Why do people laugh?
Will we be able to build a ladder attaching earth to an orbiting satellite?
Can flatworms really learn anything from eating other flatworms?
Is it possible that early humans spent their lives in water instead of on land? Weird, witty and alway edifying, The Barmaid's Brain serves up a splendid cocktail of fact, theory and anecdote in twenty-one of Jay Ingram's favourite tales from the world of science.