Answers »
Is it Possible to Cash Oversized Novelty Prize Checks?
Mark J. asks: Can people actually cash those big novelty checks? The giant novelty check (cheque to our readers of the non-American persuasion) is a comedy staple, even if you’ve never been lucky enough
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The Origin of the “Slipping on a Banana Peel” Comedy Gag
Mark asks: Who was the first comedian to do the slippery banana peel routine? There are some things in this world that are just inherently funny; a pie in the face, an unexpected squirting
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Why Nuclear Bombs Create Mushroom Clouds
Susan K. asks: Why do nuclear bombs make mushroom clouds? This phenomenon all comes down to a little something called the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, and by extension, convection. I’ll begin with the somewhat longer, but
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Why Your Palms Get Sweaty When You’re Excited, Scared, Or Nervous
Today I found out why your palms get sweaty when you’re nervous. Ever been on the edge of a cliff or looking out the window at the top of a skyscraper and your hands
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How Long a Person’s Heart Has To Be Stopped Before Medics Wouldn’t Try to Revive Them
Ken Laha asks: How long would someone’s heart have to be stopped before you’d stop trying to revive them? The question of how long someone’s heart would have to be stopped for before you
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Why Can People Live in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Now, But Not Chernobyl?
Olivia asks: Why is it that Chernobyl is still toxic, but there are millions of people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki without dying? On August 6 and 9, 1945, U.S. airmen dropped the nuclear
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Has Anyone Ever Actually Poisoned Or Put Razor Blades or Needles in Halloween Candy?
Lee asks: How many children have died from people poisoning Halloween candy? Remember your mom sorting through your Halloween candy as a kid, looking for signs of ‘tainted’ candy laced with poison, needles or
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Who Invented the Food Pyramid?
Eric asks: Who invented the food pyramid? The very first “food pyramid” was a Swedish invention and it was an invention of necessity more than anything else. Back in 1970s, Sweden saw its country
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What Started the “Cops Eating Donuts” Stereotype
Dan asks: How did the running gag of police always eating donuts come about? Members of law enforcement stuffing their faces full of donuts is one of the most enduring stereotypes about the boys
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The Origin of the Phrase “Close, But No Cigar”
J. Ramhit asks: Where did the phrase “close, but no cigar” come from? This popular idiom, which means “to fall short of a successful outcome” or “close call,” was first coined in the United
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The Origin of Friday the 13th as an Unlucky Day
Alicia asks: Why is Friday the 13th unlucky? Being wary of Friday the 13th is much more than a quaint superstition observed by a few uneducated people in distant, unreachable towns and hamlets. In
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When People Started Wearing Clothes
M. Schane asks: When did humans start wearing clothing? Determining exactly when humans began wearing clothes is a challenge, largely because early clothes would have been things like animal hides, which degrade rapidly. Therefore,
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The Origin of Language
Kaden asks: What was the first language spoken by humans? It is virtually impossible to know which language developed first, but that doesn’t mean linguists haven’t taken a good whack at it. The main
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The Difference Between Fruits and Vegetables
Candace asks: What makes a fruit a fruit and a vegetable a vegetable? An apple is a fruit, right? So is a banana. How about a cucumber? A vegetable, right? Not really, from a botanical
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Why Do Vitamins Make Urine Bright Yellow?
Andy asks: After I eat vitamins or vitamin enriched cereal, my pee turns bright yellow. What’s going on here? If you’ve ever taken a daily multivitamin you too might have noticed your urine turning
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Why Seaweed is Sometimes Used in the Making of Ice Cream
Kris W. asks: What is it in seaweed that is used in making ice cream? Seaweed didn’t exactly come into play during those “make your own ice cream” science experiments you probably did in
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The Bizarre Story of the Girl With No Vagina Who Was Stabbed and Had a Baby
Nick asks: Is it true that there was once a girl with no vagina who got pregnant after giving oral sex, then getting stabbed in the stomach? Well Nick, I’ve got to say, I
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Peeling Back the Foil: The Origin of the TV Dinner
Sarah asks: Who invented the TV dinner? TV dinners weren’t officially created until the 1950s under that name, so before that time single guys, people that simply can’t or hate to cook, and harried
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