Contents

Cover

Title Page

Introduction

A (Amino Acids—Axolotyls)

B (Bacteria—Butterflies versus Moths)

C (Carbon—Coriolis Effect)

D (DNA—Dwarf Planets)

E (Earth—Exercise)

F (Floods—Fungi)

G (Garlic—Group Names)

H (Hair—Hydrogen)

I (International Morse Code—IQ)

J (Jacobson’s Organ—Jurassic Park)

K (K—K-T Extinction)

L (Lake Baikal—Longtitude)

M (Mars—Moon Names)

N (Neptune—Nuts)

O (Oceans—Owls)

P (Pacific Ocean—Purring)

Q (Q Fever—Quokka)

R (Radiocarbon Dating—Roller Coasters)

S (Saturn—Syzygy)

T (Telegraph—Twinkle)

U (Ultraviolet Rays—Uranus)

V (Vanadium—Volcanoes)

W (Water—World Wide Web)

X (Xenobiology—Xylotoles Costatus)

Y (Yams—Yutyrannus Huali)

Z (Zoetropes—Zymurgy)

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Illustrators

Copyright page

About the Publisher

Introduction

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 how my brain works!

And just for the record, after having a series of neurological tests a few years back, a world-renowned doctor offered me this conclusion: “Wendy, you have abnormal brain waves,” to which I respectfully responded, “Compared to what? I’ve never been tested before; it’s not like you have a baseline.” Then, without so much as blinking, the rather avuncular doctor replied, “Compared to the rest of the human species.”

And whenever I share this story, no one ever seems surprised.

I truly hope, with all my heart, that you enjoy reading this book (and the incredible cartoons provided by Steve Kanaras and Matt Ryan) as much as I did writing it!

Kindly, and with ubuntu,

Wendy

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