Believe it
or not!
Science throws up all manner of bizarre and
outlandish discoveries. Test your knowledge
of the world’s weird side by picking out the
strange-but-true from the stuff we made up*
1 Health benefits of intimacy
A Cuddling increases bone density
B Sex is a nasal decongestant
C Masturbating improves eyesight2 States of matter
A In condensed matter physics,
a “hyperfluid” is a material with
zero viscosity, meaning it can flow
backwards in time and, when
stirred, will spin forever (both
forwards and backwards in time)
B In condensed matter physics,
a “time crystal” is a state of matter
in which the configuration of
the component parts shifts in a
repeating cycle forever without
using any energy
C In condensed matter physics,
an “ontological condensate” is
an ultracold gas that could reveal
the true nature of being, should
we ever be able to isolate it3 Hairy faces
A Beards might have evolved to
keep faces warm
B Beards might have evolved to
store food in through winter
C Beards might have evolved to
soften the blows from punches4 Animals at play
A Komodo dragons play tug of war
B Crows play blackjack
C Elephants play hide and seek5 Celestial bodies
A Astronauts could use their ownhair to create Martian space suits
B Astronauts could use their own
blood to build a Martian base
C Astronauts could use their own
nail clippings to create rocket fuel6 Grand delusions
A Capgras syndrome is the
irrational belief that a familiar
person has been replaced with
an exact duplicate
B Fregoli syndrome is the irrational
belief that a familiar person,
typically someone persecuting the
affected individual, is disguised as
various other people
C Cotard syndrome is the irrational
belief that part of your body is
missing or you are dead or don’t
exist7 Living fossils
A Bunions are the only part of your
body that fossilises while you are
still alive
B Dental plaque is the only part of
your body that fossilises while you
are still alive
C Gall stones are the only part of
your body that fossilises while you
are still alive8 Big data
A The Large Hadron Collider stores
information on CDs
B The Large Hadron Collider stores
information on floppy discs
C The Large Hadron Collider stores
information on magnetic tapesMARTIN^ O’NEAL9 Self-improvement
A Walking backwards can
enhance your short-term
memory
B Doing a headstand for
90 seconds three times a
week can boost your libido
C Pressing your temples
and rubbing clockwise can
increase your IQ10 Alien weather
A It rains solid diamonds inside
UranusB It rains liquid water on Venus
C It rains hydrofluoric acid
on Mercury11 Madcap maths
A In mathematics, the hairy
ball theorem states that there
is no non-vanishing continuous
tangent vector field on even-
dimensional n-spheres. In other
words, given a ball with hairs all
over it, it is impossible to comb
the hairs continuously and have
all of them lying flat*Some questions have multiple correct answers68 | New Scientist | 18/25 December 2021