A woman lives in a Tall building thirty-six floors high and served by several elevators which stop at each floor going up and down. Each morning she leaves her apartment and goes to one of the elevators. Whichever one she takes is three times more likely to be going up than down. Why?
A man is shown a portrait painting. He looks closely, then tells, “Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man’s father is my father’s son!†Who is the man in the portrait?
A new clothing store has a unique method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, a tie costs $15, a blouse costs $30, and underwear costs $45. How much would pants cost?
You are a thief and you are being punished for your crime. People have tied your head down on a tree with a rope that has been anchored in the ground. A candle is burning below the rope which is slowly burning it away. Just below your head, a Lion has been left loose and is waiting for you to drop down on the ground so he can have you as his lunch.
You have to survive the scenario. How will you do it?
You have a basket containing ten apples. You have ten friends, who each desire an apple. You give each of your friends one apple.
Now all your friends have one apple each, yet there is an apple remaining in the basket.
How?
In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.
