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Do any other animals get insomnia?

Do any other animals get insomnia? JENNY EDWARDS, VIA EMAIL Other animals display insomnia-like behaviour. For example, in a seminal study it was found that when male rats were rehomed from their individual cages into those of other male rats, they displayed what resembled stress-induced insomnia. Furthermore, ‘insomnia-like flies’ take longer than others to fall […]

Why do bullets make a zing sound in movies?

Why do bullets make a zing sound in movies? PAUL FROM NC, VIA EMAIL Bullets from real guns only ‘zing’ if they ricochet off something hard at a fairly shallow angle. This causes them to tumble very rapidly and the turbulence of this motion as they fly off sounds like a high pitched whine that […]

If the ancient carboniferous forests didn’t go on to create the oil and gas fields we exploit for fossil fuels, how different would our world look today in terms of technology and the environment?

QUESTION OF THE MONTH: If the ancient carboniferous forests didn’t go on to create the oil and gas fields we exploit for fossil fuels, how different would our world look today in terms of technology and the environment? ANDY NEWELL, KNARESBOROUGH, YORKSHIRE The Industrial Revolution was largely powered by coal. Wood and charcoal were used […]

Are elves’ long lives realistic?

Are elves’ long lives realistic? What’s the biology behind the elves’ extended lifespans in The Lord Of The Rings? by STEPHEN KELLY The new The Lord Of The Rings TV show, The Rings Of Power, is a prequel set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Frodo takes his long walk to […]

Hit the dirt

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA, USA Why on Earth would NASA want to buy over 100 tonnes of dirt from a quarry in Arizona? Well, it turns out that this particular dirt is a great substitute for the material you’d find on the surface of the Moon, called lunar regolith. As such, NASA has collected and […]