Table of Contents
What Makes Grumpy Old Men Grumpy? 1
Why Do People's Eyes Turn Red in Photos? 2
Why Are Most People Right-Handed? 4
Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? 6
Are Computer Games as Addictive as Cocaine? 7
Why Is the Eagle a Recognized Symbol of the United States? 9
Why Do People Say "Cheese" When Being Photographed? 11
Why Do Oceans and Not Lakes Have Tides? 13
Why Do People Rub Their Eyes When They're Tired? 14
Why Is There a Black Dot in an Otherwise White Bird Dropping? 15
What Is the Difference Between a Bison and a Buffalo? 16
How Did the Thumbs-Up Gesture Come to Mean OK? 17
Why Doesn't Aluminum Foil Get Hot in the Oven? 20
Why Do Women Dance More Than Men? 21
Do Vegetarians Live Longer? 23
Why Do Migrating Birds Bother Flying Back North? 24
Why Does Time Fly When You're Having Fun? 26
Why Doesn't Rain Come Down a Chimney, When Smoke Can Get Out? 28
What Makes a Whip Crack? 29
Why Do Rabbits Wiggle Their Noses? 31
What Are Hyenas Laughing At? 32
Why Do Delivery Truck Drivers Keep Their Engines Idling When Dropping Something Off? 34
Why Do Short Men Tend to Have Higher Voices Than Tall Men? 36
How Do Blind People Dream? 37
Why Don't Cats Like to Swim? 39
Why Are the Buttons on Men's and Women's Shirts on Different Sides? 41
Why Are There Dents on the Top of Cowboy Hats? 42
Why Do Only Old Men Have Hairy Ears? 44
Why Does Looking at the Sun Make Some People Sneeze? 45
Why Do People Become Emotional When Drunk? 47
Why Are Graves Dug 6 Feet Deep? 48
Is It Possible to Eat Fifty Eggs Like in Cool Hand Luke? 50
Why Are Baseball Dugouts Below Ground Level? 51
Why Does Garlic Cause Bad Breath? 52
Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet? 54
Why Don't Vultures Get Sick from Eating Rotten Meat? 56
Why Don't Tornadoes Ever Hit Big Cities? 58
Why Doesn't Your Own Snoring Wake You Up? 60
Why Are Rain Clouds Dark? 61
When People Lose Their Jobs, Why Is It Said That They Got the Sack or Got Fired? 62
Why Do We Rarely See Dead Birds? 63
Who Determines the Boundary Line Between Oceans? 64
Do Cell Phones Really Interfere with Aircraft? 66
What Are the Origins of the English Alphabet? 68
Why Does Old Film Footage Appear to Be in Fast Forward? 69
How Did the Expression Teetotal Originate? 70
Why Are Batteries Never Included? 71
Why Do Seagulls Hang Out in Parking Lots? 72
Do the Eskimos Really Have Hundreds of Words for Snow? 73
What Is the Butterfly Effect, and How Did It Originate? 75
Why Doesn't Glue Get Stuck in the Bottle? 77
Why Do Bats Roost Upside Down? 78
Why Are Some People Double-Jointed? 80
Why Don't Lizards Get Sunburned? 81
Why Don't Women Faint as Much as They Used To? 83
Why Does the Price of Gas End in Nine-Tenths of a Cent? 84
Why Are Rabbits Associated with Easter? 86
What Are the Origins of the Pi Symbol? 88
Who Was Dr. Pepper? 89
Can Piranhas Really Devour a Cow in Under a Minute? 91
Why Are People Immune to Their Own Body Odor? 93
Why Do the Chinese Use Chopsticks? 94
How Was the 1919 Baseball World Series Fixed? 96
Why Are Large Trucks Called "Semis"? 99
What Are the Origins of the Expression "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth"? 100
Why Is Jack the Nickname for John? 101
Do Skunks Think Skunks Stink? 102
Why Are Blue Jeans Sewn with Orange Thread? 103
Why Were Prehistoric Animals So Big? 105
Why Do Some Old People Constantly Make a Chewing Motion? 106
Why Doesn't the Water in Fire Hydrants Freeze in the Winter? 108
Why Do Doctors Have Such Messy Handwriting? 109
Why Don't Buses Have Seatbelts? 110
Why Don't Governments Just Print More Money When They Need It? 112
How Do Fire Walkers Do It? 114
What Are the Origins of the Mexican Wave? 116
What Is the Difference Between an Emu and an Ostrich? 118
Why Do Firehouses Often Have Dalmatians? 119
Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine? 121
What Do Mosquitoes Do During the Day? 123
Why Does Fire Make a Crackling Sound? 124
Why Isn't There a Light in the Freezer, but One in the Fridge? 125
Don't Police Sirens Alert the Bad Guys That the Cops Are on Their Way? 126
