What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes (2 page)

Who tracked down Einstein’s missing brain?

A

a) a detective

b) a pathologist

c) a reporter

EINSTEIN’S

d) Einstein’s granddaughter

BRAIN:

CORRECT ANSWER:

c) a reporter

LOST

When you think about who is most likely to solve a

&

medical mystery, pathologists, detectives, or even a FOUND

dedicated granddaughter, might come to mind. But it was Steven Levy, then a reporter for a magazine called
New Jersey Monthly
, who tracked down Einstein’s brain. Where on earth had Einstein’s brain been all those years? Well, let’s see . . .

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Einstein’s Brain — Found

Einstein’s brain was missing for decades, and you Q

have to wonder why it took so long to find, because locating the genius lobes turned out to be a no-brainer. Einstein once said something like,

EINSTEIN’S

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler,” and it’s exactly what the successful sleuth did.

BRAIN:

Where was Einstein’s brain found?

LOST

a) in a freezer in a lab at Oxford University, U.K.

b) in a margarine tub at a brain bank in Hamilton,

&FOUND

Canada

c) in a pair of pickling jars in a home office in Wichita, U.S.

d) in a private medical collection in Tokyo, Japan 3

Einstein’s Brain — Found

Where was Einstein’s brain found?

A

a) in a freezer in a lab at Oxford University, U.K.

b) in a margarine tub at a brain bank in Hamilton, Canada

EINSTEIN’S

c) in a pair of pickling jars in a home office in Wichita, U.S.

d) in a private medical collection in Tokyo, Japan BRAIN:

LOST

CORRECT ANSWER:

c) in a pair of pickling jars in a home office in Wichita,

&FOUND

U.S.

Steven Levy took the simplest approach and tracked down the pathologist who’d removed Einstein’s brain back in 1955. Dr. Thomas Harvey had since retired and moved to Wichita, Kansas. At first, the doctor denied knowing anything about Einstein’s brain, but the young reporter wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Finally, Dr. Harvey broke down and admitted that he had the brain, right there, in the very office in which they were sitting. He went over to a box labelled

“Costa Cider” and pulled out two large pickling jars containing Einstein’s lobes. Seeing the brain that had changed the world was huge for Steven Levy. He said that “it was almost a religious experience.”

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Einstein’s Groovy Brain

When the news broke that Einstein’s brain had been Q

found, scientists were excited. Have you ever wondered if Einstein’s brain was special? That’s exactly what the world’s top brain researchers wanted to EINSTEIN’S

know too. Einstein’s brain was well preserved, but well past the thinking stage, so it couldn’t be tested in action, or take an IQ test. But his brain’s anatomy BRAIN:

was just begging to be explored.

LOST

How does Einstein’s brain compare to the average brain? It’s . . .

&FOUND

a) bigger

b) heavier

c) longer

d) wider

d) wider

5

Einstein’s Groovy Brain

How does Einstein’s brain compare to the average A

brain? It’s . . .

a) bigger

b) heavier

EINSTEIN’S

c) longer

d) wider

BRAIN:

CORRECT ANSWER:

LOST

d) wider

&FOUND

If you have an average male brain, it’s as long as Einstein’s, but yours might be heavier. Before you get too excited, I should tell you that brain size relates to body size. An average-sized male’s brain weighs about 1,400 grams (3 lb). Einstein was smaller than average and his brain, at 1,230 grams (2.7 lb), weighs less too.

It’s not bigger, longer, or heavier than average, but it is 15% wider, and has unusual grooves in the areas for math and three-dimensional thinking. Did these differences contribute to Albert Einstein’s genius? No one really knows. But we do know that there’s more to intelligence than brain size or anatomy. That’s why, at this very moment, researchers all over the world are trying to unravel the mysteries of the human mind in all its glory. Pull up a chair, it could take a while.

TO STICK OR NOT TO STICK

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TO STICK OR NOT TO STICK

The Binding Force of the Universe

Duct tape devotees will tell you that duct tape is like Q

The Force — it has a dark side and a light side, and it binds the universe together. Has anyone told the astrophysicists? Think of how much time they’d save solving the riddles of the universe if they only knew!

Here on Earth, we’ve found a universe of uses for duct tape in the more than 65 years that it’s been around. Did you know that duct tape was originally called duck tape? Do you know why?

Why was duct tape called duck tape? Because . . .

a) it was invented by Dr. Donald “Duck” Mallard b) it was mispronounced by the military and the name stuck

c) it was waterproof like a duck

d) the manufacturer’s logo featured a duck

7

The Binding Force of the Universe

Why was duct tape called duck tape? Because . . .

A

a) it was invented by Dr. Donald “Duck” Mallard b) it was mispronounced by the military and the name stuck

TO

STICK

c) it was waterproof like a duck

d) the manufacturer’s logo featured a duck

OR

NOT

CORRECT ANSWER:

TO

c) it was waterproof like a duck

STICK

The U.S. military needed tape that would keep

moisture out of its ammunition cases. In 1942,

during World War II, a company that made medical tape supplied an army green, cloth-backed, rubber-adhesive, waterproof tape. Since water rolled off it (like water rolls off a duck’s back), it was nicknamed duck tape. The military found all kinds of uses for it.

After the war, builders used the tape to connect the ducts of home heating and air conditioning systems.

The name morphed from duck to duct tape, and the classic silver colour was introduced to match the colour of the ducts.

To Squish and to Unsquish

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To Squish and to Unsquish

Have you ever wondered why yellow sticky notes

Q

stick, and then unstick? The secret is in the glue. It’s made up of tiny, round balls called microcapsules.

