The first week has taken off with a bang! It’s been exciting, fast and chaotic! It felt like today exploded with questions and live chats – I couldn’t keep up, the scientists were on form though! They’ve been given over 490 questions and taken part in over 35 live chats – well done students and obviously, well done scientists!
Trying to pick highlights for the day has been almost impossible, as there are so many brilliant questions, probably, some of the best of the week:

Bacteria by Zeimusu on WikiMedia

eoinconnolly : This might sound like a stupid question, but will the explosion damage the other planets in our solar system?
paulhiggins : eoinconnolly when the sun turns into a red giant it will burn up the earth and mars, venus and mercury, but the outer planets might not change too much

gingaaaaa : could you get shot on the moon?
davidmckeown : gingaaaaa Maybe, It might be harder for a gun to fire, if it needs oxygen BUt I know some guns work under water, so they probably would work on the moon. Be careful

alina : @shane: What in your opinion is the greatest invention in Nanoscience ever made?x
shanebergin : @mrj007 @alina nanoscience has only been around for a short time. some of the things i’m working with are less than 10 years old. i think the greatest invention that nanoscience has given us is a toss-up between the carbon nanotube and graphene. both are made of carbon. the nanotube is extremely strong and light. graphene is only 1 atom thick! but it’s super strong. a sheet of graphene the size of your desk (only one atom thick) would be strong enough to support the weight of a cat!
alina : @shane: that’s so cool, wouldn’t it look like the cat is floating in the air?
shanebergin : @alina yes! exactly. it’s also a barrier material. that means no gas can get through it (even thought it;s only 1 atom thick). so you could potentially kill the cat (not nice) without seeing what killed it….

aechestnutt : @kevin How many types of bacteria can live in your gut?
kevinlomasney : @aeschestnutt-Th ere are more bacteria in your bowel than cells in your body! It is not fully known because we cannot detect them all yet but it is thought to be anywhere between 500 and 1000 different types

And here are some of the events most PERTINENT questions..

• how long can a flamingo stand on one leg?would you be able to stand that long? [Hydrogen Zone]
• have you been to space? [Space Zone]
• what element is iron man thats for ur time [Health Zone]

There are loads more live chats booked for next  week, all of which you can watch live, if you’re not already taking part!