Hey Matt: Why are there so many more right-handers than left-handers? — Bicoastal, via email Aw, phooey. Actually, when it comes to handedness, everything you know is wrong — old-wives’-tale division. Anyway, that’s what’s been …
October 5, 2011
Straight from the Hip
Archived articles
Left-Handedness, Rats Eating Car Wiring
Humans as Animal Blood Donors, Women's Birth Control Pill, More on Rats Eating Car Wiring
Hey Matt: Do different mammals have the same or different blood types as humans? I’m thinking dogs, cats, whales, deer, bears, etc. Could I give a blood transfusion to Fido if he needed it? — …
September 21, 2011
Painful Childbirth, Rats Eat Car Wiring
Dear Matthew: I just had my second baby. During the few times I could actually think straight during labor, I began wondering why something as basic to the survival of the species as childbirth is …
September 7, 2011
Space Junk, the One-Word Answer
Hey Matt: I have a great idea to send coffins into Outer Space so they can travel for 1 million to 100 billion years. This way we will donate our bodies to science and let …
August 31, 2011
Twin Kittens, Brownie Points, Green Apple Jolly Ranchers
Hey Matthew: When my cat had kittens two of them looked exactly like each other. Are they twins? Is this common? I don’t remember seeing identical twin cats before. — Crazy Cat Lady, El Cajon …
August 24, 2011
Lose Weight Doing Nothing
Heymatt: This summer I’ve done a lot of just sitting around not doing much. I don’t want to go back to school with a fat butt, so I was wondering how much energy I burn …
August 10, 2011
Dogs' Lifted Legs, Astrological "Facts," Kiwi Fruit
Heymatt: My dog lifts his leg to pee. My cats don’t. I don’t know about other animals. Why does my dog do that, or why don’t my cats do that? Do any other animals lift …
July 20, 2011
Blue Hair, Dumpster Diving
Hey, Matthew: Why can’t we have blue or green hair? We can have blue or green eyes, and isn’t melanin responsible for coloring our hair and our eyes? So why no blue hair? — Anonymous, …
July 13, 2011
Seeing Stars, Voodoo Hit Man, Lottery Odds
Matthew Alice: Why do people see bright lights and funny things when they hit their head? — Wesley, Fourth Grade Hi, Wesley. Matthew Alice’s friends just get younger and younger. Anyway, when we “see stars,” …
July 6, 2011
Maximum Airplane Size, Foreign Worker Permits
Hey, Matthew: Is there any practical limit to how big passenger planes can get? They seem so huge now, I was just wondering if there’s some top size that they can get to before they …
June 15, 2011
Accident Doctors and a Letter From a Storm Chaser
Hello, Matt: My friend in Florida was recently in an accident and she reported to me that her normal doctor would not see her for her accident-related injuries, that she had to see special “accident …
June 8, 2011