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What is the original song behind Japan’s “Hotaru no Hikari”?
In Japan, it’s the farewell tune of graduation ceremonies and the music that tells shoppers the store is closing. Across the sea, though, it is sung on a very different occasion.
Is the ginkgo really a “living fossil”?
Every autumn, ginkgo trees turn city streets gold. This familiar tree hides a story stretching back to the age of dinosaurs, and a world-class discovery made in Japan.
Are mushrooms plants?
Mushrooms are sold next to the vegetables and sprout in the shade of the forest, so most of us lump them in with plants. Their true identity lies somewhere more surprising.
What is the oldest money in Japan?
Generations of Japanese students learned one coin as “Japan’s oldest money.” Then a single excavation shook its claim to the title.
Can you see the Great Wall of China from space?
“The only man-made structure visible from space.” Nearly everyone has heard it. So what do the people who have actually been to space have to say?
Why does eating pineapple make your tongue tingle?
Sweet, tangy and delicious, yet bite after bite your tongue starts to prickle and sting. Behind that feeling lies a slightly alarming reason unique to pineapple.
What is Rodin’s “Thinker” thinking about?
A man sits hunched, chin on hand. Everyone knows the pose for “deep in thought,” but surprisingly few people know what he is actually pondering.
How many times a day do we blink?
You have almost certainly closed your eyelids at least once while reading this sentence. Have you ever stopped to count how often?
Are you taller in the morning than at night?
The same person can measure a different height in the morning and at night. About 300 years ago, an English clergyman who noticed this is said to have saved several soldiers from being discharged for being too short.
Where do the colors of judo belts come from?
You start with a white belt and dream of one day tying on a black one. But when, where and how did this famous badge of skill come about?
Why is a sun shower called a “fox’s wedding” in Japanese?
Under a blue sky, a few drops of rain come pattering down. Faced with that odd sight, people in Japan long ago somehow pictured a wedding of foxes.
Were sticky notes born from a failure?
Stick it, peel it off, stick it again. The little square of paper that now lives on every desk did not have an easy birth.
Why is wombat poop cube-shaped?
On a rock in an Australian forest sits a little dropping shaped like a die. The people who cracked the mystery were, surprisingly, engineers.
How many meals a day did people eat in Edo-period Japan?
Breakfast, lunch and dinner feel like the natural order of things. But when did that “natural order” actually begin?
What’s the difference between magnitude and seismic intensity?
Two numbers come up in every earthquake report. They look alike, but they actually measure completely different things.
Can a Venus flytrap count?
What if a plant with no brain and no nerves were “counting” something as its prey crept closer? A look inside the intricate workings of a carnivorous trap.
Where does the Japanese phrase “ichika bachika” come from?
Japanese speakers say it when they leave everything to luck. But why “one” and “eight”? Why not two, or seven? The answer leads into the gambling dens of old Edo.
Which is older, Oxford University or the Aztec Empire?
Stone temples on one side, a university students still attend on the other. Asked which is older, most people’s instincts lead them astray.
When was zero discovered?
Zero, the number for nothing at all, seems utterly obvious. Yet it took humanity a very long time to get hold of it.
Does the word “salary” really come from salt?
“Roman soldiers were paid in salt.” It’s a trivia classic, but trace it back through the ancient records and a rather different picture emerges.
Is it true that a banana plant isn’t a tree?
It can grow far taller than a person, yet botanists file it with the grasses and herbs. And its fruit is more of a true “berry” than a strawberry.
What is the oldest map in the world?
When did people first start drawing the land they lived on as if looking down from the sky? Join us on a journey in search of the oldest map.
Is the Japanese word “hotchikisu” named after a person?
The desktop tool that snaps papers together has a Japanese name no English speaker would recognize. And a famous story about an inventor goes with it. But is it true?
Did Picasso really have an extremely long name?
The name of the 20th century’s defining painter is just three syllables. But read out the official name in the church records, and you can’t get through it in one breath.
What is the largest seed in the world?
Sailors on the Indian Ocean once believed a strange floating fruit grew on trees at the bottom of the sea. Its true origin was a plant on a faraway island.
How hot is lightning?
For the briefest instant, a single streak of light carves a path hotter than the Sun. And that deafening roar comes from the very same heat.
Why do volcanic eruptions make lightning?
Bolts of lightning flash through a towering black plume of ash. There is no thundercloud, so why does lightning strike above a volcano? The phenomenon appears even in Japanese records from the eighth century.
Is an atom mostly empty space?
Desks, air and our own bodies are all made of atoms. Peer inside an atom, though, and you find a landscape nothing like what you might imagine.
Is it true that no two snowflakes are alike?
“No two snowflakes are alike,” people say. But has anyone actually checked? Each flake, it turns out, carries a record of its journey through the sky.
Where does the word “OK” come from?
“OK” is one of the most widely understood words on Earth. It started out as a bit of wordplay among nineteenth-century newspapermen.
Who coined the word “robot”?
Robots are at work everywhere from factories to outer space. Their name was born about a century ago, in an offhand exchange between two brothers.
Was a swimsuit really banned for being too fast?
There was a time when swimming world records fell one after another, as if a dam had burst. The real star, many said, was not the swimmers but their swimsuits.
Why do auroras glow?
Curtains of light rippling across the night sky. We think of them as a polar sight, yet they were recorded in Japan as far back as the seventh century.
How long have people been eating natto?
Those sticky, stringy beans are a Japanese breakfast staple. Ask where they came from, and famous warriors and saints start turning up. How far can we trust them?
When was the bicycle invented?
The bicycle is so familiar that we rarely think of it as an invention at all. Yet the very first one looked quite different from the bikes we ride today.
What is the deepest place in the world?
Sink Mount Everest whole and its summit would still lie far below the surface. Fewer people have visited Earth’s deepest spot than have gone to space.
Did the Titanic’s lookouts really have no binoculars?
April 1912: in the darkness of the North Atlantic, a lookout spots an iceberg. What did he have at hand that night, and what was missing?
Where does the term “hat-trick” come from?
When a soccer player scores three goals in a game, it is a hat-trick. But what does a hat have to do with it? The answer lies in a different sport altogether.
What is the oldest writing in the world?
When, where and why did people first start writing down their words?
Where does the Japanese word “sayōnara” come from?
A goodbye Japanese children learn almost before anything else. One foreign writer called it the most beautiful farewell she had ever heard anywhere in the world.
What is the biggest tree in the world?
A tree nearly as tall as a 40-story building stands quietly in a California forest. But change how you measure “big,” and the champion changes too.
Was Cleopatra closer in time to the pyramids or to us?
Say “ancient Egypt” and the queen and the pyramids seem to fit in a single picture. In reality, a staggering stretch of time separates the two.
Who wrote the “Happy Birthday” song?
It’s sung at birthday parties all over the world. But did you know the song has authors, and that until recently it was the subject of a copyright fight?
Why is tennis scored 15, 30, 40?
Not 1, 2, 3, but 15, 30 and then 40. Behind tennis’s puzzling way of keeping score lies a mystery nearly 600 years old.
Why do we get hiccups?
That stubborn “hic” you just can’t stop. Everyone gets them, yet what they’re actually for remains surprisingly unclear.
Do plants grow better if you play them music?
Vegetables raised on classical music taste better—ever heard that one? We trace the relationship between plants and sound through the history of research.
Where does the word “hamburger” come from?
Cheeseburger, fishburger: “burger” now works like a dish name of its own. Trace the word back, though, and it has nothing to do with ham, or with buns.
Why are rainbows round?
A rainbow in the sky is always a half circle or a smaller arc. But that shape is only part of the picture. Where did the rest of the rainbow go?
How much space junk is there?
Roughly 70 years after humanity first reached space, the things we’ve “dropped” keep piling up around Earth, mostly too small to see.
Is there really a planet where a day is longer than a year?
Right next door to Earth is a planet where our sense of time is turned upside down. There, the Sun rises in the west.
What does space smell like?
With no air in space, there is nothing to sniff. Yet astronauts describe “the smell of space” in remarkably similar terms.
Did people in the past really die young?
Hear that life expectancy in Edo-period Japan was in the thirties, and it sounds as if 40 was already old age. But was it really?
Is the word “jeans” named after a city?
Tough blue trousers that seem to hang in every closet. Trace their name, and the name of their fabric, and an old map of Europe unfolds.
Is the wasabi at conveyor-belt sushi the real thing?
The packet beside your plate, the pot on the counter: that nose-tingling kick may not come from a Japanese mountain stream. The ingredients list holds a surprise.
Who invented the ballpoint pen?
There is one in every pencil case, every bag and every office drawer. Who came up with the pen that writes so smoothly with nothing but a tiny ball at its tip?
Why do magnets stick to things?
A magnet clings to the fridge door yet ignores aluminum cans and copper coins. How does a magnet choose what it sticks to?
How many hearts does an octopus have?
A heart that stops when it swims, blue blood built on copper, arms that think. The more you learn about the humble octopus, the more alien it seems.
Why are yawns contagious?
See someone yawn, and before you know it, you’re yawning too. How many times will you yawn before you finish reading this?
Is the famous story of how potato chips were invented true?
A fussy customer and an irritated cook: the birth of the potato chip comes with a story you can’t resist retelling. But leaf through old cookbooks, and things get complicated.
Do sunflowers really follow the sun?
True to its name, it is the flower that turns its head to track the sun. Spend a whole summer day watching a sunflower field, though, and you may be surprised.
How do bats fly in the dark?
They dart through pitch-black caves without hitting a thing and snatch tiny insects out of the air. How they do it puzzled scientists for more than 200 years.
How many hours a day do giraffes sleep?
Ever heard that giraffes hardly sleep at all? Look into it, and the answer depends a great deal on how you count sleep, and where the giraffe lives.
Why do orchestras tune to an A?
Just before a concert begins, a single note stretches out through the chatter. That ritual-like moment holds both the design of the instruments and 300 years of history.
Was the QR code invented in Japan?
From ordering at restaurants to paying at the register, those black-and-white squares are everywhere now. Their birthplace is not where you might expect.
Did Vikings really wear horned helmets?
Norse warriors who crossed the seas and raided far and wide. Where did the fierce helmet we picture on their heads actually come from?
Is the Moon really drifting away from Earth?
At about the pace your fingernails grow, the Moon is slowly taking its leave. And the price Earth pays for it turns out to be time itself.
How do fireworks get their colors?
Great bursts of red, green and blue across the night sky. Those vivid colors are not painted on. And the fireworks people watched in old Edo looked completely different.
Did ninja really dress all in black?
A shadowy figure in black, melting into the night and racing silently across the rooftops. How much of the world’s favorite image of the ninja is true?
What makes a Stradivarius so special?
A single violin can fetch more than a billion yen. Everyone knows the name, yet what makes it so special is surprisingly hard to pin down.
Is it true that the specks on a strawberry aren’t seeds?
That glossy red on top of a strawberry shortcake. Through a botanist’s eyes, the part we eat as the “flesh” of the fruit turns out to be something rather unexpected.
Why is the sumo ring round?
Boxing rings and judo mats are square, yet sumo alone is fought on a round stage. Getting to that shape involved a long detour.
What is the fastest animal in the world?
There is a bird that falls through the sky faster than a bullet train. But change how you compare “fast,” and some surprising creatures turn up.
Where did Japanese hiragana and katakana come from?
Japanese is written with two sets of kana that stand for the same sounds. Why would anyone need two differently shaped scripts for the same job?
Did Michelangelo paint the Sistine ceiling lying down?
Stories from the Old Testament spread across a ceiling some 20 meters overhead. The way most of us picture Michelangelo painting this masterpiece turns out to be wrong.
Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself?
Your stomach turns meat and fish into mush. Yet the stomach itself is an organ made of flesh. How does it keep from dissolving?
Does air have weight?
You can’t see air or hold it in your hand. But if you gathered up all the air in the room you’re sitting in and put it on a scale, how far would the needle swing?
How thick is the ice in Antarctica?
Antarctica, the white continent. How much thickness lies hidden beneath its snow and ice? The latest map, built from some 60 years of surveys, also reveals surprising terrain under the ice.
Do babies really have more bones than adults?
As we grow, our bodies get bigger but our bone count goes down. Behind that curious subtraction lies a reason that helps babies survive.
Was the word “quiz” really invented for a bet?
A Dublin theater owner bets he can make a meaningless word catch on in no time. That is the famous origin story of “quiz.” The records tell a different tale.
How hot is the center of the Earth?
More than 6,000 kilometers beneath your feet lies a place no one has ever been. How did scientists work out its temperature?
What makes the fizz in a carbonated drink?
The hiss when you crack the cap, the fine bubbles streaming up from the bottom of the glass. Where exactly are those bubbles born?
How rare is a four-leaf clover?
Remember crouching in the grass, searching intently? We unpack the rarity of this lucky charm through numbers and genes.
Is it true that honey never spoils?
A jar of honey forgotten for years at the back of the cupboard often seems surprisingly fine. The secret of its staying power lies in the bees’ handiwork.
Why does road salt melt ice?
On snowy mornings, roads and bridges are often scattered with white grains. Why does salt make ice melt? And why does it work worse the colder it gets?
What is the biggest star in the universe?
Put this star where the Sun is, and it might reach as far as Saturn’s orbit. But the title of biggest star has changed hands surprisingly often.
Why are keyboards laid out QWERTY?
On computers and smartphones alike, the top row starts Q, W, E, R, T, Y. It is not alphabetical, so where did this odd arrangement come from?
What is the coldest place in the universe?
Empty space is already bitterly cold. Yet astronomers found a place that dips below even that cosmic floor.
Why do we see lightning before we hear thunder?
A flash, then a pause, then the rumble. Lightning and thunder are born in the same instant, so why do they reach us at different times? That gap has also served science remarkably well.
Why do koalas sleep all day?
Visit a koala at the zoo and it is almost always curled up asleep in a tree. It isn’t just laziness. The length of a koala’s sleep has a lot to do with what it eats.
What is the longest-living animal in the world?
When this clam was born, Japan was entering an age of civil war. In the northern seas live creatures that seem to have watched human history unfold.
What is the driest place on Earth?
In one corner of the ice continent lies a valley where even snow barely settles. And on the far side of the globe, a desert serves as a dress rehearsal for Mars.
Does the Japanese word “saboru” come from French?
To “saboru” a class or a day at work. The word looks thoroughly Japanese, yet it spread about 100 years ago, sparked by one particular event.
Were the pyramids built by slaves?
Overseers cracking whips over crowds of slaves dragging huge stones. That scene is familiar from the movies, but did it ever really happen?
Where does the baseball term “strike” come from?
A batter lets a pitch go by without moving the bat, and it’s still a “strike.” That odd little word preserves the easygoing ways of 19th-century baseball.
Will the Sun burn out someday?
Even the Sun that rises faithfully every morning has a lifespan. Follow the life story of a star, and the Sun’s surprising “final days” come into view.
Was sushi originally a way to preserve fish?
Fresh fish, vinegared rice, a single piece shaped by a chef’s hands. Hard to imagine today, but sushi over a thousand years ago was a completely different dish.
Did Edison invent the light bulb?
