Social Science Questions & Answers

A new study has authenticated the phrase “cry crocodile tears”, by discovering that crocodiles really do weep while eating — but it is purely physiological reasons that makes them bawl. A University of Florida researcher observed and videotaped four confined caimans and three alligators, both close relatives of the crocodile, while eating on a spit of dry land at Florida’s …

For many years railway engineers have been thinking about new kinds of track for trains to run along. The parallel metal rail tracks with which we are familiar are not very efficient by modern standards. Because wheels are needed to move the trains along, a good deal of power is lost through friction in the moving parts. Ordinary railway tracks …

Yes. Loud booming sounds occur in deserts when sand dunes are disturbed and sand slips down the steep faces of the dunes. Such roaring sounds have been compared with the noise of aircraft engines starting up. At night, sounds like pistol shots may frighten travelers. They occur when desert rocks crack and split. The cracking of rocks is caused by …

A species of treefrog from Malaya is even more adapted for scrambling and leaping after flying insects. This is Wallace’s Treefrog and it has webbed feet with especially long fingers and toes. When the frog launches into a leap it stretches the fingers and toes wide apart, and the increase in surface area enables it to glide downwards for considerable …

Land covers just over 29 per cent of the earth’s surface. But about two thirds of the land is too cold or too dry for farming. Of the remaining land, only one-third can be used for crops and the rest is grazing land. Will this be enough to feed the world’s population as it soars towards 10,000 million? Experts think …

No, all venomous snakes are not dangerous to humans. Bites from copperheads are common along the eastern part of the United States, but no one has died of a copperhead bite.

Ayers Rock (Uluru) is a huge mass of Sandstone. It is 1142-ft (348 m) above a flat desert floor. It is sacred to the Aboriginals. Caves at the base are decorated with traditional Aboriginal paintings. At sunset, rays from the setting sun strike the rock and it glows to deep red.

The curious dodo was a large flightless bird. On its island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, it had no enemies until the arrival of man and the dogs and rats which arrived in his ships. All that now remains of the dodo are seven skeletons in museums.

Do you believe in fairies? You have probably read lots of stories about them, but possibly you don’t believe that they exist. Well, if you are doubtful about them, here’s a story that may well interest you. In 1917 two young girls in Yorkshire borrowed a simple camera and took some photographs – which still have to be explained. They …

The Kings and queens, and nobles of the Middle Ages lived in the castles. But castles were also symbols of their power, and fortresses against rivals who might try to make war on them. These grand homes were built between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries all over Europe. Many have been preserved and most of them have been turned …