<gan ’19, Biology
1. Why are there so many worms on the ground when it rains? I have heard many theories including, but not limited to, they will drown, they are trying to find a mate, and, according to Scientific American, it makes it easier for them to travel long distances. In other words, they are just trying to find their place in this world and the rain helps them get to that place faster.
2. Where do they come from? The ground? Duh.
3. Where do they go when the rain goes away? Well, obviously, many of them die because they are squished or because PEOPLE PICK THEM UP AND THAT PROBABLY STRESSES THEM OUT (SIMPLE ORGANISMS LIKE WORMS ARE EASILY STRESSED). But most of them just go back underground and continue living their worm life.
4. How can we avoid the worms on the sidewalk? Look only at the ground but also periodically look up. Also if it’s late at night and you’re coming back from the libe and you are talking out loud to them make sure that people are not quietly walking behind you listening to you have a one-sided conversation with some worms.
5. Are there things we should be doing to help the worms? Just let them be and try not to step on them
6. What do they mean? That the earth is beautiful and we should care about it.
Kate Hoeting ’19, Religion
1. Why are there so many worms on the ground when it rains? Much like humans, worms spend much of their time trying to make meaning out of their lives. When rain falls, it creates a link from the earth to heaven. These worms ascend to drink up a piece of that link; in this way, the worms can touch God.
2. Where do they come from? To discover the origin of worms, it becomes helpful to consult the scriptures. According to the Book of Jonah, “God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered” (ESV 4:7). It seems that worms are agents of God primarily used to eat plants. However, the Book of Acts describes of an individual who “did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last” (ESV 12:23). From that passage it becomes clear that worms are agents of God sent to eat plants and humans.
3. Where do they go when the rain goes away? As any meteorologist could tell you, April is the rainiest month in Minnesota. Thus it is a holy month for worms to ascend for their yearly connection with God. When the clouds vanish in May, they begin their ritualistic descend to the bottom of the Earth, where they spend the next 11 months making Hell really spooky.
4. How can we avoid the worms on the sidewalk? Enlighten yourself by learning about religion until you begin to float approximately 2 centimeters above the sidewalk. This gap will help you clear most worms.
5. Are there things we should be doing to help the worms? While you’re running to class, select a worm from any portion of the sidewalk and pick it up. Lift the worm above your head, sending it that much closer to the heavens with which it wishes to reunite. The greatest impact you can have in a worm’s life is by sparking its first mystical experience.
6. What do they mean? I don’t know. You should ask a bio major.
Brynne Diggins ’19, English
1. Why are there so many worms on the ground when it rains? The worms are speaking a language of their own, meandering on the sidewalk as they contemplate the earth they have just emerged from. They take these scenic slides along the pavement to ponder their existence, much like us humans do when we retreat to the woods.
2. Where do they come from? The ground, duh.
3. Where do they go when the rain goes away? The worms retreat into the earth, refreshed with their musings on life, ready to create their next tunnel masterpiece.
4. How can we avoid the worms on the sidewalk? Take your eyes out of your book that you shouldn’t be reading in the rain anyways and pay attention to the pavement.
5. Are there things we should be doing to help the worms? Avoiding them on the sidewalk is the greatest priority. Giving them the space to experience the world above and channel their creativity to write their memoirs about the life-changing journey onto the sidewalk is the best thing we can do to help them and their creative process.
6. What do they mean? I don’t know, ask a Religion major.
Geoffrey Mo ’19, Physics
1. Why are there so many worms on the ground when it rains?
If we neglect the existence of the ground, the buoyant force F = ρVg means that the worms will be pushed upwards in the presence of water.
2. Where do they come from?
Presumably worms, much like humans, are mostly water and carbon. Water is hydrogen and oxygen, and carbon is carbon. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, so that’s where the hydrogen in the worms comes from. Stars are hot and bright because of stellar nucleosynthesis, which fuses hydrogen into heavier and heavier elements. Oxygen and carbon are part of this sequence. Somewhere along the way the hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon get put together and then you get worms.
3. Where do they go when the rain goes away?
Well, the disappearance of the rain means there is no longer a buoyant force. So if we neglect the existence of the ground, gravity will pull the worms towards the center of the earth.
4. How can we avoid the worms on the sidewalk?
As Cindy Blaha said in 2017, the worms are like a “vector field”. If we take each worm to be a vector in the field, and if the worm is continuous (which we assume), then we know the vector field must too be continuous. Then it is infinite and there is no escaping the worms, no matter how far away from the origin/towards infinity you go.
5. What do they mean?
Do I look like an English major?