WonderQuest
April Holladay, science journalist for HappyNews.com, lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A few years ago Holladay and her husband canoed the flood-swollen Mackenzie. For forty-six days they paddled alone a thousand miles through Canadian wilderness to the Arctic Ocean.
Now she writes a column about nature and science, which appears each Monday at HappyNews.com. The syndicated Q&A column takes a lucid look at what interests people about our world. April Holladay solves the mysteries we wonder about! To read April's past WonderQuest columns, please check out her site, www.wonderquest.com. If you have a question for April, visit this informational page.
Q: Do the recycle numbers assigned to plastic containers indicate if they are safe to use for heating food in a microwave oven?
Lanney, Sandia Park, New Mexico, USA
A: This seemed a simple question when I first read it and it actually is. But it took time to spot a recycle myth and realize the answer is just: NO. I can easily say what plastics are microwave safe — any that the label says is safe — but the recycle numbers don't help.
At first, I tried to make a...
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Q: Why do geese walk across a road when they can fly, thereby not getting hit by a car?
Angelo, Staten Island, New York, USA
A: Geese certainly can fly across a road. Explorers report them flying even across Mount Everest. Migrating bar-headed geese routinely overfly the Himalayas. Migrating Canadian geese fly, in fair weather, up to 1.6 kilometers (a mile) high, reaching speeds of 70 to 100 km/hr (45 to 60 mph).
So geese could fly across a road. There are exceptions:...
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