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10EasyQuestionsWeStillDon'tKnowTheAnswerToListverse

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MISCELLANEOUS

10 Easy Questions We Still Dont Know


The Answer To
HIMANSHU SHARMA JUNE 30, 2014

We know that science doesnt have the answers to everything, but seeing that its 2014 and
the future is almost here, there are some questions we really expected it to have answered
by now.

10

How Does Turbulence Work?

Everyone has gone through a flight where the pilot asks you to tighten your seat belts
because of excessive turbulence, but even though it is so important to things like air safety,
we just have no idea how it works. It has perplexed scientists to such an extent that
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Einstein once famously said, Before I die, I hope someone will clarify quantum physics for
me. After I die, I hope God will explain turbulence to me.
The problem is aggravated by the fact that wherever the need to study turbulence arises
like in jet propulsionchemical reactions take place alongside the high pressure and
extreme conditions, which makes it difficult for researchers to study the exact conditions
needed to produce turbulence. If somehow we could figure it out, it could be applied to a
variety of uses since turbulence occurs everywhere in nature. Maybe one day wed even be
able to predict hurricanes or other natural disasters with accuracy, thus minimizing the
damage and finally scoring one over nature.

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Why Do Cats Purr?

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Weve shown before that cats dont always purr when theyre happy, but the mystery
goes way deeper than that. There is no purring organ in the throat of a cat, and even
though extensive research has been done on the function itself, the exact origin of the
function in the anatomy of cats is still unknown.
Its theorized that they might do it by the constriction and dilation of the larynx, but no
evidence has ever been provided to prove or disprove that theory. It was, however, found
that the frequency of a cats purr falls somewhere in the range required to accelerate

bone regeneration and healing, so it might just be a healing superpower that we had no
idea even existed in the animal kingdom. That might also explain why we take it to be a
happy sound, as the frequency is not just beneficial for the catit tends to make us
happier as well.

What Causes Hypnic Jerks?

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Often when we are about to fall asleep, we experience a kind of a falling sensation which
causes us to wake up with a start. It happens to almost everybody, and the sensation is
known as a hypnic jerk. It also sometimes happens when you tilt the chair youre sitting on
too farsomehow you can sense when youre about to fall, and you wake up with a hypnic
jerk. We really have no idea what causes them or whether they serve any modern
purpose, but science has come up with some interesting theories.
One hypothesis suggests that our bodies developed this mechanism when we used to
sleep on branches or high ground, and it was meant to help us avoid a fall. But there is no
evidence to support it, and humans rarely slept on trees or precarious cliffs as a matter of
habit. Other theories suggest that it happens because of the slowing down of the bodys
processes when you fall asleep, but again, there are no scientific studies to support that
claim either.

How Exactly Do Magnets Work?

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Magnetism is a widely observed phenomenon in our universe, but a lot of things about it
remain unexplained. For example, why do particles charged with electricity create a
magnetic field strong enough to physically move things from far away? And when they do,
why exactly do they align themselves to two poles, north and south?
Explanations range from its just one of those things to particle movement at the
quantum level, and MIT even has a whole laboratory dedicated to research on nothing but

magnetism. We know that its happening, and we have a good idea of what exactly is
happening, toothe particles align themselves in a way that adds up their charge in one
direction, but its not very clear as to why the particles emit a magnetic field to start with.
The fact that the Earths magnetic field is not well understood either further restricts our
ability to understand magnetism.

Why Do Giraffes Have Long Necks?

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Many may believe that only giraffes with long necks survived evolution because they had
an advantage over the other, short-necked ones, but thats not really true. Longer necks
provide no particular advantage to giraffes because they care more about the type of leaf
than the height at which its situated. If its confusing to you, science doesnt have much of
a clue either. Theres just no consensus on the exact conditions that would have caused
long necks to be selected positively among giraffes.
One theory is that the giraffes developed long necks as a mating traitin other words, it
helped with the ladiesbut theres not much evidence to support that hypothesis. On
the contrary, big, heavy necks, no matter how good they look, would be a definite
disadvantage in the wild and are sure to die out at some point in the future. Another theory
says that they had to develop long necks because of long legs, but again, that theory is
based less on factual evidence and more on a scientist looking at a giraffe and guessing.

Why Do Birds Migrate?

