A random bunch of questions sent to New Scientist's Last Word column. Most succesful, I think, when the answers are a combination of serious science and humour. Some of the answers were way too hard for me to follow, having never been very strong, though interested, in physics or chemistry. Guaranteed to deliver some fresh insights, be it about the effect of mercury on airplanes (apparently they have to decommission the whole plane if there's a spillage) or about common myths (the Great Wall of China is *not* visible from the Moon!). I might try the follow-up, which is all about experiments you can try at home: cloning sheep and that sort of thing, I assume ;-)