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0:18

The Naked Scientist. It's time for

0:20

The Naked Scientist with Dr. Chris Smith.

0:22

Happy Monday, how are you doing? Oh,

0:24

hello, Leba. I'm very good. How

0:26

are you? I'm doing fantastic. I just

0:28

was wondering as Pullman was

0:30

sharing that. girls

0:33

perform better than boys and mats,

0:35

I was curious as to what

0:37

the latest research you are aware

0:39

of says. Is it the girl

0:42

brain or the boy brain that

0:44

is better at mats? This

0:46

is a minefield, this one, isn't it? But

0:48

the evidence is that it's all a spectrum,

0:50

to be honest with you. There are people

0:52

in the population who are female who are

0:54

much better than people in the population who

0:56

are male at maths. There are people

0:58

in the population who are male that

1:00

are much better than females at maths. So

1:02

when you draw those two spectra with

1:04

a range of abilities, you generally find that

1:06

on average, the male

1:08

average sits slightly above

1:11

the female average for

1:13

certain skills, including certain

1:15

mathematical skills. There are other things

1:17

that we do psychologically such as

1:19

if you think about three -dimensional

1:21

visualization or map reading that kind

1:23

of thing that on average Men

1:25

find this sort of task easier

1:27

than women But then you do

1:29

tests like you say right I

1:31

want you to generate as many

1:33

words as you possibly can beginning

1:35

with the letter P in 30

1:37

seconds without repeating any starting now

1:39

Women on average will outperform men

1:41

at that task If you show

1:43

people a bunch of faces and

1:45

you say I want you to generate

1:47

Words for what the emotions being

1:49

displayed in these faces are

1:52

for each of these faces women

1:54

will always score more highly

1:56

and more accurately the men on

1:58

average so it all comes down

2:00

to the fact that

2:02

there is a range of abilities and it's

2:04

where the average sits in relation to

2:06

the two but it's not an absolute thing

2:08

so you can't say I have an

2:10

X and a Y chromosome I'm male therefore

2:12

I'm better at maths than you that

2:14

just is not how it works but on

2:16

average if you take a person on

2:19

average from the population at random you may

2:21

find if it's maths you're considering men

2:23

tend to be better at certain aspects of

2:25

mass and women. But there are other

2:27

skills that women will up for men. And

2:29

I think this is partly a reflection

2:31

on the fact that one of the reasons

2:33

why humans are so successful is

2:35

we are a social species and we

2:37

have skills that complement everybody, everybody

2:39

else and each other. And in the

2:41

same way that it takes a

2:44

man and a woman to make a

2:46

baby, you can't just do that.

2:48

If you wanted to yourself, you need

2:50

those complementary Bits of biology

2:52

and skills and nurturing a family successfully. You

2:54

need complementary skills. I think it's all part

2:56

of the same sort of thing. And we've

2:58

evolved to have skills that complement when we're

3:00

in a social group with roughly equal numbers of

3:02

men and women, the strengths of one group

3:04

can make up for some shortfalls in another and

3:06

vice versa. OK, thank

3:09

you so much for that, Dr.

3:11

Christmas. Let's go to the lines. Lulu

3:13

in Run Frontain. Go ahead. Hi,

3:15

Doctor. I'd like to

3:17

offer advice. They

3:19

put in a pacemaker into my

3:21

body. The first paper, the

3:23

first maker had an infection. Then

3:25

I went, they took me to the plastic

3:28

surgeon. He redid it. And

3:30

I'm sitting now here doctor. It

3:33

is painting like needles.

3:36

And it got blisters on top but

3:38

they not open. It's

3:40

just painting and pricking like needles.

3:42

What is wrong with the pacemaker?

3:45

Is the pacemaker working with me

3:47

or not? It doesn't. Work

3:49

with me. Oh, that's a tricky

3:51

one doc. If a pacemaker

3:53

is starting to feel painful Hi

3:56

Lulu, you don't say exactly when they

3:58

put this into you, but if

4:00

the pain and the discomfort started shortly

4:02

after it went can ask her

4:04

Lulu. How long ago did you

4:06

get that pacemaker in? It

4:08

is not three weeks that

4:10

he did it all over again.

