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This week’s new questions

Do babies understand each other with their babbling? Is it more efficient to dry my towels with them hung up portrait or landscape?

14 January 2026

Cute toddler and a baby girl having a play date in the park

urbazon/Getty Images

Do babies understand each other with their babbling?

Jo Dunn
Cape Town, South Africa

 

3CHF9KF Towels drying on stone wall

heliography/Stockimo/Alamy

I would like to know, scientifically speaking, is it more efficient to dry my towels with them hung up portrait or landscape? Which towel will dry quickest?

Alex Fraser
Bodmin, Cornwall, UK

 

Last Word is Âé¶¹´«Ã½’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com

To answer this question – or ask a new one – email lastword@newscientist.com.

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