The Last Word: Questions and Answers from the Popular Column on Everyday Science (New Scientist)

by New Scientist

Why is the sky blue? Does it really get warmer when it snows? Why doesn't superglue stick to the inside of the tube? How is it possible to uncork a bottle by hitting the bottom? Can you drive through... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192861999
• ISBN13: 9780192861993
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.7" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Answers to life's little (scientific) mysteries

New Scientist is one of the best science magazines available, and "The Last Word" is its most popular section.As it says in the introduction, there are big mysteries and little mysteries. This book is devoted to the little mysteries, as celebrated in New Scientist magazine's "The Last Word" column, where readers send in their questions and other readers answer. So here you can find out things from why the sky is blue to why ice cubes have little bubbles toward the middle to why fingertips wrinkle when they've been in water too long. I was particularly interested to learn that hot water really does freeze faster than cold water (and why), something I had regarded as an urban legend. Interesting reading and probably a great bathroom book.