How do woodpeckers avoid concussing themselves when they obsessively hammer away at tree trunks?

The woodpecker has an insulating soft pad between the base of the bill and the skull which cushions the brain from the trauma that it would otherwise suffer when drumming — mainly for mating and associated purposes — or when excavating a nest hole in a tree trunk or simply attacking a tree trunk in search of food. The mechanism has been adapted for things like road drills and was apparently studied for the purpose of improving crash helmet performance.

The use of metal posts and other equally resilient drums have been recorded, no doubt for their superior sound quality thereby seeing off a lesser rival bird drumming on common-or-garden timber

The strike rate for drumming can be as high as 40 per second and appears to be varied according to the timber being drummed upon, the frequency being adjusted to establish optimum resonance from the drum.
— Garth Inman, Norwich

Woodpeckers have a large brain case that encloses the brain tightly thus avoiding concussion. The muscle and bone structure at the base of the bill acts as a shock absorber.

Some sources claim that the woodpecker’s extremely long tongue can wrap around its brain to cushion it, but I think that is unlikely as it would mean the brain would then be a loose fit in the skull when the tongue was in use.
— Ron Murray, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

What is the name for an inhabitant of Argentina? Sports commentators dither between calling players Argentines or Argentinians, eg, Andrés Romero is an Argentinian golfer, but David Nalbandian is an Argentine tennis player.

The name for an inhabitant of Argentina is an Argentine. Argentinian is an incorrect and clumsy construction invented during the Falklands War by people who had never heard of the correct usage.

In Spanish the country is called La Republica Argentina and its people call themselves Argentinos. My Anglo-Argentine friends will tell you how their grandparents or great-grandparents went out to “The Argentine”.
— Suzanne McClenahan, St Albans

Both Argentine and Argentinian are in common and accepted usage for the English translation of Argentino, though Argentine is more old-fashioned. Perhaps the problem arises because Argentina is not a noun (like the names of most countries) but an adjective meaning made of silver — the country is the Republica Argentina, the “Silvery Republic”. That itself may be a bit old-fashioned, as the common word for silver in Spanish nowadays is plata (noun), plateado (adjective).
— Stephen Hart, Colwall, Malvern

Who is the oldest actor to have played Hamlet on the West End stage?

William Davenant cast Thomas Betterton (c 1635-1710) as Hamlet and he continued playing the part until he was 74.
— Geoffrey Johnston, Gloucester

Leaving fashion shoes aside, why do we have heels, even on so-called “flat” shoes? And when did shoes first get heels? Why do we have heels even on toddlers’ first shoes?
— D. Smith, Carmarthenshire

Was it an accepted tradition in the Royal Navy that a captain should go down with his sinking ship? I have a step relation who did this when his ship, Electra, was sunk at the battle of the Java sea in 1942. If this was an accepted tradition, when was it abandoned?
— Colin Bower, Blandford Forum, Dorset

On the crown of the head, it seems more usual for the hair to grow in a clockwise direction. I only occasionally see it growing anti-clockwise. Why is this and is it linked to left-handedness?
— Vivienne Arendt, London W9

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