Why do we roll our eyes when
we’re exasperated?
Today, eye-rolling is frequently used as signal of cover t rebellion:
think of the teenager who submits to a parental reprimand while
looking skyward for the benefit of her friends. But it wasn’t always so- an analysis of mentions of eye-rolling in literature shows that the
modern meaning only emerged in recent decades. In Shakespeare,
for example, eye-rolling is associated with lust. Unfortunately, we
don’t know much more than that – psychologists have spent much
time studying smiles, frowns and sneers, but they’ve mostly
neglected the eye roll. One exception: a study published last year
found that women frequently perform eye rolls when exposed to
sexist jokes. CJ
How fast does rain fall?
The terminal velocity of a
raindrop depends on its size.
The water droplets in clouds
are only around 20 microns
across and fall at only 1cm
per second or so. This is
normally balanced by
updraughts, so the cloudstays in the sky. The droplets
in a light shower are 100
times larger and fall at 6.5m/s
or about 22.5km/h (14mph).
The largest possible
raindrops are 5mm across
and hit the ground at 32km/h
(20mph). LVHow fast doesss raaaiinn ffall??
The drilling
mechanism
that created the
Kola Superdeep
PHOTOS: GETTY X4, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Borehole