Mick O’Hare (Editor) - Why Dont Penguins Feet Freeze? And 114 Other Questions

This books predecessor, Does Anything Eat Wasps? , was the surprise publishing phenomenon of the 2005 Christmas season. The quirky collection of science questions and answers from New Scientist s Last Word column took the bestseller lists by storm, leaving those associated with the columns 13-year history a little shell-shocked and breathless. This sense of surprise was reinforced by the fact that Does Anything Eat Wasps? was actually the third collection of Last Word questions and answers in book form. The first two had modestly paid their way without ever troubling the bestseller charts. Which, on reflection, seems a pity, for those first two volumes contain some of the questions that have come to define exactly what The Last Word represents: the pursuit of the offbeat and the trivial. Why is snot green? Why does grilled cheese go stringy? Why does silver foil make tooth fillings painful? And, of course, why dont penguins feet freeze?

Perhaps more importantly, those first two books also contain answers to questions that are asked every week by readers who newly discover The Last Word. It seems everybody wants to know why hair turns grey or the sky is blue. And you can find the answers.

Interestingly, the most popular question when the first two Last Word books were translated into German was Why dont sleeping birds fall out of trees? This led to the longest title of any New Scientist book published anywhere in the world Warum fallen schlafende Vgel nicht vom Baum? And although the title Why Dont Penguins Feet Freeze? does not match this for length, this book is by far the thickest and best-value collection of Last Word questions yet published. Since we feel the first two books deserved a wider audience, weve combined the best questions and answers from those volumes with some wholly new material from the weekly magazine column to create this bumper edition. Added together, we hope they will keep you entertained for weeks to come.

Does Anything Eat Wasps? generated a vast amount of media coverage, during which I was constantly asked why my book had sold so well. The truth was, of course, that it wasnt my book at all; it belonged to the readers of New Scientist . Remember, everything you see here is provided by contributors to The Last Word, both in the weekly print edition of New Scientist and online. Thousands of questions are posed every year and just as many answers are received. So if you have something to ask New Scientist s readers visit www.newscientist.com/lastword or buy the weekly magazine. Even better, if your friends routinely describe you as a complete know-all or, like me, the pub bore you are just the kind of person we are looking for. The Last Word is your natural home, so why not help us answer our endless supply of questions? Without readers input The Last Word would not survive and, as youll read here, none of us would know how to toughen up our conkers.

Enjoy this fascinating compilation and keep those questions flooding in.

Mick OHare

Again, special thanks are due to Jeremy Webb, Lucy Middleton, Alun Anderson, the production and subbing teams of New Scientist and the people at Profile Books for making this book far better than it might have been.

My mother, one of my sisters and I all experience this. I feel the behaviour is genetic and confers an unrecognised evolutionary advantage. I have questioned many people, and we sun-sneezers seem to be in the minority. However, as the ozone thins and more ultraviolet light penetrates the Earths atmosphere, it will become increasingly dangerous to allow direct sunlight into the eye. Those of us with the sun-sneeze gene will not be exposed to this, as our eyes automatically close as we sneeze! The rest of the population will gradually go blind, something not usually favoured by natural selection.

Alex Hallatt
Newbury, Berkshire, UK

The tendency to sneeze on exposure to bright light is termed the photic sneeze. It is a genetic character transmitted from one generation to the next and which affects between 18 and 35 per cent of the population. The sneeze occurs because the protective reflexes of the eyes (in this case on encountering bright light) and nose are closely linked. Likewise, when we sneeze our eyes close and also water. The photic sneeze is well known as a hazard to pilots of combat planes, especially when they turn towards the sun or are exposed to flares from anti-aircraft fire at night.

R. Eccles
Common Cold and Nasal Research Centre
Cardiff, UK

Here are some early thoughts on the subject of light sneezing from Francis Bacons Sylva Sylvarum (London: John Haviland for William Lee, 1635): Looking against the Sunne, doth induce Sneezing. The Cause is, not the Heating of the Nosthrils; For then the Holding up of the Nostrills against the Sunne, though one Winke, would doe it; But the Drawing downe of the Moisture of the Braine. For it will make the Eyes run with Water; And the Drawing of Moisture to the Eyes, doth draw it to the Nosthrills, by Motion of Consent; And so followeth Sneezing; As contrariwise, the Tickling of the Nosthrills within, doth draw the Moisture to the Nosthrills, and to the Eyes by Consent; For they also will Water. But yet, it hath been observed, that if one be about to Sneeze, the Rubbing of the Eyes, till they run with Water, will prevent it. Whereof the Cause is, for that the Humour, which was descending to the Nosthrills, is diverted to the Eyes.