The light bulb is the first thing people name when they think of the great inventor. But trace the story of its birth, and a slightly different picture emerges.
Does bamboo really flower only once every 120 years?
Bamboo is everywhere in Japan, yet almost no one has seen it bloom. And when it finally does, whole groves can wither away.
What happens if you light a candle in space?
A candle flame always points upward. So what shape would it take in space, where there is no up or down? Astronauts have actually tried it.
How smart are crows?
Crows have a reputation as pests that raid garbage bins. But peek into researchers’ experiments, and a surprisingly rich world opens up inside those small heads.
How many stitches are on a baseball?
A curve of red thread racing across white leather. You have seen it countless times, but chances are you have never stopped to count the stitches.
Was chocolate originally a drink?
The crisp snap of a chocolate bar breaking in two. Measured against humanity’s long relationship with cacao, that familiar form is a very recent arrival.
Why do we have a dominant hand?
The hand that holds a pen, the hand that throws a ball. Our dominant hand seems settled before we notice—so when, and how, does it take shape?
Where do curling stones come from?
A round stone with a handle, gliding across the ice. You see them at every Winter Olympics, but where does the rock actually come from, and what kind of rock is it?
Do goldfish really have a three-second memory?
Every lap around the bowl wipes the slate clean—or so the story goes. Let’s hold that familiar claim up against what experiments with goldfish actually found.
Why does a piano have 88 keys?
Rows of black and white keys stretch across every piano, and the count is almost always the same, whoever made it. So who decided?
Was Napoleon really short?
His name is still shorthand for the short man with big ambitions. But the record of his height hides a surprising trap.
Why do soap bubbles shimmer with rainbow colors?
Soapy water itself is almost perfectly clear. Yet the moment you blow a bubble, swirling patterns of color start dancing across its surface.
How are seedless grapes made?
Seedless grapes you can pop straight into your mouth, skins and all. Behind that everyday convenience lies a long story of ingenuity by Japanese researchers and farmers.
How many elements are there?
Water, air and our own bodies are all made of combinations of elements. So how many elements are there in total? The latest count includes one that was born in Japan.
Do identical twins have the same fingerprints?
If two people share exactly the same genes, surely their fingertips should match too. It’s a tempting thought, but a different drama was playing out in the womb.
Where is the rainiest place in the world?
Where in the world can you never put your umbrella away? In one place, more than 10,000 millimeters of rain a year has shaped the way people live.
Is glass a liquid?
“Old church windows in Europe are thicker at the bottom, because glass is a slow-flowing liquid.” You’ve probably heard it. But is it true?
What is the largest crystal in the world?
Deep in a mine, at the end of a freshly dug tunnel, miners came upon a scene straight out of a fairy tale. But it was not a place where anyone could stay for long.
What is the longest river in the world?
Your atlas has an answer. But some researchers aren’t convinced by it—because measuring a river turns out to be far harder than it sounds.
What is the largest leaf in the world?
Big leaves bring to mind the giant butterbur leaves of northern Japan, wide enough to use as umbrellas. But elsewhere in the world grow leaves that dwarf them.
Is the Japanese word “pan” for bread Portuguese?
Toast for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch: in Japan it is all “pan.” Say that in an English-speaking country and you’ll get blank looks. Where did the word come from?
Did athletes at the ancient Olympics compete naked?
The athletes painted on Greek vases and carved in marble are almost always naked. Was that just artistic license, or is that really how they competed?
Would Saturn float in water?
Drop the solar system’s second-largest planet into a giant bathtub: would it sink or bob? The more you think about it, the more fun the thought experiment gets.
Are cactus spines actually leaves?
Green stems bristling with sharp spines, and not a leaf in sight. Yet a cactus’s leaves are right there in front of you, in disguise.
Was “escalator” originally a brand name?
We ride them every day in stations and department stores. But when, and by whom, was the name of this moving staircase coined?
What is the biggest flower in the world?
No leaves, no stem, no roots, and a powerful stench. The plant world’s great eccentric, living in the rainforest, sits at the very top of the flower-size rankings.
Where did ramen come from?
Ever heard that the first person in Japan to eat ramen was a famous feudal lord? In recent years, records have turned up that go back even further.
What is the figure in Munch’s “Scream” screaming about?
Under a blood-red sky, a figure presses its hands to its face, mouth wide open. What that famous pose means is spelled out in a note the painter wrote himself.
Why are traffic lights red, yellow and green?
Red means stop, green means go. When and how did this rule, understood all over the world, come about?
How old is the Japanese word “yabai”?
“Yabai” is often held up as the ultimate youth slang. But leaf through old books and you find this word’s ancestor in a most unexpected era.
How many smells can humans tell apart?
Fresh coffee, earth after rain, bread straight from the oven. Just how many different smells can our noses tell apart?
Do penguins have knees?
Penguins waddle along on stubby little legs. But peek at the skeleton beneath the feathers, and you find a posture you would never guess from the outside.
Where does the word “shampoo” come from?
We use shampoo almost every day. In Japanese the word is a loan from English, but trace it back and you end up in India. And at first it didn’t even mean washing hair.
What is the largest lake in the world?
Look up “the world’s largest lake” in an atlas and you land on a slightly surprising name. The line between a lake and a sea is blurrier than you might think.
Why are soccer balls made of pentagons and hexagons?
The black-and-white patchwork is still the very symbol of a soccer ball. Behind that combination lies an answer settled by mathematics.
What is the white fog from dry ice?
Drop the dry ice from a cake box into water and white smoke comes billowing out. It certainly looks like a cloud of carbon dioxide. But is it?
Why are chili peppers hot?
Eat a fiery dish and the sweat pours out as your mouth seems to burn. Yet nothing is actually heating up. A little mix-up is happening on your tongue.
What is the hardest material in the world?
Scratch it, press it, hit it: “hard” can be measured in many ways. The race for the world title turns out to be surprisingly tangled.
What is actually shown in Hokusai’s “Great Wave”?
The blue wave from the famous Japanese print is known all over the world. It is easy to be swept up by the wave, but there is more in the picture than that.
What is the oldest company in the world?
A business that has lasted 100 years is already venerable. So when, and where, was the longest-running company in the world born?
When did Japanese people start saying “itadakimasu” before meals?
Hands together: “itadakimasu.” It feels like a Japanese tradition centuries old, but trace its history and a surprising picture emerges.
Are elephants really afraid of mice?
The largest land animal cowering before a creature that fits in your palm. How much truth is there in this cartoon classic?
Where is Chopin’s heart?
The “poet of the piano” died in Paris at just 39. Yet part of him rests to this day in another country, far from his grave.
What is the strongest muscle in the human body?
The biceps? The thighs? Surprisingly, this question doesn’t have one fixed answer.
Is Japan moving?
The ground beneath our feet seems perfectly still. But measure it precisely, and the Japanese archipelago turns out to be on the move, a little every day.
Where does the Japanese word “baka” come from?
From playground squabbles to doting parents, Japanese speakers hear it daily. In kanji it is oddly written “horse” and “deer.” What did those animals do?
Do your tears change with your feelings?
Tears of sadness and tears from chopping onions look like the same drops. But are they the same inside? A story of research on tears spanning more than 40 years.
Is Everest really the tallest mountain in the world?
There may be more than one answer to “What is the world’s tallest mountain?” Move the yardstick, and a different peak takes the throne.
Was Gutenberg the first to print with movable type?
Gutenberg’s printing press is a fixture of every world history class. But look east, and the idea of setting type to print a page turns out to have a much older story.
What exactly is a shooting star?
A flash across the night sky, the kind people make wishes on. What causes it turns out to be nothing like the stars shining overhead—and astonishingly small.
Why does cutting onions make you cry?
Nothing sad has happened, yet the tears keep rolling at the cutting board. Researchers at a Japanese food company played a big part in working out why.
How long does sunlight take to reach Earth?
The Sun you see overhead isn’t the Sun as it is right now. Even for the fastest thing in the universe, the journey is a long one.
Who invented instant noodles?
Just add hot water and wait. The world now eats more than 120 billion servings of instant noodles a year, but whose bright idea were they, and where did it come from?
Where does the Japanese word “zubon” (trousers) come from?
Japanese speakers wear “zubon” every day without knowing what language the word comes from. Look into it, and a small mystery with a petticoat awaits.
What is the oldest tree in the world?
One tree has stood on the same mountain slope since before the pyramids were built. Yet change how you count, and there’s always someone older.
Why does eating ice cream give you a brain freeze?
You gulp down shaved ice, and a sharp pain stabs behind your forehead. The cold is in your mouth, so why does your head hurt?
Why do golf balls have dimples?
A smooth ball seems like it should slice through the air better, yet golf balls are covered in little hollows. The reason goes back to battered old balls.
What do the colors of the Olympic rings mean?
Blue, yellow, black, green and red: everyone knows the Olympic symbol. But trace what its designer actually wrote about the colors, and a surprising answer emerges.
Why do autumn leaves turn red and yellow?
All summer the hills are a single shade of green; then autumn paints them red and gold. Both colors “turn,” but what happens backstage is entirely different.
What is the largest animal in the world?
An animal heavier than any dinosaur is swimming in Earth’s oceans right now. Learn about its heart and its appetite, and “big” starts to mean something new.
Why are potato sprouts poisonous?
Leave potatoes in the kitchen too long and sprouts start poking out. We’re told to cut them off before cooking, but why do the sprouts contain poison in the first place?
Where does the Japanese word “arigatō” come from?
Japanese speakers say “arigatō” many times a day. Yet the word originally expressed something quite different from gratitude.
What was the world’s first car?
The names usually credited with inventing the car belong to German engineers. Widen the meaning of “car” a little, though, and the story goes back much further.
Do mirrors really reverse left and right?
Raise your right hand in front of a mirror, and the person in the glass seems to raise their left. So why doesn’t a mirror flip you upside down?
Did Van Gogh really sell only one painting in his lifetime?
Today a single Van Gogh can fetch tens of millions of dollars. But while the artist was alive, the world saw his work very differently.
Why is seawater salty?
River water isn’t salty. Rainwater isn’t salty. Yet the sea is. So where did all that salt come from in the first place?
Where did Earth’s water come from?
Oceans cover 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Where all that water came from, though, is one of the great open questions in science.
Why is the night sky dark?
When the Sun goes down, it gets dark. That obvious fact turns out to be a puzzle that troubled astronomers for centuries.
Is the Japanese word “arubaito” German?
Convenience stores, restaurants, tutoring: almost everyone in Japan works a “baito” at some point. Yet the word has an unusual backstory for a Japanese loanword.
Did tempura come from Portugal?
Tempura is a star of Japanese cuisine, yet its name sounds oddly un-Japanese. Its roots lead to Portuguese ships and a misunderstanding about a shogun’s death.
What is the longest cave in the world?
A labyrinth of darkness spreads beneath the ground. People have been measuring it for nearly 200 years, and there is still no end in sight.
Can seeds thousands of years old still sprout?
Seeds have lain asleep in the mud of ancient ruins for thousands of years. Add water, and might they wake up? Meet the people who brought ancient plants back to life.
Why are flamingos pink?
Everyone knows the flamingo as the pink bird. But one look at a flamingo chick tells you that color isn’t something they’re born with.
Why do stars twinkle?
Just as the nursery rhyme says, the stars in the night sky twinkle. Yet in that same sky, some lights barely twinkle at all.
Does “Wi-Fi” actually mean anything?
We say “Wi-Fi” almost every day, and many of us assume it is short for something. One of the people who was there when it was named gives a surprising answer.
Why do we get goosebumps?
A cold morning, a piece of music that moves you. What mechanism in the body raises those tiny bumps across your arm?
Were animals the first to ride in a balloon?
People were rising into the sky in hot air balloons 120 years before the Wright brothers’ airplane. So who were the very first passengers to climb aboard?
Why do comet tails point away from the Sun?
A long tail sweeping across the night sky like a broom. It is tempting to think a comet trails its tail behind it as it flies, but that isn’t always the case.
How do tornadoes form?
A slender vortex reaches down from the sky to the ground. What conditions have to come together to create a tornado, the source of nature’s most violent winds?
Are Olympic gold medals made of solid gold?
Gleaming on the podium, it is the crystallized dream of every athlete. Learn what makes it shine, and you may never see a medal the same way again.
Is muscle soreness caused by lactic acid?
Two days after your first workout in ages, your legs scream every time you walk down the stairs. But is the usual suspect really the one to blame?
Why do Japanese people say “moshi moshi” twice on the phone?
Japanese speakers answer the phone with “moshi moshi” almost without thinking. But why twice? The trail leads to Meiji-era phone exchanges and a fox legend.
Was the three-point seat belt patent free to use?
The first thing we do in a car is click the seat belt shut. Where did that familiar diagonal-plus-lap design come from, and how did it end up in cars all over the world?
Was the Sahara once green?
The Sahara, the world’s largest hot desert, is sand and rock as far as the eye can see. Yet beneath the sand and in the shelter of its rocks lie traces of a completely different landscape.
Why doesn’t ice cream in Japan have a best-before date?
Pick up a tub of ice cream from the freezer and search the lid and the bottom: there’s no date anywhere. Did the maker simply forget?
Is it true that starfish have no brain?
A star-shaped body gliding slowly over the seafloor. Where is its head? Which way is forward? The more you think about starfish, the stranger they get.
Are all Somei-yoshino cherry trees really clones?
Every spring, the cherry trees in a given area burst into bloom all at once. Behind that remarkable timing lies a secret dating back to the Edo period.
Do astronauts get taller in space?
Is it really true that going to space makes you taller? A Japanese astronaut’s “9-centimeter incident” offers a good place to start.
Where do the names “do, re, mi” come from?
Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti: almost everyone learns these seven syllables in music class. But where did the names actually come from?
How does a microwave oven heat food?
No flame, no hot plate, yet your food is steaming in minutes. What on earth is going on inside that box?
Why is table tennis called “ping-pong”?
Played in hotel game rooms and at the Olympics alike, table tennis has a friendlier second name. Behind it lies a surprising story about who owned a word.
Why do bullet trains have such long noses?
The newer the bullet train, the longer and sleeker its nose. And it isn’t just because a long nose looks cool or fast.
What did “goodbye” (Japanese “gubbai”) originally mean?
Japanese speakers know “goodbye” as gubbai. Taken apart, it seems to be “good” plus “bye”—but what exactly is good? The word, it turns out, once looked completely different.
What is the largest island in the world?
Is Australia an island or a continent? To name the world’s largest island, you first have to answer a surprisingly tricky question: what exactly is an island?
When was the wristwatch invented?
Today wristwatches are on wrists everywhere. Yet until about a hundred years ago, a man wearing one seems to have been a slightly embarrassing sight.
What did the Japanese word “dōmo” originally mean?
It works as a thank-you, an apology, or a quick nod in passing. Yet on its own, “dōmo” doesn’t actually say what it is you mean.
How much does hair grow in a day?
It must be growing every day, yet the mirror never shows a change. So how fast is your hair actually growing?
How does a steel ship float?
Drop an iron nail into water and it sinks at once, yet ships built from tens of thousands of tons of steel float. The difference comes down not to the metal, but to its shape.
Can a turtle climb out of its shell?
