Dear Mr. Scientist: I have this cold that's lasting forever. I thought I was getting over it, but then it came back as strong as ever. Could I have caught another cold while still sick with another one?
-Taylor B.
While uncommon, it is still very possible to be infected with two different cold viruses at the same time. You are constantly being exposed to infectious agents that do not care whether or not you are fighting off something else. If you happen to be lucky enough to host two viruses simultaneously, the viruses are able to swap DNA with each other creating new viral strains. Considering this and the fact that there are over 150 viruses capable of causing a cold it's easy to see that finding a cure for the common cold is unlikely to happen.
Dear Mr. Scientist: What causes the high-pitched ringing noise every time a television set is turned on?
-Michael S.
The root of that annoying whine is something called a flyback transformer. Cathode ray televisions (the big, bulk kind) work by shooting an electron beam at a phosphorus-coated screen causing it to glow. This thin beam scans across every square inch of the television screen to produce an image, and then scans again and again to create a moving picture. The flyback transformer is responsible for controlling the rate at which the beam scans right to left across the screen which is usually around 15 kHz. Humans are capable of hearing sounds with a frequency of 15 kHz, so we are treated with a ringing noise every time a TV is on.
Dear Mr. Scientist: Every time I cut onions or garlic, the smell stays on my hands for days. I've seen these metal bars of soap that are supposed to get these smells off your hands. How does this work?
-Julia D.
These bars are made out of stainless steel. How it works (or if it even works) isn't exactly known, but there is one prevailing theory. Bad odors like garlic, fish, and onions are caused by sulfur containing compounds. Steel is made of various combinations of carbon and iron. The sulfur in the foul-smelling molecules likes to bind to iron, so the molecules transfer from your hands to the steel and are unable break free and produce bad odors.
