National Ask a Stupid Question Day.

0:03 Calorogus Shark Media. Hi, I'm Mark Ellison. In Today's theme is National Ask a Stupid Question Day Curiosity Science's weirdest discoveries and questions worth asking. Question one on National Ask a Stupid Question Day, here's a chili head scratcher under the right conditions. What surprising phenomenon allows hot water to freeze faster than cold water? A puzzle first spotlighted by a curious Tanzanian student making ice cream. Question two. Space seems lethal, Yet in two thousand and seven, a European satellite exposed tiny creatures to the vacuum and radiation of orbit, and some later revived. What tough little animal nicknamed water bear pulled off this feet? Question three? If you saw long trails in the mud behind boulders and Death Valley, you might ask do rocks walk at which dry lake bed?

1:03 Do the famous sailing stones creep across the ground propelled by thin ice sheets and light winds? Question four? What humble, brainless organism has answered puzzle like questions for scientists by tracing efficient paths through mazes and even mimicking city rail networks. When fed oats showcasing curiosity driven research at its squishiest. Question five, A biologist once asked a question that sounds silly but isn't. Why are wombat droppings cube shaped and unlikely to roll away from territorial markers? What internal feature gives them their distinctive geometry. We'll be right back with these answers after this break. Welcome back. Question one, what's the effect where hot water can freeze faster than cold?

2:06 Answer them Pemba effect. In the nineteen sixties, student Erasto and Pemba noticed hot ice cream mix sometimes froze quicker than cooler mix, and insisted on investigating. The effect can occur due to evaporation, convection, and dissolved gases, though it still debated and depends on experimental setup. Question two, which tiny water bear survived exposure to outer space? Answer Tartar grades on Issa's Photon M three mission. Tartar Grades endured vacuum, temperature extremes, and UV radiation by entering cryptobiosis. They're among the hardiest known animals capable of withstanding desiccation and extreme conditions. Question three, where are the desert's sailing stones that move on their own? Answer? Racetrack playa death valley at racetrack Plaia in Death Valley National Park. Rocks leave tracks as ice panels pushed by gentle winds nudge them over slick wet clay. High resolution observations in twenty fourteen directly filmed this slow motion movement. Question four, which slime mold maps efficient networks without a brain? Answer? Fizserum polycephalum. The slime mold Fizserum polycephalum forms branching networks that balance efficiency and resilience, famously approximating the Tokyo rail system in lab experiments. Its behavior inspires algorithms for routing and network design. Question five, what makes wombat poop? Cube shaped? Answer? Uneven. Intestinal elasticity research in twenty eighteen showed that varying stiffness and stretch in the wombat's intestines shapes feces into cubes. The cubes

3:39 help dropping stay put on rocks and logs, aiding scent based communication. That concludes today's five daily trivia questions. I'm Mark Ellison, and today's questions were crafted with the help of AI technology. See you tomorrow.