Hello #GlobalScienceShow! You've reached Tiffany and @SophieMorse20, and today we're talking about...bubbles! Bubbles are everywhere around us, but what *are* bubbles and what can we use them for?

Follow along with the whole show @GlobalSciShow - up next is @KrishanaSankar!

What do you picture when you think about bubbles?

- bubbles in your drinks?
- blowing soap bubbles?
- bubble baths?

Bubbles are just a globule (or drop) of one substance in another. This can be a gas in a liquid (e.g. in fizzy drinks), or a gas in a solid shell (e.g. soap bubbles).

Bubbles can be found not only in your home, but everywhere in nature: in waterfalls, waves and volcanoes!

Many animals blow bubbles too! Crabs blow bubbles to keep their gills moist when they breathe above water, snails blow bubbles to protect themselves, and Beluga whales blow bubbles to communicate!

While there are many examples of bubbles in nature, scientists are designing artificial bubbles to help us with all sorts of tasks - in the lab, we can create bubbles that are tiny, strong, and even ones that glow in the dark!

Tiny gas-filled bubbles (microbubbles; 0.000001 m) can be injected into your body to help us image blood flow with ultrasound imaging. Because of their gas centres, microbubbles vibrate in an ultrasound field and reflect sound more than your tissues do, improving contrast!

Microbubbles can also be used to deliver medicines. We can create bubbles that have medicines inside them and 'pop' them where we want our drugs to go.

We can even use microbubbles to help us deliver drugs into the brain:

Tiny bubbles created by ultrasound in water can be used to clean surfaces. As the bubbles collapse (or pop), they dislodge dirt and bacteria. This method is used to clean many different things e.g. rust off kitchen surfaces, dental supplies and the surface of fruits!

We can also find bubbles being used in some printers , to reduce loud underwater noises caused by building wind turbines etc in the sea (the sounds can disturb marine life) , and to make foams - raise your hand if you've tried/seen the elephant's toothpaste experiment!

These are just some of the many applications that bubbles are used for - they're really everywhere!

How many uses for bubbles could you name before reading this? Let us know if we've missed any!

Hopefully we've managed to convince you that bubbles aren't just fun to play with, but they're actually very useful!

If you feel inspired to make your own bubbles now, here's a recipe for giant bubbles from @Ri_Science. Give it a go and tag us! https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental/giant-bubbles