Nature
Exploring "Why" questions about Nature
487 articles
Why doesn’t California just build a water pipeline to help fix the drought, similar to how oil pipelines bring in oil?
California has been stealing water from other states, the Colorado River, for a century. Along with a drought, it has caught up with the unchecked growth of the state. The Colorado River is now a tric
Why does GPU drivers update, if the GPU is the same? What will that hcange?
The hardware and software have to work together. The hardware never changes, but the software can change and evolve over time to offer better performance, more features, or in some cases even to fix m
Why do insurance companies in the UK exclude Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
Two reasons. Firstly because of the legal differences. There are three different legal systems in use in the UK -- the English legal system (which also applies in Wales), the Scottish one, and the Nor
Why wind speed on land is measured in mph while wind speed on the ocean is measured in kn(ots)
Using knots as a measurement makes sense on the ocean. 1 knot is 1 nautical mile per hour. 1 nautical mile also represents one minute of longitude at the equator.
Why are there no protests over current events like there were during the Vietnam war?
There was a draft during the Vietnam war, which meant someone could be forced to go to war, and maybe die, so you had a good reason to protest. Having your emails stored or read by someone has no actu
Why does eating snow kill you eventually
You ARE supposed to drink snow-water *(edit:) when there isn't any other water available*, it's a great source of water in an emergency. But you're never supposed to eat snow unless it has melted firs
Why was there all this question about whether or not Russia sent troops to Ukraine in this day and age? Is it really not that black and white when they claim thousands of troops and tanks?
Russia did not send their regular army in, and they didn't involve their air force or other branches of their regular army. What they did do was allow volunteers from all over Russia and Europe (even
Why can it snow when it’s 33 degrees, but it’s rain at 29 degrees?
When we measure air temperature for official weather readings it is taken pretty much near ground level, and in the shade. The temperature in the air above the surface can be warmer than the surface t
Why when looking out at the ocean from an airplane do the waves appear to not be moving at all, while other objects like cars are still in motion?
It's because your brain needs something relative to base the wave speed on. A car will look like it is moving relative to a road/landscape. Waves in an ocean have nothing for the brain to base the mot
Why is there so much salt in the ocean?
You may think of it as just "salt" but the ocean contains all number of different compounds and ions. As water drains over land it dissolves all kinds of minerals and carries it into the ocean. More c