# Questions that seem easy but are not **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787 "2013-02-19T10:57:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/21 "2013-02-20T12:10:56Z")
“How and why do men and women seem to think so much alike?” The obvious answer is “because we’re the same species”, however studies of the brain show that when you get down to the basic hardware and functioning of the brain, men and women are [very different](http://today.uci.edu/iframe.php?p=/news/release_detail_iframe.asp?key=1261). > [@](#): > > In general, men have approximately 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence than women, and women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence than men. Gray matter represents information processing centers in the brain, and white matter represents the networking of – or connections between – these processing centers. > > \ > > The study also identified regional differences with intelligence. For example, 84 percent of gray-matter regions and 86 percent of white-matter regions involved with intellectual performance in women were found in the brain’s frontal lobes, compared to 45 percent and zero percent for males, respectively. The gray matter driving male intellectual performance is distributed throughout more of the brain. Those are quite large differences. Yet the genders don’t seem to be all that far apart in their _conscious_ thought processes; I’ve read plenty of accounts written by women with a woman’s viewpoint, both their own and female fictional characters, and their inner experience don’t come across as anywhere _near_ as alien as I’d expect with brain differences that large. Somewhere between the hardware level and the conscious one, those differences are largely covered up so well that you need to study the brain with modern technology to realize they are there. How? Why? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/22 "2013-02-20T12:35:50Z")
14 K of g in a f p d? ---
**Author:** ![nansbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nansbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nansbread)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/23 "2013-02-20T14:46:46Z")
A question that seems simple but has a lot of philosophical and mathematical complexity. Are there more people alive today than have ever lived and died on this planet. There are many mathematicians grappling with this question. In the Indian epic Mahabharat. someone asked this question of a wise king and his response was a philiosophical one. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/24 "2013-02-20T19:22:51Z")
[Why is it dark at night,](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1356/why-is-the-night-sky-dark) despite abundant starlight? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/25 "2013-02-20T20:07:01Z")
Who put the bomp in the bomp-she-bomp-she-bomp? Will this specific computer program, when fed this specific input, ever stop running? Am I blue? Why are most residents of Wyoming light-skinned? Who are you? ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/26 "2013-02-20T20:20:22Z")
Have you stopped beating your wife? ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/27 "2013-02-21T05:11:48Z")
How does a bicycle work? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/28 "2013-02-21T05:25:02Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “Does the Pope shit in the woods?” You should only ask this question if you also ask its companion question: “Is a bear Catholic?” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/29 "2013-02-21T05:30:40Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Who put the bomp in the bomp-she-bomp-she-bomp? Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/30 "2013-02-21T05:37:48Z")
> [@bleach](#): > > “Why is the sky blue?” > > [Cliff Stoll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Stoll) claimed to get this question on his dissertation defense. As per usual the obligatory XKCD > **[Sky Color](https://www.xkcd.com/1145/)** The mouse over question is fun as well ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/31 "2013-02-21T06:49:15Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > You should only ask this question if you also ask its companion question: > “Is a bear Catholic?” Also heard as “Is the bear Catholic?” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/32 "2013-02-21T09:04:13Z")
> [@slitterst](#): > > Have you stopped beating your wife? Proper answers: “Good as she is, she still only checkmates me two times out of three.” “Hey! She wouldn’t have bought me that feather whip and rubber pirate outfit if she didn’t want me to use them!” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/33 "2013-02-21T17:31:40Z")
How can you suck noodles into your mouth? How did there get to be two sexes? ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/34 "2013-02-21T22:35:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > If time flies like an arrow, what do fruit flies like? Oooh, I know this one! Time Flies like an arrow, Fruit Flies like a banana. Here’s a few: Does a dog (or any animal) have Buddha nature? If a man argues and a woman isn’t around to hear it, is he still wrong? Why is the word abbreviation so long? And why are there multiple abbreviations for it? What does your elbow taste like? ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787/35 "2013-02-22T12:32:23Z")
how is babby formed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-that-seem-easy-but-are-not/650787.md?page=1)