Yup. This deserves to be ungreyed

Honestly I'm not sure... I was spoiled working in a lab. Access to all sorts of stuff... Love the idea of you walloping the stains out with a rolling pin though. That made me giggle.

Nono... I'm not American either :) by meat tenderiser I mean the enzyme mix. It's a liquid. The yellowing is a biological stain, so you need an enzyme to break it down. I used to use a cool enzyme mix from my lab (ahem) but you can buy meat tenderiser. Or any enzymatic cleaner like oxi action will do.

Depends ... For down items, we say no, because the weight of the soaked item can rip the internal baffles that hold the down in place. For this reason, move wet down items very, very carefully. My yearly down item wash is a ritual (live in Sweden, have much down filled clothing.) wash carefully in the bathtub... Then…

Seconded ! I have a real obsession with this sort of thing. Spent a lovely hour today cleaning the sink trap in the bathroom, removing a rat-sized globule of my (horribly thick) hair and pondering the nature of the biofilm on it. I'm a messy, but very clean person... Can cope with untidiness but not filth.

Meat tenderiser. Sounds utterly revolting but it works. The yellowing is biological and you need some good old enzymatic action to break it down. I'm assuming you mean quilt when you say comforter. If you have a down filled duvet, don't use this !

Jolie, you are my new hero. I had my Moroccan oil explode on my leather handbag last week during a business trip. I used your cornstarch/washing up liquid combo and boom! Happiness. If you're ever in Stockholm, madam, the wine is on me. Carry on doing what you're doing, I'll be buying your book. Skol !

There's so much out there to get you started - I just loved every moment of my education (and was lucky enough to do it in the UK, in the days before tuition fees.) I never understood how people think science is dry...it's just endless beauty and wonder and being in the lab can be very creative. Just google science…

Three degrees, in biochemistry, genetics and a PhD in molecular and developmental genetics. Postdoc in the same, now working in clinical trial design and data analysis. Great fun... Science is mind blowing.

I suggest Ben goldacre and his bad science website. Great for general debunking. Also quack watch, and David colquhoun... Glad to see some interest in science ! It's fascinating shit.

Well, don't panic too much. Try to not smoke, drink not insane amounts, and to eat a vaguely balanced diet. Get a spot of excercise. I'm a scientist, and I try to eat mainly stuff that looks like it did when it was alive, by which I mean if you can recognize it as an intact vegetable, or chunk of meat, I'm ok. Don't…

Jez, as an active scientist with a foot in both primary research and commercialisation, I offer myself as your pet science writer. Some of your science coverage is..... Um.... Frustrating.

Yeah, you can induce cancer in rats with super high aspartamane doses, but we are talking silly amounts, so it's not clear how that really translates to humans. Sweeteners do seem to trigger some of the same fat deposition/blood sugar disposal pathways as sugar though, which is extremely interesting (scientist…

Ummm.. Yeah and the growth promoting hormones and antibiotics in meat...? America I do love you, but we do not want the bits of this TTIP and TAFT treaties which will basically lower our environmental and food standards to yours... Not good.