4:12

So three weeks from them

4:14

redoing it. The fact that this

4:16

symptom has happened shortly after

4:18

the insertion of the device strongly

4:20

argues that the two are

4:22

linked. You can't say a hundred

4:25

percent, but it's almost certain, isn't it? That

4:27

if you've got something that starts in

4:29

the same place after you do something to

4:31

that bit of the body, they're probably

4:33

linked. Now, pacemakers are really

4:35

important. Their role... to regulate

4:37

heart rhythm and you need one

4:39

if your heart isn't beating

4:41

at the right rate itself and

4:43

the way a pacemaker works

4:45

is that you put a device

4:47

which is a source of

4:49

electricity in under the

4:51

skin and you thread a wire in

4:53

through one of the blood vessels

4:55

nearby which goes usually into the vein

4:57

which runs across the area where

4:59

the pacemaker is into the bottom of

5:01

the right hand side of the

5:03

heart and the electrical contact there touches

5:05

the heart muscle and when the

5:07

pacemaker fires off an electrical discharge this

5:09

is picked up by the heart

5:11

muscle and the heart muscle then follows

5:14

the rhythm of the pulses arriving from

5:16

the pulse from the pacemaker and in

5:18

this way it regulates your heartbeat because

5:20

it spreads from the point you excite

5:22

the heart all over the heart muscle

5:24

from the bottom towards the top and

5:26

the heart beats in a nice even

5:28

way that way and this is very

5:30

useful because if people do not have

5:32

the right heart rhythm then they feel

5:34

very unwell usually their hearts going too

5:36

slowly and this leads to a state

5:38

of feeling extremely lethargic and tired because

5:40

you're effectively in heart failure and

5:42

as soon as you've got the

5:44

pacemaker working properly then this helps to

5:46

reset the rhythm to what it

5:48

should be and people feel much much

5:50

better so pacemakers are really good

5:52

they're really important and they're really useful

5:54

but because you're putting a foreign

5:56

body a foreign object into the body

5:59

then there is always a risk

6:01

when you put a foreign object in

6:03

under the skin you're breaching the

6:05

defences of the skin and you're putting

6:07

something which may either by Virtually

6:09

the fact you've got a breach in

6:11

the skin allow infection in or

6:13

be infected at the time it goes

6:15

in Surgeons should be extremely careful

6:17

to make sure that doesn't happen, but

6:19

infections do happen. It's an unfortunate

6:21

really isn't it's a common side effect

6:23

of surgery and if you've got

6:25

pain where it's gone in and the

6:27

skin isn't healing up and you

6:29

have discharge or redness or the fact

6:31

that it's hot over the area

6:33

where the pacemaker is. If you have

6:35

any of those features, it really

6:37

needs to be looked at. And the

6:39

fact that you're saying you went

6:41

back to a plastic surgeon and they

6:43

had to do a reinsertion of

6:45

this, I think you said plastic surgeon,

6:47

but you went back and saw

6:49

somebody it may well be they

6:51

pulled it out because it's infected and the

6:53

problem is we cannot shift infection very

6:55

easily at all from foreign bodies inside the

6:57

body because it's not your own anatomy

6:59

it's not your own tissue it's really hard

7:01

for the immune system to work properly

7:03

on a foreign object and to clear up

7:05

infection that shouldn't be there so sometimes

7:08

the only solution if you have got an

7:10

entrenched infection is you have to take

7:12

the thing out the foreign body out and

7:14

then replace it later when the infection

7:16

is being cleared up. But this needs looking

7:18

at and you must make sure you

7:20

get someone to look at this and review

7:22

it and check that it's been adequately

7:24

covered with antibiotics etc and they're the right

7:26

antibiotics. Someone has taken a swab, looked

7:28

at what the microbes are that are doing

7:30

this if it is an infection and

7:32

then fixed it with the right antibiotic cover.

7:35

But you should prepare yourself. If there is a

7:37

bad infection there they may have to remove

7:39

that pacemaker and might have to repeat the process

7:41

once they've cleared the infection. I hope not,

7:43

but that would be my guess. And I'd get

7:45

it reviewed, please. Thank

7:48

you so much, Lulu, for your

7:50

question. And I wish you

7:52

all the best on getting that

7:54

one resolved. Your voice notes

7:56

on 07 -2702 -1702. Hi, my name

7:58

is Rania, and I'm

8:00

from Fourways. I'm 10 years old.

8:02

And my question to Dr.

