Why Do the Stars Twinkle?

Even with simple questions – let alone the really big ones – it’s rare to find one clear answer that clarifies and resolves everything. There are often several possible answers, all equally valid. This means that with every fact we establish, more questions arise, and the answers to those questions generate yet more questions: mankind is destined to keep asking questions forever. By doing so we gradually amass knowledge, and we can enjoy this acquisition of knowledge our whole lives, because it is never finished. The process of finding answers and thereby generating further questions – so that the asking of questions never comes to an end – is at the heart of science. Ernst Peter Fischer takes an entertaining approach to the huge variety of questions human beings ask themselves.

*‘The thing is this: everything that endures arises from questions. Think of the question asked by every child: what does the wind do when it’s not blowing?’ Erich Kästner

*Here are seven of over seventy-seven questions answered by Ernst Peter Fischer in his new book:

Why is the sky dark at night?

Why do the stars twinkle and not fall out of the sky?

Why are leaves green in the summer and why do they turn such bright colours in the autumn?

What do animals see when they look at things we perceive as red, green or blue?

Why do we get tears in our eyes when we’re ‘crying with laughter’?

What contains more protein – egg white or egg yolk?

And why does every answer to a question throw up new questions?