Hundreds of weird, wacky, and unexpected science questions answered by experts from around the world.

Just how old is dirt, really?

Are men or women more likely to be hit by lightning?

What do whales sing about?

Why don’t we have our jetpacks or flying cars yet?

If I had to, could I survive on cat food alone?

...and 224 more curious questions answered by the world's smartest people!

Ever wondered if you could beat a T. Rex in an arm-wrestling match? Why men get hit by lightning more often than women? Or whether you could get rich selling your organs on the black market? This indispensable book from Popular Science magazine answers these questions, and hundreds more. The editors at PopSci asked leading physicists, biologists, and other scientists a whole raft of crazy questions, and received the surprisingly detailed and fascinating answers gathered into this one impossible-put-down volume.

“As someone who makes up facts for a living, I rely heavily on actual information—especially the provocative, gasp-inducing, brain-firing, hardly-credible sort contained herein—to keep the furnace of falsehood alight. This book, then, could not have come at a better time. I am throwing it into the fire as we speak!” – John Hodgman, Resident Expert onThe Daily Showand author ofThe Areas of My ExpertiseandMore Information Than You Require

“Pages kept grabbing my attention and forcing me to stop and learn more about something I didn’t even know I was interested in.” – Theodore Gray, author ofThe ElementsandMad Science