8:04

Chris is how do wounds heal

8:07

naturally? Oh, nice one. Thank

8:09

you so much. Yeah, this is lovely and

8:11

it's very relevant to the previous question, isn't

8:13

it? And the answer is that when you

8:15

have a breach in your skin, a wound, then

8:18

the body can sense that there

8:20

is damage there. And in fact,

8:22

there is an electrical signal. The

8:24

base of the wound has a

8:26

voltage compared to the edges of

8:28

the wound. And we don't know

8:30

exactly how this happens, but it's

8:32

to do with the way that

8:34

cells respond to inflammation, and then

8:36

they pump out charged particles called

8:38

ions, preferentially of one type over

8:40

another, and this can create a

8:42

voltage. So the edges of the

8:44

wound are at a different voltage to the bottom

8:46

of the wound. And cells at

8:48

the edge of the wound grow very, very

8:51

fast, and then they follow the voltage

8:53

signal. to work out where the bottom of

8:55

the wound is and they grow in

8:57

from the edges down towards the bottom filling

8:59

up the hole in order to fix

9:01

the wound. So that's how the

9:03

wound repairs itself but in the immediate

9:05

aftermath of a wound the other thing

9:08

that happens is you often burst blood

9:10

vessels or cut through them and this

9:12

causes bleeding obviously and that quite quickly

9:14

stops and it stops that goodness due

9:16

to small things called platelets. which are

9:18

tiny bits of cells that circulate inside

9:20

your bloodstream and as soon as they

9:23

see the outside world or the outside

9:25

of a blood vessel these activate and

9:27

they change shape and they become all

9:29

spiky and sticky and they glue themselves

9:31

all over the hole and that blocks

9:33

the blood vessels up. So that happens

9:35

very quickly and stops bleeding and then

9:38

the wound starts to heal by the

9:40

way I've explained with cells sensing the

9:42

voltage between the bottom and the edge.

9:44

growing very fast and then flowing down

9:46

into the bottom of the wound to

9:48

fill it up from the bottom up

9:50

towards the sides and it slowly fills

9:53

in with new cells, lays down new

9:55

tissue to connect everything together and then

9:57

pulls everything tight and then the process

9:59

of remodeling begins where the tissue is

10:01

laid down in the right way so

10:03

it's not all haphazard and makes a

10:05

nice neat repair which is nice and

10:08

strong and hopefully won't break open again.

10:11

This one is on the whatsapp line

10:13

and it says I notice When

10:15

I sleep less or when I

10:17

oversleep, I get serious pains in

10:19

either of my eyes, more like

10:21

a migraine in either the left

10:23

or the right eye. Please, what

10:25

does your say about that doctor?

10:28

Oh, that's an interesting one. And I've no idea.

10:30

I'd have to think about that, I think.

10:32

I've not heard anyone say that before. I

10:35

mean, when you are very tired, it...

10:37

you feel stressed and tense. And

10:39

so this could be a tension

10:41

headache. Similarly, if you

10:44

oversleep, sometimes that can

10:46

also make you feel a bit woozy and not

10:48

very well the next day. And so you

10:50

again can get sort of tension headaches. So it

10:52

might be that. But let me have a

10:54

think about that and maybe come back next week

10:56

with with anything I find because I've never

10:58

thought about that. And I've never heard anyone say

11:01

that to me before. So let me have

11:03

a think about it and I'll see what I

11:05

can come up with. Thank

11:07

you so so much for that question.

11:09

We go again to the line Zandi

11:12

incense and go ahead Hi, Dr. Chris.

11:14

Thank you. I've got this

11:16

pain at the back A bottom

11:18

part of my left hand right

11:20

and I'm scared that it could

11:22

be kidney failure. I have no

11:24

other symptoms Could it be ma 'am?