In cartoons, turtles slip out of their shells and dash around unencumbered. So what is really going on inside a real turtle’s shell?
Why is the sea blue?
The sea is blue because it reflects the sky—or so we’re often told. But when one scientist put that to the test aboard a ship, it turned out to be only part of the story.
Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?
It stars in salads, yet some varieties are sold as “fruit tomatoes.” The question of what this red globe really is once went all the way to a national supreme court.
Do dolphins really sleep with half their brain at a time?
When and how do mammals that live in the sea get any sleep? It turns out they have a remarkable trick for swimming and breathing while they rest.
Why is the sky blue and the sunset red?
Blue by day, red at dusk. It is the same sunlight all along, so why does the sky change color with the time of day?
How many times a day does the International Space Station circle Earth?
A huge laboratory flies 400 kilometers over our heads. For the astronauts who live there, a “day” runs to a rhythm completely unlike ours on the ground.
Is spaghetti Napolitan an Italian dish?
Sweet, red spaghetti stir-fried with ketchup. Its name points to the Italian port city of Naples, but try ordering it there and you will be met with puzzled looks.
Was the can opener invented after the can?
Cans, but nothing to open them with. That awkward situation lasted for decades. So how on earth did people get into their canned food?
Why do geysers erupt?
A quiet hole in the ground suddenly sends boiling water high into the sky, almost like clockwork. Behind the spectacle lies an underground “pressure cooker.”
Why does metal feel colder than wood?
On a winter morning, playground bars feel icy but the wooden bench doesn’t. Yet a thermometer says they’re the same temperature. So what is your hand feeling?
Why do pine cones open and close?
A pine cone brought home seems to clench shut on rainy days and spread open again on sunny ones. What’s more, it does this even though the cone is “dead.”
Is the Japanese word “donmai” made-in-Japan English?
It’s what Japanese teammates shout after a mistake. It sounds like English, but shout it in an English-speaking country and it may not land as you expect.
Why does popcorn pop?
Little kernels leaping out of the pan with a pop. Ordinary corn won’t do this. Inside each kernel lies something like a pressure cooker, and an unexpected “leg.”
When was the Great Wall of China built?
The Great Wall snakes endlessly over the mountains of northern China. Many credit it to the First Emperor, but the wall we see in photos dates from a much later age.
Did Beethoven name the “Moonlight” Sonata?
A quiet rocking accompaniment, a slow melody rising above it: the famous first movement. Where its lovely title came from has been the subject of a recent discovery.
Where does the Japanese word “ohayō” come from?
It’s the shortest greeting of the day. Yet this word, heard even in workplaces at night, may not have started out as a morning word at all.
What was the first computer?
Computers now fit in our pockets. Try to name the very first one, though, and the trail runs from 19th-century blueprints to wartime secrets and into a courtroom.
Why is the Milky Way called a “river” in Japan?
Looking up at the same band of light, some peoples pictured a river and others spilled milk. The names we give the night sky reflect the stories of those who gaze at it.
Did Archimedes really shout “Eureka”?
A genius makes a great discovery in the bath and runs into the street naked. The most famous story in the history of science comes with more than a few question marks.
Who was the Caesar in Caesar salad?
Romaine, grated cheese and croutons. Is the “Caesar” behind this familiar salad really the great Roman general? The story leads to an unexpected border town.
How does moss come back to life after drying out?
Pour water on moss that has dried brown and brittle, and the green comes rushing back. What was going on inside while it looked dead?
Why can’t we see the far side of the Moon?
For thousands of years, humanity has looked up at the same lunar markings. There’s a good reason the Moon’s other half stays hidden.
When did curry arrive in Japan?
Curry rice is a favorite of Japanese kids and adults alike. But Japan’s very first published recipe lists an ingredient you would never expect.
How do airplanes fly?
Hundreds of tonnes of aircraft held up by nothing but air. And the familiar explanation you learned in school may be a little shaky.
Why does ice float on water?
Most substances sink in their own liquid once they solidify. Yet the ice in your glass bobs happily at the top. What makes water so different?
Why is a marathon 42.195 kilometers?
Not 40 kilometers, not 42, but an odd number with a tail of meters. The marathon’s awkward distance carries the story of one particular race.
Why doesn’t the Mona Lisa have eyebrows?
Study the world’s most famous portrait closely and you notice something missing. What could have happened to it over 500 years?
Why do we dream?
Flying through the sky, meeting someone you’ve missed. What purpose could these strange stories screened while we sleep possibly serve?
Why do cats purr?
That low rumble vibrating on your lap is so familiar you barely notice it. Yet researchers are still arguing about where it comes from.
How many cells are in the human body?
The number you learned in school and the number in today’s reference books don’t match. In the 21st century, scientists sat down and counted the body’s cells again.
Why does static electricity give you a shock?
In winter, touching a doorknob or a car door becomes a little nerve-racking. That sudden sting is a tiny lightning bolt driven by thousands of volts.
Why is the sour umeboshi called an “alkaline food”?
Japan’s pickled plums are sour enough to make you pucker, yet they’ve long been held up as a model “alkaline food.” The reason involves setting food on fire.
How much does a cloud weigh?
Clouds look as light as cotton candy. If you could set one on a scale, how far would the needle swing? And why don’t clouds fall out of the sky?
Why don’t elevators fall?
In the movies, an elevator whose cable snaps plunges straight down the shaft. Real elevators, though, carry on a trick invented more than 170 years ago.
What is the world’s most expensive spice?
A spice like fine red threads turns paella and bouillabaisse a brilliant gold. Behind its eye-watering price lies a staggering amount of work.
Is a baobab’s trunk full of water?
A massive, stubby trunk topped with branches that look like roots. What exactly is packed inside the bulk of a baobab standing on the savanna?
Why is ice slippery?
Almost everyone has lost their footing on an icy path. Yet the reason behind something so familiar is a puzzle physicists have argued over for more than 170 years.
Which is colder, the Arctic or the Antarctic?
Both are frozen worlds at the ends of the Earth. The two polar regions seem like twins, but what lies beneath their ice could hardly be more different.
Where did the stones of Stonehenge come from?
A ring of colossal stones about 5,000 years old stands on an English plain. Where were stones weighing tens of tonnes hauled from? Modern science has been answering that question piece by piece.
Is pencil lead made of lead?
We call it “lead,” and the Japanese word for pencil contains the character for lead. But trace that black core back and you reach 16th-century English shepherds.
What is the tallest waterfall in the world?
Somewhere, water plunges from a height far greater than Tokyo Skytree. And beneath the sea, an even bigger “invisible waterfall” is flowing.
Did goats really discover coffee?
Goats eat some red berries and start to dance: the world’s favorite coffee origin story. Follow it back and you find a late record and people praying all night.
Why does a round of golf have 18 holes?
Not 10, not 20, but 18. The number written into every golf course plan grew out of a small decision by the golfers of one Scottish seaside town.
Did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone?
Behind the name in the textbooks stand a rival who filed papers at the patent office on the very same day, and a man who tried to send voices down a wire years earlier.
Are tomatoes and potatoes related?
One bears red fruit on its branches; the other swells into tubers underground. These two vegetables look nothing alike, yet they share a surprisingly deep connection.
Why is milk white?
Milk poured into a glass is a dazzling white. Yet search the milk from top to bottom, and you won’t find a single “white pigment” responsible for it.
When did Mount Fuji form?
Japan’s highest peak, a perfectly shaped cone. Beneath that elegant silhouette lie several “earlier Mount Fujis.”
Why does water boil at a lower temperature on a mountain?
Water boils at 100°C—or so we learned in school. That rule doesn’t hold everywhere. High on a mountain, a pot of water behaves very differently.
Who wrote the Iroha poem?
The Iroha is a poem that uses every Japanese kana sound exactly once. For centuries it was attributed to one famous monk. Does that story hold up?
Was Einstein bad at math?
Even the great genius was hopeless at school math, or so the encouraging story goes. How much of it is true?
Do plants sleep at night?
When the sun goes down, the plants in your garden may quietly change shape. Meet the “night face” of plants, which has intrigued people for more than 2,000 years.
Why is Pluto no longer a planet?
Generations of students learned nine planets, ending with Pluto. Why did a world that had been a planet for 76 years suddenly lose its place one day?
Do sea otters hold hands while they sleep?
Floating on their backs, holding paws as they doze: sea otters are internet stars for this pose. But is it something you would actually see out on the open sea?
Who invented braille?
Station handrails, can lids, elevator buttons: the tiny rows of raised dots found all over town began with one boy’s ingenuity.
How many times can you fold a piece of paper?
“No matter how hard you try, you can’t fold paper more than eight times.” The person who took on that old saying was a high school student given a math assignment.
How many feathers are on a badminton shuttlecock?
A badminton shuttle looks simple, a neat ring of white feathers on a cork. But that little projectile is governed by surprisingly exact rules, and a lot of fuss over birds’ wings.
Is blood type linked to personality?
“You’re so organized—you must be type A.” In Japan this is everyday small talk. But when, and from where, did the idea take hold?
Was the croissant born in France?
Few things say “Paris morning” like this crescent pastry. Trace its family tree, though, and you meet a legendary siege of Vienna and a former officer’s bakery.
How fast does a hummingbird’s heart beat?
A tiny bird hangs perfectly still in front of a flower, sipping nectar. Inside that jewel-like body, a heart is beating at an almost unimaginable pace.
What is the G string in “Air on the G String”?
Bach’s serene melody turns up at weddings and in commercials. But what exactly is the “G string” in its title, and why did it end up in the name at all?
Why is “The Last Supper” so badly damaged?
On a monastery wall in Milan is the world’s most famous supper scene, and its surface is astonishingly battered. What happened to it over 500 years?
Were mummies really sold as medicine?
The ancient Egyptians preserved their dead for an eternal sleep. Who could have imagined those bodies would end up on apothecary shelves in faraway lands?
What is the tallest mountain in the solar system?
Mount Everest is the roof of our world, but across the solar system there are peaks that dwarf it. Other worlds hold mountains on a scale that is hard to imagine.
Is there sound in space?
In sci-fi movies, spaceships explode with a deafening roar. Is real space silent? Mostly, yet in some places an unimaginably deep “song” rings out.
Why does time seem to speed up as we get older?
Childhood summers seemed to last forever; an adult year is gone in a blink. Psychologists have been puzzling over this almost universal feeling for more than a century.
Why are sloths so slow?
They hang from trees most of the day and move in slow motion. Behind the animal named for laziness lies a thoroughgoing energy-saving strategy.
Did people in the Middle Ages think the Earth was flat?
Sailors terrified of falling off the edge of the sea, and Columbus insisting the world was round. Everyone knows the picture, but who painted it, and when?
How did people keep things cold before refrigerators?
Life without a refrigerator in the kitchen is hard to imagine today. Before electricity, people went to astonishing lengths to get their hands on a little cold.
Why are plants green?
Fresh spring leaves, deep summer forests: why are plants so uniformly green? Behind that question lies a surprisingly deep puzzle: why aren’t they black?
Was basketball really born from peach baskets?
Why does a basketball hoop hang at exactly 3.05 meters, such an oddly specific height? The answer lies in a gym more than 130 years ago.
Do naked mole-rats never grow old?
Wrinkled, hairless and decidedly odd-looking, this small rodent has become a favorite of aging researchers around the world. Why do some call it the animal that doesn’t age?
Is the tongue “taste map” real?
Sweet at the tip, bitter at the back. Remember that diagram from a textbook? It’s the story of a small misunderstanding that began with a paper more than a century old.
Why do chameleons change color?
Chameleons are famous for shifting color to melt into their surroundings. But when researchers took a closer look, the story turned out to be rather different.
What does the “short” in shortcake mean?
In Japan, the strawberry cake is a fixture of birthdays and Christmas. But is the “short” in its name about size? A dictionary turns up an unexpected answer.
What is the nearest star to the Sun?
Of all the countless stars in the night sky, which one is our closest neighbor? Surprisingly, it is a star you cannot see with the naked eye.
Who really said “Let them eat cake”?
A queen dismissing a starving people with one careless remark: it is one of history’s most famous lines. Trace it to its source, though, and the story stops adding up.
How fast do fingernails grow?
You just trimmed them, and somehow they’re already long again. One doctor spent 35 years recording that tiny change on his own thumb.
Did the paint tube give birth to Impressionism?
Unscrew the cap, squeeze, and the paint is ready to use. This everyday tool is often said to have changed the history of art. How true is that?
Why do we sneeze?
Once your nose starts to tickle, there’s no stopping it. Bright light can set it off, and some claim sneezes are as fast as a bullet train. How much of that is true?
What kind of piece is 4′33″?
A pianist walks on stage and sits at the keyboard, and then no note ever sounds. What was the twentieth century’s most notorious piece of music really asking us to hear?
What are a zebra’s stripes for?
On an open savanna, a bold black-and-white coat seems made to stand out. After puzzling scientists for over 150 years, the mystery is yielding a surprising answer.
Do cows really have four stomachs?
At a Japanese barbecue restaurant, the menu may list mino, hachinosu, senmai and giara. All four are cow stomach. So what exactly is going on inside a cow?
What happens if you fall into a black hole?
Imagine leaping feet first into an object not even light can escape. What you experience and what a friend watching from afar sees would be completely different.
Was carbonara really a charcoal burners’ dish?
Egg, cheese and black pepper: Rome’s famous pasta carries a name that means “charcoal burner.” Follow that name back, and some unexpected people and times come into view.
What makes the sound when you crack your knuckles?
Plenty of us were warned that cracking our knuckles would make them swell. Scientists have pursued the source of that satisfying pop with surprising determination.
What is the giant panda’s “sixth finger”?
Giant pandas grip bamboo with surprising dexterity as they munch away. Hidden in their front paws is a tool that no other bear has.
How long has soy sauce been around in Japan?
Sashimi, simmered dishes, rice with raw egg: none would be the same without it. Its story leads to a legendary Zen monk and the Dutch ships that took it abroad.
Did the Romans really have a “vomitorium” for throwing up?
Stuffed at a banquet, you slip off to a special room, empty your stomach, and go back for more. A famous tale of Roman excess hides a surprising trap.
Is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot shrinking?
A giant red swirl floats on the face of Jupiter. This storm has raged for nearly two centuries, and lately it has been changing in a way no one can miss.
How long will footprints last on the Moon?
More than half a century ago, Apollo astronauts left footprints on the Moon. They are often said to last for millions of years, but a spacecraft that has kept watch over the lunar surface revealed something unexpected.
Was rugby born from a schoolboy breaking the rules?
A boy grabs the ball mid-game and runs with it, and a new sport is born. It is the origin story every rugby fan knows, but it has some serious holes.
When was the zipper invented?
Jackets, bags, pencil cases: we open and close zippers almost every day. Getting this little mechanism right took more than 20 years of trial and error.
Why do you float in the Dead Sea?
Lie back on the water and open a newspaper. A lake famous for photos like that lets even non-swimmers stay afloat. How does it work?
What was Vermeer’s blue made from?
That deep, clear blue is one of the first things people notice in Vermeer’s paintings. Where did a seventeenth-century Dutch painter get it? The journey starts in mountains far to the east.
