-
• If you leave a light bulb on, does it use more or less electricity than if you turn it off and on?
-
• Can the radiation from illicit nuclear warheads be detected from space?
-
• What’s the difference between a 2-stroke engine and a 4-stroke engine?
-
• If I'm in an elevator and the mechanisms fail causing the car to plunge at terrifying speed, if I jump at the very last second before the car crashes into the ground will I be okay?
-
• Does it make sense to power high-altitude aircraft from the ground with laser beams?
-
• In the movie Blade Runner, is Deckard a replicant?
-
• What did you think of the movie I, Robot?
-
• Should academic tenure be abolished?
-
• Why don’t explosions hurt your ears more?
-
• Why can’t I sell myself into slavery?
-
• What is the market for robot fish?
-
• Is biotechnology the best route to nanotechnology?
-
• Is homosexuality associated with a green beard effect?
-
• Could Captain Kirk’s Enterprise whip Darth Vader’s Imperial Star Destroyer?
-
• Will we ever find a way to unlock 100% of the energy available in a mass?
-
• How can micropayments work?
-
• Do they use money on Star Trek or not?
-
• Is it effeminate to check a mall directory?
-
• If I get in a helicopter and go straight up and just hover there for 12 hours will I come down on the other side of the world?
-
• Should redundant overvotes be counted?
-
• Why would you want a company to pay dividends instead of retaining earnings or buying back shares?
-
• Should you bet everything on a wager with infinite expected return?
-
• Why does my garage door get heavier when the weather is cold?
-
• Why do diesel engines deliver more torque than gasoline engines?
-
• Do you believe in Efficient Market Theory (EMT)?
-
• How light would I have to be to walk on water?
-
• Do IVF births always end up in the ICU?
-
• Why does light reflect off a silvered surface but scatter off a painted wall?
-
• Why is there a national helium stockpile?
-
• Is the airline industry peculiarly vulnerable to price wars?
-
• Could you build a robotic baseball outfielder?
-
• Why aren’t there sports teams named after the Athenians?
-
• Should Australia become the 51st State?
-
• Why would a rich person want to live in an egalitarian society?
-
• How do you change the Region on a Daewoo DVG-3000N DVD player?
-
• How do you beat the first boss in Sketchfighter Alpha 4000?
-
• If you could buy a ticket for a lottery for $1 and you had a 99,999 in 100,000 chance of winning $1,000, but a 1 in 100,000 chance of being killed, would you take the gamble?
-
• In case the parking brake fails, is it best to place a concrete block under the back tire or the front tire?
-
• Will nanotechnology be viable within the next fifty years?
-
• Will nanotechnologists accidentally or deliberately create a “gray goo” which will devour us all?
-
• Is it really risking anything to bet money already won from the house?
-
• Isn't it painful to see “they” used in the singular?
-
• Why is morning light so hard and cold and evening light so warm and soft?
-
• Is the Judeo-Christian tradition particularly suitable for scientific progress?
-
• On Jeopardy, are you blocked from ringing in until the question has been completely given or can you ring in as soon as you know the answer?
-
• What is good acting?
-
• Which superheroes are circumcised?
-
• Why isn’t The Lord of the Rings as controversial as Harry Potter?
-
• What are P and NP?
-
• What does the third derivative signify?
-
• Why is there an X in Xmas?
-
• Why don’t I need a satellite dish for my satellite radio? Why do I need one for satellite TV?
-
• What is Gresham’s Law?
-
• Why do people buy books instead of borrowing them from a library?
-
• What causes a “hot hand” feeling in basketball?
-
• Why do the media ignore the threat from asteroid impacts?
-
• Why do you only lose one sock?
-
• Would a libertarian society be much different from the world of powerful national governments we live in today?
-
• Why doesn't Caltech have the reputation of MIT among the public despite being on the same level of academic excellence?
-
• What are some of your favorite quotes?