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This week’s new questions

What determines fingerprints? And what is the best angle to aim a hosepipe to maximise the distance travelled by the water?

What determines fingerprints? Is it a random process or is it something inherited from our parents?

Manyando Milupi, Muscat, Oman

Funny little girl watering from a hose flowers in her home garden. Rural life. Happy child is resting in the summer, playing with water and watering the greens with a hose evening; Shutterstock ID 2138202117; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Aiming a hosepipe, intuition told me a 45-degree angle would maximise the distance travelled by the water, as it would for a projectile. But when I did this, the water actually went a shorter distance. Why?

Robert Morley, London, UK

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