I Always Wondered. A light-hearted outlet for curiosity.
posted by netbros on Apr 1, 2011 - 9 comments

The internet is full of answers, and some of them might even be true. For almost 20 years, the the Newton BBS has been a source of answers to science questions that may be accessed directly via the Web as well as through telnet (no public telnet access any more, sorry). The Newton BBS "Ask A Scientist" archive has answers from 15 science fields, from astronomy to zoology, for a total of more than 20,000 questions answered. This was covered previously, and the site is aimed at teachers and students from grades K-12, so io9's Ask a Physicist questions (with answers from Dr. Dave Goldberg) might be more engaging. See also: MIT's Ask An Engineer.
posted by filthy light thief on Sep 9, 2010 - 4 comments

What Will Change Everything? - the 2009 Edge Annual Question [more inside]
posted by Gyan on Dec 31, 2008 - 25 comments

The new age of ignorance. A panel of well known (UK) scientists and artists are asked some basic questions about science. Except the questions weren't that basic (since when is the Second Law of Thermodynamics considered basic knowledge?) so the results weren't surprising... although some of the answers were amusing ("The sky is blue because the sea reflects on it."). The worrying thing is that the questions could have been much simpler ("How many planets are there in the Solar System?") and I suspect the results would have been much the same. Meanwhile, ignorance marches on.
posted by bobbyelliott on Jul 1, 2007 - 127 comments

Science explores 125 big questions that face scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century. [via]
posted by Gyan on Jun 30, 2005 - 23 comments

Science Times: 25th Anniversary The first issue of Science Times[weekly section of N.Y. Times] appeared 25 years ago, on Nov. 14, 1978. Its guiding principle ever since has been that science is not a collection of answers, but a way of asking questions, an enterprise driven by curiosity. To celebrate the anniversary, we pose 25 of the most provocative questions facing science. As always, answers are provisional. [free reg req'd]
posted by Postroad on Nov 11, 2003 - 2 comments

Ask a scientist It's quite possible that every science question you have ever wondered about has already been answered. Thousands of science questions & answers, from anti-matter to zero gravity simulations, all with explanations even a scientific neophyte can easily understand.
posted by pemulis on Oct 21, 2002 - 7 comments