point out. So let's just start

20:45

right at the beginning. When a lot of

20:47

people. Are. A bit

20:49

creeped out by spiders. Why did you

20:51

focus on a wide? You dedicated so

20:53

much of your life to trying to

20:55

discover some secrets of this beast that

20:58

we don't know really. Good question why

21:00

studies find as well Spiders are super

21:02

smart and the suit aren't really is

21:04

that they sold problems and I want

21:06

to know how they did It states

21:08

solve problems such as hell to live

21:10

under water and produce silk that acts

21:12

as a gale acts like a fishy

21:14

skills so they can breathe underwater. They

21:16

have managed to fly up into the

21:18

I use in the silk as a

21:20

sale. I want to know how they

21:22

do this I want to be on

21:24

to copy it's that might help us

21:27

by also want to find out because.

21:29

You. Think this day and age we have

21:32

a textbook the told us everything there

21:34

is to know about that little money

21:36

spider that you might see on your

21:38

doorstep own your window sill and we

21:40

don't I really think we should say

21:42

for example did you know that in

21:44

your garden or in a local country

21:46

part is a candy striped spider and

21:48

it comes in three different colors yellow,

21:50

pink and white and no one knows

21:52

why or did you know that the

21:54

little spin the like spy that you

21:56

my seen your bathroom get sick all

21:58

the web. It. Pier it

22:00

spins. And. Nobody knows why, but

22:02

some of them actually don't spin. And

22:05

we don't know why they don't either. So

22:07

all of these things on trying to work out

22:09

why and why I know is when I

22:11

get to the end of my career there

22:13

will be still so much more to discover, thought

22:15

like to encourage all of the listeners. Don't

22:19

find out what their is that we don't yet

22:21

know about. Fight is another creatures and see how

22:23

much fun you can have with it. Well

22:25

you mentioned and this is normally a

22:27

question I do riot the end but

22:29

you have prompted me his When your

22:31

career is over. What's. The one

22:33

thing that you really want to find

22:35

day: have you got some unanswered question

22:38

that you'd just need to souls? There

22:40

is one. Yes. Great. Question I have

22:42

one question I would like to solve

22:44

this. a little Money Spider the is

22:47

two millimeters loan and lives on the

22:49

hedges in your garden or in your

22:51

per country park. Now the nails. They

22:54

have to have their eyes upon

22:56

a long stork. And

22:58

the other six eyes. So all my head

23:00

I want to know some they see around

23:03

corners and I think we could work that

23:05

out, but nobody's done it yet and I'm

23:07

hoping at some point to work out com

23:09

they see around corners because if they can,

23:12

that might be why they're only so there.

23:15

Is they can't. It. Can't

23:17

be for that reason so that be my one. My one

23:19

thing I hope to de. Sus brilliantly.

23:21

Simplistic. right? I think many people

23:23

might have anticipated some Suge answer, but you

23:26

want to know whether this one particular spider

23:28

can get around corners and that's the mark

23:30

his side's is it is that was so

23:32

fascinated by one thing and we decide to

23:34

prove that one thing. will that's right

23:37

now the thing is you see that

23:39

next level of difficulty or complexity of

23:41

the like is the fact that as

23:44

my body class notes got legs mean

23:46

it's the hate when it's core body

23:48

is the same dna patterns that govern

23:51

let's say and ends and and and

23:53

to score a middle as well as

23:55

ahead and an optimum cynical six flags

23:58

all complicated dna instructions tell what little

24:01

developing invertebrate to

24:03

turn into a spider and another to turn into

24:06

ants, let's say. So all

24:08

of these really, really complicated

24:11

interactions end up with something that has,

24:13

let's say, six eyes versus eight eyes

24:15

or six legs versus eight

24:17

legs. And if you understand

24:19

how all that came about, you can

24:22

see then why something's

24:24

got two of its eyes up on a stalk

24:26

and the other six somewhere else. So actually once

24:28

I know what it does with those eyes, I

24:30

can then start saying, right, what are the DNA

24:32

instructions that tell it to do that? And

24:35

that actually sometimes helps us because it

24:37

helps us understand what happens when things

24:39

don't go quite right? What

24:42

should we expect? Why do things not

24:44

always go exactly the way that they

24:46

should? And all of these things

24:48

get poured into a big pot of scientific

24:51

knowledge that help scientists working on all

24:53

sorts of other things solve their

24:55

problems too. Wow. So much

24:58

in that. So many questions, so many

25:00

answers, a brilliant case for arachnology.

