13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling... by Michael Brooks

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Description

Spanning disciplines from biology to cosmology, chemistry to psychology to physics, Michael Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement of scientific discovery. Science’s best-kept secret is this: even today, thereare experimental results that the most brilliant scientists cannot explain. In... read more

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Memorable Quotes

“We are pouring huge amounts of energy into the biological effort to understand where life came from, how it arose on planet Earth, because it matters to us; it is, perhaps our deepest question. Really, it boils down to this: Are we special? The best summation has been attributed to the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke: "Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not," he said. "In either case the idea is quite staggering." Clarke is right. If we are alone, that's extraordinary. If we are not , that's even better. Were we to discover that we are one of many life-forms on a planet that is one of many inhabited worlds, we would have a new perspective on being human - on being alive, even. And if we discover that some of that life beyond Earth is intelligent, a whole new vista of possible human experience opens up before us. - p. 99”
“These coupling certainly do not fit with the mainstream idea that genes, or at least organisms, are hell-bent on reproducing themselves. They do fit, however, with the idea of a social role for sex, and they fit with the idea that sexual reproduction is a spandrel, a by-product of some other phenomenon. If Roughgarden is on to something, she believes it could have cultural as well as scientific implications. The orthodoxy of biology has corroded our culture like battery acid, she says, In general, we play out the roles prescribed for us by that culture - aggressive male and coy female - because deviation from its "norm" results in emotional and physical violence, bigotry, personal guilt, and criminalized behaviors. If biology has been getting it wrong though, the new orthodoxy could trigger an infusion of tolerance; perhaps the anomalous prevalence of sexual reproduction will end up having deeper repercussions outside of science than within it. - pp. 148-149”
“Skeptics might argue that pharmaceutical companies will fight anything that casts their products in a dubious light - especially if it results in people using lower doses across the board - but the truth is that, for many drug companies, reliable information on the placebo effect can't come soon enough. To pass muster, a drug must outperform placebo. But a 2001 study of antidepressant drug trials showed that while drug efficacy is rising, placebo rates are rising faster. It's almost ironic; the factors behind this are many and varied, but a significant contributor is our society's knowledge of - and belief in - the power of medicines. The pharmaceutical industry's palpable success means that unless something radical happens, it could soon be, like the Red Queen, running to stand still. - p. 179”

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First Sentence

I am standing in the magnificent lobby of the Hotel Metrople in Brussels, watching three Nobel laureates struggle with the elevator.

PROLOGUE - 1

1 THE MISSING UNIVERSE: We can only account for 4 percent of the cosmos - 7
2 THE PIONEER ANOMALY: Two spacecraft are flouting the laws of physics - 36
3 VARYING CONSTANTS: Destabilizing our view of the universe - 46
4 COLD FUSION: Nuclear energy without the drama - 57
5 LIFE: Are you more than just a bag of chemicals? - 69
6 VIKING: NASA scientists found evidence for life on Mars. Then they changed their minds. - 83
7 THE WOW! SIGNAL: Has ET already been in touch? - 97
8 A GIANT VIRUS: It's a freak that could rewrite the story of life - 110
9 DEATH: Evolution's problem with self-destruction - 122
10 SEX: There are better ways to reproduce - 136
11 FREE WILL: Your decisions are not your own - 151
12 THE PLACEBO EFFECT: Who's being deceived? - 164
13 HOMEOPATHY: It's patently absurd, so why won't it go away?

EPILOGUE - 203

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - 211
NOTES AND SOURCES - 213
INDEX - 225