Dunce Dynamics Bulletin
Dumb questions. Real answers.
We've quietly answered a lot more dumb questions since Issue 1, and some of the best have been sitting on the site with nobody making a fuss about them. Consider this the make-good. Here are five overlooked pages that earned a turn in the spotlight — for reasons ranging from "accidentally profound" to "morbidly curious."
Editor's picks
If I swallow gum, does it stay in my stomach for 7 years?
Your body is a factory that turns pizza into poop, and gum is just the one thing it accurately refuses to process. Everything else gets dissolved by acid and squeezed through 30 feet of tube — but gum? Gum gets a free ride. You swallowed a ball that your stomach looked at, shrugged, and said 'not my problem,' then handed it to the next department.
Read the full answer →How long would it take to walk to the moon?
You're already planning the route in your head, aren't you. We've decided that the Moon is close enough to walk to, but far enough that we need a rocket. We've split the difference between ambition and physics, and the compromise is that you stay home and watch someone else do it on TV.
Read the full answer →Why do people clap when a plane lands?
You just spent five hours in a pressurized tube, trusting your life to a pilot you've never met, and the moment the wheels touch ground you start clapping like you all just survived something. The pilot didn't land the plane for you — the pilot landed the plane the way pilots are supposed to land planes. You're applauding the absence of a disaster, not the presence of skill.
Read the full answer →Why do we whisper in libraries when no one asks us to?
You're in a room full of strangers who are not security guards and have made no threats, and you're voluntarily reducing your voice to a level that makes it harder to think. You're policing yourself because you can feel them feeling annoyed. The library isn't quiet because anyone made a rule — it's quiet because everyone is terrified of being the person who breaks it.
Read the full answer →Can you actually catch a cold from being cold?
We've been running the same half-assed folk remedy for 400 years: 'Wear a coat or you'll get sick,' said with such confidence that nobody bothered to check if it was true. Cold doesn't infect you. But you ARE about to spend six hours in a room with 40 sneezing people, so congratulations, your winter is locked in.
Read the full answer →By the numbers
20 pages live since the last issue. Every one of them answered a question you were afraid to ask out loud.
Get the next issue
New questions answered. Old assumptions destroyed. Delivered free.