Alia Hoyt

Alia Hoyt

Contributing Writer

Alia is an Atlanta-based freelance writer who has contributed content to HowStuffWorks for going on a decade now, with a specialty in health writing. She’s also been published by TLC, Animal Planet, and a number of corporate clients. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!), and might someday get around to setting up a professional website. Until then, check her out on LinkedIn.

She and her husband are proud parents to three handsome, too-smart-for-their-own-good boys. Alia is a passably not terrible tennis player, lover of all things dance and music, brownie-obsessed, avid reader and off-key car singer. Her two favorite types of people are those who have a healthy sense of humor and those who actually read articles in their entirety before posting comments.

Recent Contributions

It's hard to say what is the most dangerous animal in the world; you're not comparing apples to apples. But when it comes dangerous, these four top the list.

By Alia Hoyt

British slang is known to contain some of the most colorful colloquialisms in the world, so queue up as we bandy about a few cheeky ones.

By Alia Hoyt

It's a chicken-or-egg situation: What came first? Perplexed people need wonder no longer, as we've sussed out the answer to this ancient riddle.

By Alia Hoyt

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Help! Honeybees are invading your home! This happened to our writer and she finds out from the experts why this occurs, what to do about it and whether home remedies work.

By Alia Hoyt

The term IQ typically refers to a score on a test that measures someone's cognitive ability. What does this test constitute exactly? And does it accurately measure intelligence?

By Alia Hoyt

Maybe you've heard about drinking the Kool-Aid or listening to The Family Jams — but what do you really know about some of the world's most infamous cults?

By Alia Hoyt & Jane McGrath

Egg cartons, whether cardboard, plastic or Styrofoam, can be reused for lots of projects in your home or garden. Here are 10 eggs-citing ones to try.

By Alia Hoyt

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Zulu Time is a shorthand for describing a time that is the same no matter where you are in the world. So, how does that work?

By Alia Hoyt

You may have seen an expiration date on your bottle of water, but why? Can a natural substance like water really go bad?

By Alia Hoyt

Your face rests on your pillowcase every night, transferring sweat, body oils and dead skin cells to it. So, how often should you change your pillowcase?

By Alia Hoyt

You might not be able to recycle your wine bottles anymore, but you can certainly upcycle them into everything from bird feeders to garden beds.

By Alia Hoyt

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Liminal spaces, like empty corridors or abandoned malls, can seem eerie and mysterious, yet compelling. Why do they have that effect on us?

By Alia Hoyt

Many everyday items, like salt, toothpaste, Magic Erasers, baking soda and vinegar can help you with your spring cleaning in lots of ways.

By Alia Hoyt

Judy Blume's groundbreaking young adult novel is finally headed for the big screen more than 50 years after it was first published. Why does the book still resonate with so many women?

By Alia Hoyt

If you love to cook, you probably have cream of tartar in the kitchen. But this acidic ingredient has tons of uses that go beyond cooking and baking.

By Alia Hoyt

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A map is a type of language, a graphic way of representing information, whether it's to show population density or tell you how to get from Point A to Point B. Here's how they're made.

By Tracy V. Wilson & Alia Hoyt

Those bread tags (aka bag clips) and twist ties you find on baked goods can be recycled in many ingenious ways. Here are 15 of them.

By Alia Hoyt

You may have never thought of washing your pillows but there are several good reasons to do it. And it's usually not very hard to wash them.

By Alia Hoyt

It's kind of amazing that no two fingerprints are alike, not even for identical twins! But why is that?

By Alia Hoyt

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You may know that Everest is the highest mountain in the world, but which ones come after it? Here's a list of the seven tallest mountains.

By Alia Hoyt

More and more couples seem to be opting to sleep in separate beds or even separate bedrooms. But is this necessarily a bad thing, or could it be saving countless relationships?

By Alia Hoyt

The average tennis ball lasts just a few hours to a few weeks of play. So, before you toss it in the trash, try to recycle it with one of these amazing hacks.

By Alia Hoyt

You might not know how to clean a dishwasher but you should. Because when you clean yours, it will function better so your dishes will be cleaner, too.

By Alia Hoyt & Jeremy Glass

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Christians often "give up something for Lent" but why? What is the real reason behind the season?

By Alia Hoyt

If you love wine, you probably have a ton of wine corks around the house. Don't trash them because there are ways you can reuse those wine corks instead.

By Alia Hoyt