The Truth about Dogs and Cats

mrebelo (28)in #science-communication • 7 years ago (edited)

I'm a scientist and I always cared about sharing the wonders of scientific world with non-scientists.

I carried out a science communication blog for more than 10 years. It was an amazingly entertaining and rewarding experience. In 2012, I collected some of the most read, interesting texts and published a book: 'The truth about dogs and cats'.

The original cover, showing the arches of the old aqueduct in the Lapa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. The subtitle translates as 'a scientific, interesting and entertaining view of the matters that envolves men and women'. Illustration by José Carlos Garcia.

Of course, the most popular texts were those talking about the scientific aspects of things that everyone wants to know more about: love, sex, behaviour, hormones... things that influences men and women relationships. Things in which men and women are so different, that they are almost like different species. Thus the 'dogs' and 'cats' metaphor.

The book is fun, although sometimes controversial, and people like it. It always bothered me, though, that my audience was limited by the language of the content. I've always wanted to publish the book in English, but... you know... it was hard to find the time or the platform to do it. Till now. I decided to translate the book and share it here.

This post is the Syllabus of the book. The links will be updated as I publish the posts with the chapters. I hope you will read, enjoy, share and upvote.

PROLOGUE
"I'm not cosmic dust"
Models

MALE AND FEMALE
“Squeeze my balls, baby!”
“Why am I a lunatic magnet?"
The Patrons night
Men are all the same. Women too.
If you really wanna know "what do women really want"
Men who cry
The Cinderella gene
Is he...
The sex of the angels
What is you worth?

THINKS ABOUT NOTHING BUT SEX
Asexual reprodution
80 million years without getting laid
Which bug is this?
Contorcionist
Milk
What is Semelparity
Observations
Use protection!

SO MANY EMOTIONS
The Muse
Blind, death and mute
The trick or threat of selfish genes
Lost and Found
Why is it so hard to change?
The Moult - A poetical biological tale about moving on
Why we feel fear?
Eyes wide shut
“It was... because... I was afraid...”
Will you try?
The logics behind anger
Posology
Sensitivity and Specificity

SOCIAL NETWORKS
Density 0,12 or 'how to make the perfect guest list'
Sense and sensitivity
Everything your astrologer won't tell you
What is normality?
‘Outliers’ and ‘Outsiders’168
Incoherent?! Me?!
Non conformant
The immortality pill
Heavy consciousness

EPILOGUE
What if Lamarck was write
What is adaptatvie flexibility?

EXTRAS: NATURAL SELECTION AND EVOLUTION
October the 23rd 4004 A.C.
What is the age of life?
The next 150 years
A brief history of humans
When humans started to speak

I had a lot of people to thank at the time. Friends whom, telling me stories, chitchatting or seriously, or more or less seriously speaking, helped me writing the book. They are (in alphabetic order) Alejandra Martinez, Cristine Barreto, Eduardo Goldenberg, Josiane Rodrigues, Leila Vecchio, Milton Moraes, Renata Curi, Sara Silleman, Sônia Rodrigues and Stevens Rehen.

Original cover and Catalog entry
R291
Rebelo, Mauro de Freitas.
A verdade sobre cães e gatos
Uma visão científica, interessante e divertida sobre as questões que envolvem homens e mulheres /Mauro de Freitas Rebelo: Rio de Janeiro: Sinergia, 2012. 212p.
ISBN: 978-85-7947-103-02