Can One Spider Get Caught in the Web of Another? 128
How Do Authorities Mark Banknotes? 130
Does Stress Make Your Hair Turn Gray? 131
Why Were Duels Always Fought at Dawn? 133
Why Do Pirates Love Parrots? 134
Why Does Warm Milk Help People Sleep? 136
Are Extra-Large Hens Needed to Lay Extra-Large Eggs? 137
What Is the History of the Samurai? 138
Just How Safe Is Fort Knox? 141
Is There a Fine Line Between Pleasure and Pain? 142
How Did the Strange Scoring System in Tennis Come About? 144
Why Do Cats March Up and Down on Carpet? 146
Why Are the Ceilings in Train Stations So High? 147
Do Glasses Weaken Your Eyes? 148
Why Do Fish Float Upside Down When They Die? 150
Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day? 152
How Disastrous Would the Extinction of Bees Really Be? 154
Does 80 Percent of a Persons Heat Really Escape from Their Head? 156
How Is the Name of the Painter Van Gogh Pronounced? 157
What Exactly Is Interpol? 159
Why Do Superheroes Wear Their Underwear on the Outside? 160
Does Watching Violent Television Influence Children? 161
Can Police Dogs Really Sniff Out Drugs? 163
Why Didn't Native Americans Wipe Out Europeans with Diseases? 165
What Happens to Stuff Confiscated at Security Checkpoints? 167
What Is the Difference between a Seal and a Sea Lion? 169
Why Do Bugs Roll onto Their Backs When They Die? 170
What Does the Zip in "Zip Code" Mean? 171
Why Do You Sometimes See a Pair of Sneakers Hanging over Power Lines? 172
Does Sugar Make Kids Hyper? 174
Where Did the Idea of Counting Sheep Come From? 176
Did Einstein Really Fail Math as a Child? 178
Are Zebras' Stripes Black or White? 180
Why Can't Men See Things That Are Right in Front of Them? 181
Why Are the Academy Awards Called the Oscars? 183
What Are the Origins of the Expression "Knock on Wood"? 184
What Happens If a Person Is Transfused with the Wrong Blood Type? 185
Why Are the Portholes on Ships Round? 186
Why Is a Mile 5,280 Feet Long? 187
Why Do Weathervanes Have Roosters on Top of Them? 188
Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads When You Talk to Them? 190
Why Do We Cry at Happy Endings? 192
Why Do Divers Spit into Their Masks before Getting in the Water? 194
Why Do We Like Food That We Hated When We Were Younger? 195
Why Do the Speed Controls on Fans Go From Off to High to Low? 197
Do We Breathe a Single Molecule of Julius Caesar's Last Breath in Every Breath We Take? 198
What Causes That Recognizable New Car Smell? 199
Why Do Only Children Get Head Lice? 201
Is It Bad to "Crack" Your Knuckles? 202
What Are the Chances We Are Alone in the Universe? 204
Why Do Pigeons in Cities Have Deformed Toes? 206
Why Do You Have to Take Laptops Out of Their Cases at Airport Security? 207
Why Do Your Legs Wobble When Standing on a Cliff Top? 209
Why Are the Chinese Superstitious of the Number Four? 210
Why Are Police Officers Known as "Cops"? 212
Will You Get Tetanus by Standing on a Rusty Nail? 213
Why Does Eating Food Make You Hot? 214
Why Are Autopsies Performed on Criminals Who Have Just Been Executed? 215
Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? 217
Do You Need to Wait 24 Hours before Filing a Missing Person Report? 218
Why Do We Crave Greasy Food When We're Hungover? 219
Do You Really Have to Wait 30 Minutes to Swim after Eating? 221
Does Baldness Come from the Mother's Side? 223
If You Touch a Baby Bird, Will Its Mother Really Reject It? 224
Can You Get Killed by Poking a Metal Object into a Power Outlet? 225
Is It Dangerous to Wake a Sleepwalker? 227
Does Watching Too Much Television Ruin Your Eyesight? 228
Why Do Muscles Sometimes Twitch? 229
What Is the Legend of Casanova? 230
How Did Wolves Become Dogs? 232
Does Listening to Mozart Really Make Babies Smarter? 234
How Does Bounty Hunting Work? 236
Do Houseflies Only Live for 24 Hours? 238
Is It Dangerous to Be in a Swimming Pool During a Thunderstorm? 239
Who Owns Wall Graffiti? 240
Why Does Seeing Food Make Your Mouth Water? 242
If a Tree Falls in a Forest, Does It Make a Sound? 244
Artwork Credits 247
About the Author 249
