Why, I can't help wondering, is God thought to need such ferocious defence? One might have supposed him amply capable of looking after himself.

The recurrent laryngeal nerve - which runs from the head to the voice box - goes all the way down into the chest, loops around a major artery, then goes all the way back up again. It goes right past the larynx on the way down. All a decent designer would have to do is loop it off at that point. What we're looking at is the legacy of history.

There is no reason to regard God as immune from consideration along the spectrum of probabilities. And there is certainly no reason to suppose that, just because God can be neither proved nor disproved, his probability of existence is 50 per cent.

If you are asking me if my more global purpose is a battle against religion, it is.

Science is wonderful, science is important, and so are children, so are young people, and so what could be better than to write a science book for young people?

With so many mind-bytes to be downloaded, so many mental codons to be replicated, it is no wonder that child brains are gullible, open to almost any suggestion, vulnerable to subversion, easy prey to Moonies, Scientologists and nuns. Like immune-deficient patients, children are wide open to mental infections that adults might brush off without effort.

Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one.