Big Questions

Big Question

What Do Those Recycling Symbols and Codes Mean?

Earth Day is here again, serving as an annual reminder of the need to reduce, reuse, and recycle our way to a better planet.... READ ON

Big Question

Why Are White People Called Caucasian?

It goes back to German anthropologist Friedrich Blumenbach. ... READ ON

Big Question

When and Why Did People Start Saying "Um"?

Reader Darren wrote in to ask, "When and why did people start saying um when they are talking?"... READ ON

Big Question

Where Do the Words “Mom” and “Dad” Come From?

Reader Jack writes in to say, “I can’t for the life of me figure out where the term ‘Dad’ or its similar cousins like ‘Daddy’ or ‘Dada’ come from. What’s the deal with “dad” and why has it become so prevalent in our society?”... READ ON

Big Question

What is Ricin?

Here’s what you need to know about the toxin everyone is talking about.... READ ON

Big Question

Can Stress Really Cause Hair Loss?

People have long been known to willfully pull out their own hair owing to anxiety, but it’s widely believed that chronic stress can cause inadvertent hair loss as well. ... READ ON

Big Question

Why Do We Knock on Wood?

Traditionally, when you speak of your own good fortune, you follow up with a quick knock on a piece of wood to keep your luck from going bad. More recently, simply saying the phrase “knock on wood”—or “touch wood” in the UK—has replaced actually knocking. Where’d all this come from?... READ ON

Big Question

What Does a Foreign Service Officer Do?

The unfortunate and untimely death of a young Foreign Service Officer in a suicide bombing on April 6 in Afghanistan’s Zabul province has drawn attention to the careers of U.S. diplomats.... READ ON

Big Question

How Can US Citizens Legally Travel to Cuba?

Musical power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z jetted down to a tropical and somewhat-forbidden destination last week for their fifth wedding anniversary: Cuba. Because of travel restrictions to the country, the couple’s trip raised the eyebrows of some U.S. lawmakers.... READ ON