Q. Can barnacles choose their mates?

A. No, but it doesn't seem to matter. Each barnacle is both male and female. A barnacle's nearest neighbor is a candidate, and it doesn't even have to be that near. The barnacle has the longest male mating equipment, relative to body size, of any animal in existence.

Q. What's the animal most recently domesticated?

A. Experts expect the cat may someday merit that distinction.

Q. What's the oldest form of art?

A. Storytelling, evidently. Claim is there's never been a human society since the beginning of language that didn't tell stories.

Pretty clever, those leafcutter ants. They grow their own mushrooms.

Q. Isn't there a town called Boston in England?

A. Indeed. It rivaled London as a port six centuries ago. Name came from "Botolph's Town" in honor of a Saxon monk.

Mike Mailway(L.M.Boyd) column, entire, February 28, 2003