Under Every Question Mark, A Periodical

Say what you want about the sorry state of the mass media in these troubled times, but you've got to give credit to America's magazines: They're not afraid to ask the tough questions, the important questions, the cosmic questions that have perplexed the great sages of the ages. And they're not afraid to put those questions right on their covers for all to see:

What is spacetime?

Will Humans Last Another 10,000 Years?

Who's naughtier in bed: men or women?

Glance at a newsstand and you'll see so many magazine covers asking so many scintillating questions that you despair, knowing you'll never have the time to learn all the answers. But you're in luck: The Magazine Reader staff has collected and digested these magazines and now, as a public service, we will reveal the best of these cover questions -- and the answers.

Playboy: "Marilyn Monroe -- Was She Murdered?"

A : Maybe.

The official autopsy report listed the cause of Marilyn's 1962 death from an overdose of Nembutal as "probable suicide." But Playboy thinks the real cause might have been, believe it or not, "murder by enema." Somebody could have given Marilyn a sleeping pill that knocked her out and then "administered an enema filled with a toxic Nembutal solution."

The theory isn't particularly convincing but it does raise another interesting question: Was this just an excuse to reprint some photos of Marilyn naked?

Men's Journal : "Tom Brady -- The Best Quarterback in NFL History?"