Science is My Co-Pilot

Wired

So I'm a pretty big fan of end-of-the-year lists. Don't know why, exactly. Maybe because I take some aesthetic pleasure in having a year boiled down to ten conveniently packaged bullet points -- something my brain can handle around the holidays...

Anyhoo. I ran into this 10 ten list: Smithsonian Magazine's top 10 science blog posts, and while 14 facts about chickens and the myth of frozen jeans beckoned, my attention went immediately to #2: "Life without left turns."

Anyone who knows me knows how much I detest making left turns. I will drive a mile out of my way to avoid making a difficult left turn -- especially one at a stop sign on a busy street. In fact, I create mental road maps of the cities I live in, dotted with right-turn only routes.

My wife thinks I am crazy, but, really, it's good science!

Avoiding left turns saves on fuel!

Avoiding left turns saves time and lives!

Thanks, Smithsonian Magazine! Now while I'm traveling a mile out of my way, or cutting across town in that counter-intuitive way of mine in the name of avoiding left-hand turns, I have scientific evidence on my side!