THE SCIENCE OF SANTA

Clever engineers have once again taken on the fable of Santa Claus with their calculators. Santa can’t possibly exist, they claim, because in order to reach all of the world’s 2.5 billion children he would have to travel at a speed of about 5,800 kilometers per second and spend only 35 microseconds at each home. Besides, traveling at supersonic speed would cause Santa’s sleigh to burst into flames within 4.26 thousandths of a second. So there. (AFP)