BIG QUESTIONS

Reader Bruce wrote in to ask, “When there is a heavy rain, worms climb out on the pavement, only to die when the rain stops. Why do worms commit suicide?”

What is it that makes a “midnight snack” so irresistible? Short answer: blame your ancestors.

For centuries, anecdotal stories have circulated about animals possessing some primal sixth sense that alerts them to an imminent natural disaster, but does science back it up?

Two of the world's largest producers of baked-in aphorisms don't even have someone on the payroll dedicated to full-time fortune writing.

No doubt most of us have heard that black and other dark objects are more absorbant and white and light objects are more reflective, but let’s start out by clarifying just what’s being absorbed and reflected.

Everyone has heard people say that they are “bad at remembering names,” or maybe you are one who claims it. If so, you're not alone. “Most people are bad at remembering names,” says Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of

Noise-canceling headphones seem like an oxymoron: a piece of audio technology that creates silence, rather than noise. They’re useful on planes, in crowded offices, and for light sleepers trying to catch some shut-eye in a thin-walled apartment, but how c

There's a major difference between your body and your environment.

Reader Amanda writes, “I was a cashier for a few years and when the register wouldn’t read a credit card, we would wrap the card in a plastic bag and run it through again and it would work. What makes the register read the card when it’s wrapped with a pl

Named after the great Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, yet he was not the first baby born by the procedure.

It was a banner weekend for F-bombs. In Boston last Saturday, Red Sox designated hitter David “Big Papi” Ortiz dropped one into a pre-game speech, saying “This is our f***ing city. And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”