Matthew Timpe, age 8, of Hobart, Indiana, for his question:

Where do hornets get paper to build their nests?

Sad to say, many sloppy people strew trashy bits of paper around outdoors. But we can't expect the hornets to help us tidy up the mess. They do not need our paper, because they create their own. As a matter of fact, they learned to make their papery nests long ages before we invented our kind of paper. But people and hornets both use the same sort of materials.

Most of our paper is made from wood chips, mashed up to make a soupy pulp. It dries to make firm and crisp sheets. The hornets also use woody materials to make their papery nests. They use their hard pincer jaws to nip crumbly pieces from old wooden posts and rotting tree trunks. Sometimes they also use woody threads from tough stems. They chew each wad to make it soggy and pat it in place to mold the nest. When the moist woody material dries, it looks like rough brown paper. It is firm and fairly waterproof, and light enough to hang safely on a bough.