Then that foot stops and the other one accelerates. And so on. Thinner, lighter things are easier to accelerate than heavy, massive ones. So if you want speed, put the muscles up high and the skinny down low. Speed If you really want speed, you could...
Why horses have skinny legs? Whats the use of a skinny leg? The answer is Running. The skinniest lower legs belong to the fastest runners. Think of how a deer can move, as opposed to a tortoise. Why is that? Its because when you run, or indeed walk,...
Does money make us happy? Well, according to that famous Beatles song, no: Money Cant Buy Me Love. But, of course, the Beatles also had a hit with their cover of the Motown song Money, Thats What I Want. So, Which Is It? The answer, according to psyc...
The friction between the flakes is the same force that causes sand to form a pile rather than spread out like a puddle. In fact, this same principle applies to all granular materials. If you cut the corner out of a bag of flour only a small amount wi...
Why dont the cornflakes at the bottom of the box get crushed by the weight of the flakes on top? Thats the question on this Moment of Science. Research by mathematician Bruce Pitman of the State University of New York at Buffalo indicated there are t...
But although it happens passively, arm swinging plays an important role in making your stride more efficient. It does this by counterbalancing your torso and hips and keeping them from twisting and bobbing too much. Holding your arms still against yo...
Have you ever wondered why we swing our arms while walking? Its a curious phenomenon, since arms dont play an obvious role in locomotion. You can still walk normally when your arms are full of groceries or with your hands in your pockets, so why do w...
Wow! That is nearly ten times greater than the difference observed in the whales. Pretty amazing, right? But, why are they such pitch perfectionists? Well, one hypothesis has to do with the Doppler shift. Really? You mean the acoustic effect that mak...
Did you know that blue whales sing their songs exactly on pitch, with unbelievable accuracy? Scientists at San Francisco State University analyzed over 4,000 blue whale songs off the coast of California. They found that all the whales produced a cert...
Dear Grandma: 祖母你好： Your daughter's parenting skills could use some improvement, and yes, it's possible those kids will grow up to be overweight, undereducated crooks, but she needs to see it for herself. Your daughter knows you disapprove...
Dear Annie: Annie你好: My daughter allows her 8-year-old son to stay up late at night, watch adult TV and eat lots of sweets. She strongly resents any suggestion that this is not a good thing. 我女儿允许她8岁的儿子熬夜到很晚，看成人...
Why not? You cry.Well,ask yourself this question: which one is easier to move in the first place? The golf ball. So it takes more force to move the bowling ball. And the bowling ball is also the one gravity pulls on more. See the connection? A more m...
Heres a physics classic. Suppose you drop a golf ball and a bowling ball from the Empire State Building. Which hits first? Answer? They hit at the same time. You could also have used a marble and a piano and a banana, or any two objects for which air...
D: Today, it's time once again for another Gross Fact of the Month. 今天再来谈下另一个令人厌烦的话题。 Y: Uh oh! I hope no one's eating! 我希望没人在吃饭。 D: Okay, ready? In a recent study of people passing through major U....
Experiments have shown that if infected ants are moved from those locations, the fungus won't develop. Once in ideal locations, the ants bite down on the leaf's vein and the fungus grows hypha, or fungal threads, throughout their bodies. That sounds...