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We know that birds migrate over really long distances every year to lay eggs or to escape
harsh winters. What we dont know is how they do it at all. The migration of birds remains
one of the most mysterious animal behaviors known to science, and even though theyve
been trying hard to solve it for a long time, answers havent been easy to come by.
Consider this: Cuckoos migrate and lay their eggs in other birds nests, then just fly away to
their own business. When the young ones grow up, they make their way to their

ancestral lands without any help whatsoever. Scientists do believe that they are able to
use a variety of compasses based on the stars and the Earths magnetic field, but a
compass can only guide youit cant tell you the coordinates of a location you should have
no idea about. Clearly, cuckoos are one species you dont want to mess with.

What Causes Gravity?

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Newton pioneered the study of gravity over 350 years ago, and youd think that wed have it
all figured out by now. But the more weve progressed in our knowledge of the world, the
more baffling gravity has become for researchers. For starters, we know the causing
particle for each of the four fundamental forces of the universeexcept gravity. A graviton
is believed to be that particle, but were pretty far from actually finding it.
Another thing about gravity is that it is the weakest of all the other fundamental forces, yet
if we look around the world, that doesnt seem to be the case at all. Gravity keeps galaxies
together, and it is about 1040 times weaker than the electromagnetic force. The fact that
its so weak makes it all the more difficult to study it in the lab.

How Do We Store And Retrieve Memories?

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Science has come a long way toward understanding how our bodies work, but memories
are still one of the most perplexing problems of the human anatomy. We just have no idea
exactly what parts of the brain are involved in the storage of our memories, though we do
know that a lot of areas of the brain are involved in the process. Even more confusing than
memory storage is memory retrieval. Scientists have been looking into how our brains
trace a particular memory from our memory bank since at least the 20s, but its still not
clear how we do it.
What we do know for sure is that it has something to do with neurons and the connections
between them. When we see something that triggers a memory to be traced, many parts
of the brain interact with each other simultaneously to make us remember it. Beyond that,
though, the whole thing is a mystery.

Why Do Women Go Through Menopause?

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Menopause defies all the rules of evolution. The ability to reproduce in the animal kingdom
ensures that the species are able to pass on their superior genes, but in humans,
something weird happens. Women decisively lose their ability to pass on their lineage at
the age of about 4550, and science just doesnt have any idea why. From an evolutionary
perspective, it is always harmful for a species to completely give up their ability to
reproduce, as survival by natural selection ceases to take place once that happens.
One explanation is the grandmother hypothesis, which says that after a point, women
should spend more time caring for their grandchildren than their children, but the benefits
of that are far inferior to the benefits of giving birth to your own children. Its also not
abundantly found in the animal kingdom. Apart from humans, only two species of whale
completely stop breeding at a certain age and go on to live for a significant amount of time.
Other animals that experience deteriorating sexual abilities, however, often die out soon
after.

What Are Dreams?

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Dreaming is one thing thats common to us all. It might differ in the way it happens for
some of us, but its definitely a resident feature of all of our brains. Youd think that science
would be able to figure out why our brains decide to go in LSD mode every night, but sadly,
there are no definite answers as to what exactly dreams are. Some people believe that
theyre just random images which serve no purpose, while others believe that they carry a

deeper meaning, though were all pretty much guessing here.


Some theories suggest that dreams are a manifestation of things wed rather not think
about during the day, like sexual fantasies, though many modern scientists dont agree
with that. What they do agree with, however, is that dreams are most likely symbolic of
something deep in our psyche, though no one can decisively say what. The jury is divided
on whether they serve any purpose at all, and it looks like its going to take a long time for
us to come to a universally accepted answer.

Check out Himanshus stuff over at Cracked or say hi to him on Twitter.

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454Comments

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Jointhediscussion
Mike ayearago

Thisseemsevenmoreappropriate"Fuckin'Giraffes,howdotheywork?"

190

Reply Share

lolberals>Mike ayearago

Morememes,thankGod.Ithoughtsomeonewasgoingtohaveanoriginal,
insightfulcommentforaasecondthere.Whew!
84

Reply Share

Avatar Thiscommentwasdeleted.
lolberals>Guest ayearago

Ohlook,pettyinsultsfrombehindthesafetyofacomputer.How
refreshing!
26

Reply Share

lonelydisco>lolberals ayearago

Ohlook,you'verunoutofcounterinsults!C'mon!
6

Reply Share

Heisenberg>lonelydisco ayearago

Buthedidn'tinsultanyone?
14

Reply Share

lonelydisco>Heisenberg ayearago

Haveyounotread?Theimplicationwaspalpableitwasexplicit.All
it'sbeendoingwasinsult.That'sallitdoes.
5

