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Stripping down science.

The Naked Scientists. Hello, welcome to this week's Naked Scientist's Question. Stripping down science, the naked scientists.

Hello, welcome to this week's Naked Scientist's Question and Answer programme with me, Chris Smith, and also with Phil Rosemurg, who's here this week, how Phil?

Hi, Chris.

Now, on the way, good news for anyone who's itchy, because scientists have uncovered the chemical pathway that tells us when something needs a very good scratch.

Also, how shellfish could be helping astronauts to get better and outer space in the future, and also the world's 10th build-bigest wind farm. Beijing is trying to clean up its act in time for the next year's Olympics, and we'll be telling you what they've got in mind, Phil. Also this week, we're looking at how goats can help prevent poisoning by nerve gas,

a clean way to get energy from coal, and why we're having such a terrible summer,

weatherman John Law, will be joining us to explain the recent spate of floods and freezing coal days.

And also, in this week's question of the week, we're going to be looking at this rather interesting conundrum.

What would happen to human civilization if the Earth's magnetic poles flipped tomorrow? Well, what do you think? Would there be chaos if the magnetic field suddenly reversed? The answer to that is on the way. Plus, we've got kitchen science. We'll be showing you how you can make your very own lens. Just grab a plastic drinking bottle and a pair of scissors, and we'll tell you what to do with them in the nicest possible way in just a second if you'd like to have a go. And don't forget, it's our science phone-in show, so you can get in touch with any question you like, and we'll do our best to answer it for you. The Naked Scientist Podcast, powered by UK Fast, the UK's best hosting provider on the web at UKfast. Now, Phil, are you feeling itchy? Well, I like a bit of scratch every now and again, but yeah, not like now at the moment. It's kind of like sneezing, isn't it? And coughing and yawning and things. As soon as one person does it, everyone feels that urge either to clear their throat or have a scratch or have a yawn. But itching seems to be quite a special phenomenon. and for a long time scientists have been trying to work out, you know, why do we itch? Well, actually is an itch? Why do we scratch? Why is it so pleasurable? And for a while, there's been kind of the idea there might be some itch-specific nerve cells in the body. They just tell the brain when you're itchy. And now a group of scientists who are based at Washington University in St. Louis have found them. Oh, they actually exist then?

Yes, it's Yang-Gang Sun and Zhu Fen Cheng, who are in Washington, St. Louis, have found this population of nerve cells. They innovate or supply the skin across the entire body's surface, and each nerve supplies one little patch of skin, and when that patch of skin gets an it, this nerve cell fires off.

They have discovered that the nerve cell, when it wants to tell the brain that there's an itch there, squirts out a transmitter substance, which is called GRP, which is gastrin-releasing

peptide. That's just the nerve transmitter chemical that comes out. And the spinal cord cells

have a receptor, a chemical docking station, which is GRPR-P-R, gastrium-releasing peptide receptor.

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