Big Questions

Big Question

What is an Adam's Apple?

Adam's apple photo via ShutterstockTouch your fingers to the front of your throat and start humming. Feel around until you can feel vibration directly under your fingers. That’s your larynx, or voice box. It houses your vocal cords and is involved in breathing and vocalization.Surrounding the larynx is the laryngeal prominence, better known as the Adam’s apple. The “apple” is simply protective cartilage. As your voice changes and your larynx grows during puberty, the cartilage enlarges and... READ ON

Big Question

What Do the Ms on M&M's Stand For, and How Do They Get Them on There?

In the early 1900s, Forrest Mars, Sr., the son of Chicago candy maker and Snickers bar creator Franklin Clarence Mars, worked his way through Europe learning the ins and outs of the candy business. He worked for Nestle. He worked for Tobler. He started his own little factory in England. He sold some of his father’s brands. Most importantly, he found inspiration. According to confectionery lore, Mars was in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and noticed treats frequently placed in soldiers’ rations.... READ ON

Big Question

What Happens If You Drive Off with the Gas Pump Nozzle Still in the Car?

Rest assured that you won’t be causing any fireballs or explosions. The hose that attaches the nozzle to the gas pump is designed to break into two pieces when a certain amount of force is applied to it. Next time you’re at the gas station, check the hose for a metal coupling. That’s the break-away point. Once the hose is broken and you’re off on your merry way, check valves in the hose keep fuel from leaking out and creating a hazard.Other than that, there’s no saying what might happen to... READ ON

Big Question

Why Do Dogs Stick Their Heads Out of Car Windows?

Dogs image via ShutterstockDogs seem to stick their heads out of moving cars almost any chance they get. What’s so great about a wind-whipped snout?While I wasn’t able to find any scientific research on the phenomenon, a number of dog behaviorists agree that the window’s main draw isn’t the scenery or the breeze. What dogs are after are smells.A few months ago, in a post about bloodhounds, I explained that dogs are basically walking noses. While our human olfactory membranes (a lump of... READ ON

Big Question

Why Does Your Nose Get Stuffy One Nostril at a Time?

Nose-blowing image via ShutterstockBecause your nostrils split their workload. Throughout the day, they each take breaks in a process of alternating congestion and decongestion called the nasal cycle. At a given moment, if you're breathing through your nose, the lion’s share of the air is going in and out of one nostril, with a much smaller amount passing through the other. Every few hours, your autonomic nervous system, which takes care of your heart rate, digestion and other things you don’t... READ ON

Big Question

Why Are Legal Pads Yellow?

Legal pad image via ShutterstockThe legal pad got its start with Thomas Holley in 1888. Holley was 24 and working at a paper mill in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Every day, he and his co-workers threw out a lot of scrap pieces, called sortings, left over from cutting paper into the right sized sheets. He knew there had to be a use for them and eventually hit on the idea of cutting the sortings to the same size and binding them into small notepads. Since the paper was essentially trash to the mill, they... READ ON

Big Question

How Does a Fortune Cookie Proposal Work?

Cookie image via ShutterstockMy girlfriend loves a good romantic comedy (to be fair, she’ll watch mediocre and bad ones, too). So on weekend afternoons, our TV is often tuned to whatever quirky love story TNT/TBS/USA is running on a constant loop. Usually, these movies will climax with the female lead’s love interest asking for her hand in marriage in some grand, romantic way. More than a few times, these proposals have involved a diamond ring tucked away inside a fortune... READ ON

Big Question

Who Was Murphy and Why Is There a Bed Named After Him?

Image credit: Valet Custom Cabinets & ClosetsThe Murphy Bed, also known as a wall bed, fold down bed or pull down bed, is a bed that’s hinged at one end so it can be folded up and stored vertically against a wall or in a closet. It’s useful in situations where floor space is at a premium, like studio apartments, dorm rooms, mobile homes and cruise ship cabins.The bed is named, no surprise, after a guy named Murphy—William L.... READ ON

Big Question

Can Gay Discharged Soldiers Get Back Into the Army Now?

© James Berglie/ZUMA Press/Corbis"Don’t Ask, Don't Tell" was the official U.S. policy on homosexuals in the military for the last 18 years. It barred open homosexuals from serving, but prohibited the discrimination, harassing or outing of closeted homosexual service members. It was repealed, and officially ended last September. Now that the rules have changed and gays can serve openly, can those who were discharged under the old policy get back into their old combat... READ ON

Big Question

Hitler on Ice: Did the Nazis Have a Secret Antarctic Fortress?

As if I needed more evidence that I have a really awesome job, I occasionally get emails from my editor, Jason, that say things like, "A reader just left a comment about Nazis looking to form a super-advanced civilization in Antarctica. Can we add that to the list of things to... READ ON