Nature
Exploring "Why" questions about Nature
487 articles
why is the Grand Canyon so wide if the river that carved it out is so small?
Well, the thing is that the river probably wasn't always a river. The true history of the canyon is the subject of some debate, and the most extreme data sets put its age somewhere around 70million ye
Why is the weather usually pleasant after a thunderstorm?
Thunderstorms generally occur when a cold front moves in a warm area. The way fronts work is that the colder ones shove the warm air mass upwards since cold air is more dense. In this same way, the wa
Why does Red China think it owns the West Philippines Sea and the islands there?
It's one of those [might makes right](_URL_0_) kind of situations. None of the other south east Asian nations have the military strength to oppose them. If china choses to ignore international law, no
Why has there been so little action taken by Governments against Climate Change? Wouldn’t the long term economic repercussions of inaction outweigh the short-term benefits of ignoring it?
Two reasons: Voters are short termist - what matters to them is that they lost their job due to the car factory closing, not that in 50 years temperature will rise by 2-3 degrees (the effects of which
Why does oil seem most abundant in dry, desert areas and how did it get there in the first place?
In the case of oil, a special set of conditions has to apply for it to be formed and preserved in the subsurface: 1. Source of organic matter (marine plankton/algae ➡️shale) 2. Deep burial (heat and p
Why does my house feel cold at 70 degrees in the summer, and warm and toasty at 70 degrees in the winter?
This is a classic example of relativity. Its all in the perspective of you and the surroundings you are in. Hot and cold are only relative to other things.
Why does frost form on my front and back windshields but not my side windows?
Woah man. I'm from Albuquerque too, and I was thinking of this EXACT question this morning! Small reddit...
Why is it the vast majority of rainbow flags do not have violet in them?
Newton was the one to popularize the division of colors in the rainbow thanks to his work with prisms. And Newton was very religious and superstitious, and saw a great significance in the number 7. So
Why don’t bugs flying inside fast moving vehicles smack against the back window?
Why would they? The air in the car is moving along with them. When you're coasting on the highway at 65 if you put your hand up in the air does it get thrown back behind your head?
Why (in the US) did crime rise sharply throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but fall from the mid-90s to the present?
Nobody is entirely sure. This has been intensely studied, and some theories include atmospheric lead from gasoline and paint (leading more people to go a little nuts and commit crime until it was abat