25:03

Professor Sarah Goodacre, thank you for joining us.

25:05

Very lovely to be with you. What

25:07

do you think then? Does

25:10

the smart field of studying spiders

25:12

go to the top of our

25:14

battle of the sciences? Do you

25:16

think that's the best science in

25:18

the universe? We will

25:20

have another genius letting us know why

25:22

theirs should be the best really

25:25

soon. Now earlier on in the show we

25:27

had Laurie Dove coming on answering

25:30

Cassidy's question about why we blow our

25:32

nose and it reminded me of a

25:34

brilliant podcast series that we've got with

25:36

our Benny and Mal. These are our

25:38

microbe friends. They live in your body

25:40

and they learn all about

25:43

what's happening inside you, how things

25:45

outside could affect what's going on

25:47

inside too. And let's

25:49

dive back into the exciting

25:51

world of microbiology with Benny

25:54

and Mal thanks to Cassidy's

25:56

question. We're wondering why actually

25:58

humans get cold. and

26:00

how we can prevent and stop getting ill. Good

26:05

bugs, bad bugs. We're supporting

26:07

society for general microbiology. Microbes

26:11

get everywhere. They're on us, in us

26:13

and around us. If you've got a

26:16

microscope, like me, you can see them

26:18

for yourself. Look! Alright

26:23

there. That's Benny. He's a

26:25

helpful sort of microbe. Lots of microbes

26:27

are. Not you again. Can't you leave

26:29

us in peace? And that's Mal. He's

26:32

not very nice. A few microbes

26:34

are horrible and they're called germs.

26:37

Charming. I'm not all that keen on you either.

26:41

Hey easy Mal, mate. You're not doing yourself

26:43

any favours there. So what's up

26:45

guys? Thought we'd take a look at one of the most

26:47

common collisions you humans have with

26:49

germs. Catching a cold. Yeah,

26:52

it makes you humans all snotty

26:54

and even more horrible than usual.

26:58

Hang on. What are you doing with

27:00

that tissue? Microbes don't have noses. Just

27:02

adding a bit of colour, that's all. Actually,

27:04

it's a bit weird isn't it that humans talk

27:06

about catching a cold when the last thing you

27:08

want is a cold. If it was thrown at

27:10

you, you'd want to drop it, not catch it.

27:16

Well, the germs that are responsible

27:18

for most colds are so amazing

27:20

that you humans don't even realise

27:22

you're under attack. Yeah,

27:25

the culprits behind most common colds

27:27

are the viruses. And check this

27:29

out. There's two hundred different types

27:31

doing the rounds all the time. And

27:33

half of them are caused by the rhinovirus.

27:37

Which gets its name because you catch it

27:39

from rhinoceros it is. Yeah, that's

27:41

clearly rubbish Mal. He's just pulling your leg

27:43

there. Rhino just means nose. You

27:45

know, like the horn on a rhinoceros' nose.

27:47

Now, you know me

27:50

Mal, I try to see the best in everyone

27:52

don't I? Viruses, I just

27:54

can't like them. They're well

27:56

weird. I think they're incredible.

27:58

So... amazing they

28:01

can't exist on their own so

28:03

they're basically breaking into the cells

28:05

of other living things to survive.

