Find the next number in the sequence

5 12 24 36 ?

The captain of a ship was telling this interesting story: "We travelled the sea far and wide. At one time, two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One was looking west and the other one east. And at the same time, they could see each other clearly." How can that be possible?

John killed hundreds of people mercilessly and yet the police were not able to put her behind the bars. Why?

A river should be crossed by a father, a mother and their two sons and two daughters.
There are some rules that should be followed while crossing the river. There can be only two people in the raft while crossing. The daughters cannot be with their father unless there is the presence of the mother. The sons cannot be with their mothers unless the father is present. Unless the guard is on the board, the criminals cannot be with any of the family members. Only the adults like the father, the guard, and the mother knows to use the raft.

How will they cross the river?

What does man love more than life, and hate more than death or mortal strife; that which satisfied men want; the poor have, and the rich require; the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves?

Which flower has two lips?

In the addition below, all digits have been replaced by letters. Equal letters represent equal digits and different letters represent different digits.
ABCABA
BBDCAA
ABEABB
ABDBAA
------- +
AAFGBDH
What does the complete addition look like in digits?

It is always ahead of me yet I can never see it. What is it?

If there are fifteen crows on a fence and the farmer shoots a third of them, how many crows are left?

If an earthquake is 1 point higher on the Richter Scale than another earthquake which is actually 10 times stronger, how much stronger would an earthquake be if it was just half a point higher on the Richter scale?