When was the umbrella invented?
On a rainy day, an umbrella is indispensable. But trace its long history back far enough, and it turns out it wasn’t made for rain at all.
Why does singing sand squeak?
Walk along the beach and the sand squeaks under your feet. Beaches like this are scattered all over Japan. But this is very temperamental sand.
Was imitation crab invented in Japan?
Imitation crab turns up in salads, sushi rolls and lunch boxes everywhere. Its story began with a failed attempt to make an entirely different food.
Will Polaris always be the North Star?
As every other star wheels across the sky, one stays put in the north. This guide for travelers has a term of office, too.
Is Japan the only country that sings Beethoven’s Ninth at year’s end?
Every December, the “Ode to Joy” rings out in concert halls all over Japan. It looks like a uniquely Japanese year-end ritual, but its model came from somewhere unexpected.
How far can dandelion seeds fly?
One puff of breath and a dandelion clock bursts into a cloud of tiny parachutes drifting skyward. Just how far do those little travelers go?
Can water stay liquid below 0°C?
Tap a bottle of water fresh from the freezer, and it turns to slush before your eyes. Behind this magic trick lies a surprising property of water.
Did people use bread as an eraser before rubber?
Make a mistake, and you rub it out with an eraser. It seems obvious today, but people once made do with something from the kitchen table.
Do honeybees talk by dancing?
In the pitch-dark hive, one bee starts to whirl and shimmy, and her sisters gather around. Packed into those moves is information of astonishing precision.
Can tardigrades survive in space?
A tiny animal about half a millimeter long that lives in moss. Sometimes called the toughest creature on Earth, it has actually been sent into space. What happened when it got there?
Why did ukiyo-e become so popular in Europe?
Woodblock prints bought casually in Edo captivated Monet and Van Gogh. And the famous “packing paper” story of how it all began—is it true?
Why does baseball have nine innings?
Most ball games are timed, but baseball has no clock. So when, and how, did the game come to be measured in nine innings?
Is the Japanese word “boikotto” really someone’s name?
Athletes boycott tournaments; shoppers boycott products. The word is just as familiar in Japanese, and it began with something that happened one autumn in 19th-century Ireland.
Were carrots originally purple?
Carrots are bright orange, surely. Yet if you could peek into a carrot field a few centuries ago, the roots you pulled up might have been a very different color.
Did Mozart write “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”?
Children everywhere sing this melody, and a rumor says Mozart composed it. Trace its real origins and some surprising lyrics appear.
Was the Statue of Liberty once copper-colored?
The Statue of Liberty is famous for its blue-green color. But that color was never chosen by the sculptor.
Why is Uranus tipped on its side?
Every planet in the solar system spins like a top as it circles the Sun. Every planet, that is, except one, which rolls along lying flat on its side.
How many ants are there in the world?
Ants bustle around underfoot almost everywhere. If you could count every ant on Earth, what would the total be? Here is what a serious attempt at an “ant census” found.
What happens if you cry in space?
When we’re sad or happy, tears roll down our cheeks. But if you cry aboard a spacecraft, where there is no up or down, where do the tears go?
How many Sunflowers paintings did Van Gogh make?
London, Amsterdam, Munich, Tokyo: museums around the world display Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. So just how many of them are there?
Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean?
Some people assume the tower was built leaning on purpose. The real story is an 800-year saga of whether it would fall or stand.
What was the first photograph?
We snap dozens of photos a day on our phones. But taking the very first one in the world called for extraordinary patience.
Why was volleyball invented?
Volleyball is a school gym staple the world over. Yet it was not dreamed up for energetic young athletes at all, but for a very different crowd. The story begins in the US about 130 years ago.
Why did Leonardo da Vinci write backwards?
A genius who filled thousands of pages with reversed writing. You may have heard it was a secret code to keep his ideas safe. What is the real story?
What happened to the Venus de Milo’s arms?
Armless, she became one of the most famous sculptures in the world. Where did the Venus de Milo’s arms go—and what were they doing in the first place?
Why does your stomach growl?
A silent meeting room, and then it happens: that unmistakable rumble. The embarrassing noise turns out to be the sound of a very regular habit your gut keeps.
Why does Swiss cheese have holes?
The cartoon mouse always clutches a wedge full of holes. But who made them? The answer involves a tiny ingredient that went overlooked for almost a century.
Who was the “Elise” of Beethoven’s Für Elise?
Almost everyone who has taken piano lessons has played it. Yet the identity of the woman whose name is in the title has puzzled scholars for 200 years.
What is the world’s oldest joke?
When did people start trying to make each other laugh? Trace the first jokes ever written down, and you land on a surprisingly familiar subject.
What percentage of the human body is water?
People often say the human body is mostly water. But how much, exactly? It turns out the share varies surprisingly with age and sex.
Why does bowling use ten pins?
Knock down all ten pins in their triangle with one ball and it’s a strike. But that familiar number “ten” comes with a rather dubious legend attached.
Is your earwax type decided by your genes?
Some people’s earwax comes out in dry flakes, while others’ is soft and sticky. Where does that difference come from? Hidden behind it is a trace of humanity’s long journey across the globe.
Did vending machines exist in ancient times?
Drop in some coins, press a button, and out comes a cold drink. Trace the idea behind the vending machine back far enough and you end up nearly 2,000 years ago.
Why is home plate a pentagon?
First, second and third base are all squares, yet home plate has five sides. In fact, this base has changed shape twice: from a circle, to a square, to a pentagon.
Did people in Edo-period Japan bathe every day?
In Japanese period dramas, the cramped tenement houses have kitchens but no bathrooms. Even so, the people of old Tokyo seem to have been remarkably fond of keeping clean.
Does the Moon have earthquakes?
No air, no oceans, and volcanoes that seem to have gone quiet long ago. Yet the ground on the Moon turned out to be far from still.
Why can owls turn their heads so far?
The body stays put while the face swivels to look straight behind. A move like that could seriously hurt a human. How does an owl’s body pull it off?
Did the Olympic torch relay exist in ancient times?
Fire kindled from sunlight in Greece, then carried to the host city by thousands of hands. It looks ancient, but its origins are surprisingly recent—and complicated.
Why does an ambulance siren change pitch as it passes?
A siren sounds high as it approaches and drops the moment it passes. To test this effect, a 19th-century Dutch scientist put musicians on a train.
Where does the name “mayonnaise” come from?
Mayonnaise goes on everything from salads to okonomiyaki. Trace its name and you reach the story of a war, or so it is said. But the tale is not quite that simple.
What is the “curse of the ninth”?
Beethoven, Bruckner, Dvořák, Mahler: one great composer after another left a Ninth Symphony as his last. Is it really a curse?
Why is a square boxing ring called a ring?
A boxing ring is plainly a square, yet a “ring” is a circle. The mismatch between shape and name goes back more than 200 years.
Why do sumo wrestlers throw salt?
Before the bout, a white spray arcs from a wrestler’s hand. It’s a familiar sight, but that handful hides a long history—and a surprising amount of salt.
Why has Roman concrete lasted so long?
Modern concrete can start to crumble within decades, yet ancient Roman buildings are still standing after nearly 2,000 years. The secret was hidden in the material itself.
How do batteries make electricity?
The little batteries in our remote controls and clocks are packed with a discovery that began more than 200 years ago, with a twitching frog’s leg.
Why does a soccer match last 90 minutes?
Forty-five minutes each way, everywhere on Earth. Who decided that, and when? The story begins in a London park, in rain and hail.
Is there a lake where the lightning never stops?
Silent lightning flickers on the horizon hundreds, even thousands of times in a single night. In one place, nights like that add up to months of every year.
Why was the Mona Lisa stolen?
In the summer of 1911, the world’s most famous painting vanished from the Louvre. Except that, before it was stolen, it wasn’t yet the world’s most famous painting.
Why does the Moon look bigger near the horizon?
A full Moon just rising over the hills can look astonishingly large. Yet in a photo, it somehow shrinks. It’s a puzzle that has baffled people for more than 2,000 years.
How many digits of pi have been calculated?
3.14159… and on forever. For more than 2,000 years, people have chased the next digits of pi. How far has the record gone?
When was the toothbrush invented?
We pick up a toothbrush every morning and night without a second thought. Before it existed, how did people keep their teeth clean?
Was hook-and-loop fastening inspired by a plant?
Shoes, bags, even blood pressure cuffs: we rip it open and press it shut every day. The idea behind this fastener was lying beside a country path.
Did the name “Impressionism” begin as an insult?
The bright paintings of Monet and Renoir are loved all over the world. Yet on the day their group got its name, a newspaper was laughing at their work.
What does the “shoku” in Japanese “shokupan” mean?
All bread is for eating, so why is only Japan’s square white loaf called “eating bread”? A name seen at breakfast tables every day turns out to be surprisingly hard to explain.
Is there an upper limit to temperature?
Cold has a floor, a point below which nothing can go. But what about heat? The hottest thing humans have made was over 300,000 times hotter than the Sun’s core.
How did Beethoven compose when he couldn’t hear?
For a musician, the ears are everything. So how did Beethoven, who lost his hearing little by little, manage to write huge works like the Ninth Symphony?
When were eyeglasses invented?
We wear them every day as if they were part of our face. Thanks to one friar’s sermon, we know surprisingly well when this little device was born.
Are sunsets on Mars blue?
Mars is known as the Red Planet. When a rover photographed the Sun setting in its sky in color, the scene it captured looked nothing like a sunset on Earth.
How did the Moon form?
It is the most familiar object in the night sky, yet scientists are still debating how it came to be. The clues came from rocks that astronauts brought home.
Where does the Japanese word “tasogare” come from?
Tasogare is a beautiful Japanese word for dusk. It is written with the characters for “yellow” and “dusk,” yet its sound has nothing to do with them. Trace it back and you reach a few words spoken in the half-light.
Who was the model for Girl with a Pearl Earring?
A girl glances back over her shoulder, straight at us. For more than 350 years she has held viewers spellbound, yet she has no name—and, in a sense, not even a pearl.
Is it true that pure water doesn’t conduct electricity?
We’re taught never to touch an outlet with wet hands, yet we also hear that pure water doesn’t conduct electricity. So which is it?
Was the Palace of Versailles really built without toilets?
Behind the glittering facade, the story goes, courtiers relieved themselves in the gardens and hallways. What was it really like at Versailles?
Why are railway tracks 1,435 mm apart?
Much of the world’s railway network runs on tracks an oddly specific 1,435 mm apart. Have you heard that the measurement goes back to the chariots of ancient Rome?
Would your blood vessels really wrap around the Earth two and a half times?
Lay your blood vessels end to end and they’d circle the Earth two and a half times, or so we’re told. Trace the figure back, and you find an imaginary 140-kilogram man.
Do all shaved ice syrups taste the same?
Strawberry, melon, lemon: the syrups lined up at a summer festival stall. That moment of agonizing over which one to choose is said to hide a little trick.
Was the barcode born on a beach?
The black-and-white stripes that beep at every checkout are everywhere. But when, and how, did someone first think of them?
What is the oldest zoo in the world?
A family day out to see the elephants and giraffes. But when did people first start gathering unusual animals and keeping them?
Why did samurai wear the chonmage topknot?
The familiar samurai hairstyle from period dramas: the top of the head shaved, the rest tied into a topknot. Come to think of it, why shave just part of your head?
Where do figure skating jump names come from?
Axel, Lutz, Salchow. The jump names you hear in every figure skating broadcast have a slightly odd ring to them. As it turns out, most of them share something in common.
Why do we replace our teeth only once?
Sharks go through tens of thousands of teeth in a lifetime, yet we swap ours only once, in childhood. Here’s why, and where research into regrowing teeth stands today.
Where does the Japanese phrase “pin kara kiri made” come from?
Japanese speakers use “pin” and “kiri” all the time, yet both are written in katakana and few can say what they mean. In fact, neither may have started out as Japanese at all.
Can a cockroach live without its head?
Cockroaches are practically a byword for toughness. Is the rumor that they keep living after losing their heads just an exaggeration?
Why do some people’s faces turn red when they drink?
One glass of beer turns some people bright red; others drink round after round without changing color. The difference lies in a tiny variation in a single gene.
Why do runners go counterclockwise around the track?
From school sports days to the Olympic 400 meters, runners always bend to the left. But at the very first modern Olympics, they went the other way.
Were the pyramid workers paid in beer?
There’s a story that in ancient Egypt, beer served as a paycheck. Peek into the records of the craftsmen who built the royal tombs, and a surprising picture of daily life emerges.
Which is older, the Kojiki or the Nihon Shoki?
Japan’s two oldest books carry its myths and the early history of its emperors. Which of the pair came first? The answer depends a little on how you look at it.
Were fortune cookies born in Japan?
The folded cookie with a fortune inside arrives at the end of countless Chinese-American meals. It is often taken for a traditional Chinese sweet, yet you rarely see it in China. So where did it come from?
What is the largest moon in the solar system?
Our Moon looks impressively large in the night sky. But across the whole solar system, where does the biggest moon of all circle its planet?
Can you swim any stroke in a freestyle race?
Say “freestyle” and everyone pictures the front crawl. So what would happen if you entered a freestyle race and swam breaststroke or backstroke? Would you be disqualified?
Do we really use only 10 percent of our brains?
Wake up the other 90 percent and you’ll become a genius. It’s a favorite of movies and self-help books, but what do the scientists who study the brain make of it?
Why does the sensitive plant fold up when touched?
Touch it with a fingertip and its leaves fold shut, then the whole stalk sags as if bowing. What is this unusually quick-moving plant doing it for?
Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches?
Day after day, woodpeckers slam their beaks into trees. It would leave any of us seeing stars. So how do their heads cope?
Where does the Japanese word “taifū” come from?
Typhoons strike Japan almost every year. But why is the Japanese word written with the character 台, meaning “stand” or “platform”? Follow a word on its long voyage back and forth across the seas.
Who invented the red card?
A single red card held high by the referee. Even people who know nothing about soccer understand it. The idea was born on a street corner, after one chaotic sending-off.
Is the curse of Tutankhamun real?
The tomb of the boy king famous for his golden mask. Have you heard that, after it was opened, the people involved died one after another in mysterious ways?
Why is human body temperature around 36–37°C?
The idea that “normal” is 37°C was popularized by a German doctor more than 150 years ago. Now it seems that normal itself has been slowly slipping.
Do male seahorses really give birth?
A dragon-like face and a neatly curled tail. The seahorse, an aquarium favorite, splits family duties in a way almost no other fish does.
Did ketchup start out as fish sauce?
It goes on fries, burgers and Japanese omelet rice alike. But follow the name of this red sauce back far enough and you reach a condiment that looks nothing like tomatoes.
When did the rank of yokozuna begin?
Yokozuna is the summit of professional sumo. Today it is the highest rank on the ladder, yet it started out as something that was not a rank at all: a single rope.
How much can bamboo grow in a day?
A bamboo shoot that wasn’t there yesterday is as tall as a person today. In a spring bamboo grove, growth that hardly seems plant-like is quietly under way.
What is the smallest flower in the world?
Green specks smaller than sesame seeds float on a pond. They look like nothing more than algae. But what if each one were a flowering plant?
