Jimmy K. asks: Can the great wall of China really be seen from space? That depends on what is meant by “seen” and “space” because the definitions of each determine whether or not the Great Wall of China can be seen from the heavens above. First, let’s look at whether the Great Wall of China be seen by the unaided […]
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Petyl asks: Where does the word robot come from? The word robot was coined by artist Josef Čapek, the brother of famed Czechoslovakian author Karel Čapek. Karel Čapek was, among other things, a science fiction author before there was something officially known as science fiction, in subject matter along the same vein as George Orwell. He introduced the word in […]
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D. Braxton asks: Is it safe to eat moldy bread or moldy cheese? For the quick answer to your question: no and sometimes. While not all molds are bad for you to eat, many are, and unless you want to whip out a microscope and meticulously identify the mold present on your food (note: there are 300,000 known types and […]
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Christine asks: Where are all the B batteries? There’s A’s (AA and AAA), no B, then C, and then D. Why did they skip a letter? There actually are B batteries, but they aren’t something you’ll usually see stocked at most stores any longer. Since the invention of the battery, there have been a pretty amazingly diverse number of battery […]
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Jack B. asks: Why does a person’s hair only grow a certain length and then stop, but then when you cut it, it will grow back to its maximum length? I very briefly mentioned this in an article about two years ago that you might also be interested in (There is No Difference Between Fur and Hair), but I’ll go […]
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E. Bondine asks: Where did the slang “chump change” originate? The phrase “chump change” first popped up in the mid-20th century, initially used primarily by African Americans to mean similar to what it does today, “a small or trivial amount of money”. As to how those two words ended up being joined to form the phrase “chump change”, we have […]
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Anna asks: What is a baby platypus called? They are called ‘baby platypus’… Really, that’s it (officially). A common misconception is that they are also named ‘puggles’, but this isn’t technically correct. I mean, you can call something anything you want and because so many people think that’s what they are named, they are often called that, but it isn’t […]
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Mary asks: Why do men’s bike frames have the top bar horizontal, while women’s bike frames have it slanted? Seems more hazardous for men to have it horizontal… I think I speak for all men who have accidentally had their foot slip off a bike petal in saying, it is true that the horizontal bar on men’s bike’s frames is […]
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Gage asks: Why are grapes bad for dogs? Eating a significant quantity of grapes (32 g of grapes per kg of dog) can potentially be fatal to dogs, though not to all dogs. About 2/3 of dogs are unaffected by grapes according to a study done by the Animal Poison Control Center. Dried grapes (a.k.a. raisins) seem to be just […]
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Donna asks: What is a “kudo”, exactly? First, it should be noted that “kudos” is not the plural form of “kudo”, so a “kudo” was once technically nothing. However, because so many people in the last century, mainly in the United States, have thought kudos was plural, in some dictionaries today “kudo” is considered a valid word meaning the same […]
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