William Hampton

“In 1956, oceanographer Henry Stommel suggested that, because of differences in temperature and salinity between the surface and the deep ocean, if you connect the surface and the deep ocean with a tube and push water through it, it might continue flowing indefinitely.”
― Randall Munroe, What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

“in human populations, 60 percent of humans who had any children at all ended up in the family tree permanently, and 73 percent of people who survived to adulthood had children.”
― Randall Munroe, What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

“If a chip is running at 3 GHz, light—and electric signals—don’t have time to cross from one end of the computer to the other during a single clock cycle. Different parts of your computer are out of sync with one another. If two parts are going to go back and forth quickly, circuit board designers need to place them physically close to one another, so they’re not held back by the sluggish speed of light.”
― Randall Munroe, What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

“The “north” end of a magnet is the one that points toward the Earth’s north pole, which means the Earth’s north magnetic pole is technically a south magnetic pole, and vice versa.”
― Randall Munroe, What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions