What my kids wanted to know

Today Colin wants to know "why do people speak so many different languages?"

This evening Colin asked how many countries use English. This is an interesting one in terms of possible permutations - you could answer in terms of countries in which English is the official language, or in which English is one of several official languages, or even in which English is used but not official.

Today's question is how do smoke detectors detect smoke?

So this weekend the boys came up will all manner of new query.

Can't remember a single one.

Maybe a good filler question would be why do we remember/forget things?

Today, Colin wants to know how we get popcorn kernels.

Colin wants to know how many atoms there are in a 1 km block. He knows there are more than 2,000, but he wants to know how many there really are.

Colin also wants to know how long it would take to run to Pluto (the planet, not the dog) and back.

How many different pinball games were made in Europe? We're looking for different games, not a number of machines produced.

It's been a while since we posted a new question, but we're making up for lost time today.

By the way, in response to the occasional person who has suggested that we Google an answer, I'd just like to point out that a large part of the fun and of the value of this blog is the interactive nature. Also, although answers may be readily available online, they are not always aimed at an eight-year-old.

To get today's ball rolling, Colin wants to know what happens to ants in the winter. His theory is that adult ants just die in the snow, but the larvae stay in the ground until spring.