Science questions, answered from Wikipedia
Why is the sky blue? Why do cats purr? How does the Moon move the sea? The questions here are the kind you have wondered about since childhood and never quite had answered. Each one is answered from Wikipedia’s science articles, in a few short paragraphs of plain language, with every sentence linked to the passage it comes from so you can check the physics, biology or geology for yourself.
The answers lead into each other. Start with the colour of the sky and you can drift to sunsets, volcanic haze or the light plants grow by; start with octopus camouflage and you can end up comparing it with chameleons. Pick a question below, or ask your own: if nobody has asked it before, WikiDrift will read the relevant articles and write a new answer while you watch.
Light, colour and the sky
Why the world looks the colours it does.
Animals and plants
How living things sense, signal, hide and find their way.
- Why do cats purr?
- How do octopuses change color?
- Why do zebras have stripes?
- How do birds navigate when they migrate?
- How do trees communicate with their surroundings?
Earth, oceans and the Moon
The forces that shape the planet and the water on it.
- Why is the ocean salty?
- Why is the Dead Sea so salty?
- How does the Moon cause tides?
- Why is Iceland so volcanic?
- How did the Sahara become a desert?
The body and the mind
What happens inside us, awake and asleep.
Explainers
Longer, sourced guides to a single subject.