Reply Share

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Reply Share

Heisenberg>lonelydisco ayearago

"Implication","explicit".Wowyouarejustabundleofcontradictions.
12

Reply Share

theIlluminati>Heisenberg ayearago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Reply Share

TheOu7law>theIlluminati ayearago

Ijustwatchedthatepisodelastnightlol
3

Reply Share

NathanielA.>TheOu7law ayearago

Isityourfirstwatchthrough?Theshowreallydoesn'tgetintoitsfull
strideuntilthe3rdseasonthough.
3

Reply Share

TheOu7law>NathanielA. ayearago

Yeahijuststartedwatchingitnottoolongago
2

Reply Share

NathanielA.>TheOu7law ayearago

Itisthebestshowthatis,was,oreverwillbe.
3

Reply Share

TheOu7law>NathanielA. ayearago

Ibegtodiffermyfriend,TheWalkingDeadisbyfarthegreatest
showofalltime
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showofalltime
2

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >TheOu7law

ayearago

Sorry...thatwouldbeDoctorWho.:D
11

Mom424

Reply Share

Mod >oouchan

ayearago

I'mgoingtogiveBreakingBadtheedge,justbecauseitwrappedup
soconciselyandperfectly.Buthonestlythey'renotthesamevehicle
andshouldn'tbecompared.Dr.Whodoesn'tneedtoend,it'sa
seriesofstories.BreakingBadisonestory.
4

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >Mom424

ayearago

It'snotreallyaseriesofstoriesbutonelargerplotwithsubstories
underneathsupportingit.Fromthebeginningit'sbeenlikethat.What
anawesomeshow.
BreakingBadiscoolerthanWalkingDead...atleastit'soriginal.
3

Reply Share

TheOu7law>oouchan ayearago

Youbiteyourtongueoouchan,youdonttalklikethat.Onemore
cursewordlikethatanditssoapinyourmouth!
3

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >TheOu7law

ayearago

hahaha!
Offtothecornerforme!
4

Reply Share

TheOu7law>oouchan ayearago

Haveyouevenwatchedthewalkingdead?
2

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >TheOu7law

ayearago

Yesandfounditboring.GotmoreoutofDawnoftheDead.Itwas
justpredictable....ofcourseI'mnotreallyintozombies(orwalkers).I
preferthedramawiththefunnythatDoctorWhoprovides.
1

Reply Share

1DireWolf>oouchan ayearago

Iamsosickofzombies.IdidwatchanepisodeoftheWalkingDead.
Igotthroughitbypretendingthezombieswerereallymembersofthe 16/21
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Igotthroughitbypretendingthezombieswerereallymembersofthe
TeaParty.thenitmadesense.
4

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >1DireWolf

ayearago

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Reply Share

TheOu7law>oouchan ayearago

Youneedtowatchitfromstarttofinishthewalkingdeadisnotall
aboutzombiesbro.Itsaboutdifferentpeoplethatcrosstherepaths
aswell,youneedtogiveitachanceandyouwillbemesmerized
1

Reply Share

TheBusterMan>TheOu7law ayearago

Thefirsttwoseriesorseasons,wereweak,butfromseries3itwas
prettygood.ThatRickGrimescharacterissoweak,theyshouldput
thecrossbowtotingredneckincharge(forgothis
name).But,BreakingBadisfarsuperior.
2

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >TheOu7law

ayearago

IhavewatcheditfromthebeginningandIcan'tgetintoit.Justnot
mycupoftea.Iunderstandaboutthepeople,butcan'tstandit.
1

Reply Share

Joseph>oouchan ayearago

DoctorWhomightbemyfavoritetvshowaswell.It'sbeenonso
long,I'mprobablyforgettingagoodchunkofthetimeline,though.
Plus,Ihatethatsomeoftheepisodeswerelost.Ididn'treallylikethe
wardoctorstoryline.Ithoughttheyshouldhavejusthadthe9th
doctorbetheonethatusedtheweapon.Theninthdoctorwasalittle
crazyandit'skindofbelievablethathe'ddosomethingthatextreme.
Ithoughtitwaskindofacopouttosuddenlychangethefateofthe
timelordstoo...IguessIshouldstoprandomlybabblingnow...The
WalkingDeadcomicbookisactuallyprettygood.It'sbeenawhile
sinceIreadacomicbook,butafriendofmineconvincedmetoread
itandIthinkit'smoreoriginalthantheshow.
1

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >Joseph

ayearago

FullyagreewithyouontheWarDoctorandthe9thDoctor.Could
havebeenoneandthesame.Myfavoritesinthisorderarenumber
1,10,4,8and9.Therestare...ok.
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1,10,4,8and9.Therestare...ok.
ReadthecomicforWalkingDeadanditwasgood.Betterthanthe
show.