28:07

Verging on the criminal. The

28:09

virus has one aim and that's to make

28:11

more copies of itself and it will do

28:13

that by sticking to the host cell

28:15

breaking in and invading it. Hehehe

28:17

and this is the yucky

28:19

bit it creates loads of

28:21

copies of itself inside that

28:23

cell and then when the cell

28:26

bursts open the viruses get

28:28

spread all around like a big

28:30

germy bomb. Now that's a firework

28:32

show I'd pay to see. Unpleasant.

28:36

So how do you humans catch

28:38

a cold? Well we've

28:40

had a look at some of the ways

28:42

microbes get around haven't we Mal? Yeah you

28:44

can pick up the germs from other people

28:46

or the air or even water or food

28:48

or surfaces sometimes

28:51

pets and insects all sorts of

28:53

ways. So let's take a particularly

28:55

stupid human who got sneezed on

28:57

by a friend with a cold. The

29:00

virus can only live for about a

29:02

day outside of living cells so

29:04

it has to find something to attach

29:06

to. That's right and if you get sneezed

29:08

on the viruses could get into your nose

29:11

and throat in about 15 minutes. Here's

29:14

a fun fact if you get sneezed

29:16

in your eye the tear ducts carry

29:18

the virus down to your throat. It's

29:20

true. Sounds like

29:22

great fun like a waterfall. Well I

29:25

wouldn't call it fun certainly not for

29:27

the person whose friend has just very

29:29

rudely sneezed in their face. Once

29:31

the viruses have landed on the soft wet

29:33

mucus covered cells that line your nose and

29:35

throat. How? They start invading

29:37

your cells setting up their virus

29:40

factories and exploding all over the

29:42

place and spreading the new viruses

29:44

around. It's

29:46

about as disgusting as it gets and they're pretty

29:48

tough. You don't need many viruses to catch a

29:51

cold and you don't even know

29:53

it was being thrown at you for you

29:55

to catch. Luckily your body can throw most

29:57

colds off. It takes about three days for

29:59

your immune. system to start winning the

30:01

fight and in that time the virus

30:03

will be doing everything it can to

30:05

spread itself around. And talk

30:07

about a bag of tricks!

30:10

All that coughing and sneezing

30:12

and wiping noses with fingers

30:14

and picking noses! It all

30:16

passes the virus around to

30:18

other people. Remote controls, door

30:20

handles, pens, you name

30:22

it. Viruses can even sit on those surfaces

30:25

and wait for a whole day for someone

30:27

else to pick them up. I told you

30:29

they were amazing! But don't let Mal

30:31

make you think that they're in charge.

30:33

Humans can fight back. You want

30:36

to stop the rhinovirus in its tracks? Just wash

30:38

your hands, use a tissue and

30:40

throw it away. So simple. And try

30:42

not to sneeze in people's faces.

30:44

That's just bad manners. Viruses love

30:46

children because they have all sorts

30:48

of grubby habits to help germs

30:50

move about. It's true. So children

30:53

tend to get more colds. Horrible,

30:55

snotty oinks! Hey easy, no need

30:57

to be rude. But what should

30:59

cheer you up is that the

31:02

older you get, the fewer colds

31:04

you'll get. Your body begins to recognise

31:06

them. Remember the antibodies we talked about before?

31:09

And kill them off before they can

31:11

start an attack. Oh?

31:14

I think I might possibly be about to

31:16

divide. How about you Mal? Yeah,

31:18

bivvily, figgily, divinely! Dividing

31:21

is something we bacteria can't help

31:23

doing. Making copies of ourselves by

31:25

splitting in two basically. Here

31:27

we go! Ha ha ha

31:29

ha ha! So,

31:34

anyway, we'd better go. As

31:36

you can see, microbes come in all

31:38

sorts. The vast majority don't

31:40

bother humans at all and can

31:43

even be helpful. I hope

31:45

Mal and I have been our helpful

31:47

microbes for you today. You definitely have.

31:49

Thanks, Benny and Mal. See you next

31:51

time! the

32:01

society for general microbiology. You

32:30

can listen all over the country on

32:32

our app, on the website and if you've

32:34

got a smart speaker make sure you

32:36

wake it up and ask it to play Fun Kids.