Author: Roach, Mary (Keywords)

What happens when nature and humanity clash? In past centuries, wild animals who broke the law would be given lawyers and put on trial. But what's the solution now, as we humans dominate the planet and don't like it when wildlife gets in the way? In this fresh, funny and thoroughly-researched boo...

At a converted movie studio amputee actors help prepare army medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds, while at the base for anti-terror operations in East Africa diarrhoea threatens national security. Beyond weapons and strategy, this is about the other side of war - how to tackle the chal...

Eating is the most pleasurable, gross and necessary process we humans undertake. Yet few of us realise what strange miracles of science operate inside us after every meal. Mary Roach breaks bread with spit connoisseurs, competitive hot dog eaters and stomach slugs, as she investigates the beginni...

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. Space agencies have set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations, and it's possible to preview space without ever leaving Ea...

What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that's that? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness, persist? This work seeks answers from a varied crew of modern and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove or disprove that life g...

Everything you ever wanted to know about what happens to bodies after they die. In this exploration into the macabre, Mary Roach tells a story that reaches from medieval pharmacies, stories of 19th century body snatching, to the present-day Body Farms, and conferences on human composting.