What is Zipf’s Law? It is a statistical distribution in a data set where the first item is twice as big as the second item, three times as big as the third item, four times as big as the fourth item, and so on. Zipf’s Law is called a law, but it is not really […]
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How do our hearts and lungs work automatically? We have an autonomic nervous system that makes organs like the heart and the lungs function automatically. If you want to pick up a cup of tea, your brain has to go through several steps to accomplish the act. It has to make the decision to pick
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Who were Sotheby and Christie? Sotheby was John Sotheby, the nephew of Samuel Baker. Christie was James Christie. If you want to sell anything rare or valuable at auction, the best places you could sell it are Sotheby’s or Christie’s. They are the two largest and most famous auction houses in the world. There is
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Why can owls turn their heads so far? Because their heads are only connected by one socket, which can rotate. Owls are renowned for several things. One of them is their ability to swivel their heads completely around so they can keep an eye out for prey or predators. Being able to turn their heads
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Why are Adidas and Puma rivals? Either because the brother’s wives didn’t like each other or because one brother thought the other brother was the reason he was conscripted into the German army. When you think of famous sports brands, you probably think of Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics, and many Reebok. I’m sure you can
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What is talcum powder? It is a mineral found in clay. When we think of talcum powder, most of us think of the powder we put on a baby’s bottom after they have been changed to prevent nappy rash (diaper rash), or something we put on our nether regions after a tough game of squash.
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What is Lou Gehrig’s disease? It is a disease that causes progressive degeneration of the nerve cells in the spine and brain. The disease is called Lou Gehrig’s disease after a famous baseball player who died of it, but the disease’s actual name is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “Amyotrophic” comes from Greek. “A” means “no”.
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Does a tugboat tug? They do pull, but they also push, too. In the very early days of sea travel, boats were not big enough to need something like a tugboat. They could usually be sailed right into the dock. If the wind wasn’t right, they usually had oars and oarsmen who could get the
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What is acid reflux? The acid from the stomach comes back up the esophagus, causing a lot of pain and sometimes even damage. Most animals that have a stomach that digests their food produce stomach acid. The acid in our stomachs is very strong. It has a pH of roughly 2, which makes it a
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How quickly does a river cut through rock? It depends on the type of rock, the material the water is carrying, the amount of water, the speed of the water, and the acidity of the water. This is not a simple question. When we think about the erosive power of water we often think of
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