There’s wisdom in Nature
Here are the answers for the last week’s questions. There were more than a hundred contestants from which the selected winners are: Akshay, Nikihila, Kushal Reddy all from Hyderabad and Kiran, Vijayawada.
Why the alphabet “E” is placed at the top of the chart for eye testing: In 1862 a Dutch professor in ophthalmology thought that “E” is the best letter to test visual acuity, as the 3 horizontal lines are separated by equal space unlike L or U.
Today some eye charts do not start with the said letter but many do, of course with a shorter middle line.
Wisdom teeth
What is the purpose of wisdom teeth? As our primitive ancestors developed more wisdom, the purpose of wisdom teeth diminished. Strange, but true. The Stone Age man with larger jaw bones ate meat so tough that the extra molars at the back of the mouth undoubtedly aided in mastication. Now our diet is soft nullifying the purpose of wisdom teeth, which at present serve a purpose specially for our dentists.
Finger length
Why our fingers are different in length? A hand with even fingers would be less versatile. Catch a ball and all the fingers would be of the same length.
It is an evolution in adaptation to swinging on trees and picking things up. A little longer little finger would get smashed more often.
Tears
Why do babies blink their eyes less often than adults? Do you know that babies don’t have tears in their eyes in the first month of birth? The purpose of blinking is to spread the water evenly over the surface of the eyes to reduce the irritation caused by dust, foreign matter, and itchiness due to drying.
We blink eyes more often under grief, stress and excitement. Why we “cry” at happy endings? Actually there are no ‘tears of happiness’ according to the psychologists. Most adults hold back the urge to cry. At happy endings the energy that is used to prevent the grief (suppressed till then) is discharged either in the form of a smile, or more often in tears. This is the reason why children hardly ever cry at ecstatic happy endings.
Riddle: A table-tennis ball slipped into a ‘two-inch diameter steel pipe’ cemented to the ground.
You have only a screw-driver, wrench, magnet and a thread. How do you pull it out?
(To be continued)
Yandamoori Veerendranath
yandamoori@hotmail.com
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