Good Questions: Muscles, Corn & More
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Every Friday, Heather Brown takes a moment to answer some of your Good Questions that may have slipped through the cracks. This week, she's checking the weather, getting corny, and listening to Olivia Newton-John's "Physical."
Marikaye from New Brighton wants to know: "Why do we call it an 'ear' of corn?"
According to the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, "ear" comes from the ancient German word "ahs," which means husk of corn. By the 800s, the old English meaning was a spike or head of corn, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Angie from Hudson asks: "Why do we hurt more the second day after exercise?"
"When you exercise, you create microscopic tears that take place within the tissue itself and your body repairs itself over the course of 24-48 hours," said Paul Mellick, a physiologist at the University of St. Thomas. "The reason it hurts more the second day is something called delayed muscle soreness."
As our bodies repair the damage, we feel inflammation, blood flow and swelling.
"The short answer is it just takes that long," Mellick said.
John wants to know: "Why is the weather reported from the airport?"
It was one of George Carlin's most memorable bits: "The temperature at the airport is 88 degrees, which is stupid because I don't know anyone who lives at the airport."
According to the National Weather Service, convenience and efficiency are big factors. The trend of locating weather stations at airports started in the 1930s because the aviation community was and still is a huge user of weather information.
