From the author of the bestselling "The Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" comes another incredible trip to an even more mysterious terrain. Michael Hanlon identifies ten scientific questions that we simply can't seem to answer and explains why these compelling mysteries will remain unsolved for years to comeHow did life begin? Why are there two sexes? Where did language originate? In Hanlon's characteristically witty style, he ponders the ways these questions have persisted in frustrating the best minds and asks what might be needed to get to the bottom of it all. From politics to lack of technology, each question has its own set of circumstances holding it back. By exploring these unanswerable questions, Hanlon exposes some of science's greatest failings and missteps--and charts a hopeful direction for getting science back on the road to discovery.

It has become received wisdom that our world is doomed, that we live in the End of Days. Bleak predictions by psychics and scientists alike portend extreme weather, droughts, famines and floods that will overtake humanity within the century, or sooner. If not global warming, then supervolcanoes, meteoric impacts, nuclear war, bioterrorism, or natural plagues will get us. But whatever happens, Michael Hanlon believes that humankind will go on...and on. The shape of things to come will be strange, and somewhat terrifying, but will very likely seem banal to the people who inhabit it in the future. Humankind may be thrown back to the Stone Age on hundreds of occasions and may come close to extinction. But recovery will follow--each time more rapidly than the last. The world of 10,000 years hence, let alone 100,000,000 years hence, will be strange and almost unrecognizable. But no matter how battered and re-born, it will still be "our" world, populated by "us" through eternity.

In the space of 60 seconds a body processes one quadrillion atoms of oxygen, several trillion molecules of carbon dioxide, and the untold products of digestion. After forty years, 90% of the atoms in our body are different. So are you still the same person? Science writer Michael Hanlon takes us into the depths of this and other scientific mysteries, exploring the oft-asked questions of young and old alike. In witty, engaging prose, Hanlon asks:

- Does your dog have a soul?

- Will we ever be able to live forever?

- Are we getting smarter?

- Is science really ready to discount the possibility of ghosts?

Science may not have all the answers (yet), but while taking us on this grand tour of today's scientific conundrums, Hanlon reveals the complexities behind the mysteries that persist, and shows us that the answers may be coming sooner than we think.