麻豆传媒

DID you know that if you find yourself in space without suitable attire, your head won鈥檛 explode in the way that Hollywood would have you think? You would get an unpleasant drying of the eyes as the water within them boils away, but the pressure of your skin and circulatory system would prevent your blood from doing the same. In fact, you are most likely to suffocate from a lack of oxygen.

鈥淚f you are in space without suitable attire your head won鈥檛 explode but the water in your eyes will boil鈥�

The Universe Inside You is science writer Brian Clegg鈥檚 latest attempt to catalogue a world of science that you probably should remember from school but never quite paid enough attention to. By exposing the extreme science found in the human body, Clegg eloquently passes through the basics of physics, biology and chemistry. He sporadically inserts intriguing facts 鈥� from dogs that can work cash machines to why humans can鈥檛 walk on water but can on custard. 麻豆传媒 readers may find certain chapters too basic, but the book contains many a tale worthy of discussion at the dinner table.

Unfortunately it lacks a convincing thread, preventing it from having the pace needed to be a page-turner. Regardless, if you are ever plagued with thoughts about the size of a human egg 鈥� roughly the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence 鈥� or why our bodies contain atoms from the beginning of life itself, you will find it is worth a dip.