Everyday Life
Exploring "Why" questions about Everyday Life
479 articles
Why is Planned Parenthood allowed to endorse candidates for political office?
The political activities aren't handled by PP itself, but by an affiliated 501(c)4 organization that is permitted to participate in political advocacy. The organization doing the political work isn't
Why does water expand when it freezes.
Water molecules (H2O) are made of an oxygen atom between two hydrogen atoms. They aren't lined up straight; they're bent at an angle, like a noodle of macaroni. When water freezes into solid ice, thes
Why do we get drunk, when we drink alcohol?
Alcohol is a friendly guy. He loves to hug things, like your brain cells. When you drink a lot of alcohol your brain winds up being too busy hugging alcohol to work right.
Why is everything that touches raw meat contaminated, but the cooking utensil I’m using is okay to use from start to finish?
I always assume that cooking utensils AREN'T safe to use from start to finish. About 2/3rds of the way through cooking, I usually switch to a new (clean) spatula. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I've don
why is alcohol accepted in many places where Cannabis is not?
Man... I want to know this one too! As far as I understand, it’s all about marketing.
Why does slice cheese get mold faster than shredded cheese?
Pre-Shredded cheese is usually surface coated with cellulose (wood pulp) and Natamycin which is is an anti-mold agent. Block cheese will have an exposed surface once you cut into it, thus the increase
Why does a single repeating drip of water drive us crazy when a small trickle of water does not?
A trickle is a constant noise and is easy to cancel out. A drip is catching your attention every 5 seconds (with a 5 second drip frequency) because there is silence in between the drips. This makes it
Why is it that some food items, when we taste them once, we continue having more and more, even if our appetite is full already?
Because things like fat, sugar, and salt are rare in nature. You are biologicaly driven to consume them in excess to create reserves. The food industry takes full advantage of these innate addictive p
Why do we drink cow’s milk instead of human milk?
Human females can't produce the same quantities of milk that female cows can. It wouldn't be very profitable. Plus, notice that we mostly drink milk that comes from animals that like to graze on grass
Why do certain foods (i.e. vanilla extract) smell so sweet yet taste so bitter even though our smell and taste senses are so closely intertwined?
Vanilla doesn't smell sweet. It smells like vanilla. Your brain associates vanilla with sweetness, so you think it smells sweet.