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Contents
B (Bacteria—Butterflies versus Moths)
I (International Morse Code—IQ)
J (Jacobson’s Organ—Jurassic Park)
R (Radiocarbon Dating—Roller Coasters)
X (Xenobiology—Xylotoles Costatus)
Acknowledgments
About the Author
About the Illustrators
Of course we don’t know what we’re doing, that’s why we call it research!
—Albert Einstein
“Wendy, please try to mitigate your general tendency towards getting easily distracted by shiny objects.” This was publicly posted by the amazing and brilliant Dr. Regina A. Galer-Unti, PhD, CHES, the chairperson of my PhD dissertation thesis. I smile from ear to ear every time I think about that!
Now, she’s not the first person to share this sentiment with me, and hopefully, she won’t be the last! As it’s my insatiable, albeit wandering, curiosity that compels me to think: “Really? Is there any scientific literature to back up that claim?” Thus, I drill deeper and deeper, and invariably along the way more points of contention (and general coolness) pop up, which is how this book came to be!
Here’s the thing: My preferred path is not the one of least resistance, it’s the one with the most potential for interesting detours!
Of note, and to the dismay of pretty much every teacher and professor I’ve ever had, I don’t “do” outlines. My goal isn’t to fill in the blanks of preconceived notions and ideas. My goal is to discover (and then share with others) uber-awesome, interesting scientific and medical information and their associated totally cool factoids in such a way that people are veritably compelled to repeat the aforementioned factoids at small social gatherings! Besides, outlines get in the way of hearing the Writing Faeries.
Now, to supplant any possible lingering musings as to why it is that this book discusses everything from amino acids to geomagnetism to zombie ants, and then, in the middle of debunking a spurious theory about plant-animal mutualism and the extinct dodo bird (Raphus cucullatus) section, I interject:
• The dodo was a character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. In the 1865 book, the dodo is believed to be a self-caricature of Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Purportedly, because of a stutter, he was known to introduce himself as “Do-do-dodgson.”
That’s
