Volume 48, Number 3, Fall 1999

'NEW SCIENTIST' HAS THE "LAST WORD" ON THE WEB

by Charles Bowen

Fielding phone calls on the city desk can be a hoot. I still remember a particularly frantic evening when a caller brought the entire newsroom to a halt by asking, "Who won the Civil War?" Working for an a.m. paper, you always know when students start turning off the TV and launching into their homework, because you are their original homework helper.

You also know when the bars begin to fill up. At the end of your shift come the queries from the drinking public, trying to settle their bets. "This guy thinks Ben Franklin was the fifth president," one inebriated reader told me one evening, "Set 'im straight. He was the third, right?"

And do you want a laugh? Ask them why they don't call your colleagues at the TV station with these questions. Chances are, they'll tell you, "Oh, I couldn't bother them-they're probably busy!"

Actually, though, when you think about it, it's flattering to know people still think the local newspaper is so accessible. And truth be told, many of us on the receiving end of these calls enjoy showing off.

But what do you do with the really tough questions? "Why is the sky blue?" "What causes hiccups?" Or, more likely, "What do these numbers used in VCR Plus really mean?"

Well, you know us. We didn't get into this business to say, "I don't know." And if you're quick with your mouse, you don't have to, because the Web knows it all.

A great secret weapon for finding those out-of-way pieces of information is a clever little database called The Last Word, operated by New Scientist magazine. The publication brings in acknowledged experts in various fields to take a shot at answering some of life's great mysteries-"Why are yawns contagious, anyway?"-then expands on the wisdom by inviting readers to contribute additional information.

The site is not only useful but also fun to use-one you might want to share with your readers in a feature. To use the resource, visit the site at http://www.last-word.com, where you can examine the magazine's growing database of answers in several different ways. If you have the time for browsing, click on one of the hyperlinked departments listed on the introductory page, choosing among:

• Plants and Animals. What do marine animals drink? Why are there more yellow leaves than red leaves in the fall? How do the squirrels find the nuts they bury?
• Bubbles, Liquids, and Ice. How do you get clear ice cubes? Why do some beer cans float and others don't?
• Around the House. Does the microwave oven remove nutrients or have other health consequences? How do smoke detectors detect? Why don't those super-glue products stick to the tube?
• Strange Nature. Why is the sea salty? How big is a lightning bolt? Why do planes suddenly plunge during storms?
• Mysteries and Illusions. Do the living outnumber the dead? What time is it at the North Pole? Does it save energy to fill up your freezer?
• Gadets and Inventions. Why are portholes round? How were battery sizes named?
• Your Body. Why don't we sneeze when we're asleep? Why does a tan fade at different rates on the same body? Why do we seem to get sick more often in the winter?
• Inside Machines. Why can't some toys use rechargeable batteries? How can a flash of lightning turn on your CD player?
• The Physical World. How dangerous is shooting a gun straight up? Why are porous objects darker when wet? Why do phone cords get spontaneous twists? And on and on.

Feature writers, are you out there? There are leads aplenty in this stuff.

• If you don't have the time or inclination for browsing, you also can search the database. Click on the "Search The Last Word" link on the introductory page. In the resulting data-entry box, enter keywords or phrases that describe what you are looking for. The search is provided by Excite and lists the results in order of likely relevance.
• The materials is augmented weekly from the pages of New Scientist, which has its own home page at http://www.newscientist.com. You can find the latest additions to the database at that site by clicking its "Last Word" link at the bottom of the screen.
• Your readers may be interested in the site's "Unanswered Questions" section at http://www.last-word.com/last-word/unanswered.html, where the publication invites readers to take a stab at some of its ongoing mysteries.

"Last Word" On the Web: For the Know-It-All Who Has Everything, Editor & Publisher, October 30, 1999. Reprinted with permission.

Journalist/author Charles Bowen is host of the daily "Internet News" syndicated radio show. He is based in West Virginia..