Big Questions Answered, How and Why

According to animal behavior science, cats don't just swat at things because they're lovable little jerks.

The glossy pages of most catalogues and magazines can be recycled along with the rest of your paper products.

Bare feet and driving don't always go together.

Going for a summer drive while barefoot can be tempting, but is it safe and legal? Here's the answer.

Whoever started 'from scratch’ didn’t actually do it in the kitchen—and ‘scratch’ has nothing to do with clawing ingredients together with your bare hands.

You can call the fire department if you see a cat stuck in a tree, but they might decline your plea for help.

The baby carrot can liven up any social gathering.

The bite-sized vegetable snack makes for a crunchy appetizer. But how do baby carrots get on your plate?

Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox wields a bat with a ring in 2013.

Major League players often warm up with a special ring on their bats. What is it, who invented it, and is it going to help your team win?

If you get natural blond highlights in the summer, your hair may be damaged by too much exposure to the sun.

Bureaucratic red tape is a tale as old as time. Or, to be a little more precise, roughly 400 years old.

Grocery stores don't like to let in natural light.

Supermarkets don't let in much—if any—natural light. It's another example of how retailers mess with your mind.

Hotels like to use white sheets and towels.

Hotel guests are almost always treated to vibrant white sheets. And no, it's not because it's easier to see bedbugs.

The night sky is full of colors—except green.

You can look up and find white, red, blue, and yellow stars, but green stars are missing from the night sky.

That little pouch in the dog's lower left ear is called a Henry's pocket.

It's called a cutaneous marginal pouch, and while science is a little uncertain of its true purpose, it can double as a B&B for ticks.

Self-cleaning ovens are meant to spare users the hassle of manual cleaning.

You may not use the self-cleaning feature on your oven. If you do, be aware that it gets very, very hot and can kill your pet bird. (Seriously.)

If your bone china dinnerware is what it claims to be, it probably contains more than a little powdered cow.

What does branding or spanking have to do with whether something is factory-new or not? We investigate.

Kindergarten survived some early controversy to become part of the American education system.

This very German word became embedded in the American vernacular—but not before German politicians tried to ban kindergarten entirely.

Spoilers in movie trailers can frustrate film fans.

Movie previews can reveal big plot points or moments that can spoil everything. So why do studios do it?

Notable southpaw Tommy John pitching for the New York Yankees in the 1980s.

Southpaws are most often talked about in baseball and boxing. But which sport (if either) coined the term?

Cold brew and iced coffee are often lumped together, but there are major differences between the recipes that affect the taste and the price of the drink.