![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/sleep.jpg\")
<\/h4>\nWhy Do We Sleep?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNearly every creature on Earth loves\u00a0to sleep, in fact, cats spend nearly 16 hours a day asleep so it must serve a vital function\u2026right? Turns out that scientists still don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the theory that the brain is \u201crecharging\u201d, or one that claims we are reinforcing things in our brain that we need in day-to-day activity, and another that believes we toss out a bunch of useless information in our brain when we sleep. But scientists still can\u2019t agree! All I know is that after trying to wrap my brain around this – I need a nap!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/yawn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Why Do We Yawn?<\/strong><\/h4>\nSpeaking of sleep, what is the other action that goes hand in hand with it, yawning, and once again scientists are stumped. It\u2019s something everyone does when they\u2019re bored or tired and as everyone knows, they\u2019re completely contagious! Apart from the fact that we mimic other people\u2019s yawns to display empathy and to strengthen social bonding, scientists still don\u2019t have a concrete reason as to why we exhibit yawns.<\/p>\n
Apparently, embryos yawn in the womb to sculpt the hinge of their jaws, but why we carry it on to later life is a mystery\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/ice.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Why Is Ice Slippery?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNow I know that when I\u2019m tired my chronic clumsiness increases tenfold (it\u2019s a curse I live with), so I was shocked to discover that the reason that my arch nemesis (ice) is slippery is a complete unknown.<\/p>\n
Until recently the reasoning was that the pressure created by stepping on ice causes the top layer to melt, creating a slippery surface. But experiments have now shown that the average human body doesn\u2019t exert nearly enough pressure to cause this. Friction has also been ruled out, as anyone knows that even when you\u2019re stood still it\u2019s still slippery. There is currently an incredibly complicated theory that involves a \u201csupersolid skin\u201d forming on the top of the surface that not all scientists are agreed on, but what they do agree is that this sounds far too complicated than it should be to explain such a simple occurrence!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/bike.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
How Does a Bicycle Work?<\/strong><\/h4>\nAs I\u2019ve explained, I suffer from chronic clumsiness so I don\u2019t get out on the bike much, but I thought I at least had an idea behind how they work… They\u2019ve been around since the early 19th century and haven\u2019t really changed for almost 200 years. So you\u2019d think that we\u2019d know why they work\u2026.apparently not!<\/p>\n
The first bikes were invented through trial and error, and even modern bike design schools admit its “intuition and experience\u201d that make a good bike designer. For ages it was assumed that the gyroscopic effect (the force that keeps a spinning top from falling over) was the key for a bike’s balance. But nope! In the ’70s, a scientist disproved that theory. Another theory arose later but once again that has been disproved, so we\u2019re back at square one with this one.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/hands-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why are There \u201cRighties\u201d and \u201cLefties\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\nAbout 1 in every 10 people is left handed and they can tell you that it effects their everyday, as nearly everything we make is with the right-handed portion of the population in mind. But surely it would make sense that we were equally proficient with both hands? I mean, why aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n
One theory claims it\u2019s to do with where the speech centre is located in the brain (although it\u2019s been pointed out that it\u2019s pretty flawed) and there is research that points to a complex collaboration between genes and environment, as no exact set of \u201cleftie genes\u201d have been discovered. It all comes down to the fact though that scientists still aren\u2019t exactly sure!<\/p>\n
So What do We do About this?<\/strong><\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/space.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (this year running from the 10th – 19th March 2017) – featuring fascinating, entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK for people of all ages. So get your little scientists and get inspired. Perhaps in the future, they may be able to answer one of these pressing questions!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click here\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2017\/03\/george.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
And if you can\u2019t make it to one of their amazing events why not get inspired at home with a little help from Roald Dahl\u2026 George’s Marvellous Experiments is packed with easy experiments from concocting home-made slime to creating your own volcano. Perfect for budding young scientists everywhere!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nOr if you\u00a0have got a budding young scientist at home, take a look at this\u00a0Supercharged Science for Kids online course, currently 98% off on LittleBird<\/a>…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Science Week starts today so we thought we\u2019d look into the basic questions where Science is still stumped when it comes to the exact answer\u2026 Why Do We Sleep? Nearly every creature on Earth loves\u00a0to sleep, in fact, cats spend nearly 16 hours a day asleep so it must serve a vital function\u2026right? Turns … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2656,1,563],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ideas","category-uncategorized","category-whats-on"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5480,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/5480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\nSpeaking of sleep, what is the other action that goes hand in hand with it, yawning, and once again scientists are stumped. It\u2019s something everyone does when they\u2019re bored or tired and as everyone knows, they\u2019re completely contagious! Apart from the fact that we mimic other people\u2019s yawns to display empathy and to strengthen social bonding, scientists still don\u2019t have a concrete reason as to why we exhibit yawns.<\/p>\n
Apparently, embryos yawn in the womb to sculpt the hinge of their jaws, but why we carry it on to later life is a mystery\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why Is Ice Slippery?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNow I know that when I\u2019m tired my chronic clumsiness increases tenfold (it\u2019s a curse I live with), so I was shocked to discover that the reason that my arch nemesis (ice) is slippery is a complete unknown.<\/p>\n
Until recently the reasoning was that the pressure created by stepping on ice causes the top layer to melt, creating a slippery surface. But experiments have now shown that the average human body doesn\u2019t exert nearly enough pressure to cause this. Friction has also been ruled out, as anyone knows that even when you\u2019re stood still it\u2019s still slippery. There is currently an incredibly complicated theory that involves a \u201csupersolid skin\u201d forming on the top of the surface that not all scientists are agreed on, but what they do agree is that this sounds far too complicated than it should be to explain such a simple occurrence!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How Does a Bicycle Work?<\/strong><\/h4>\nAs I\u2019ve explained, I suffer from chronic clumsiness so I don\u2019t get out on the bike much, but I thought I at least had an idea behind how they work… They\u2019ve been around since the early 19th century and haven\u2019t really changed for almost 200 years. So you\u2019d think that we\u2019d know why they work\u2026.apparently not!<\/p>\n
