’ THINGS You 20 Didn’t KNOWABOUT EVERYTHING By the Editors of DISCOVER Magazine and Dean Christopher With Reporting by Jason Stahl CONTENTS Preface iv 1. Airport Security, 1 2. Aliens, 17 3. Ancient Weapons, 38 4. Bees, 53 5. Birth, 68 6. Your Body, 83 7. Death, 103 8. Duct Tape, 123 9. Germs, 136 10. The Internet, 151 11. Meteors, 166 12. Milk, 180 13. Mosquitoes, 195 14. Obesity, 208 15. Rats, 223 16. Sex in Space, 239 17. Sleep, 255 18. Space Disasters, 274 19. Sperm Banks, 291 20. Weather, 306 Acknowledgments 323 About the Authors Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher PREFACE irst off, apologies for the title. We know, it’s absurd. 20 Things F You Didn’t Know About Everything, indeed! For one thing, there are surely many more than 20 things that you—like all of us—don’t know about any one thing. On another level, it’s obvious to anyone smart enough to read the title that no book can possibly contain even one thing you don’t know about every single thing! That way lies infinity, madness, an impossibly bulky volume. Imagine the cost of paper, ink, printing, shipping. We never meant to be taken literally, so a little slack is clearly in order. But you did pick up the book. Chances are it was for one of two reasons: (1) you’re inherently curious or (2) you want to prove us wrong, because you’re used to knowing just about ev- erything. Either way, this book can be useful to you. Aristotle wrote that whenever our minds expand to encom- pass new ideas or information, they never shrink back to their original dimensions. Even if the information is faulty, even if the ideas are rejected, once stretched, consciousness tends to stay stretched. So consider this book an entertaining, relaxing way to stretch your mind. We designed it to be interesting, informative, and fun to read, whether you skip around or (for the highly structured) v * Preface churn through from front to back. It’s not a textbook, not a collec- tion of learned monographs. So if you’re a specialist in some topic listed here, seeking fresh esoterica in your particular field, you should probably put this down and buy some other book. No harm done; maybe our next book will be more up your alley. A quick word about “facts.” By the time you finish this book (depending, of course, on when you buy it and how quickly you read), some—perhaps even all—time-sensitive information may be outdated. Biggest, Fastest, Most Advanced—all those “facts” evaporate as new records are set. Planets get discovered, one “greatest disaster” supersedes another, unexpected diseases and treatments emerge, and so forth. Anyone who deals with science, technology, and the future (as Discover magazine does—see our cover) lives in a world that’s constantly being updated and rein- vented by eager scientists, technologists, and futurologists who strive constantly to prove themselves (or even better, to prove oth- ers) wrong. So take 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Everything with a smidge of sodium chloride (NaCl). Read it at your leisure. Ex- pand your mind. Exercise your abs by laughing at anecdotes and quotes from people both famous and forgotten. You’ll probably find much here to amuse you and add perspective to those things you already know. As far as we know, everything in these pages is true. Or, as the Italians like to point out, even if it isn’t true, it ought to be. Happy reading. —The Editors 20 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT AIRPORT SECURITY I think arriving at or departing from any airport in America is just horrendous these days. —RO G E R M O O R E, British actor nyone who travels by air has good reason to be concerned. A Besides post-9/11 jitters, we increasingly hear reports of flaws in the air traffic system, overworked flight controllers, computer failures at peak traffic hours, near misses in the air and on the ground. One carefully underreported threat (don’t panic the custom- ers) is shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles—easy to operate, inexpensive, and readily available—presently impossible for civil- ian airliners to defend against. Our airplanes are, if not sitting, at least slow-flying ducks for terrorists. Cited again and again is incompetence at all levels of the agencies tasked with aviation security. Most “security measures” supposedly in place to protect air travelers are highly cosmetic. Officials at the highest levels proclaim that “the government is doing everything in its power to counter terrorism.” We hope that this brief review of airport security—or lack thereof—will move readers to demand genuine, efficient action from people who know what they are doing. 