h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tongueout
Chukc a wobbly?
Groundhog Day?
Twist??

Tongueout - something to do with taste?
Wobbly - Jelly?
Groundhog day? When is that - spring sometime, Flowers? Or something that happens again and again - or something that is the same every day?
Twist? A Dance, or a twist of lemon, or other citrus fruit in a drink?

No. No humans feature in the solution to this QI question (apart from the scientists themselves). Other members of the animal kingdom might have been, though...

I'm guessing this is something steady state that is something that is 362 cm3 per day, rather than increasing by this amount every day?

Amount of room a termites nest increases by every day?

Amount of Plankton created in a meter's cube of sea water every day?

is it anything to do with ice?????

the amount of icecap lost on average??

amount of CO2 converted into O2 by the plankton in a cubic metre of sea water (or metre squared at sea surface) per day?

Sadly not - those last two sound far too conventional. I can only refer you to the clues earlier (which are quite specific).

Clues, one at a time again...

Tongueout

Being Rude?
Tasting something?
Childish?

Chuck a wobbly?
Three things possible -
1) throwing something
2) Something wobbly
3) having a tantrum, or getting angry at something?

Groundhog Day?
Reference to the film or the actual day?
Film - same day is repeated over and over again...
Holiday - Feb sometime - if a groundhog sees its shadow when it comes out of its burrow winter will continue... If not spring is here?

Twist??
Dance?
Thing you put in a cocktail - usually lime or lemon...
turning something around?
Tornado? Hurricane?

362cm3 measured by scientists every day...

Anything???

What have scientists measured to be approximately 362 cm³ per day?

How far the Saharan desert is growing? How much sand is moved because of sand storms?

The fifth and final clue I'll give you is that the volume being measured is that of a particular solid - a kind of hard, compact, fibrous substance which occurs in nature...

That's tongues. (Tongue twisters). I can imagine that 362cm3 might be the average volume of a human tongue, but per day?

Aha, now you're getting somewhere

The fifth and final clue I'll give you is that the volume being measured is that of a particular solid - a kind of hard, compact, fibrous substance which occurs in nature...

Stone... slate... cement? How much cement is made each day? How much stone we dig up each day?

Wood? Plant roots?

Correct, geggs

So the 'chuck a wobbly' clue refers to a woodchuck.

The groundhog, iirc, emerges from a tree stump to tell the world if spring is coming.

It the amount of wood that the average beaver chews through a day?


Geggs

You're there without saying so in so many words, Geggs. Just explain the twist...

It is because the beaver goes around the tree getting further into the tree with each lap?


Geggs

Ah, you haven't quite got it in that case.

I'm sure someone will, very shortly.

Not bad progress for someone sitting next to a hospital bed with a broken leg though, eh?


Geggs

Oh no! What happened?