Big Questions Answered, How and Why

Where did this phrase come from, anyway?

The origins of the phrase (indirectly) involve smelly cabbage, Donald Duck, and several Canadian journalists.

Her skin is well-protected in the event of a crash.

Leather doesn’t just look cool—it also serves a very important safety purpose.

As anyone who’s seen the movie ‘Titanic’ already knows, the ship didn’t sink immediately. So how long was the process?

The answer involves World War I soldiers and a cute bird.

We might have co-living spaces to thank for this strange idiom.

At their peak, over 14,000 covered bridges were scattered across the U.S. Roughly 500 remain.

Here‘s why chimera cats look like two different furballs stitched together.

It's big and black and white and all over the place.

They’re so-called minimalist modern farmhouses, painted white, with black roofs, window frames, and railings, seemingly adrift from architectural context. Where did the big black-and-white look come from, and why is it so popular?

Before tiles and vinyl reigned supreme, some folks put carpet next to the tub. But why?

Bussers are an important part of restaurants.

What do the terms “busser” and “busing a table” have to do with public transportation? Nothing, it turns out.

If linguistics is any indicator, it would appear that everybody in the spirit realm speaks Scots English.

We explain the science behind the answer.

Who wouldn't want to tuck into a bowl of golden-brown, crispy hush puppies?

Hush puppies might seem like a simple side dish, but they carry a pretty interesting history.

There is a good reason why baby carrots tend to be slimier than their full-sized counterparts—and it has to do with the white stuff you sometimes see on the outside of them.

Red cars are bold, but are they really targeted by cops the most?

It turns out there’s another, much less flashy shade that has a higher chance of getting flagged.

The origin of the multipurpose saw's catchy name, explained.

Answering the same question over and over and over again can get grating. But there are important developmental reasons behind why young children are so into asking “why.”

Just because seat belts make cars and planes safer doesn’t mean they’d do the same for trains, which are built differently, move differently, and, most importantly, seat their passengers differently.

A lot of evidence from real-life crime scenes does end up being stored inside the same type of container otherwise used to carry home-made lunches. But why?