Is brain surgery harder than rocket science?

Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

Which is more complicated, rocket science or brain surgery?
Ian Bouvier, Marseille, France

• Post your answers – and new questions – below or email them tonq@theguardian.com. Please include name, address and phone number.

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Is the human brain really the most powerful computer in the world? | Notes and queries
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

29, Nov, 2017 @11:30 AM

Article image
Which came first – the plane or the paper plane?
Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

01, Jul, 2015 @2:05 PM

Article image
Could I make my own penicillium from waste food?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

07, Sep, 2016 @10:30 AM

Article image
Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory
After a year of lockdown, many of us are finding it hard to think clearly, or remember what happened when. Neuroscientists and behavioural experts explain why

Moya Sarner

14, Apr, 2021 @5:00 AM

Article image
Why are some times tables harder than others?

Readers answer other readers' questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

24, Jul, 2013 @2:00 PM

Article image
‘Have you seen the maggots yet?’ Lindsey Fitzharris on the gruesome history of surgery
Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris is obsessed with mortality – and her new book examines the work of early surgeons, who operated on the dividing line between here and the hereafter

Sian Cain

15, Oct, 2017 @3:30 PM

Article image
What exactly are we smelling when we smell ‘fresh air’?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

07, Jan, 2019 @2:30 PM

Article image
Readers reply: if the brain uses the most calories of any organ, can you think yourself thin?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

26, Feb, 2023 @2:00 PM

Article image
Which is trickier – brain surgery or heart surgery?
Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts

15, Jul, 2015 @2:05 PM

Article image
If the brain uses the most calories of any organ, can you think yourself thin?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

12, Feb, 2023 @2:01 PM