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YOU’VE GOT QUESTIONS. WE’VE GOT EXPERTS
Text by Anna DiamondIllustration by Michael HirshonGNORE THE PLAQUE. Even before
Orville and Wilbur Wright made
history in Kitty Hawk, North Caro-
lina, in 1903, there were dozens of
claims about and by other inventors
of having achieved fl ight and they are all, including
Brodbeck’s, discredited or unsubstantiated. What’s
remarkable about the Wright brothers’ achievement
isn’t just that they were the fi rst to get a plane off the
ground, explains Peter Jakab, chief curator of the
National Air and Space Museum. They wanted to
create what they called “a machine of practical utili-
ty.” And with the 1903 Wright Flyer, they engineered
a design that could evolve into a lasting technology.
Every airplane that followed that machine—to this
day—fl ies on the same basic principles.
Q: How does a hippopotamus swim so fast?
Derrick McPheely | Hughson, CaliforniaTHEY’RE ACTUALLY GALLOPING, explains Tony
Barthel, a curator at the National Zoo. Hippos, which
spend up to 16 hours a day in water, don’t swim.
They either walk underwater or bounce and propel
themselves off the riverbed with their webbed toes.
Though they can weigh over four tons, their low
bone density and their fat increase their buoyancy,
making it easier to move through water. And it helps
that they can hold their breath for minutes at a time.Q: What is at the center of neutron stars?
Mai Cwajbaum | Morgan Hill, CaliforniaNEUTRON STARS, the compact relics of collapsed
massive stars, are largely made out of neutrons and
some protons. Beyond that , things are hazier, says
Patrick Slane, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithso-
nian Center for Astrophysics. When a massive star
collapses into a neutron star , the neutrons and pro-
tons at its center are squished together at such a
high density that it might create new particles, like
quarks, kaons and pions. Scientists are currently
unable to recreate that high-density, low-tempera-
ture state of matter in terrestrial experiments. But
NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer
(NICER) mission might get to the core of the issue.
An X-ray-tracing device on the International Space
Station , NICER will measure the mass and radius of
the neutron stars. With that data, scientists can cal-
culate the pressure on the inside of the star, which
will off er hints about its composition.Q: Did Japan ever compensate and apolo-
gize to the American civilians held captive in
the Philippines during World War II?
Darren Feit | Troy, West VirginiaNOT FORMALLY, says Frank Blazich, curator of
modern military history at the National Museum of
American History. Many civilian internees received
token restitution from the U.S. War Claims Commis-
sion, which liquidated assets seized from Germany,
the Imperial Japanese Empire and other Axis par-
ties, and distributed more than $13.6 million to over
9,000 internees of the Japanese in the 1950s. When
Japan and the Allies re-established relations in 1951,
the multilateral Treaty of Peace waived reparations,
citing Japan’s lack of resources as it rebuilt its econ-
omy. But despite statements of regret from Japanese
politicians, Japan has never off ered reparations or
an unambiguous apology to U.S. captives.Q: Texas has a marker stating that
Jakob Brodbeck was the fi rst person to
fl y an airplane. I was taught it was the
Wright brothers. What gives?
Richard DeLong | San Antonio, TexasI