We're back! And kicking off season 2 with an episode on suncream*! The perfect episode to introduce our new (pale and ginger) co-host: Alec. Did you ever think about what we cover ourselves in on hot sunny days? What's in it exactly that stops us getting burnt by the UV light from the sun? And where does it go after you use it? We weigh up the pros and cons of sun creaming up or getting burnt to a crispy crisp.

* or sunscreen

Do NOT start here! Consider yourself warned. We've been two thirds of the way round the sun since we last released an episode for you, so here is the much delayed follow up of season one. We go through each episode, reminiscing our favourite parts and answer YOUR real science questions, that you had after listening to the episodes. And also some more questions that we had ourselves!

The face symmetry flip webapp Pip made you can find here:

https://symmettry-face-flip.herokuapp.com/

To get everyone in the festive mood we've produced a special Christmas Science themed episode, first with snow! We look into the burning snow conspiracy, how snow is formed and how all snowflakes are unique, and if there's ever a safe time to eat yellow snow. Then we have some fun discussing how reindeers could possibly fly, and how Rudolph could have a glowing red nose. Last we find out why we are obsessed with putting mistletoe in our houses over the festive season. Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all!

Snowmakes, the unique snowflake generator as promised - http://snowmakes.herokuapp.com/

Amazing Mushrooms! How did Fungi transform the planet millions or years ago? And how are they transforming it again right now? As well as the fascinating properties of Fungi, we look at their symbiotic relationship with plants and trees, or wood - that's right, it wasn't a typo in the title! We end up discussing if ingesting magic mushrooms is what made humans the way they are, and Pip tracks down other animals that seek out natural psychedelic experiences.

In part 2 we explore the neuoscience and physchological aspects of music, how it can be used to maniupulate us, and how it can even help with things like dimentia or brain injuries. We look into perfect pitch and the (sort of) opposite - tone deafness, why do certain countries have a lot less tone deaf people? We also discover beat deafness and Pip does a crude experiment on her friend with this condition, to see if there's a relation with tone deafness. Some how we also end up discussing K-Pop and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Many surprises!

How does science relate to music? - in part 1 we explore how sound becomes music, how it effects us, and the physics behind why instruments have such different sounds - we explore the sound waves of different instruments with a quiz! We'll upload the quiz with photos on our youtube channel so you can play along soon.

This week we're sticking with extreme life, but channelling our inner David Attenboroughs by looking at extreme animals and plants, living in hostile places, ultra cold places, incredibly deep and high pressures places, and very high, low pressure places! We look at the science behind these creatures and the adaptations that allow them to live where humans never could!

A few clips from various episodes to give you a taste of what we get up to on the Real Science Questions podcast.

This week Pip and Tara explore extremophile life - life that not just survives, but thrives in hostile environments (super hot, salty, cold, toxic). We discuss how extremophile life can benefit humanity and we explore extreme places on Earth that may or may not have life.. let's find out! 

Want to know about this years Nobel prize awards in Medicine/Physiology, Physics, and Chemistry? Here with have a bonus episode for you, where Pip explains the work deserving the prizes to Tara, and then we chat about them. Congratulations to all winners! This was a really fun one to do.