Why Can't Elephants Jump?: And 113 More Science Questions Answered

What's the storage capacity of the human brain in gigabytes? What's the farthest point on land from the sea? Why is frozen milk yellow? And why do flamingos stand on one leg? "Why Can't Elephants Jump?" is the latest (and the fourth) compilation of readers' answers to the questions in the "Last Word" column of "New Scientist". The eagerly awaited successor to "Does Anything Eat Wasps?" (2005), "Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?" (2006) and "Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?" (2008), this is another fine collection of wise and witty answers. Yet again, some of the toughest-seeming puzzles are very simply explained - while some of the questions that seem the simplest turn out to be anything but. "New Scientist"'s "Last Word" is regularly voted the magazine's most popular section. This all-new selection again presents popular science at its most enjoyable, entertaining and enlightening. And the answer to the question? It is not that elephants are too large or heavy (hippos and rhinos can play hopscotch) - it is their knees which face the wrong way...all explained with wit and clarity in the book.

New Scientist is the best selling and fastest growing science magazine in the world. Why Can't Elephants Jump? is again compiled and edited by Mick O'Hare, production editor of New Scientist, who is frequently interviewed on TV and radio.