What if? （Randall Munroe）

Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD 'a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language' which offers a witty take on the world of science and geeks. It now has 600,000 to a million page hits daily. Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate. He liked these questions so much that he started up What If?
•If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how long would you survive?
•How dangerous is it, really, to be in a swimming pool in a thunderstorm?
•What if everyone only had one soulmate?
•When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British empire?
•What would happen if the moon went away?
In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity.
Randall Munroe is the author of the science question-and-answer blog What If, and the popular webcomic xkcd. A former NASA roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the Internet full-time, supporting himself through the sale of xkcd t-shirts, prints, posters, and books. He lives in Massachusetts.