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Not long ago, writer Mary Roach got a real hands-on lesson on the gut: she got to stick her hand inside a real live cow stomach, and experience digestion from the inside. When we heard about her adventure, we had to try it ourselves—so producer Tim Howard headed to Rutgers ...

Mary Roach was determined to write the definitive 'sex in space chapter' in the history of space journalism. And although she gets into pondering what the pitfalls of sex in zero gravity might entail, her book "Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void" also broaches issues that most earthbound humans have never considered. 

To the rocket scientist, you are a problem. You are the most irritating piece of machinery he or she will ever have to deal with. You and your fluctuating metabolism, your puny memory, your frame that comes in a million different configurations. You are unpredictable. You’re inconstant. You take weeks to fix. The engineer must worry about the water and oxygen and food you’ll need in space, about how much extra fuel it will take to launch your shrimp cocktail and irradiated beef tacos. A solar cell or a thruster nozzle is stable and undemanding. It does not excrete or panic or fall in love with the mission commander. It has no ego. Its structural elements don’t start to break down without gravity, and it works just fine without sleep.

Mary Roach explores the strange universe of space travel. In Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, she looks at the science of preparing for life in space—a world devoid of the things we need to survive: air, gravity, hot showers, and fresh foods. She investigates what happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk and if its possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour.

Mary Roach is a fan of pot bellies. Find out what other favorite things she revealed after her appearance on The Leonard Lopate Show.