2 * 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Airport Security There is little doubt that the main terrorist threat is not box cutters, daggers, or handguns but explosive devices. These are either ob- tained on the open market or improvised (“home cooked”) by an ever- growing cadre of skilled amateur bomb makers. There are endless ways to blow things up, limited only by imagination and opportunity. The terrorists’ slogan: “You have to thwart us 100% of the time. We have to succeed only once.” All security people, and all people who fly, are constantly aware of this. But it’s impossible to protect every target every moment of every day. So we gather the best intelligence we can, deploy our most advanced technology and assessment tools, and pray the terrorists will make mistakes. How long this strategy can keep us safe is any- body’s guess. *** 1. THE VUITTON WENT BOOM. The vast majority of terror kill- ings on airlines are by bombs hidden in checked luggage. To date, less than half of all checked baggage (and almost no cargo) is screened for explosives. El Al Airlines, with the world’s most efficient security, is often consulted for anti-terror advice. In 1987 an Israeli ex- pert drafted a thorough security plan for Pan American Air- ways. It involved profiling passengers, hiring only professional security staff (not minimum-wage high school dropouts), and carefully inspecting all carry-on items, checked baggage, and hold cargo. The company rejected the idea as “overly expensive” and “intrusive to passengers.” A year later, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland—from a bomb in unin- 3 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Airport Security * spected checked baggage. Pan Am soon after went out of business. As long as airlines continue to gamble with passengers’ safety just for the sake of stockholders’ dividends, we are all in danger. According to the Department of Homeland Security, about 730 million people travel on commercial airliners each year. More than 700 million pieces of their baggage are screened for explosives and other danger- ous items—or so they claim. Of course, we should all be aware of what we’re packing in our carry-on luggage—anything that might be considered dangerous could be confis- cated at a security checkpoint. —DAVID NEELEMAN, founder, JetBlue Airways 2. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WHEN BOARDING, PLEASE DO NOT CARRY OR WEAR ANYTHING. On average, 1 in 17 passen- gers is carrying what the FAA terms a “dangerous item.” The TSA’s loose definition of “potential weapons” includes hairspray and ballpoint pens. Extra-heavy jewelry is prohibited. Grandma’s old iron brooch could be used to club a pilot; big pins, rings, cuf- flinks, lanyards, bracelets, or necklaces just might . Clothing with snaps = suspicion! Also, ornate belt buck- les, bras with wire reinforcements (discrimination against the ample-bosomed?)—and whose throat could Tiffany’s tin 4 * 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Airport Security butterfly barrette slash? Passengers with body piercings get close screening—even pat-downs or body searches—depend- ing upon what has been pierced and how dramatically. If anyone wonders why the airlines are not doing well it is because flying has been made such an unpleasant and degrading experi- ence. —K EI T H HENSON, U.S. scientist 3. PEEK-A-BOO, I SEE YOU! (And maybe your hidden explo- sives.) Orlando International Airport has installed Rapiscan Secure 1000, a full-body X-ray device that allows screeners to see through clothing. And Sky Harbor International Air- port in Phoenix is testing its own system, the Backscatter, designed to scan passengers’ bodies for dangerous things. Privacy advocates are resisting these snoop technologies, delaying their inclusion in America’s arsenal of anti-terrorist security devices. The ACLU says that use of the Rapiscan Secure 1000 amounts to unlawful strip search. And trans- gendered passengers have a set of problems all their own. The X-ray machines can identify most known plastic or liquid explo- sives as well as non-metallic weapons that are often—indeed, usu- ally—missed by the metal detectors currently in service. Sensitive to modesty issues, the Transportation Security Administration is work- ing to adjust Backscatter’s imaging to blur private areas while remain- ing clear in places most likely to harbor threats. Won’t this just encourage terrorists to conceal weapons in the body areas most likely to be blurred? 5 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Airport Security * Increased and better screening for explosives is necessary—and Con- gress should fund it and TSA should implement it as quickly as possible. However, that screening doesn’t reduce the risk posed by a trained terror- ist with an unconventional weapon. —DAVE REICHERT, U.S. politician 4. BEYOND SMART MACHINES.