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Science Quotes by Mary Roach

44 Science quotes by Mary Roach

All Science quotes Mary Roach’s page

Mary Roach points out that sex is just biology, not a secret. She jokes about a penis looking like a boomerang and calls the rectum a "prison wallet." She also describes gravity acting strange, making people float like spooks. She says science is everywhere, from your head to your dog, and that boring is just not learning.

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I'm a science goober.

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All good research-whether for science or for a book-is a form of obsession.

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“It tastes like water spiked with strange.”

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“The slang for the rectum is "prison wallet".”

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“(The caption uses the scientific term for lip-licking: “lateral tongue protrusion.”)”

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“We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we…

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The simplest strategy for bouts of noxious flatus is to not care. Or perhaps to take advantage of a gastroenterologist I know:…

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Gravity disappears again, and we rise up off the floor like spooks from a grave. It's like the Rapture in here every…

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“Constipation ran Presley's life. Even his famous motto TCB— 'Taking Care of Business'— sounds like a reference to bathroom matters.”

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In 'Packing for Mars,' I tried to convey the importance of getting young people interested in science.

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“The researchers concluded that during intercourse in the missionary position, the penis “has the shape of a boomerang.”

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“I remember watching Morin walk away from me, the endearing gait and the butt that got lubed for science, and thinking, “Oh…

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“It's called the FATLOSE trail. FATLOSE stands for 'Fecal Administration To LOSE weight,' an example of PLEASE— Pretty Lame Excuse for an Acronym,…

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I've read plenty of amazing science pieces where the writers don't hang out in labs. I just have fun doing it. And…

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Saliva has antibacterial properties. It also has things called nerve growth factor, skin growth factor, histatins which help with wound closure. So…

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“It’s one thing to get enough evidence to convince yourself, but it’s a whole other matter to produce a demonstration that would…

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“I guess I believe that not everything we humans encounter in our lives can be neatly and convincingly tucked away inside the…

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Most of the people who are engaged in the subjects that I look into are pretty interesting. Whether its sex researchers or…

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Because there are now online databases of federally funded research, and these databases are searchable by keyword, sex researchers have to be…

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Ultimately, the problem is that sex is perceived as a personal, intimate thing, not in the realm of science. But that's not…

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“In a wartime survey conducted by a team of food-habits researchers, only 14 percent of the students at a women’s college said…

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“It’s possible that the reason I've never experienced a ghostly presence is that my temporal lobes aren't wired for it. It could…

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“We will be evaluating some nasty oils. You will have to put them in your mouth.* For the good of science. For…

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“During World War II, when combat rations were tinned, meat hashes were a common entrée because they worked well with the filling…

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“I like the term "decedent." It's as though the man weren't dead, but merely involved in some sort of protracted legal dispute.…

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“While he attends to his rats, Persinger gives me the lowdown on the haunt theory. Why would a certain type of electromagnetic…

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“There, just beyond his open palm, was our mother’s face. I wasn’t expecting it. We hadn’t requested a viewing, and the memorial…

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“With the rise of classical Greece, the soul debate evolved into the more familiar heart-versus-brain, the liver having been demoted to an…

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I believe that not everything we humans encounter in our lives can be neatly and convincingly tucked away inside the orderly cabinetry…

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“What sort of person experimentally infests a child with maggots? A confident sort, certainly. A maverick. Someone comfortable with the unpretty facts…

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“The human digestive tract is like the Amtrak line from Seattle to Los Angeles: transit time is about thirty hours, and the…

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“Not that there's anything wrong with just lying around on your back. In it's way, rotting is interesting too, as we will…

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“I challenge you to find a more innocuous sentence containing the words sperm, suction, swallow, and any homophone of seaman. And then…

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In the words of the late Francis Crick...You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal…

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“Footnote: In 1998, a woman in Saline, Michigan received a patent for a Decorative Penile Wrap...The patent included three pages of drawings,…

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Picking my topics is sort of a process of elimination for me. Most things don't work for me. I like to cover…

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For the scientists, they're kind of puzzled and pleased that somebody finds their work interesting. It makes it fun for me. I…

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Science is you! It's your head, it's your dog, it's your iPhone - it's the world. How do you see that as…

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“think of it.' said Robert Rosenbluth, a doctor whose acquaintance i made at the start of this book. 'no engineer could design…

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I very much was inspired by Bill Bryson. He does cover science, but more often, it's a mixture of science and travel,…

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More by Mary Roach

“Rawson points out that although snakes can’t taste, they have a primitive sense of smell. They’ll extend their tongue to gather volatile molecules and…

“As the number of Inuit who hunt has dwindled, so has the consumption of organs (and other anatomy not available for purchase at the…

For the most part, if somebody approaches me and says, 'I'd like to interview you,' who am I to say no, when I spend…

To me, death is dark, pain, grief.

“If you look at survivable crashes, it’s rare that even half the emergency exits open,” says Shanahan. “Plus, there’s a lot of panic and…

“…he was doing a breath hydrogen test. If you know the amount of hydrogen someone is exhaling orally, it's a simple matter to extrapolate…

“Viagra isn't the only drug being prescribed off-label for women with arousal problems. Los Angeles urologist Jennifer Berman told me some doctors are prescribing…

Sharing a room with a cadaver is only mildly different from being in a room alone. They are the same sort of company as…

Every now and then, someone will tell me that one of my books has made them laugh out loud. I never believe them because:…

“panel applicants at the initial screening were asked not only to describe the cat foods but also to rate them according to how much…

“* Kissing is a less aggressive form of bacterial transplant. Studies of three different gingivitis-causing bacteria have documented migration from spouse to spouse. Periodontically…

“Nirlungayuk reached a similar conclusion. I tracked him down, seventeen years later, and asked him what the outcome of his country-foods campaign had been.…

Astronauts are like these mythic legends, but really, they are just regular people, people who wear chinos.

“Olive trees grow in the same climate and soil conditions as grapes. The olive oil people have been up in Napa Valley all along,…

“A patient on the way to surgery travels at twice the speed of a patient on the way to the morgue. Gurneys that ferry…