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This week’s new questions

Why don’t orcas attack humans? And why don’t people take responsibility for their mistakes?

4 February 2026

2HR09CM Killer whale, Orcinus orca, spy hop, Vestfjord, Ofotfjord, and Tysfjord, Lofoten Islands, Norway, Atlantic Ocean

Credit: BIOSPHOTO/Alamy

As they are top predators, why don’t orcas attack and eat humans when they have ample opportunity to do so?

John Still
Portpatrick, Dumfries and Galloway, UK

 

 

Photograph of street sign spelling error 'Stop hhre' in Hollywood-Silverlake area. 'No (e)ras(e)r? -- Som(e) on(e) forgot som(e)thing wh(e)n th(e) Traffic (E)ngin(ee)ring D(e)partm(e)nt's sign-paint(e)rs post(e)d this warning at T(e)mple Str(ee)t and Virgil. Whit(e) l(e)tt(e)rs four f(ee)t high 'adv(e)rtis(e)' sp(e)lling (e)rror!' -- Examiner clipping attached to verso, dated 27 December 1949.;Streetscape. Camera direction: 214 degrees from due north. Horizontal photography.Temple Street & Virgil Avenue; Silver Lake; Hollywood; Los Angeles, CaliforniaTraffic Engineering Department;Los Angeles -- City -- Streets -- Signs & Repair. (Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images)

Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images

From an anthropological perspective, why does it seem that people dislike taking responsibility for their mistakes?

Marianna Hostick
Newquay, 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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