The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science

Pursuing knowledge for its own sake often paves the way for unexpected practical applications, according to this boisterous study. York (Queens of the Jungle), a biology professor at Lenoir–Rhyne University, discusses how scientists studying algae native to Yellowstone’s boiling springs discovered the organisms possess an enzyme whose ability to withstand high temperatures made the laboratory DNA replication process more efficient and enabled the Human Genome Project. Elsewhere, she describes how biologist Frank Fish sawed off the 10-foot fin of a beached humpback whale to examine the evolutionary advantages of its tubercules. His finding that the bumps increase lift while decreasing drag inspired the design of more effective wind turbines. Each subject is stranger than the last, including rats capable of sniffing out tuberculosis, a frog made to levitate in a magnetic chamber, and pneumatic tubes that transport salmon across dams. This delightfully bizarre research proves that science can be as fun as it is important, and York brings an appropriately jocular tone to the proceedings. (“Patty Brennan didn’t set out to become one of the world’s premiere experts in animal genitalia,” York writes, discussing how the ornithologist discovered that female ducks have labyrinthine vaginas that stymie fertilization from unwanted partners.) This is pop science at its finest. Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media Group. (June)