Reply Share

Joseph>oouchan ayearago

I'dhavetosay1,2,4,9,and10.Ithoughtthelastdoctorwastoo
young,buthewasprettygoodtoo.I'veneverwatchedatvshow
beforeandthought"Whydothesepeoplestillhavealltheirlimbs?".I
watchit,butyou'reright,zombieshavebeenoverdonerecentlyand
they'reallprettymuchthesame.

Reply Share

oouchan

Mod >Joseph

ayearago

Samewithvampires,butI'mlookingforwardtoseeingTheStrain.

Reply Share

Joseph>oouchan ayearago

I'veneverreadthebook.I'llhavetoaddthattomylistnow,though.I
liketheauthor(someofhismoviesanyway).Isawanadvertisement
fortheseries,butIdidn'tknowitwasvampires.Theyhavebeen
overdonerecentlyandthestrangeteenageromancecrapreallyisn't
appealing...
1

Reply Share

NathanielA.>Mom424 ayearago

DoctorWhoissimplyaunstylishlydressedEnglishmanromping
throughtimewithavibratorfirmlyclaspedinhishand.Where'sthe
magic?
2

Reply Share

TheOu7law>NathanielA. ayearago

*smirks*Thevibratoriswhatcausesthemagic.)
7

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >NathanielA.

ayearago

It'sascrewdriver.
Themagicisthereforthosethatactuallywatchtheshow.:)
2

Reply Share

NathanielA.>oouchan ayearago

Youarefightinganuphillbattle.)
Realistically,Icouldn'ttellthemapartifIhadn'tjustsearchedfor
them.
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them.

16

Reply Share

TheOu7law>NathanielA. ayearago

IambeyondproudofyouNathanielforpostingapicture.:'(Ijusthad
atearrundownmyface
2

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >NathanielA.

ayearago

Again....forthosethatwatchtheshow,wegetit.
:)
Nicepicture,butI'lltakethescrewdriveranyday!
1

Reply Share

Joseph>oouchan ayearago

He'sobviouslyneverhadalotofcabinetstoputup.
2

Reply Share

NathanielA.>oouchan ayearago

So...thebottomone?
1

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >NathanielA.

ayearago

Sigh....
1

Reply Share

NathanielA.>oouchan ayearago

*smirks*

Reply Share

therealsteve>Mom424 ayearago

Thewalkingdeaddoesn'tdomuchforme(notabigzombiefan)and
IhaveneverseenBreakingbadandIhaven'tseenaDr.who
episodeinprobably35yearsbutIjustgotintoShamelesswith
WilliamHMacyandEmmyRossum.Itsprettydamnfunny.Watched 19/21
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10EasyQuestionsWeStillDon'tKnowTheAnswerToListverse

WilliamHMacyandEmmyRossum.Itsprettydamnfunny.Watched
thefirst3seasonsinlessthanaweek.
1

Reply Share

Bunnyrabid>oouchan ayearago

Ahem..Animaniacs...Whodoesn'tlovethatshow?
2

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >Bunnyrabid

ayearago

aaaaaaaandnowIhavethatsonginmyhead.:)
Istillwatchit.hahaha!
1

Reply Share

TheOu7law>oouchan ayearago

Iapologizebutyouarewrong

Reply Share

oouchan

Mod >TheOu7law

ayearago

Youropinion.:)
Zombiesareoverplayed.
DoctorWhoistimeless.
6

Reply Share

TheOu7law>oouchan ayearago

IwillletRickclarifythingsup

oouchan

Reply Share
Mod >TheOu7law

ayearago

Rickwho?:)
3

Reply Share

TheOu7law>oouchan ayearago

Hahaha,itsashowaboutpreppingfortherealoccasion.

Reply Share

TheBusterMan>TheOu7law ayearago

ComparingTheWalkingDeadtoBreakingBad?You,sir,havelostit.
3

Reply Share

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