Good Question ‘Reply All’: Why Is Snow White?
Early Wednesday morning, a 29-year-old man from Chisago County died after swerving to hit a deer on I-35. That had Taryn from Red Wing wanting to know: What should we do if we see a deer?
The State Patrol says don’t swerve to avoid the deer, because that could cause you to lose control, go off the road or drive into oncoming traffic. Instead, they recommend paying extra attention during between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. in autumn – the most active time for deer – especially for people driving on roads near forests and farms. Keep an eye out for the silhouette or reflection of the animal’s eye in the darkness.
According to Lt. Eric Roeske, don’t count on deer whistles or fences to stop the deer. People are better off honking their horns at the animal.
On Thursday, the FDA announced it wants to ban trans fats in foods. “Trans fats increase your risk for heart disease,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg. So, Angie from Maplewood asked: What foods have trans fats in them?
Since the FDA required trans fats to be on food labels in 2006, many companies have taken those fats – made with partially hydrogenated oils – out of their foods. For example, General Mills says it’s been working on reducing its foods with trans fats and says more than 90 percent of their retail products are labeled 0g trans fats.
Trans fats can still be found in some, but not all fried foods, pie crusts, margarine, ground beef and frozen dinners. For food products that have under 0.5g of trans fats, the FDA allows companies to round down to zero.
After seeing this week’s snow, a 4-year-old from Onamia asked: Why is snow white?
Snow is many ice crystals all bunched together. When light hits those crystals, it bounces all around before bouncing back out. When the light does bounce out, all of the colors on the light spectrum come out equally — creating the color white — which is the color we see in snow.