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What is the original song behind Japan’s “Hotaru no Hikari”?
In Japan, it’s the farewell tune of graduation ceremonies and the music that tells shoppers the store is closing. Across the sea, though, it is sung on a very different occasion.
Is the ginkgo really a “living fossil”?
Every autumn, ginkgo trees turn city streets gold. This familiar tree hides a story stretching back to the age of dinosaurs, and a world-class discovery made in Japan.
Are mushrooms plants?
Mushrooms are sold next to the vegetables and sprout in the shade of the forest, so most of us lump them in with plants. Their true identity lies somewhere more surprising.
What is the oldest money in Japan?
Generations of Japanese students learned one coin as “Japan’s oldest money.” Then a single excavation shook its claim to the title.
Can you see the Great Wall of China from space?
“The only man-made structure visible from space.” Nearly everyone has heard it. So what do the people who have actually been to space have to say?
Why does eating pineapple make your tongue tingle?
Sweet, tangy and delicious, yet bite after bite your tongue starts to prickle and sting. Behind that feeling lies a slightly alarming reason unique to pineapple.
What is Rodin’s “Thinker” thinking about?
A man sits hunched, chin on hand. Everyone knows the pose for “deep in thought,” but surprisingly few people know what he is actually pondering.
How many times a day do we blink?
You have almost certainly closed your eyelids at least once while reading this sentence. Have you ever stopped to count how often?
Are you taller in the morning than at night?
The same person can measure a different height in the morning and at night. About 300 years ago, an English clergyman who noticed this is said to have saved several soldiers from being discharged for being too short.
Where do the colors of judo belts come from?
You start with a white belt and dream of one day tying on a black one. But when, where and how did this famous badge of skill come about?
Why is a sun shower called a “fox’s wedding” in Japanese?
Under a blue sky, a few drops of rain come pattering down. Faced with that odd sight, people in Japan long ago somehow pictured a wedding of foxes.
Were sticky notes born from a failure?
Stick it, peel it off, stick it again. The little square of paper that now lives on every desk did not have an easy birth.
Why is wombat poop cube-shaped?
On a rock in an Australian forest sits a little dropping shaped like a die. The people who cracked the mystery were, surprisingly, engineers.
How many meals a day did people eat in Edo-period Japan?
Breakfast, lunch and dinner feel like the natural order of things. But when did that “natural order” actually begin?
What’s the difference between magnitude and seismic intensity?
Two numbers come up in every earthquake report. They look alike, but they actually measure completely different things.
Can a Venus flytrap count?
What if a plant with no brain and no nerves were “counting” something as its prey crept closer? A look inside the intricate workings of a carnivorous trap.
Where does the Japanese phrase “ichika bachika” come from?
Japanese speakers say it when they leave everything to luck. But why “one” and “eight”? Why not two, or seven? The answer leads into the gambling dens of old Edo.
Which is older, Oxford University or the Aztec Empire?
Stone temples on one side, a university students still attend on the other. Asked which is older, most people’s instincts lead them astray.
When was zero discovered?
Zero, the number for nothing at all, seems utterly obvious. Yet it took humanity a very long time to get hold of it.
Does the word “salary” really come from salt?
“Roman soldiers were paid in salt.” It’s a trivia classic, but trace it back through the ancient records and a rather different picture emerges.
Is it true that a banana plant isn’t a tree?
It can grow far taller than a person, yet botanists file it with the grasses and herbs. And its fruit is more of a true “berry” than a strawberry.
What is the oldest map in the world?
When did people first start drawing the land they lived on as if looking down from the sky? Join us on a journey in search of the oldest map.
Is the Japanese word “hotchikisu” named after a person?
The desktop tool that snaps papers together has a Japanese name no English speaker would recognize. And a famous story about an inventor goes with it. But is it true?
Did Picasso really have an extremely long name?
The name of the 20th century’s defining painter is just three syllables. But read out the official name in the church records, and you can’t get through it in one breath.
What is the largest seed in the world?
Sailors on the Indian Ocean once believed a strange floating fruit grew on trees at the bottom of the sea. Its true origin was a plant on a faraway island.
How hot is lightning?
For the briefest instant, a single streak of light carves a path hotter than the Sun. And that deafening roar comes from the very same heat.
Why do volcanic eruptions make lightning?
Bolts of lightning flash through a towering black plume of ash. There is no thundercloud, so why does lightning strike above a volcano? The phenomenon appears even in Japanese records from the eighth century.
Is an atom mostly empty space?
Desks, air and our own bodies are all made of atoms. Peer inside an atom, though, and you find a landscape nothing like what you might imagine.
Is it true that no two snowflakes are alike?
“No two snowflakes are alike,” people say. But has anyone actually checked? Each flake, it turns out, carries a record of its journey through the sky.
Where does the word “OK” come from?
“OK” is one of the most widely understood words on Earth. It started out as a bit of wordplay among nineteenth-century newspapermen.
Who coined the word “robot”?
Robots are at work everywhere from factories to outer space. Their name was born about a century ago, in an offhand exchange between two brothers.
Was a swimsuit really banned for being too fast?
There was a time when swimming world records fell one after another, as if a dam had burst. The real star, many said, was not the swimmers but their swimsuits.
Why do auroras glow?
Curtains of light rippling across the night sky. We think of them as a polar sight, yet they were recorded in Japan as far back as the seventh century.
How long have people been eating natto?
Those sticky, stringy beans are a Japanese breakfast staple. Ask where they came from, and famous warriors and saints start turning up. How far can we trust them?
When was the bicycle invented?
The bicycle is so familiar that we rarely think of it as an invention at all. Yet the very first one looked quite different from the bikes we ride today.
What is the deepest place in the world?
Sink Mount Everest whole and its summit would still lie far below the surface. Fewer people have visited Earth’s deepest spot than have gone to space.
Did the Titanic’s lookouts really have no binoculars?
April 1912: in the darkness of the North Atlantic, a lookout spots an iceberg. What did he have at hand that night, and what was missing?
Where does the term “hat-trick” come from?
When a soccer player scores three goals in a game, it is a hat-trick. But what does a hat have to do with it? The answer lies in a different sport altogether.
What is the oldest writing in the world?
When, where and why did people first start writing down their words?
Where does the Japanese word “sayōnara” come from?
A goodbye Japanese children learn almost before anything else. One foreign writer called it the most beautiful farewell she had ever heard anywhere in the world.
What is the biggest tree in the world?
A tree nearly as tall as a 40-story building stands quietly in a California forest. But change how you measure “big,” and the champion changes too.
Was Cleopatra closer in time to the pyramids or to us?
Say “ancient Egypt” and the queen and the pyramids seem to fit in a single picture. In reality, a staggering stretch of time separates the two.
Who wrote the “Happy Birthday” song?
It’s sung at birthday parties all over the world. But did you know the song has authors, and that until recently it was the subject of a copyright fight?
Why is tennis scored 15, 30, 40?
Not 1, 2, 3, but 15, 30 and then 40. Behind tennis’s puzzling way of keeping score lies a mystery nearly 600 years old.
Why do we get hiccups?
That stubborn “hic” you just can’t stop. Everyone gets them, yet what they’re actually for remains surprisingly unclear.
Do plants grow better if you play them music?
Vegetables raised on classical music taste better—ever heard that one? We trace the relationship between plants and sound through the history of research.
Where does the word “hamburger” come from?
Cheeseburger, fishburger: “burger” now works like a dish name of its own. Trace the word back, though, and it has nothing to do with ham, or with buns.
Why are rainbows round?
A rainbow in the sky is always a half circle or a smaller arc. But that shape is only part of the picture. Where did the rest of the rainbow go?
How much space junk is there?
Roughly 70 years after humanity first reached space, the things we’ve “dropped” keep piling up around Earth, mostly too small to see.
Is there really a planet where a day is longer than a year?
Right next door to Earth is a planet where our sense of time is turned upside down. There, the Sun rises in the west.
What does space smell like?
With no air in space, there is nothing to sniff. Yet astronauts describe “the smell of space” in remarkably similar terms.
Did people in the past really die young?
Hear that life expectancy in Edo-period Japan was in the thirties, and it sounds as if 40 was already old age. But was it really?
Is the word “jeans” named after a city?
Tough blue trousers that seem to hang in every closet. Trace their name, and the name of their fabric, and an old map of Europe unfolds.
Is the wasabi at conveyor-belt sushi the real thing?
The packet beside your plate, the pot on the counter: that nose-tingling kick may not come from a Japanese mountain stream. The ingredients list holds a surprise.
Who invented the ballpoint pen?
There is one in every pencil case, every bag and every office drawer. Who came up with the pen that writes so smoothly with nothing but a tiny ball at its tip?
Why do magnets stick to things?
A magnet clings to the fridge door yet ignores aluminum cans and copper coins. How does a magnet choose what it sticks to?
How many hearts does an octopus have?
A heart that stops when it swims, blue blood built on copper, arms that think. The more you learn about the humble octopus, the more alien it seems.
Why are yawns contagious?
See someone yawn, and before you know it, you’re yawning too. How many times will you yawn before you finish reading this?
Is the famous story of how potato chips were invented true?
A fussy customer and an irritated cook: the birth of the potato chip comes with a story you can’t resist retelling. But leaf through old cookbooks, and things get complicated.
Do sunflowers really follow the sun?
True to its name, it is the flower that turns its head to track the sun. Spend a whole summer day watching a sunflower field, though, and you may be surprised.
How do bats fly in the dark?
They dart through pitch-black caves without hitting a thing and snatch tiny insects out of the air. How they do it puzzled scientists for more than 200 years.
How many hours a day do giraffes sleep?
Ever heard that giraffes hardly sleep at all? Look into it, and the answer depends a great deal on how you count sleep, and where the giraffe lives.
Why do orchestras tune to an A?
Just before a concert begins, a single note stretches out through the chatter. That ritual-like moment holds both the design of the instruments and 300 years of history.
Was the QR code invented in Japan?
From ordering at restaurants to paying at the register, those black-and-white squares are everywhere now. Their birthplace is not where you might expect.
Did Vikings really wear horned helmets?
Norse warriors who crossed the seas and raided far and wide. Where did the fierce helmet we picture on their heads actually come from?
Is the Moon really drifting away from Earth?
At about the pace your fingernails grow, the Moon is slowly taking its leave. And the price Earth pays for it turns out to be time itself.
How do fireworks get their colors?
Great bursts of red, green and blue across the night sky. Those vivid colors are not painted on. And the fireworks people watched in old Edo looked completely different.
Did ninja really dress all in black?
A shadowy figure in black, melting into the night and racing silently across the rooftops. How much of the world’s favorite image of the ninja is true?
What makes a Stradivarius so special?
A single violin can fetch more than a billion yen. Everyone knows the name, yet what makes it so special is surprisingly hard to pin down.
Is it true that the specks on a strawberry aren’t seeds?
That glossy red on top of a strawberry shortcake. Through a botanist’s eyes, the part we eat as the “flesh” of the fruit turns out to be something rather unexpected.
Why is the sumo ring round?
Boxing rings and judo mats are square, yet sumo alone is fought on a round stage. Getting to that shape involved a long detour.
What is the fastest animal in the world?
There is a bird that falls through the sky faster than a bullet train. But change how you compare “fast,” and some surprising creatures turn up.
Where did Japanese hiragana and katakana come from?
Japanese is written with two sets of kana that stand for the same sounds. Why would anyone need two differently shaped scripts for the same job?
Did Michelangelo paint the Sistine ceiling lying down?
Stories from the Old Testament spread across a ceiling some 20 meters overhead. The way most of us picture Michelangelo painting this masterpiece turns out to be wrong.
Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself?
Your stomach turns meat and fish into mush. Yet the stomach itself is an organ made of flesh. How does it keep from dissolving?
Does air have weight?
You can’t see air or hold it in your hand. But if you gathered up all the air in the room you’re sitting in and put it on a scale, how far would the needle swing?
How thick is the ice in Antarctica?
Antarctica, the white continent. How much thickness lies hidden beneath its snow and ice? The latest map, built from some 60 years of surveys, also reveals surprising terrain under the ice.
Do babies really have more bones than adults?
As we grow, our bodies get bigger but our bone count goes down. Behind that curious subtraction lies a reason that helps babies survive.
Was the word “quiz” really invented for a bet?
A Dublin theater owner bets he can make a meaningless word catch on in no time. That is the famous origin story of “quiz.” The records tell a different tale.
How hot is the center of the Earth?
More than 6,000 kilometers beneath your feet lies a place no one has ever been. How did scientists work out its temperature?
What makes the fizz in a carbonated drink?
The hiss when you crack the cap, the fine bubbles streaming up from the bottom of the glass. Where exactly are those bubbles born?
How rare is a four-leaf clover?
Remember crouching in the grass, searching intently? We unpack the rarity of this lucky charm through numbers and genes.
Is it true that honey never spoils?
A jar of honey forgotten for years at the back of the cupboard often seems surprisingly fine. The secret of its staying power lies in the bees’ handiwork.
Why does road salt melt ice?
On snowy mornings, roads and bridges are often scattered with white grains. Why does salt make ice melt? And why does it work worse the colder it gets?
What is the biggest star in the universe?
Put this star where the Sun is, and it might reach as far as Saturn’s orbit. But the title of biggest star has changed hands surprisingly often.
Why are keyboards laid out QWERTY?
On computers and smartphones alike, the top row starts Q, W, E, R, T, Y. It is not alphabetical, so where did this odd arrangement come from?
What is the coldest place in the universe?
Empty space is already bitterly cold. Yet astronomers found a place that dips below even that cosmic floor.
Why do we see lightning before we hear thunder?
A flash, then a pause, then the rumble. Lightning and thunder are born in the same instant, so why do they reach us at different times? That gap has also served science remarkably well.
Why do koalas sleep all day?
Visit a koala at the zoo and it is almost always curled up asleep in a tree. It isn’t just laziness. The length of a koala’s sleep has a lot to do with what it eats.
What is the longest-living animal in the world?
When this clam was born, Japan was entering an age of civil war. In the northern seas live creatures that seem to have watched human history unfold.
What is the driest place on Earth?
In one corner of the ice continent lies a valley where even snow barely settles. And on the far side of the globe, a desert serves as a dress rehearsal for Mars.
Does the Japanese word “saboru” come from French?
To “saboru” a class or a day at work. The word looks thoroughly Japanese, yet it spread about 100 years ago, sparked by one particular event.
Were the pyramids built by slaves?
Overseers cracking whips over crowds of slaves dragging huge stones. That scene is familiar from the movies, but did it ever really happen?
Where does the baseball term “strike” come from?
A batter lets a pitch go by without moving the bat, and it’s still a “strike.” That odd little word preserves the easygoing ways of 19th-century baseball.
Will the Sun burn out someday?
Even the Sun that rises faithfully every morning has a lifespan. Follow the life story of a star, and the Sun’s surprising “final days” come into view.
Was sushi originally a way to preserve fish?
Fresh fish, vinegared rice, a single piece shaped by a chef’s hands. Hard to imagine today, but sushi over a thousand years ago was a completely different dish.
Did Edison invent the light bulb?
