Eh?
Question: Is it true of all natural languages that the most frequently used words are shorter than those used less frequently?
Answer: Yes, the shorter the word, the more frequently it is used and vice versa. This is one of the word frequency relationships discovered by American philologist George Kingsley Zipf.
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Jacob Martin
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Answer: This is generally true, and is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy because if a long word is used frequently it is usually shortened, either to a word or, nowadays, to a pronounceable acronym. Examples are legion, even in English, which does not particularly favour long words. Examples include cab (cabriolet), taxi/taxicab (taximeter cabriolet), TV (television) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).
John Woodgate
by e-mail, no address supplied
It鈥檚 handy
Question: Much of the rise of the human species up the evolutionary ladder has been attributable to a palm, four fingers and an opposing thumb. The human hand can manipulate a large range of tools and objects with a wide range of sensitivity. Is there any other design, which might be able to occur naturally, that would offer its owner the same level of dexterity and ability?
Answer: As reported in the 7 June issue of New 杏吧原创 (p 30) octopuses and other cephalopods demonstrate amazing sensitivity and dexterity with their tentacles. Perhaps with a little more development of their brains, cephalopods will communicate better with each other, make tools, learn to write and eventually build underwater cities. Then again, natural selection may decide, as it has done for nearly all other animals, that the cost of a big brain outweighs its benefits.
Regarding the term 鈥渆volutionary ladder鈥�. Humans are not a rung on a ladder, but a minor twig on an ever-branching bush. And nearly all twigs end in extinction.
David Roche
Sydney
Answer: Look at elephants and octopuses. The elephant鈥檚 trunk has nearly as much dexterity and certainly as much sensitivity as a human hand, although on a larger scale (it is, of course, also a nose, sensitive to touch and smell). Octopuses can match human hands for effective number of digits, and beat us for independent control, with eight independent grippers as opposed to two.
Patrick Lilley
by e-mail, no address supplied
Answer: The koala has two opposing thumbs. Koalas do not seem to have advanced very high up the evolutionary ladder as a result, but they climb trees pretty well.
John
by e-mail, no address supplied
Handy problem
Question: I am right-handed when I write, comb my hair and suchlike. But my left hand is dominant when I play any type of sport. What is happening? I have no recollection of being forced by teachers to write with my right hand while I was at school.
Answer: When holding a cricket bat or golf club, the shot is controlled by the upper hand鈥攖he left hand when holding the bat as a right-hander. The power for the shot is provided by the bottom hand as it follows through. Many people prefer to use their favoured hand for the control and so put the left hand at the top and bat in a manner perceived as 鈥渓eft-handed鈥�. Any reduction in power is compensated for by the increased control.
Indeed, many children, on picking up a bat for the first time, will hold the bat naturally with their favoured hand at the top. 鈥淗elpful鈥� parents will then tell them they are right-handed and so turn their hands around rather than accept that, for them, it is easier to hold the bat as a left-hander would. My son and daughter are both right-handed, left-handed batsmen.
Martin Sillitto
Ware, Hertfordshire
Answer: I have taken information from the Internet newsgroup alt.lefthanders. It is considered by these people that there are two conditions between true right or left- handedness. The first is ambidextrousness, the ability to use either hand for many tasks. The second is what they term both-handedness: the tendency to use one hand for some tasks and the other for different tasks.
Partial handedness also seems to be very common. I find myself bowling and batting right-handed, but playing badminton or fencing left-handed. More information on left handedness is available from http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/lefty-faq.html.
Neil Shirtcliffe
London
Blind blow
Question: Why do we close our eyes when we sneeze?
Answer: To stop our eyes popping out.
Maria Taylor
Kumamoto, Japan
Answer: The force of a sneeze is transmitted through the nasal passages which run from your nose to your eyes. If you smoke, you can try this experiment: inhale a cigarette, hold your nose and mouth shut, and push hard. The smoke will come out through your tear ducts.
James Merwin
by e-mail, no address supplied
Answer: It鈥檚 not just flimsy eyelids that hold in your eyes during the force of a sneeze. The muscles around your eyeballs also contract and effectively provide a solid barrier.
Shaun Lawton
by e-mail, no address supplied
Answer: If you were to sneeze with your eyes open, you would blow your eyeballs out. This has been known to happen among people who prop their eyes open with toothpicks to stay awake.
Monica Baird
by e-mail, no address supplied
This last story is surely a modern myth. If anyone knows of someone who blew their eyes out, we鈥檇 like to hear. Don鈥檛 try blowing smoke out of your eyes, and don鈥檛 try the same trick after drinking milk to produce creamy tears鈥攊t works but could be dangerous鈥擡d
A lie in
Question: What physiological or psychological mechanism stops adult sleepers falling out of bed?
Answer: Experience teaches sleepers to restrict night-time movements to their accustomed sleeping space. During the night the average sleeper changes position more than 50 times, with movements clustered around the times of passing from ordinary sleep into dreaming sleep and back again. Periods of dreaming sleep typically occur three to four times a night. During a dream the body is relatively immobile鈥攎otor neurones in the spinal cord are switched off while the cortex is activated, presumably to stop us acting out our dreams.
Although adults learn to restrict movement during non-dreaming sleep, they still make mistakes in an unfamiliar environment. In narrow bunks aboard yachts or mountain huts, adults often end up on the floor, although usually only on the first night. Young children also fall out of bed because they haven鈥檛 learnt not to. They may do so quickly after going to bed as their first period of dreaming鈥攁nd body movement that precedes it鈥攐ccurs sooner after they fall asleep than in adults.
Mark James
London