#time
Questions about “time”.
46 articles
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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?
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?
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.
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.
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 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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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?
When did Mount Fuji form?
Japan’s highest peak, a perfectly shaped cone. Beneath that elegant silhouette lie several “earlier Mount Fujis.”
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.