The light bulb is the first thing people name when they think of the great inventor. But trace the story of its birth, and a slightly different picture emerges.
Does bamboo really flower only once every 120 years?
Bamboo is everywhere in Japan, yet almost no one has seen it bloom. And when it finally does, whole groves can wither away.
What happens if you light a candle in space?
A candle flame always points upward. So what shape would it take in space, where there is no up or down? Astronauts have actually tried it.
How smart are crows?
Crows have a reputation as pests that raid garbage bins. But peek into researchers’ experiments, and a surprisingly rich world opens up inside those small heads.
How many stitches are on a baseball?
A curve of red thread racing across white leather. You have seen it countless times, but chances are you have never stopped to count the stitches.
Was chocolate originally a drink?
The crisp snap of a chocolate bar breaking in two. Measured against humanity’s long relationship with cacao, that familiar form is a very recent arrival.
Why do we have a dominant hand?
The hand that holds a pen, the hand that throws a ball. Our dominant hand seems settled before we notice—so when, and how, does it take shape?
Where do curling stones come from?
A round stone with a handle, gliding across the ice. You see them at every Winter Olympics, but where does the rock actually come from, and what kind of rock is it?
Do goldfish really have a three-second memory?
Every lap around the bowl wipes the slate clean—or so the story goes. Let’s hold that familiar claim up against what experiments with goldfish actually found.
Why does a piano have 88 keys?
Rows of black and white keys stretch across every piano, and the count is almost always the same, whoever made it. So who decided?
Was Napoleon really short?
His name is still shorthand for the short man with big ambitions. But the record of his height hides a surprising trap.
Why do soap bubbles shimmer with rainbow colors?
Soapy water itself is almost perfectly clear. Yet the moment you blow a bubble, swirling patterns of color start dancing across its surface.
How are seedless grapes made?
Seedless grapes you can pop straight into your mouth, skins and all. Behind that everyday convenience lies a long story of ingenuity by Japanese researchers and farmers.
How many elements are there?
Water, air and our own bodies are all made of combinations of elements. So how many elements are there in total? The latest count includes one that was born in Japan.
Do identical twins have the same fingerprints?
If two people share exactly the same genes, surely their fingertips should match too. It’s a tempting thought, but a different drama was playing out in the womb.
Where is the rainiest place in the world?
Where in the world can you never put your umbrella away? In one place, more than 10,000 millimeters of rain a year has shaped the way people live.
Is glass a liquid?
“Old church windows in Europe are thicker at the bottom, because glass is a slow-flowing liquid.” You’ve probably heard it. But is it true?
What is the largest crystal in the world?
Deep in a mine, at the end of a freshly dug tunnel, miners came upon a scene straight out of a fairy tale. But it was not a place where anyone could stay for long.
What is the longest river in the world?
Your atlas has an answer. But some researchers aren’t convinced by it—because measuring a river turns out to be far harder than it sounds.
What is the largest leaf in the world?
Big leaves bring to mind the giant butterbur leaves of northern Japan, wide enough to use as umbrellas. But elsewhere in the world grow leaves that dwarf them.
Is the Japanese word “pan” for bread Portuguese?
Toast for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch: in Japan it is all “pan.” Say that in an English-speaking country and you’ll get blank looks. Where did the word come from?
Did athletes at the ancient Olympics compete naked?
The athletes painted on Greek vases and carved in marble are almost always naked. Was that just artistic license, or is that really how they competed?
Would Saturn float in water?
Drop the solar system’s second-largest planet into a giant bathtub: would it sink or bob? The more you think about it, the more fun the thought experiment gets.
Are cactus spines actually leaves?
Green stems bristling with sharp spines, and not a leaf in sight. Yet a cactus’s leaves are right there in front of you, in disguise.
Was “escalator” originally a brand name?
We ride them every day in stations and department stores. But when, and by whom, was the name of this moving staircase coined?
What is the biggest flower in the world?
No leaves, no stem, no roots, and a powerful stench. The plant world’s great eccentric, living in the rainforest, sits at the very top of the flower-size rankings.
Where did ramen come from?
Ever heard that the first person in Japan to eat ramen was a famous feudal lord? In recent years, records have turned up that go back even further.
What is the figure in Munch’s “Scream” screaming about?
Under a blood-red sky, a figure presses its hands to its face, mouth wide open. What that famous pose means is spelled out in a note the painter wrote himself.
Why are traffic lights red, yellow and green?
Red means stop, green means go. When and how did this rule, understood all over the world, come about?
How old is the Japanese word “yabai”?
“Yabai” is often held up as the ultimate youth slang. But leaf through old books and you find this word’s ancestor in a most unexpected era.
How many smells can humans tell apart?
Fresh coffee, earth after rain, bread straight from the oven. Just how many different smells can our noses tell apart?
Do penguins have knees?
Penguins waddle along on stubby little legs. But peek at the skeleton beneath the feathers, and you find a posture you would never guess from the outside.
Where does the word “shampoo” come from?
We use shampoo almost every day. In Japanese the word is a loan from English, but trace it back and you end up in India. And at first it didn’t even mean washing hair.
What is the largest lake in the world?
Look up “the world’s largest lake” in an atlas and you land on a slightly surprising name. The line between a lake and a sea is blurrier than you might think.
Why are soccer balls made of pentagons and hexagons?
The black-and-white patchwork is still the very symbol of a soccer ball. Behind that combination lies an answer settled by mathematics.
What is the white fog from dry ice?
Drop the dry ice from a cake box into water and white smoke comes billowing out. It certainly looks like a cloud of carbon dioxide. But is it?
Why are chili peppers hot?
Eat a fiery dish and the sweat pours out as your mouth seems to burn. Yet nothing is actually heating up. A little mix-up is happening on your tongue.
What is the hardest material in the world?
Scratch it, press it, hit it: “hard” can be measured in many ways. The race for the world title turns out to be surprisingly tangled.
What is actually shown in Hokusai’s “Great Wave”?
The blue wave from the famous Japanese print is known all over the world. It is easy to be swept up by the wave, but there is more in the picture than that.
What is the oldest company in the world?
A business that has lasted 100 years is already venerable. So when, and where, was the longest-running company in the world born?
When did Japanese people start saying “itadakimasu” before meals?
Hands together: “itadakimasu.” It feels like a Japanese tradition centuries old, but trace its history and a surprising picture emerges.
Are elephants really afraid of mice?
The largest land animal cowering before a creature that fits in your palm. How much truth is there in this cartoon classic?
Where is Chopin’s heart?
The “poet of the piano” died in Paris at just 39. Yet part of him rests to this day in another country, far from his grave.
What is the strongest muscle in the human body?
The biceps? The thighs? Surprisingly, this question doesn’t have one fixed answer.
Is Japan moving?
The ground beneath our feet seems perfectly still. But measure it precisely, and the Japanese archipelago turns out to be on the move, a little every day.
Where does the Japanese word “baka” come from?
From playground squabbles to doting parents, Japanese speakers hear it daily. In kanji it is oddly written “horse” and “deer.” What did those animals do?
Do your tears change with your feelings?
Tears of sadness and tears from chopping onions look like the same drops. But are they the same inside? A story of research on tears spanning more than 40 years.
Is Everest really the tallest mountain in the world?
There may be more than one answer to “What is the world’s tallest mountain?” Move the yardstick, and a different peak takes the throne.
Was Gutenberg the first to print with movable type?
Gutenberg’s printing press is a fixture of every world history class. But look east, and the idea of setting type to print a page turns out to have a much older story.
What exactly is a shooting star?
A flash across the night sky, the kind people make wishes on. What causes it turns out to be nothing like the stars shining overhead—and astonishingly small.
Why does cutting onions make you cry?
Nothing sad has happened, yet the tears keep rolling at the cutting board. Researchers at a Japanese food company played a big part in working out why.
How long does sunlight take to reach Earth?
The Sun you see overhead isn’t the Sun as it is right now. Even for the fastest thing in the universe, the journey is a long one.
Who invented instant noodles?
Just add hot water and wait. The world now eats more than 120 billion servings of instant noodles a year, but whose bright idea were they, and where did it come from?
Where does the Japanese word “zubon” (trousers) come from?
Japanese speakers wear “zubon” every day without knowing what language the word comes from. Look into it, and a small mystery with a petticoat awaits.
What is the oldest tree in the world?
One tree has stood on the same mountain slope since before the pyramids were built. Yet change how you count, and there’s always someone older.
Why does eating ice cream give you a brain freeze?
You gulp down shaved ice, and a sharp pain stabs behind your forehead. The cold is in your mouth, so why does your head hurt?
Why do golf balls have dimples?
A smooth ball seems like it should slice through the air better, yet golf balls are covered in little hollows. The reason goes back to battered old balls.
What do the colors of the Olympic rings mean?
Blue, yellow, black, green and red: everyone knows the Olympic symbol. But trace what its designer actually wrote about the colors, and a surprising answer emerges.
Why do autumn leaves turn red and yellow?
All summer the hills are a single shade of green; then autumn paints them red and gold. Both colors “turn,” but what happens backstage is entirely different.
What is the largest animal in the world?
An animal heavier than any dinosaur is swimming in Earth’s oceans right now. Learn about its heart and its appetite, and “big” starts to mean something new.
Why are potato sprouts poisonous?
Leave potatoes in the kitchen too long and sprouts start poking out. We’re told to cut them off before cooking, but why do the sprouts contain poison in the first place?
Where does the Japanese word “arigatō” come from?
Japanese speakers say “arigatō” many times a day. Yet the word originally expressed something quite different from gratitude.
What was the world’s first car?
The names usually credited with inventing the car belong to German engineers. Widen the meaning of “car” a little, though, and the story goes back much further.
Do mirrors really reverse left and right?
Raise your right hand in front of a mirror, and the person in the glass seems to raise their left. So why doesn’t a mirror flip you upside down?
Did Van Gogh really sell only one painting in his lifetime?
Today a single Van Gogh can fetch tens of millions of dollars. But while the artist was alive, the world saw his work very differently.
Why is seawater salty?
River water isn’t salty. Rainwater isn’t salty. Yet the sea is. So where did all that salt come from in the first place?
Where did Earth’s water come from?
Oceans cover 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Where all that water came from, though, is one of the great open questions in science.
Why is the night sky dark?
When the Sun goes down, it gets dark. That obvious fact turns out to be a puzzle that troubled astronomers for centuries.
Is the Japanese word “arubaito” German?
Convenience stores, restaurants, tutoring: almost everyone in Japan works a “baito” at some point. Yet the word has an unusual backstory for a Japanese loanword.
Did tempura come from Portugal?
Tempura is a star of Japanese cuisine, yet its name sounds oddly un-Japanese. Its roots lead to Portuguese ships and a misunderstanding about a shogun’s death.
What is the longest cave in the world?
A labyrinth of darkness spreads beneath the ground. People have been measuring it for nearly 200 years, and there is still no end in sight.
Can seeds thousands of years old still sprout?
Seeds have lain asleep in the mud of ancient ruins for thousands of years. Add water, and might they wake up? Meet the people who brought ancient plants back to life.
Why are flamingos pink?
Everyone knows the flamingo as the pink bird. But one look at a flamingo chick tells you that color isn’t something they’re born with.
Why do stars twinkle?
Just as the nursery rhyme says, the stars in the night sky twinkle. Yet in that same sky, some lights barely twinkle at all.
Does “Wi-Fi” actually mean anything?
We say “Wi-Fi” almost every day, and many of us assume it is short for something. One of the people who was there when it was named gives a surprising answer.
Why do we get goosebumps?
A cold morning, a piece of music that moves you. What mechanism in the body raises those tiny bumps across your arm?
Were animals the first to ride in a balloon?
People were rising into the sky in hot air balloons 120 years before the Wright brothers’ airplane. So who were the very first passengers to climb aboard?
Why do comet tails point away from the Sun?
A long tail sweeping across the night sky like a broom. It is tempting to think a comet trails its tail behind it as it flies, but that isn’t always the case.
How do tornadoes form?
A slender vortex reaches down from the sky to the ground. What conditions have to come together to create a tornado, the source of nature’s most violent winds?
Are Olympic gold medals made of solid gold?
Gleaming on the podium, it is the crystallized dream of every athlete. Learn what makes it shine, and you may never see a medal the same way again.
Is muscle soreness caused by lactic acid?
Two days after your first workout in ages, your legs scream every time you walk down the stairs. But is the usual suspect really the one to blame?
Why do Japanese people say “moshi moshi” twice on the phone?
Japanese speakers answer the phone with “moshi moshi” almost without thinking. But why twice? The trail leads to Meiji-era phone exchanges and a fox legend.
Was the three-point seat belt patent free to use?
The first thing we do in a car is click the seat belt shut. Where did that familiar diagonal-plus-lap design come from, and how did it end up in cars all over the world?
Was the Sahara once green?
The Sahara, the world’s largest hot desert, is sand and rock as far as the eye can see. Yet beneath the sand and in the shelter of its rocks lie traces of a completely different landscape.
Why doesn’t ice cream in Japan have a best-before date?
Pick up a tub of ice cream from the freezer and search the lid and the bottom: there’s no date anywhere. Did the maker simply forget?
Is it true that starfish have no brain?
A star-shaped body gliding slowly over the seafloor. Where is its head? Which way is forward? The more you think about starfish, the stranger they get.
Are all Somei-yoshino cherry trees really clones?
Every spring, the cherry trees in a given area burst into bloom all at once. Behind that remarkable timing lies a secret dating back to the Edo period.
Do astronauts get taller in space?
Is it really true that going to space makes you taller? A Japanese astronaut’s “9-centimeter incident” offers a good place to start.
Where do the names “do, re, mi” come from?
Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti: almost everyone learns these seven syllables in music class. But where did the names actually come from?
How does a microwave oven heat food?
No flame, no hot plate, yet your food is steaming in minutes. What on earth is going on inside that box?
Why is table tennis called “ping-pong”?
Played in hotel game rooms and at the Olympics alike, table tennis has a friendlier second name. Behind it lies a surprising story about who owned a word.
Why do bullet trains have such long noses?
The newer the bullet train, the longer and sleeker its nose. And it isn’t just because a long nose looks cool or fast.
What did “goodbye” (Japanese “gubbai”) originally mean?
Japanese speakers know “goodbye” as gubbai. Taken apart, it seems to be “good” plus “bye”—but what exactly is good? The word, it turns out, once looked completely different.
What is the largest island in the world?
Is Australia an island or a continent? To name the world’s largest island, you first have to answer a surprisingly tricky question: what exactly is an island?
When was the wristwatch invented?
Today wristwatches are on wrists everywhere. Yet until about a hundred years ago, a man wearing one seems to have been a slightly embarrassing sight.
What did the Japanese word “dōmo” originally mean?
It works as a thank-you, an apology, or a quick nod in passing. Yet on its own, “dōmo” doesn’t actually say what it is you mean.
How much does hair grow in a day?
It must be growing every day, yet the mirror never shows a change. So how fast is your hair actually growing?
How does a steel ship float?
Drop an iron nail into water and it sinks at once, yet ships built from tens of thousands of tons of steel float. The difference comes down not to the metal, but to its shape.
Can a turtle climb out of its shell?
