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Why Don’t Spiders Stick to Their Webs?

And 317 Other Everyday Mysteries of Science

Robert Matthews

Why can’t we tickle ourselves? Which properties give you the best chance of winning Monopoly? What would happen if you fell into a black hole? Is it possible to hurt your brain if you think too much? In this entertaining and enlightening tour of day-to-day life, award-winning writer and scientist Robert Matthews tackles everything from the puzzling maths of odd socks to the real ‘string theory’ mystery: how does string acquire all those unwanted knots?

  • Publication date: October 1, 2011
  • ISBN: 9781851689002
  • RRP: £7.99
  • Pages: 256

Robert Matthews

Robert Matthews is Visiting Research Fellow at Aston University and Science Correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph. He writes regular columns for, among others, The New Scientist and Focus magazine, and has published papers on a range of subjects from cryptography to cosmology. Most famously, his research on Murphy’s Law (why toast always lands butter-side down) won him a discourse to the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

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