Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
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SALT LAKE CITY — Johnny Depp once said, "There are four questions of value in life. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? And what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love."
Celebrities are so wise when they aren't being self destructive. And while none of the following questions are of much value, they'll increase your knowledge of random trivia and kill five minutes of your mundane work day.
How many calories do women burn during labor?
Women are a funny bunch. Not only do we want to have a healthy baby, we also secretly hope our baby weighs 25 pounds so our 50-pound weight gain during pregnancy feels justified.
Even though labor seems like the workout of a lifetime, most of the weight lost in relation to childbirth isn't a direct result of the hee-hee-hooing. "Calories burned during childbirth is likely highly variable based on duration of labor and is negligible compared to the caloric consumption during pregnancy and lactation," explained Dr. Erin Clark at the University of Utah Hospital.
"The average immediate weight loss from delivery of the fetus, placenta and amniotic fluid is about 13 pounds. Loss of pregnancy-related fluid leads to an additional loss of 5 to 15 pounds during the first six weeks postpartum," Clark said.
That's a possible 28 pounds or 98,000 calories lost between labor to two to three months postpartum.
Why doesn't the Mona Lisa have any eyebrows?
Was Leonardo da Vinci in a hurry? Did he run out of paint? Or was it a prescient warning from the past that women of today would fall victim to overplucking, then painstakingly draw their eyebrows back on?
According to Laura Gelfand, Ph.D., of Utah State University's Department of Art, even women of that time were a slave to fashion trends. "At the time the painting was created, the fashion for wealthy women was to pluck or shave their hairline way back from their forehead in order to extend the length of their face. They also plucked their eyebrows completely or left a very thin line. Check out other examples by Leonardo, like the 'Woman with an Ermine,' or paintings by Leonardo's contemporary, Ghirlandaio."
Why do identical twins have different fingerprints?
You read the question and immediately started humming, "Let's get together, yea, yea, yea! Why don't you and I combine?" No? Well, while Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills may have had the same genetic makeup being identical twins, their finger prints would have still been different.
Irene Elkins, Ph.D. from the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research, says what happens before birth is to blame. "Because there is a strong genetic influence on fingerprints and identical twins share all the same genes, identical twins have substantially more similar fingerprints than do fraternal twins, who are no more similar genetically than non-twin siblings," said Elkins. "However, before birth, intrauterine factors such as differences in blood circulation produce detectable differences even in the fingerprints of identical twins." Even the positioning of a fetus in the womb contributes to the difference in ridges and valleys on the fingertips.
Why do dogs like to hang their heads out of car windows?
If you've ever hung your head out of a moving vehicle, you probably got a face full of bugs and wind-blown hair. But your pooch probably enjoys it due to his heightened canine senses.
"Several theories exist but the most likely reason that some dogs enjoy hanging their head out of a car window is that their sense of smell is so sensitive," explained Lynn McCarron from the University Veterinary Hospital in Salt Lake City. "A moving car brings access to many enticing scents outside the window. Dogs rely heavily on their sense of smell to bring them information about their surroundings, such as food or other animals."
Why is a pinky finger called that?
Oh, the questions we ask ourselves when we have insomnia. But there is an answer, and we have the Dutch to thank!
"Pinkie for the little finger came into English from Dutch through Scots. Dutch had 'pinkje' for the little finger around 1700 and 'pinkie' is known in Scots about a century later," explains Michael Quinion from World Wide Words. "It probably comes from an old sense of 'pink' that meant something very small. The same sense turns up in the defunct English word 'pink-eyed,' meaning that your eyes were half-shut, which also has a Dutch connection. "
Nicole Pollard has been writing for KSL since 2011.