In cartoons, turtles slip out of their shells and dash around unencumbered. So what is really going on inside a real turtle’s shell?
Why is the sea blue?
The sea is blue because it reflects the sky—or so we’re often told. But when one scientist put that to the test aboard a ship, it turned out to be only part of the story.
Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?
It stars in salads, yet some varieties are sold as “fruit tomatoes.” The question of what this red globe really is once went all the way to a national supreme court.
Do dolphins really sleep with half their brain at a time?
When and how do mammals that live in the sea get any sleep? It turns out they have a remarkable trick for swimming and breathing while they rest.
Why is the sky blue and the sunset red?
Blue by day, red at dusk. It is the same sunlight all along, so why does the sky change color with the time of day?
How many times a day does the International Space Station circle Earth?
A huge laboratory flies 400 kilometers over our heads. For the astronauts who live there, a “day” runs to a rhythm completely unlike ours on the ground.
Is spaghetti Napolitan an Italian dish?
Sweet, red spaghetti stir-fried with ketchup. Its name points to the Italian port city of Naples, but try ordering it there and you will be met with puzzled looks.
Was the can opener invented after the can?
Cans, but nothing to open them with. That awkward situation lasted for decades. So how on earth did people get into their canned food?
Why do geysers erupt?
A quiet hole in the ground suddenly sends boiling water high into the sky, almost like clockwork. Behind the spectacle lies an underground “pressure cooker.”
Why does metal feel colder than wood?
On a winter morning, playground bars feel icy but the wooden bench doesn’t. Yet a thermometer says they’re the same temperature. So what is your hand feeling?
Why do pine cones open and close?
A pine cone brought home seems to clench shut on rainy days and spread open again on sunny ones. What’s more, it does this even though the cone is “dead.”
Is the Japanese word “donmai” made-in-Japan English?
It’s what Japanese teammates shout after a mistake. It sounds like English, but shout it in an English-speaking country and it may not land as you expect.
Why does popcorn pop?
Little kernels leaping out of the pan with a pop. Ordinary corn won’t do this. Inside each kernel lies something like a pressure cooker, and an unexpected “leg.”
When was the Great Wall of China built?
The Great Wall snakes endlessly over the mountains of northern China. Many credit it to the First Emperor, but the wall we see in photos dates from a much later age.
Did Beethoven name the “Moonlight” Sonata?
A quiet rocking accompaniment, a slow melody rising above it: the famous first movement. Where its lovely title came from has been the subject of a recent discovery.
Where does the Japanese word “ohayō” come from?
It’s the shortest greeting of the day. Yet this word, heard even in workplaces at night, may not have started out as a morning word at all.
What was the first computer?
Computers now fit in our pockets. Try to name the very first one, though, and the trail runs from 19th-century blueprints to wartime secrets and into a courtroom.
Why is the Milky Way called a “river” in Japan?
Looking up at the same band of light, some peoples pictured a river and others spilled milk. The names we give the night sky reflect the stories of those who gaze at it.
Did Archimedes really shout “Eureka”?
A genius makes a great discovery in the bath and runs into the street naked. The most famous story in the history of science comes with more than a few question marks.
Who was the Caesar in Caesar salad?
Romaine, grated cheese and croutons. Is the “Caesar” behind this familiar salad really the great Roman general? The story leads to an unexpected border town.
How does moss come back to life after drying out?
Pour water on moss that has dried brown and brittle, and the green comes rushing back. What was going on inside while it looked dead?
Why can’t we see the far side of the Moon?
For thousands of years, humanity has looked up at the same lunar markings. There’s a good reason the Moon’s other half stays hidden.
When did curry arrive in Japan?
Curry rice is a favorite of Japanese kids and adults alike. But Japan’s very first published recipe lists an ingredient you would never expect.
How do airplanes fly?
Hundreds of tonnes of aircraft held up by nothing but air. And the familiar explanation you learned in school may be a little shaky.
Why does ice float on water?
Most substances sink in their own liquid once they solidify. Yet the ice in your glass bobs happily at the top. What makes water so different?
Why is a marathon 42.195 kilometers?
Not 40 kilometers, not 42, but an odd number with a tail of meters. The marathon’s awkward distance carries the story of one particular race.
Why doesn’t the Mona Lisa have eyebrows?
Study the world’s most famous portrait closely and you notice something missing. What could have happened to it over 500 years?
Why do we dream?
Flying through the sky, meeting someone you’ve missed. What purpose could these strange stories screened while we sleep possibly serve?
Why do cats purr?
That low rumble vibrating on your lap is so familiar you barely notice it. Yet researchers are still arguing about where it comes from.
How many cells are in the human body?
The number you learned in school and the number in today’s reference books don’t match. In the 21st century, scientists sat down and counted the body’s cells again.
Why does static electricity give you a shock?
In winter, touching a doorknob or a car door becomes a little nerve-racking. That sudden sting is a tiny lightning bolt driven by thousands of volts.
Why is the sour umeboshi called an “alkaline food”?
Japan’s pickled plums are sour enough to make you pucker, yet they’ve long been held up as a model “alkaline food.” The reason involves setting food on fire.
How much does a cloud weigh?
Clouds look as light as cotton candy. If you could set one on a scale, how far would the needle swing? And why don’t clouds fall out of the sky?
Why don’t elevators fall?
In the movies, an elevator whose cable snaps plunges straight down the shaft. Real elevators, though, carry on a trick invented more than 170 years ago.
What is the world’s most expensive spice?
A spice like fine red threads turns paella and bouillabaisse a brilliant gold. Behind its eye-watering price lies a staggering amount of work.
Is a baobab’s trunk full of water?
A massive, stubby trunk topped with branches that look like roots. What exactly is packed inside the bulk of a baobab standing on the savanna?
Why is ice slippery?
Almost everyone has lost their footing on an icy path. Yet the reason behind something so familiar is a puzzle physicists have argued over for more than 170 years.
Which is colder, the Arctic or the Antarctic?
Both are frozen worlds at the ends of the Earth. The two polar regions seem like twins, but what lies beneath their ice could hardly be more different.
Where did the stones of Stonehenge come from?
A ring of colossal stones about 5,000 years old stands on an English plain. Where were stones weighing tens of tonnes hauled from? Modern science has been answering that question piece by piece.
Is pencil lead made of lead?
We call it “lead,” and the Japanese word for pencil contains the character for lead. But trace that black core back and you reach 16th-century English shepherds.
What is the tallest waterfall in the world?
Somewhere, water plunges from a height far greater than Tokyo Skytree. And beneath the sea, an even bigger “invisible waterfall” is flowing.
Did goats really discover coffee?
Goats eat some red berries and start to dance: the world’s favorite coffee origin story. Follow it back and you find a late record and people praying all night.
Why does a round of golf have 18 holes?
Not 10, not 20, but 18. The number written into every golf course plan grew out of a small decision by the golfers of one Scottish seaside town.
Did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone?
Behind the name in the textbooks stand a rival who filed papers at the patent office on the very same day, and a man who tried to send voices down a wire years earlier.
Are tomatoes and potatoes related?
One bears red fruit on its branches; the other swells into tubers underground. These two vegetables look nothing alike, yet they share a surprisingly deep connection.
Why is milk white?
Milk poured into a glass is a dazzling white. Yet search the milk from top to bottom, and you won’t find a single “white pigment” responsible for it.
When did Mount Fuji form?
Japan’s highest peak, a perfectly shaped cone. Beneath that elegant silhouette lie several “earlier Mount Fujis.”
Why does water boil at a lower temperature on a mountain?
Water boils at 100°C—or so we learned in school. That rule doesn’t hold everywhere. High on a mountain, a pot of water behaves very differently.
Who wrote the Iroha poem?
The Iroha is a poem that uses every Japanese kana sound exactly once. For centuries it was attributed to one famous monk. Does that story hold up?
Was Einstein bad at math?
Even the great genius was hopeless at school math, or so the encouraging story goes. How much of it is true?
Do plants sleep at night?
When the sun goes down, the plants in your garden may quietly change shape. Meet the “night face” of plants, which has intrigued people for more than 2,000 years.
Why is Pluto no longer a planet?
Generations of students learned nine planets, ending with Pluto. Why did a world that had been a planet for 76 years suddenly lose its place one day?
Do sea otters hold hands while they sleep?
Floating on their backs, holding paws as they doze: sea otters are internet stars for this pose. But is it something you would actually see out on the open sea?
Who invented braille?
Station handrails, can lids, elevator buttons: the tiny rows of raised dots found all over town began with one boy’s ingenuity.
How many times can you fold a piece of paper?
“No matter how hard you try, you can’t fold paper more than eight times.” The person who took on that old saying was a high school student given a math assignment.
How many feathers are on a badminton shuttlecock?
A badminton shuttle looks simple, a neat ring of white feathers on a cork. But that little projectile is governed by surprisingly exact rules, and a lot of fuss over birds’ wings.
Is blood type linked to personality?
“You’re so organized—you must be type A.” In Japan this is everyday small talk. But when, and from where, did the idea take hold?
Was the croissant born in France?
Few things say “Paris morning” like this crescent pastry. Trace its family tree, though, and you meet a legendary siege of Vienna and a former officer’s bakery.
How fast does a hummingbird’s heart beat?
A tiny bird hangs perfectly still in front of a flower, sipping nectar. Inside that jewel-like body, a heart is beating at an almost unimaginable pace.
What is the G string in “Air on the G String”?
Bach’s serene melody turns up at weddings and in commercials. But what exactly is the “G string” in its title, and why did it end up in the name at all?
Why is “The Last Supper” so badly damaged?
On a monastery wall in Milan is the world’s most famous supper scene, and its surface is astonishingly battered. What happened to it over 500 years?
Were mummies really sold as medicine?
The ancient Egyptians preserved their dead for an eternal sleep. Who could have imagined those bodies would end up on apothecary shelves in faraway lands?
What is the tallest mountain in the solar system?
Mount Everest is the roof of our world, but across the solar system there are peaks that dwarf it. Other worlds hold mountains on a scale that is hard to imagine.
Is there sound in space?
In sci-fi movies, spaceships explode with a deafening roar. Is real space silent? Mostly, yet in some places an unimaginably deep “song” rings out.
Why does time seem to speed up as we get older?
Childhood summers seemed to last forever; an adult year is gone in a blink. Psychologists have been puzzling over this almost universal feeling for more than a century.
Why are sloths so slow?
They hang from trees most of the day and move in slow motion. Behind the animal named for laziness lies a thoroughgoing energy-saving strategy.
Did people in the Middle Ages think the Earth was flat?
Sailors terrified of falling off the edge of the sea, and Columbus insisting the world was round. Everyone knows the picture, but who painted it, and when?
How did people keep things cold before refrigerators?
Life without a refrigerator in the kitchen is hard to imagine today. Before electricity, people went to astonishing lengths to get their hands on a little cold.
Why are plants green?
Fresh spring leaves, deep summer forests: why are plants so uniformly green? Behind that question lies a surprisingly deep puzzle: why aren’t they black?
Was basketball really born from peach baskets?
Why does a basketball hoop hang at exactly 3.05 meters, such an oddly specific height? The answer lies in a gym more than 130 years ago.
Do naked mole-rats never grow old?
Wrinkled, hairless and decidedly odd-looking, this small rodent has become a favorite of aging researchers around the world. Why do some call it the animal that doesn’t age?
Is the tongue “taste map” real?
Sweet at the tip, bitter at the back. Remember that diagram from a textbook? It’s the story of a small misunderstanding that began with a paper more than a century old.
Why do chameleons change color?
Chameleons are famous for shifting color to melt into their surroundings. But when researchers took a closer look, the story turned out to be rather different.
What does the “short” in shortcake mean?
In Japan, the strawberry cake is a fixture of birthdays and Christmas. But is the “short” in its name about size? A dictionary turns up an unexpected answer.
What is the nearest star to the Sun?
Of all the countless stars in the night sky, which one is our closest neighbor? Surprisingly, it is a star you cannot see with the naked eye.
Who really said “Let them eat cake”?
A queen dismissing a starving people with one careless remark: it is one of history’s most famous lines. Trace it to its source, though, and the story stops adding up.
How fast do fingernails grow?
You just trimmed them, and somehow they’re already long again. One doctor spent 35 years recording that tiny change on his own thumb.
Did the paint tube give birth to Impressionism?
Unscrew the cap, squeeze, and the paint is ready to use. This everyday tool is often said to have changed the history of art. How true is that?
Why do we sneeze?
Once your nose starts to tickle, there’s no stopping it. Bright light can set it off, and some claim sneezes are as fast as a bullet train. How much of that is true?
What kind of piece is 4′33″?
A pianist walks on stage and sits at the keyboard, and then no note ever sounds. What was the twentieth century’s most notorious piece of music really asking us to hear?
What are a zebra’s stripes for?
On an open savanna, a bold black-and-white coat seems made to stand out. After puzzling scientists for over 150 years, the mystery is yielding a surprising answer.
Do cows really have four stomachs?
At a Japanese barbecue restaurant, the menu may list mino, hachinosu, senmai and giara. All four are cow stomach. So what exactly is going on inside a cow?
What happens if you fall into a black hole?
Imagine leaping feet first into an object not even light can escape. What you experience and what a friend watching from afar sees would be completely different.
Was carbonara really a charcoal burners’ dish?
Egg, cheese and black pepper: Rome’s famous pasta carries a name that means “charcoal burner.” Follow that name back, and some unexpected people and times come into view.
What makes the sound when you crack your knuckles?
Plenty of us were warned that cracking our knuckles would make them swell. Scientists have pursued the source of that satisfying pop with surprising determination.
What is the giant panda’s “sixth finger”?
Giant pandas grip bamboo with surprising dexterity as they munch away. Hidden in their front paws is a tool that no other bear has.
How long has soy sauce been around in Japan?
Sashimi, simmered dishes, rice with raw egg: none would be the same without it. Its story leads to a legendary Zen monk and the Dutch ships that took it abroad.
Did the Romans really have a “vomitorium” for throwing up?
Stuffed at a banquet, you slip off to a special room, empty your stomach, and go back for more. A famous tale of Roman excess hides a surprising trap.
Is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot shrinking?
A giant red swirl floats on the face of Jupiter. This storm has raged for nearly two centuries, and lately it has been changing in a way no one can miss.
How long will footprints last on the Moon?
More than half a century ago, Apollo astronauts left footprints on the Moon. They are often said to last for millions of years, but a spacecraft that has kept watch over the lunar surface revealed something unexpected.
Was rugby born from a schoolboy breaking the rules?
A boy grabs the ball mid-game and runs with it, and a new sport is born. It is the origin story every rugby fan knows, but it has some serious holes.
When was the zipper invented?
Jackets, bags, pencil cases: we open and close zippers almost every day. Getting this little mechanism right took more than 20 years of trial and error.
Why do you float in the Dead Sea?
Lie back on the water and open a newspaper. A lake famous for photos like that lets even non-swimmers stay afloat. How does it work?
What was Vermeer’s blue made from?
That deep, clear blue is one of the first things people notice in Vermeer’s paintings. Where did a seventeenth-century Dutch painter get it? The journey starts in mountains far to the east.
