About this universe
Plumaire is the high plateau where migrations pass overhead, clouds take the shapes of animals, and birds ride the wind. Here, every why takes flight.
The whys of this universe
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Why do birds sing at dawn?
Because at dawn the air is still and sound carries; it's too dim to forage profitably; and it's the right hour to broadcast, to rivals and mates alike, that you've made it through another night.
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Why do clouds stay up?
Because they are made of droplets so small they fall almost infinitely slowly: a faint upward breath of air is enough to hold them up, despite the hundreds of tonnes of water inside.
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Why are aircraft windows round?
Because corners concentrate pressure until the metal splits. When the first pressurised jets (fitted with squarish windows) came apart in mid-flight in 1954, engineers learned that an oval spreads stress evenly around its rim, and offers no corner where a tear can begin.
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Why do flamingos stand on one leg?
Because the posture saves heat (a tucked leg loses far less warmth in cold water) and because a passive locking mechanism in the joints lets the flamingo stand without any active muscular effort, even while asleep.
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Why is the sky blue?
Because air molecules scatter sunlight's blue wavelengths in every direction far more than its red ones. That blue light, arriving from every part of the sky at once, is what you see when you tilt your head up.