Mick O'Hare (editor): New Scientist - The Last Word 2

Oxford University Press

$39.95

As editor O'Hare writes, some people worry about quantum mechanics while others prefer to wonder why a parachute has a hole in the top.

The final page in the weekly New Scientist is the first to which many readers turn.

Here the editors and expert readers try their best to respond to quirky questions that few textbooks can be bothered with.

Many of the questions explore modern folklore: for instance, fatty and fried food does not cause spots.

The reason parachutes have a hole on top is to balance the air spilling from the canopy and causing it to tilt.