The first bikes were invented through trial and error, and even modern bike design schools admit its “intuition and experience\u201d that make a good bike designer. For ages it was assumed that the gyroscopic effect (the force that keeps a spinning top from falling over) was the key for a bike’s balance. But nope! In the ’70s, a scientist disproved that theory. Another theory arose later but once again that has been disproved, so we\u2019re back at square one with this one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why are There \u201cRighties\u201d and \u201cLefties\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\nAbout 1 in every 10 people is left handed and they can tell you that it effects their everyday, as nearly everything we make is with the right-handed portion of the population in mind. But surely it would make sense that we were equally proficient with both hands? I mean, why aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n
One theory claims it\u2019s to do with where the speech centre is located in the brain (although it\u2019s been pointed out that it\u2019s pretty flawed) and there is research that points to a complex collaboration between genes and environment, as no exact set of \u201cleftie genes\u201d have been discovered. It all comes down to the fact though that scientists still aren\u2019t exactly sure!<\/p>\n
So What do We do About this?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (this year running from the 10th – 19th March 2017) – featuring fascinating, entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK for people of all ages. So get your little scientists and get inspired. Perhaps in the future, they may be able to answer one of these pressing questions!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click here\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And if you can\u2019t make it to one of their amazing events why not get inspired at home with a little help from Roald Dahl\u2026 George’s Marvellous Experiments is packed with easy experiments from concocting home-made slime to creating your own volcano. Perfect for budding young scientists everywhere!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nOr if you\u00a0have got a budding young scientist at home, take a look at this\u00a0Supercharged Science for Kids online course, currently 98% off on LittleBird<\/a>…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Science Week starts today so we thought we\u2019d look into the basic questions where Science is still stumped when it comes to the exact answer\u2026 Why Do We Sleep? Nearly every creature on Earth loves\u00a0to sleep, in fact, cats spend nearly 16 hours a day asleep so it must serve a vital function\u2026right? Turns … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2656,1,563],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ideas","category-uncategorized","category-whats-on"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5480,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/5480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\nAs I\u2019ve explained, I suffer from chronic clumsiness so I don\u2019t get out on the bike much, but I thought I at least had an idea behind how they work… They\u2019ve been around since the early 19th century and haven\u2019t really changed for almost 200 years. So you\u2019d think that we\u2019d know why they work\u2026.apparently not!<\/p>\n
The first bikes were invented through trial and error, and even modern bike design schools admit its “intuition and experience\u201d that make a good bike designer. For ages it was assumed that the gyroscopic effect (the force that keeps a spinning top from falling over) was the key for a bike’s balance. But nope! In the ’70s, a scientist disproved that theory. Another theory arose later but once again that has been disproved, so we\u2019re back at square one with this one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why are There \u201cRighties\u201d and \u201cLefties\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\nAbout 1 in every 10 people is left handed and they can tell you that it effects their everyday, as nearly everything we make is with the right-handed portion of the population in mind. But surely it would make sense that we were equally proficient with both hands? I mean, why aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n
One theory claims it\u2019s to do with where the speech centre is located in the brain (although it\u2019s been pointed out that it\u2019s pretty flawed) and there is research that points to a complex collaboration between genes and environment, as no exact set of \u201cleftie genes\u201d have been discovered. It all comes down to the fact though that scientists still aren\u2019t exactly sure!<\/p>\n
So What do We do About this?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (this year running from the 10th – 19th March 2017) – featuring fascinating, entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK for people of all ages. So get your little scientists and get inspired. Perhaps in the future, they may be able to answer one of these pressing questions!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click here\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And if you can\u2019t make it to one of their amazing events why not get inspired at home with a little help from Roald Dahl\u2026 George’s Marvellous Experiments is packed with easy experiments from concocting home-made slime to creating your own volcano. Perfect for budding young scientists everywhere!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nOr if you\u00a0have got a budding young scientist at home, take a look at this\u00a0Supercharged Science for Kids online course, currently 98% off on LittleBird<\/a>…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Science Week starts today so we thought we\u2019d look into the basic questions where Science is still stumped when it comes to the exact answer\u2026 Why Do We Sleep? Nearly every creature on Earth loves\u00a0to sleep, in fact, cats spend nearly 16 hours a day asleep so it must serve a vital function\u2026right? Turns … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2656,1,563],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ideas","category-uncategorized","category-whats-on"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5480,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/5480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n
British Science Week is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (this year running from the 10th – 19th March 2017) – featuring fascinating, entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK for people of all ages. So get your little scientists and get inspired. Perhaps in the future, they may be able to answer one of these pressing questions!<\/p>\n
For More Info Click here\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n And if you can\u2019t make it to one of their amazing events why not get inspired at home with a little help from Roald Dahl\u2026 George’s Marvellous Experiments is packed with easy experiments from concocting home-made slime to creating your own volcano. Perfect for budding young scientists everywhere!<\/p>\n For More Info Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Or if you\u00a0have got a budding young scientist at home, take a look at this\u00a0Supercharged Science for Kids online course, currently 98% off on LittleBird<\/a>…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" British Science Week starts today so we thought we\u2019d look into the basic questions where Science is still stumped when it comes to the exact answer\u2026 Why Do We Sleep? Nearly every creature on Earth loves\u00a0to sleep, in fact, cats spend nearly 16 hours a day asleep so it must serve a vital function\u2026right? Turns … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2656,1,563],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ideas","category-uncategorized","category-whats-on"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5480,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/5480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlebird.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n