MICHAEL BROOKS, who holds a PhD in quantum physics, is an author, journalist, and broadcaster. He is a consultant at New Scientist, a weekly magazine with over three quarters of a million readers worldwide, has a biweekly column for the New Statesman, and is the author of the bestselling non-fiction title 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Playboy. He has lectured at New York University, The American Museum of Natural History, and Cambridge University. Visit michaelbrooks.org