A little fun you can have to demonstrate centrifugal force, but you might want to do it outside. Don: Ya?l, see this glass full of water? Ya?l: Yes. D: Watch me swing it around my head! Y: Look out!!!...Hey, how did you do that? You swung the glass c...
How weird is it that the two men who may be the most influential people to live and die in the 19th century were born on the very same day? Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin came into the world on Feb. 12, 1809. One was born in a log cabin in Kentuc...
Whether a person is an archer shooting with a bow and arrow, or a hunter, soldier or policeman shooting with a gun, they will need some light if they want to shoot their weapon accurately at a target. If it is completely dark, the shooter will have t...
Aristotle thought the stars were all exactly the same distance away, stuck to a dark shell that surrounded the Earth like the dome of a planetarium. Now we know that the farthest galaxy is over a billion times more distant than the nearest star. How...
Everybody loves the swimming pool. But how clean is the water in the average backyard or public pool? If you trust chlorine to take care of germs, you're in for a surprise. Chlorine and other disinfectants do indeed help to clean the water, but some...
Dear Annie: I live alone with my five cats. Four years ago, my youngest son brought his girlfriend, Emily, for a visit. Emily told me she was allergic to cats and needed a cat-free bedroom, so I gave her mine. My son occupied the other bedroom, which...
Yael: Y'know Don, you're nothing but a bunch of quarks. Don: Huh? Y: It's just that when you get right down to it we're all made of subatomic particles like quarks and photons. D: I thought you were commenting on my quirky habit of annoying, tuneless...
For those who enjoy Jim Carrey's brand of humor, Yes Man may seem funny and entertaining. The plot is a bit thin, but we'll give you the general premise. What if a sarcastic misanthrope, who has only ever said no to anything, suddenly starts saying y...
A group of middle school students recently complained to authorities that one of their teachers is confused about the difference between humiliating young people and teaching them. The dress code at the school requires students to wear white socks. I...
Don: Hey Ya?l, what do locusts, neurons, robots and the movie Star Wars have in common? Ya?l: You got me, Don. D: The answer is: Doctor Claire Rind, a biologist and robotics expert at the University of Newcastle, England. Dr. Rind wanted to design a...
Amanda: Have you dissected a frog yet in your lab class? Mike: No, I'm not taking biology. I'm taking chemistry now, so we're learning how to blow things up. . .at least that seems to be what I'm doing, even if it's not exactly what's supposed to hap...
You've heard about them, and maybe seen them in movies as they smash apart ocean liners, or wash whole cities into the sea. What causes tidal waves, and how are they different from the ordinary waves that wash against our coastlines? Tidal waves actu...
In the record of his life at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau reported on an odd phenomenon. As I walked on the railroad causeway, he wrote, I used to wonder at the halo of light around my shadow. Thoreau was probably seeing a phenomenon called heili...
Ever wonder how websites like Amazon.com keep your personal information, like credit card or check numbers, safe from the internet bad guys? Well, here's the scoop. At the Amazon website you enter in your private info, press send, and your internet b...
Playing a Frank Sinatra classic on a conch shell helped a local bicycle tour operator take top honors in an unusual musical competition. Lloyd Mager impressed judges at the 47th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest with portions of Strangers in the Nig...