11:26

Did you use doctor Google to

11:29

find kidney failure? Ma

11:31

'am, I'm gonna give you a hiding

11:33

on your hand Well,

11:37

the first thing is the first

11:39

thing is I don't do on -air diagnosis

11:41

Okay, so anything I say on this

11:43

and other programs is just for general

11:45

information because I'm not your doctor and

11:48

Something might be missed and it's dangerous

11:50

to just take what I say without

11:52

me having any opportunity to review this

11:54

properly and have a proper chat and

11:56

a look so this is just general

11:58

information Kidney failure often is painless

12:00

and people will present with really bad

12:02

kidney failure and the first thing they

12:05

know is when they've got other

12:07

secondary problems. It's one of those things

12:09

that creeps up on you. It's bit

12:11

like high blood pressure and often

12:13

in fact high blood pressure can cause

12:15

kidney failure in the long term because

12:17

it damages your kidneys. can for

12:19

progressively over a long time and this

12:21

is quite common in fact in people

12:23

with diabetes a combination of factors including

12:25

high blood pressure and diabetes will cause

12:28

progressive loss of kidney function but what

12:30

does cause pain which is usually over

12:32

the loins and the loins are if

12:34

you were to stand with your hands

12:36

on your hips where your fingers are

12:38

pointing to around the back that's where

12:40

you feel pain in your kidneys and

12:42

the commonest cause in women is often

12:45

an infection And I say women because

12:47

women are more prone to getting UTIs,

12:49

urine infections than men are. And they

12:51

can occasionally become significant and severe enough

12:53

to spread up from the bladder, which

12:55

is normally where you have symptoms and

12:58

problems with the UTI. up

13:00

the tube from the kidney to the

13:02

bladder and they get into the kidney

13:04

and they can cause kidney infection that's

13:06

called pyelonephritis and that's that's very nasty

13:08

and people who've got that will usually

13:10

feel extremely unwell not only will it

13:12

be painful they may pass blood in

13:14

the urine but they will often be

13:17

having what we call rigors they'll be

13:19

shivering and shuddering because they're shaking with

13:21

a high fever And you sound

13:23

a bit too well on the radio for

13:25

that to be the case. So I think

13:27

that's very unlikely. The other reason people get

13:29

pains in their kidneys is if they've got

13:31

stones. And this is very, very common as

13:34

well. And for various reasons, over a lifetime

13:36

and different ages, but usually in people who

13:38

have a poorer diet or smoke, actually smoking

13:40

is a risk factor. You can

13:42

get builds up of calcium and

13:44

other materials in the kidneys. And

13:46

this can also be a consequence of

13:48

infection as well, actually. But you can

13:50

get stones, kidney stones. And these, if

13:52

they stay put, can be without problem,

13:55

but sometimes bits of the stones can

13:57

break off and they begin to move

13:59

and they can become excruciatingly painful as

14:01

they find their way out of the

14:03

body. So if you have

14:05

gripey pains in that sort of area

14:07

that a new thing and it's

14:09

bad enough to make you think,

14:11

oh, this is really quite serious and

14:13

it's severe and it's interrupting my

14:15

day. You must get

14:18

that looked at because that may well

14:20

be what is going on and it

14:22

would depend on age, family history and

14:24

other health problems and history of health

14:26

problems as well. But that's hopefully a

14:28

range of all the reasons why you

14:30

would usually most commonly get pains in

14:32

that part of the body. Thank you

14:34

so much, Zandi. Wish you all the

14:36

best. Please go seek medical attention. We

14:38

cannot give advice over radio. There are

14:40

too many personal questions that would need

14:42

to be asked and factors that would

14:44

need to be considered. Leslie and Ranberg,

14:46

go ahead. Hi,

14:49

really. Quick one, Doctor. I'm

14:52

a runner and I twisted

14:54

my ankle once on some

14:56

sort of a pothole. and

14:59

I've since been experiencing this sharp

15:01

pain underneath my right heel when I'm

15:03

stepping on the ground. But now

15:05

the funny thing is, when I run

15:07

a longer distance, that pain

15:09

sort of goes away. So I'm not

15:12

sure if it's what it is and

15:14

how I can sort of work around

15:16

it. That's

15:18

an interesting one as well. I mean

15:20

there is something called plantar fasciitis which is

15:22

when the tendon which is part of

15:25

the arch of your foot becomes painful and

15:27

inflamed and this can happen for a

15:29

range of reasons sometimes trauma can kick that

15:31

off and it might be that what

15:33

you've got is where you injured yourself and

15:35

things stiffened up and then you start

15:37

running and it takes a little while for

15:39

things to loosen up again Also,

15:42

sometimes when you've got these

15:44

sort of pathological fractures, shin

15:46

splints, people often say that

15:48

the legs are quite painful when they

15:50

first start running, but then after a while,

15:52

things seem to warm up and the

15:54

pain can subside a bit. It might be

15:56

you've been overdoing it. because it's very

15:58

important if you do injure a body part

16:01

you must keep it active and mobile

16:03

you don't want it to get stiffened up

16:05

but at the same time you have

16:07

to give things a chance to heal up

16:09

properly because you can actually compound the

16:11

damage and make it worse than if you'd

16:13

not been doing this at all so

16:16

if it's something which is a new thing

16:18

and it's only just happened try simple

16:20

things first just things like painkillers first and

16:22

taking it easy for a little while

16:24

if this has been going on for a

16:26

while it's probable that something is badly

16:28

wrong and you need to get this looked

16:31

at because it may be that you're

16:33

compounding an injury and that something needs to

16:35

be, you need to do something to

16:37

get it fixed. So I

16:39

would really use time as the best guide. Recent

16:42

problem, you can attribute it

16:44

to your twisted ankle, take it easy

16:46

for a little while, try some simple painkillers

16:48

and keep it mobile but reduce the amount of

16:50

intent or the intensity of the exercise. If

16:52

this is a chronic problem you should seek some

16:54

advice because you don't want to make that

16:56

worse. Oh,

16:58

thank you so much, Leslie,

17:00

wishing you all the best with

17:02

that injury. Dr. Christmuth, you

17:05

have your homework. I expect

17:07

you've done timeously till we meet Monday.

17:09

I'm going to go and think about

17:11

headaches and sleeping too much. So, not

17:14

a problem I have, but I'll

17:16

see you next week. Yes. Good

17:19

to know.

17:21

Dr. Christmuth, the

17:23

Naked Scientist. To

17:28

remind you that 60 % of

17:30

sales on Amazon come from

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independent sellers, here's Tracy from Lilies

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of Charleston. Hi, y 'all. We

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