Why do some people litter?
Fenix Pohjola, 7
At our house people can often have many different and even conflicting needs at the same time, which guide our actions.
For example, a person may consider a clean environment important, but at the exact moment when he should take the trash to the trash, for example, fatigue or ease is the feeling that guides him.
We may also unknowingly adopt the ways or patterns of others. In this case, even people who litter can learn from people who take their trash sorted to the trash.
Research shows that the example of other people can support or reduce environmentally friendly actions.
Children can also act as an example here. Not littering often becomes a habit similar to, for example, going to the toilet, which you don't have to separately think about whether you like it or not.
Financial penalties can also help towards more environmentally friendly operations, according to research.
Kirsi Salonen
Ph.D., eco- and environmental psychologist
University of Tampere
Blue tits exchange news.
Can animals fall in love?
Hetta Ryhänen, 5
Some animals can fall in love.
The falling in love of the American prairie vole living in North America has been properly studied. When a young male and female meet, the female starts sniffing the male. What follows is a love game that lasts 30–40 hours at a time.
During that time, the amount of the oxytocin hormone, also known as the attachment hormone, rises in the female. The level of the vasopressin hormone increases in dogs.
These hormonal changes influence a couple to fall in love with each other. The female no longer accepts other dogs. The dog defends the female, the nest and the couple's young, and warms them when necessary.
Researchers have estimated that other monogamous mammals can act in a similar way.
For example, monkeys form marmosets, geese, swans, cormorants and some parrots and some canids, such as the African coat jackals, form lifelong pairs.
Jussi Viitala
nonfiction writer, biology researcher
The earth's gravity keeps the feet safely on the ground.
If the Earth were to spin even faster, would we start to feel dizzy?
Beatrice Jelly, 10
We we are held in place by the Earth's gravitational pull. The same is true of everything around us, for example trees, buildings, the sea and the atmosphere with all its clouds.
For example, in southern Finland, we and everyone around us rotate with the Earth at about 830 kilometers per hour. In Lapland, the rotation speed is about 580 kilometers per hour.
At the equator, the speed is even higher, almost 1,700 kilometers per hour. Crazy speeds, then!
During the Earth's annual journey around the Sun, it travels at around 108,000 kilometers per hour, and around the Milky Way at around 720,000 kilometers per hour. However, even these speeds do not make us dizzy thanks to the Earth's gravity.
However, if we are, for example, on a rotating carousel or other amusement park equipment, we get dizzy easily. Then our sense of balance and our sense of sight send conflicting information to the brain. It causes a dizzying feeling.
If the Earth rotated about 17 times faster than it does now, bulk goods and people would begin to float because the effect of the Earth's rotation speed would overcome the effect of gravity.
Then we would certainly be dizzy if we could stay alive with some lynx. A person usually needs a decent attraction to live.
If the Earth rotated 17 times faster, the current 24-hour rotation of the Earth would take only about an hour and a half. Fortunately, such a rotation speed is not expected.
Harry Lehto
docent of astronomy
University of Turku
The Aegis experiment device at Cern. The experiment examines how gravity affects antimatter.
What is the most expensive thing in the world?
Risto Ahva, 6
The most expensive the substance is so-called antimatter, which has been produced in the European Organization for Nuclear Research's CERN particle accelerator. Its price per gram is about 58,000,000,000,000 euros, or about 58 trillion euros. One trillion is one thousand billion.
Storing antimatter is tricky. So far, it has only been successful for 16 minutes.
More durable is botulinum toxin, which is also very expensive. It is used in very small amounts in cosmetic injections that smooth people's wrinkles. Depending on the source, its price per kilo is 100–200 trillion euros.
For example, gold is ridiculously cheap in comparison. It costs around 70,000 euros per kilo. However, gold is a more durable investment than anti-wrinkle injections in the sense that wrinkles tend to return.
The most expensive man-made object is probably the International Space Station. Its value is around 100 billion euros, when the maintenance costs of several years are included.
If expensiveness is not measured in money, the most expensive things can be completely different things. According to old wisdom, the most expensive things are good health and close relationships.
Nowadays, we could add at least world peace, human equality and bringing the functioning of our society to a sustainable level in relation to the natural environment.
Risto Heiskala
professor of sociology
University of Tampere
Send the question, the questioner's full name and age to [email protected]. The column is provided by Touko Kauppinen.
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