When you press sticky notes down, you flatten the TO

tiny glue balls, so there’s more glue in contact with STICK

the surface to which you’re attaching your note.

When you pull the note off, the microcapsules

OR

unsquish, and with less glue in contact with the sur-NOT

face, it comes up easily. Sticky notes were a great TO

invention, but why would anyone come up with the STICK

idea for a note that sticks and unsticks?

What was the creator of the original yellow sticky note doing when he came up with the idea?

a) cataloguing books in a library

b) organizing his tax return

c) reconstructing a crime scene

d) singing in a choir

9

To Squish and to Unsquish

What was the creator of the original yellow sticky note A

doing when he came up with the idea?

a) cataloguing books in a library

b) organizing his tax return

TO

STICK

c) reconstructing a crime scene

d) singing in a choir

OR

NOT

CORRECT ANSWER:

TO

d) singing in a choir

STICK

Art Fry enjoyed singing in the choir, but was frustrated by his bookmark. It kept falling out, and he kept losing his page. Then, one day, while singing, he had a revelation — the solution to his problem was a repositionable note, one that stuck to the page, but could be easily removed. Luckily, he just happened to be a product development engineer, and had access to the perfect glue for the job. It had been invented by another scientist years before, but no one had found a use for it. Fry put the adhesive on the back of a scrap of paper, and his bookmark dilemma was solved, not to mention that he’d just created the now commonplace sticky note.

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Slippery Pans

Once upon a time, our ancestors had to use gobs of Q

grease to keep their eggs from sticking to the frying pan. But even so, food often stuck, and then they had to apply lots of elbow grease to clean up the burned-TO

on mess. Non-stick pans, coated with Teflon®,

STICK

changed all that. Foods didn’t stick, even when fried without grease, and cleanup was a breeze. It was a OR

great idea, and a real innovation in cookware, but like NOT

many inventions, non-stick pans started out as a TO

happy accident in the lab. The inventor wasn’t trying STICK

to make a slippery pan. He was trying to make something else altogether.

What was the inventor of Teflon® trying to make?

a) a lubricant

b) a refrigerant

c) an adhesive

d) an edible oil product

11

Slippery Pans

What was the inventor of Teflon® trying to make?

A

a) a lubricant

b) a refrigerant

c) an adhesive

TO

STICK

d) an edible oil product

OR

NOT

CORRECT ANSWER:

b) a refrigerant

TO

STICK

Chemist Ray Plunkett was researching new refrigerants on his very first project for a chemical company in 1938. In one experiment, he expected to find a refrigerant gas, but got a weird white powder instead.

Luckily, he decided to study its properties, and it turned out be amazing stuff — heat resistant, very slippery, and non-reactive with most chemicals. First used by the Manhattan Project to make atom bombs during World War II, it was later harnessed for peaceful purposes, like making non-stick pans.

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RACING INTO THE FUTURE

Got Gas?

Although the search is on for alternative fuels, most Q

of the cars in today’s world are still powered by gasoline. When we need more fuel, we drive to the gas station and fill up. Once upon a time, in the earliest days of motoring, there were no gas stations. Where did pioneering motorists get gas?

Where did motorists go for gas in the earliest days?

a) car dealership

b) general store

c) oil refinery

d) pharmacy

13

Got Gas?

Where did motorists go for gas in the earliest days?

A

a) car dealership

b) general store

c) oil refinery

RACING

d) pharmacy

INTO

THE

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) pharmacy

FUTURE

Getting fuelled up was a challenge back then. More than 110 years ago, gasoline, or petrol, was used mostly as a cleaning agent, and it was only stocked in small quantities by pharmacies. Road trips had to be planned carefully to avoid running out of gas. The earliest motorists were adventurous types, and they were up for the challenge, even if they were considered to be nutty, eccentric, or worse. For the most part, motoring was considered to be a hobby for the rich. Back then, few people took cars seriously, or realized their potential.

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The World’s First Car Race

More than 130 years ago, when the race was on to Q

build the first true automobile, everyone (and his brother) was building some kind of car. Horses, who powered transportation at the time, were terrified of RACING

the noisy, motorized monsters, and so were many people. Some even thought that cars were the work INTO

of the devil, but resistance was futile. The development of the automobile was inevitable. In 1894, a THE

Paris newspaper,
Le Petit Journal
, organized a reliabil-FUTURE

ity test to see which cars performed the best on a 130-kilometre (80 mile) drive from Paris to Rouen, France. Twenty cars set out to prove their worth.

What was the top speed of the winner?

a) 8 km/h (5 mph)

b) 24.5 km/h (15 mph)

c) 54 km/h (33.5 mph)

d) 80.5 km/h (50 mph)

15

The World’s First Car Race

What was the top speed of the winner?

A

a) 8 km/h (5 mph)

b) 24.5 km/h (15 mph)

c) 54 km/h (33.5 mph)

RACING

d) 80.5 km/h (50 mph)

INTO

THE

CORRECT ANSWER:

b) 24.5 km/h (15 mph)

FUTURE

As soon as the drivers hit the road, the reliability test turned into a race, though not a car race as we know it. Each driver had a mechanic with him and, apparently, the racers stopped for lunch along the way.

Most of the cars that passed the finish line had Daimler engines, including the two cars judged to be the winners, one made by the Peugeot brothers, and the other a Panhard. Newspapers all over the world covered the race, and Daimler got the kind of public-ity that money can’t buy. Racing had a huge impact on the popularity of cars. People liked to watch, and it wasn’t long before they wanted to drive.

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A Different Kind of Engine

Rudolf Diesel set out to build a different kind of Q