BIG QUESTIONS

When and Where Was the First Car Accident?

That depends on how you define a “car.” In 1869, Irish scientist Mary Ward was riding in a steam-powered automobile built by her cousins.

Why Do They Click That Board Thing Before Filming A Movie Scene?

The slate board is used to make syncing audio and film easier, but here are more facts to know about it.

What Causes Morning Sickness?

Buckingham Palace has confirmed what the British tabloids have suspected for a while: The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting. Unfortunately, Kate has also been admitted to the hospital due to hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute morning sickness—so severe that

What is a Pigeonhole?

“What exactly is a pigeonhole anyway?" semi-creepy fast food mascot Jack in the Box wondered on Twitter last month. "Last I checked pigeons live in parks.” Reader @amyh914 put up the bat signal and called us into

Why Does Skin Get Pruney in the Tub?

For a long time, scientists thought that pruning of the skin after spending time in the water was simply a matter of fingers being a little spongey. The outermost layer (the stratum corneum) of the outermost layer (the epidermis) of our skin is mostly mad

Why Do Chile Peppers Make People Cough?

In my house, we really like Mexican food. And Thai food. Oh, and Chinese food. We like all food, I guess, but that’s sort of beside the point.

Will Sitting Too Close To The TV Hurt Your Eyes?

Daven Hiskey runs the wildly popular interesting fact website Today I Found Out. To subscribe to his “Daily Knowledge” newsletter, click

What is Martial Law?

After the tri-state area was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, food, gas, and power were in high demand but short supply. In those situations, people get desperate, and they sometimes become violent, throwing not just common courtesy, but also any sense of w

Why Do Flocks of Geese Fly in a “V” Shape?

In large swaths of the U.S. this time of year, it seems you can’t get more than a few feet without tripping over a Canada Goose; they come down here from the Great White North for the winter months (or, in some places, hang out year-round). When they’re n

What Ever Happened to Acid Rain?

Back when I was a kid, life was pretty simple. Saturday morning cartoons were awesome, Ecto Cooler was abundant and the Soviet Union collapsed before they could drop any nukes on us. I couldn’t watch the news, or even my cartoons, though, without being re

Will There Be a Hurricane Sandy Baby Boom?

Last week, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, readers @amyh914, @dauentina and ?@TheRealYadiM all asked if we should expect a spike in birth rates along the East Coat nine months from now—a mini-baby boom caused by Sandy.The idea that disasters and birth rat

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Why Do Nebraska and Maine Split Electoral Votes?

In the majority of the United States, one candidate gets all of a state’s electoral votes. Two states, however, don’t have to go the all-or-nothing route: Nebraska and Maine, thanks to the Congressional District Method.

When Did We Start Naming Winter Storms?

Don’t be surprised if you hear a meteorologist refer to the nor'easter that’s about to hit the East Coast as “Athena.” They’re just following the example of The Weather Channel, which recently announced that it will name “noteworthy winter storms,” just a

Where Did The Idea Of "Red States" and "Blue States" Come From?

Wikimedia CommonsThat’s all, folks: The 2012 election is finally over. In the run up, we tackled big election questions, from why we vote on Tuesdays to what would happen in the event of a natural disaster on Election Day to whether Americans actually mov

Why Do Cats Paw Around Their Food Bowls?

I could write a book on the strange stuff my cat does, but when I switched her food from dry to wet recently, she started doing something really weird: She’d maneuver her way around her food dish, pawing the ground as she went. Her behavior was odd enough

How Do Blood Pressure Tests Work, And What Do Those Numbers Mean?

Getting your blood pressure taken is a standard part of most visits to the doctor, but the details might seem mysterious—so read on.What It IsBlood pressure (BP) is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of the arteries as it's pumped from th

Is It Legal To Kill A Zombie?

Like the Shaun of the Dead slogan says, "aim for the head." But before you start readying your zombie apocalypse weapon of choice, you'd better find out if you're going to get in trouble for taking out the infected. According to San Diego criminal lawyer

What Were They Thinking?: The Psychology of Riding Out the Storm

Last night we put the call out for readers’ nagging hurricane questions. @BrothaDom and @michellesipics both asked for a peek into the minds of people who defy evacuation orders “in the face of everything that is sane.”Just hours before Hurricane Sandy ma

Why Do Dogs Kick Their Legs When You Scratch Their Bellies?

Every dog seems to have one—that special spot on his belly or flank that, when scratched, sends his back leg kicking like crazy. It’s odd and amusing, especially because some dogs seems to be as confused by it as their owners are. What’s going

Do People Really Walk in Circles When They’re Lost?

It’s a reliable movie trope: Our heroes are lost in the woods, and in their valiant effort to make a beeline out of the forest or back to camp or civilization, they inevitably get turned around and wind up back at the same spot where they began.When a sci

How Do Zebras Get Their Stripes?

Coat patterns such as a zebra’s stripes afford animals the ability to blend into their environment and among other individuals with the same patterns. Predators can’t see camouflaged animals or target specific individuals in a mass of spots or stripes. A

How Happy Are Clams?

Wikimedia Commons"Happy as a clam" is one of those expressions that makes you wonder: Does this phrase come from an actual measurement of the happiness of

How Do 3D Glasses Work?

Stereoscopy—the illusion of depth created by showing a separate image to each eye—is at least as old as photography itself. In the last few years, however, stereoscopic 3D movies have come back in a big way. Theaters show you 3D movies by projecting two i

What Makes Something an Antique?

Every time you watch Antiques Roadshow, you probably wonder: Just how do we know what items are antiques?

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