When was the umbrella invented?
On a rainy day, an umbrella is indispensable. But trace its long history back far enough, and it turns out it wasn’t made for rain at all.
Why does singing sand squeak?
Walk along the beach and the sand squeaks under your feet. Beaches like this are scattered all over Japan. But this is very temperamental sand.
Was imitation crab invented in Japan?
Imitation crab turns up in salads, sushi rolls and lunch boxes everywhere. Its story began with a failed attempt to make an entirely different food.
Will Polaris always be the North Star?
As every other star wheels across the sky, one stays put in the north. This guide for travelers has a term of office, too.
Is Japan the only country that sings Beethoven’s Ninth at year’s end?
Every December, the “Ode to Joy” rings out in concert halls all over Japan. It looks like a uniquely Japanese year-end ritual, but its model came from somewhere unexpected.
How far can dandelion seeds fly?
One puff of breath and a dandelion clock bursts into a cloud of tiny parachutes drifting skyward. Just how far do those little travelers go?
Can water stay liquid below 0°C?
Tap a bottle of water fresh from the freezer, and it turns to slush before your eyes. Behind this magic trick lies a surprising property of water.
Did people use bread as an eraser before rubber?
Make a mistake, and you rub it out with an eraser. It seems obvious today, but people once made do with something from the kitchen table.
Do honeybees talk by dancing?
In the pitch-dark hive, one bee starts to whirl and shimmy, and her sisters gather around. Packed into those moves is information of astonishing precision.
Can tardigrades survive in space?
A tiny animal about half a millimeter long that lives in moss. Sometimes called the toughest creature on Earth, it has actually been sent into space. What happened when it got there?
Why did ukiyo-e become so popular in Europe?
Woodblock prints bought casually in Edo captivated Monet and Van Gogh. And the famous “packing paper” story of how it all began—is it true?
Why does baseball have nine innings?
Most ball games are timed, but baseball has no clock. So when, and how, did the game come to be measured in nine innings?
Is the Japanese word “boikotto” really someone’s name?
Athletes boycott tournaments; shoppers boycott products. The word is just as familiar in Japanese, and it began with something that happened one autumn in 19th-century Ireland.
Were carrots originally purple?
Carrots are bright orange, surely. Yet if you could peek into a carrot field a few centuries ago, the roots you pulled up might have been a very different color.
Did Mozart write “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”?
Children everywhere sing this melody, and a rumor says Mozart composed it. Trace its real origins and some surprising lyrics appear.
Was the Statue of Liberty once copper-colored?
The Statue of Liberty is famous for its blue-green color. But that color was never chosen by the sculptor.
Why is Uranus tipped on its side?
Every planet in the solar system spins like a top as it circles the Sun. Every planet, that is, except one, which rolls along lying flat on its side.
How many ants are there in the world?
Ants bustle around underfoot almost everywhere. If you could count every ant on Earth, what would the total be? Here is what a serious attempt at an “ant census” found.
What happens if you cry in space?
When we’re sad or happy, tears roll down our cheeks. But if you cry aboard a spacecraft, where there is no up or down, where do the tears go?
How many Sunflowers paintings did Van Gogh make?
London, Amsterdam, Munich, Tokyo: museums around the world display Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. So just how many of them are there?
Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean?
Some people assume the tower was built leaning on purpose. The real story is an 800-year saga of whether it would fall or stand.
What was the first photograph?
We snap dozens of photos a day on our phones. But taking the very first one in the world called for extraordinary patience.
Why was volleyball invented?
Volleyball is a school gym staple the world over. Yet it was not dreamed up for energetic young athletes at all, but for a very different crowd. The story begins in the US about 130 years ago.
Why did Leonardo da Vinci write backwards?
A genius who filled thousands of pages with reversed writing. You may have heard it was a secret code to keep his ideas safe. What is the real story?
What happened to the Venus de Milo’s arms?
Armless, she became one of the most famous sculptures in the world. Where did the Venus de Milo’s arms go—and what were they doing in the first place?
Why does your stomach growl?
A silent meeting room, and then it happens: that unmistakable rumble. The embarrassing noise turns out to be the sound of a very regular habit your gut keeps.
Why does Swiss cheese have holes?
The cartoon mouse always clutches a wedge full of holes. But who made them? The answer involves a tiny ingredient that went overlooked for almost a century.
Who was the “Elise” of Beethoven’s Für Elise?
Almost everyone who has taken piano lessons has played it. Yet the identity of the woman whose name is in the title has puzzled scholars for 200 years.
What is the world’s oldest joke?
When did people start trying to make each other laugh? Trace the first jokes ever written down, and you land on a surprisingly familiar subject.
What percentage of the human body is water?
People often say the human body is mostly water. But how much, exactly? It turns out the share varies surprisingly with age and sex.
Why does bowling use ten pins?
Knock down all ten pins in their triangle with one ball and it’s a strike. But that familiar number “ten” comes with a rather dubious legend attached.
Is your earwax type decided by your genes?
Some people’s earwax comes out in dry flakes, while others’ is soft and sticky. Where does that difference come from? Hidden behind it is a trace of humanity’s long journey across the globe.
Did vending machines exist in ancient times?
Drop in some coins, press a button, and out comes a cold drink. Trace the idea behind the vending machine back far enough and you end up nearly 2,000 years ago.
Why is home plate a pentagon?
First, second and third base are all squares, yet home plate has five sides. In fact, this base has changed shape twice: from a circle, to a square, to a pentagon.
Did people in Edo-period Japan bathe every day?
In Japanese period dramas, the cramped tenement houses have kitchens but no bathrooms. Even so, the people of old Tokyo seem to have been remarkably fond of keeping clean.
Does the Moon have earthquakes?
No air, no oceans, and volcanoes that seem to have gone quiet long ago. Yet the ground on the Moon turned out to be far from still.
Why can owls turn their heads so far?
The body stays put while the face swivels to look straight behind. A move like that could seriously hurt a human. How does an owl’s body pull it off?
Did the Olympic torch relay exist in ancient times?
Fire kindled from sunlight in Greece, then carried to the host city by thousands of hands. It looks ancient, but its origins are surprisingly recent—and complicated.
Why does an ambulance siren change pitch as it passes?
A siren sounds high as it approaches and drops the moment it passes. To test this effect, a 19th-century Dutch scientist put musicians on a train.
Where does the name “mayonnaise” come from?
Mayonnaise goes on everything from salads to okonomiyaki. Trace its name and you reach the story of a war, or so it is said. But the tale is not quite that simple.
What is the “curse of the ninth”?
Beethoven, Bruckner, Dvořák, Mahler: one great composer after another left a Ninth Symphony as his last. Is it really a curse?
Why is a square boxing ring called a ring?
A boxing ring is plainly a square, yet a “ring” is a circle. The mismatch between shape and name goes back more than 200 years.
Why do sumo wrestlers throw salt?
Before the bout, a white spray arcs from a wrestler’s hand. It’s a familiar sight, but that handful hides a long history—and a surprising amount of salt.
Why has Roman concrete lasted so long?
Modern concrete can start to crumble within decades, yet ancient Roman buildings are still standing after nearly 2,000 years. The secret was hidden in the material itself.
How do batteries make electricity?
The little batteries in our remote controls and clocks are packed with a discovery that began more than 200 years ago, with a twitching frog’s leg.
Why does a soccer match last 90 minutes?
Forty-five minutes each way, everywhere on Earth. Who decided that, and when? The story begins in a London park, in rain and hail.
Is there a lake where the lightning never stops?
Silent lightning flickers on the horizon hundreds, even thousands of times in a single night. In one place, nights like that add up to months of every year.
Why was the Mona Lisa stolen?
In the summer of 1911, the world’s most famous painting vanished from the Louvre. Except that, before it was stolen, it wasn’t yet the world’s most famous painting.
Why does the Moon look bigger near the horizon?
A full Moon just rising over the hills can look astonishingly large. Yet in a photo, it somehow shrinks. It’s a puzzle that has baffled people for more than 2,000 years.
How many digits of pi have been calculated?
3.14159… and on forever. For more than 2,000 years, people have chased the next digits of pi. How far has the record gone?
When was the toothbrush invented?
We pick up a toothbrush every morning and night without a second thought. Before it existed, how did people keep their teeth clean?
Was hook-and-loop fastening inspired by a plant?
Shoes, bags, even blood pressure cuffs: we rip it open and press it shut every day. The idea behind this fastener was lying beside a country path.
Did the name “Impressionism” begin as an insult?
The bright paintings of Monet and Renoir are loved all over the world. Yet on the day their group got its name, a newspaper was laughing at their work.
What does the “shoku” in Japanese “shokupan” mean?
All bread is for eating, so why is only Japan’s square white loaf called “eating bread”? A name seen at breakfast tables every day turns out to be surprisingly hard to explain.
Is there an upper limit to temperature?
Cold has a floor, a point below which nothing can go. But what about heat? The hottest thing humans have made was over 300,000 times hotter than the Sun’s core.
How did Beethoven compose when he couldn’t hear?
For a musician, the ears are everything. So how did Beethoven, who lost his hearing little by little, manage to write huge works like the Ninth Symphony?
When were eyeglasses invented?
We wear them every day as if they were part of our face. Thanks to one friar’s sermon, we know surprisingly well when this little device was born.
Are sunsets on Mars blue?
Mars is known as the Red Planet. When a rover photographed the Sun setting in its sky in color, the scene it captured looked nothing like a sunset on Earth.
How did the Moon form?
It is the most familiar object in the night sky, yet scientists are still debating how it came to be. The clues came from rocks that astronauts brought home.
Where does the Japanese word “tasogare” come from?
Tasogare is a beautiful Japanese word for dusk. It is written with the characters for “yellow” and “dusk,” yet its sound has nothing to do with them. Trace it back and you reach a few words spoken in the half-light.
Who was the model for Girl with a Pearl Earring?
A girl glances back over her shoulder, straight at us. For more than 350 years she has held viewers spellbound, yet she has no name—and, in a sense, not even a pearl.
Is it true that pure water doesn’t conduct electricity?
We’re taught never to touch an outlet with wet hands, yet we also hear that pure water doesn’t conduct electricity. So which is it?
Was the Palace of Versailles really built without toilets?
Behind the glittering facade, the story goes, courtiers relieved themselves in the gardens and hallways. What was it really like at Versailles?
Why are railway tracks 1,435 mm apart?
Much of the world’s railway network runs on tracks an oddly specific 1,435 mm apart. Have you heard that the measurement goes back to the chariots of ancient Rome?
Would your blood vessels really wrap around the Earth two and a half times?
Lay your blood vessels end to end and they’d circle the Earth two and a half times, or so we’re told. Trace the figure back, and you find an imaginary 140-kilogram man.
Do all shaved ice syrups taste the same?
Strawberry, melon, lemon: the syrups lined up at a summer festival stall. That moment of agonizing over which one to choose is said to hide a little trick.
Was the barcode born on a beach?
The black-and-white stripes that beep at every checkout are everywhere. But when, and how, did someone first think of them?
What is the oldest zoo in the world?
A family day out to see the elephants and giraffes. But when did people first start gathering unusual animals and keeping them?
Why did samurai wear the chonmage topknot?
The familiar samurai hairstyle from period dramas: the top of the head shaved, the rest tied into a topknot. Come to think of it, why shave just part of your head?
Where do figure skating jump names come from?
Axel, Lutz, Salchow. The jump names you hear in every figure skating broadcast have a slightly odd ring to them. As it turns out, most of them share something in common.
Why do we replace our teeth only once?
Sharks go through tens of thousands of teeth in a lifetime, yet we swap ours only once, in childhood. Here’s why, and where research into regrowing teeth stands today.
Where does the Japanese phrase “pin kara kiri made” come from?
Japanese speakers use “pin” and “kiri” all the time, yet both are written in katakana and few can say what they mean. In fact, neither may have started out as Japanese at all.
Can a cockroach live without its head?
Cockroaches are practically a byword for toughness. Is the rumor that they keep living after losing their heads just an exaggeration?
Why do some people’s faces turn red when they drink?
One glass of beer turns some people bright red; others drink round after round without changing color. The difference lies in a tiny variation in a single gene.
Why do runners go counterclockwise around the track?
From school sports days to the Olympic 400 meters, runners always bend to the left. But at the very first modern Olympics, they went the other way.
Were the pyramid workers paid in beer?
There’s a story that in ancient Egypt, beer served as a paycheck. Peek into the records of the craftsmen who built the royal tombs, and a surprising picture of daily life emerges.
Which is older, the Kojiki or the Nihon Shoki?
Japan’s two oldest books carry its myths and the early history of its emperors. Which of the pair came first? The answer depends a little on how you look at it.
Were fortune cookies born in Japan?
The folded cookie with a fortune inside arrives at the end of countless Chinese-American meals. It is often taken for a traditional Chinese sweet, yet you rarely see it in China. So where did it come from?
What is the largest moon in the solar system?
Our Moon looks impressively large in the night sky. But across the whole solar system, where does the biggest moon of all circle its planet?
Can you swim any stroke in a freestyle race?
Say “freestyle” and everyone pictures the front crawl. So what would happen if you entered a freestyle race and swam breaststroke or backstroke? Would you be disqualified?
Do we really use only 10 percent of our brains?
Wake up the other 90 percent and you’ll become a genius. It’s a favorite of movies and self-help books, but what do the scientists who study the brain make of it?
Why does the sensitive plant fold up when touched?
Touch it with a fingertip and its leaves fold shut, then the whole stalk sags as if bowing. What is this unusually quick-moving plant doing it for?
Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches?
Day after day, woodpeckers slam their beaks into trees. It would leave any of us seeing stars. So how do their heads cope?
Where does the Japanese word “taifū” come from?
Typhoons strike Japan almost every year. But why is the Japanese word written with the character 台, meaning “stand” or “platform”? Follow a word on its long voyage back and forth across the seas.
Who invented the red card?
A single red card held high by the referee. Even people who know nothing about soccer understand it. The idea was born on a street corner, after one chaotic sending-off.
Is the curse of Tutankhamun real?
The tomb of the boy king famous for his golden mask. Have you heard that, after it was opened, the people involved died one after another in mysterious ways?
Why is human body temperature around 36–37°C?
The idea that “normal” is 37°C was popularized by a German doctor more than 150 years ago. Now it seems that normal itself has been slowly slipping.
Do male seahorses really give birth?
A dragon-like face and a neatly curled tail. The seahorse, an aquarium favorite, splits family duties in a way almost no other fish does.
Did ketchup start out as fish sauce?
It goes on fries, burgers and Japanese omelet rice alike. But follow the name of this red sauce back far enough and you reach a condiment that looks nothing like tomatoes.
When did the rank of yokozuna begin?
Yokozuna is the summit of professional sumo. Today it is the highest rank on the ladder, yet it started out as something that was not a rank at all: a single rope.
How much can bamboo grow in a day?
A bamboo shoot that wasn’t there yesterday is as tall as a person today. In a spring bamboo grove, growth that hardly seems plant-like is quietly under way.
What is the smallest flower in the world?
Green specks smaller than sesame seeds float on a pond. They look like nothing more than algae. But what if each one were a flowering plant?