F. Morse asks: What is the difference between a horse and a pony? Ponies and horses are both equines. In general, a horse is an equine that stands about 14.2 hands high or more and a pony is an equine that stands under that mark, give or take depending on region; for instance, in Australia the dividing line is 14 […]
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Jamie K. asks: What ever happened to the ancient library in Alexandria? Great question! For those not familiar, I’ll start with a little background on the subject. The Library of Alexandria was founded by either Ptolemy I or his son, Ptolemy II, sometime in the third century B.C. Libraries were nothing new to ancient civilizations, though places to keep etched […]
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Mark asks: How does blood actually function, like how exactly does it nourish the body and what’s the difference between the different blood types? There are several different types of blood. Contained within them are several different types of cells, and countless molecules that give our bodies the needed nutrients to work effectively. The two main types of cells within […]
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Gina asks: What causes SIDS and how can it be prevented? Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is every new parent’s fear. It’s defined as “the sudden death of an infant under age 1 that cannot be explained after a thorough investigation has been conducted, including a complete autopsy, an examination of the death scene, and a review of the clinical […]
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Paul asks: Who made the first pizza? Pizza has become such a staple of the modern diet that certain people, often found in Computer Science labs at 2 a.m. the world over, practically consider it one of the basic food groups. For such a popular food, its origins are difficult to pinpoint, as it all depends on your definition of […]
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Rick A. asks: Is it true that your body craves foods that have things in it your body currently needs? Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night and absolutely had to have cheesecake? Ever had your pregnant spouse beg you to get her pickles and cheese to go with a peanut butter and banana sandwich? Food […]
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Kelly asks: When did women and men start shaving different parts of their body? Both sexes have a love-hate relationship with removing body hair. We’ve been pulling, plucking, burning, tweezing and ripping out undesirable hair since the dawn of time. It’s believed that as far back as 4,000 B.C., women were using dangerous substances like arsenic and quicklime to get […]
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Jp23 asks: When and why did men start wearing ties? The neck tie has its roots in military history. For starters, a collection of terracotta sculptures discovered in 1974 in Xian, China gives insight into the style worn by Chinese soldiers over a thousand years ago. China’s first emperor, Qin Shih Huang, wanted his army to be buried with him […]
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Mark asks: What are some good ways to lower my blood pressure without drugs? Over the past few decades, controlling high blood pressure has been one of the priorities for health care professionals and organizations worldwide. “High blood pressure” is defined as any systolic pressure (the top number) above 140 or diastolic (the bottom number) higher than 90. (See: What […]
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Matt asks: Does cranberry juice really help with urinary tract infections? The short answer is probably not according to recent research on the subject, though of course there are certainly many who swear by this method of getting rid of / preventing urinary tract infections (UTI’s) and there are good theories behind why cranberry juice could potentially help. In the […]
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J.K. asks: Why are the seasons called winter, spring, summer, and fall? “Winter” derives from the Proto-Germanic *wentruz, meaning winter. This in turn probably comes from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *wed, meaning “wet”. Alternatively, it may come from the PIE *wind-, meaning “white”. Either way, the Proto-Germanic *wentruz gave rise to the Old English “winter” as the fourth season of the […]
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Karla asks: How do pregnancy tests work? Ah, the pregnancy test. Karla, I can only hope the reason you might be wondering is you’re taking one in a joyous scenario, and you’re trying to have a child, rather than the other way with a little more sweat on your forehead! 😉 Either way, pregnancy tests that use urine samples have […]
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Amanda asks: How exactly do penises become erect? Well Amanda, the physical response causing a flaccid penis to become hard can be mediated by both physical stimulation (known as somatic) or autonomic (involuntary) processes like arousal from an attractive person, or a combination of both. We’ll first look at the anatomy behind the erection and then talk about how the […]
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Michael S. asks: Why does testosterone cause more body hair? Testosterone is a steroid hormone from a group called androgen. Androgen affects many characteristics in our bodies, like the development of the male sex organs, the deepening of the voice during puberty, muscle and bone strength, and hair growth. Interestingly, the same circulating androgen, like testosterone, can increase hair growth […]
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Matt asks: Why does salt raise blood pressure? Well, Matt, it turns out a high sodium diet might not raise blood pressure, nor have any sort of adverse effect on cardiovascular health at all. But I’ll cover the theory on why salt raises blood pressure below- just realize it is just a theory and one not backed up by much […]
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Steven asks: Does eye-black do anything or do people just think it does? For those that don’t know “eye black” is the substance used to make the dark markings athletes place under their eyes that are supposed to prevent glare from outside light sources, such as stadium lights and the Sun. It’s also supposed to help with contrast recognition (being […]
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Gracen asks: How did the tradition of predicting weather by checking to see if a rodent did or didn’t see their shadow get its start? Like so many holiday traditions, the origins and progression of Groundhog Day to what we think of it today as are a bit murky. However, we’ll try to shed some light on the subject, starting […]
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Byron H. asks: What causes dandruff? Ah, dandruff! That white flaky stuff we see on the shoulders of homeless people everywhere. We’ve all seen that guy in front of us at the supermarket who looks like he just came out of a snow storm. Ever wonder what causes this embarrassing blemish on our hygiene? Dandruff is simply dead skin cells […]
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