Matin Durrani - Science Journalist
Furry Logic in my hands
After a long hiatus writing anything on this blog, i am now planning to get back on track blogging. That's because I've got a real motivation this time, which is to promote a new popular-science book I've written with Liz Kalaugher called "Furry Logic: The Physics of Animal Life".
Published by Bloomsbury's Sigma Science imprint, it's due out on 6 October 2016 in the UK and in January 2017 in the US. Liz and I have been working on it for the last couple of years and it's great to have a hardback copy finally in my hands.
In the book, Liz and I examine some of the great mysteries of the animal world, explaining how physics lies at the heart of them.
Why, for example, do dogs slurp from their drinking bowls while cats lap up water with a delicate flick of the tongue? How does a tiny turtle hatchling from Florida circle the entire northern Atlantic before returning to the very beach where it was born? And how can a Komodo dragon kill a water buffalo with a bite only as strong as a domestic cat's?
As we explain in the book, these puzzles — and many more besides — are all explained by physics. From heat and light to electricity and magnetism, Furry Logic unveils the ways that animals exploit physics to eat, drink, mate and dodge death in their daily battle for survival.
We had fun writing the book, though it was hard work especially fitting it in around everything else going on in life. But we're pleased with it - so do please visit the book website made by the wonderful Katja Durrani for more information. Better still, please buy a copy!