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Tweet Santa? System might crumble under demandQ. What if all the world's couple of billion kids tweeted Santa at the same time? Could the social network bear up under the weight? What if the Jolly Old Gent also had a Facebook account? –M....read more |
Dec 22nd, 2011 |
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Super stimuli: Odd obsessions explain obesity, warQ. Why did Dutch Nobel laureate Niko Tinbergen paint dummy eggs black with Day-Glo blue polka dots to fool songbirds into thinking they were the real thing? –P. PicassoA. In the 1930s, he discovered...read more |
Dec 8th, 2011 |
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No crow: Birds can avoid mid-air crashesQ. Do birds collide? If not, why not? –A. HaleA. "Early one morning, at the start of duck hunting season, I was standing waist-deep in a swamp when two black swans flew overhead, one from the south...read more |
Dec 1st, 2011 |
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Killer bees! Insects help armies wage warQ. You know about warring humankind “letting loose the dogs of war," but how about "the bugs of war"? –D. PetraeusA. Fifty years ago, following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, the U.S....read more |
Nov 24th, 2011 |
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Big dog: Thunder, fireworks can fool RoverQ. When the fireworks start, why does my dog shake and run for cover? –B. KellyA. Most dogs do not react to the simple popping of fireworks but rather to the deeper sounds, like the boom of a...read more |
Nov 17th, 2011 |
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Ditherer: Don't be a lover like J. AlfredQ. Taken from the title character of T. S. Eliot's 1915 poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" comes the adjective "Prufrockian." What kind of lover is that? –J. FrostA. One marked by timidity...read more |
Nov 10th, 2011 |
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Koochie-koo: Cute babies get all the attentionQ. Not to sound too hyperpragmatic, but does a baby's cuteness serve any "purpose"? –J. FarielloA. Cuteness is a type of attractiveness associated with youth, whether a puppy, a kitten, or your...read more |
Nov 3rd, 2011 |
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A bug in your ear: Cockroaches can mean troubleQ. Cockroaches date back 350 million years, with 4,000 known species, 95 percent living entirely apart from humans. The other 5 percent seem to be universally loathed, living in filth and breeding...read more |
Oct 27th, 2011 |
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Lion's share: It doesn't mean what you thinkQ. When will a lion settle for a lion's share? –J. AdamsonA. Depends on which "lion's share" you're talking about, says Mark Davidson in Right, Wrong, and Risky. The phrase is commonly used to mean "...read more |
Oct 20th, 2011 |
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Fooled ya! Thinking can make things trueQ. When does "saying become believing"? –G. W. BushA. This happens all too often in life. When University of Oregon psychologist Ray Hyman was in his teens, he supplemented his income by doing magic...read more |
Oct 13th, 2011 |
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Eye of the...? Culture helps tell us who's gorgeousQ. When it comes to who we all find attractive, does Nature or Nurture pull the strings? –A. JolieA. We are strongly yanked by both, as beautiful faces and bodies worldwide are generally ones that...read more |
Oct 6th, 2011 |
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Wolf to dog: It took 12,000 years to create LassieQ. How did dogs get to be "man's best friend"? –F. WaltonA. Our relationship with wolves goes back to about 20,000 B.C., when herds of large prey roamed the last Ice Age landscape, hunted by both...read more |
Sep 29th, 2011 |
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Awesome! Simple act of yawning hard to explainQ. Even the most mundane-seeming acts of an average day are anything but. Does that include yawning? –R. V. WinkleA. "As I stretch and yawn before sleep, I remember that there are plenty of...read more |
Sep 22nd, 2011 |
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Hirsute: Abras Syndrome kinda grows on youQ. Only about 50 cases of Ambras Syndrome have been reported since the Middle Ages. How does this dramatic hereditary condition manifest itself?–W.M. JackA. Men or women grow...read more |
Sep 15th, 2011 |
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Say cheese: Smiles work better than face liftsQ. If you don't quite meet our culture's beauty standard, you can just accept yourself, imperfections and all. Or you might get an extreme makeover, sucking away fat, reshaping your nose,...read more |
Sep 8th, 2011 |
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Flying frass: Grasshopper poop travels farQ. Did you catch the entomological journal study titled, "Flying distance of frass kicked by the grasshopper Atractomorpha lata and factors affecting the flying distance"? What was the point? –J...read more |
Sep 1st, 2011 |
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Kiss off: Philomatophobia = no puckering upQ. What's "philematophobia," in "Philadelphia" (the "city of brotherly love") or anywhere for that matter? –T. HanksA. It's the "fear of kissing," or feeling squeamish about puckering up, says Sheril...read more |
Aug 25th, 2011 |
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Space burger: Don't use meteor for a weenie roastQ. A fiery meteor streaks through the Earth's atmosphere, glowing incandescent, and thuds down loudly in your front yard. Could you grill a hamburger on it? –G. ForemanA. It's a common misconception...read more |
Aug 18th, 2011 |
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Listen up! 'iPod zombies' present hazardsQ. Who's in danger of running down an iPod pedestrian?—B. GatesA. You are if you drive, because "iPodestrians" are everywhere, oblivious to the dangers as they read and compose e-mail, or text, or...read more |
Aug 11th, 2011 |
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Falling asleep? What keeps us in bed at night?Q. Many people are restless sleepers, real tossers and turners, but few awaken on the floor. So what keeps us from falling out of bed at night while we sleep?—M. MouseA. There are many opportunities...read more |
Jul 28th, 2011 |
