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XKCD Creator Visits Raleigh With New Book Of Science-Based Life Hacks

A drawing of Serena Williams establishing the best sports equipment for destroying drones.
A drawing of Serena Williams establishing the best sports equipment for destroying drones.
A drawing of Serena Williams establishing the best sports equipment for destroying drones.
Credit Randall Munroe / Riverhead Books
A drawing of Serena Williams establishing the best sports equipment for destroying drones.

XKCD is a stick-figure webcomic. While the drawings might be simple, the ideas explore universal concepts like romance, sarcasm, math, and language. The exchanges between stick figures can capture the imagination and attention span of a child while wading into complex astrophysics and existential dilemmas. 

Frank Stasio talks to Randall Munroe about how to engage with a distractible student through imaginative science.

Randall Munroe, the artist behind the webcomic, just released his newest book and is heading to the Hunt Library on Thursday for a sold-out ticketed discussion with North Carolina State University astrophysicist Katie Mack. His book is called "How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems" (Riverhead Books/ 2019) In it, Randall uses science to solve everyday predicaments like how to knock a drone out of the air using sports equipment. Host Frank Stasio talks to Munroe about how to engage with a distractible student through imaginative science.  

 

Munroe interviewed a NASA test pilot on how to land a spacecraft under the most extreme conditions.
Credit Randall Munroe / Riverhead Books
Munroe interviewed a NASA test pilot on how to land a spacecraft under the most extreme conditions.

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Grant Holub-Moorman is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show that features the issues, personalities and places of North Carolina.