Academics assemble!! Superheroes join forces to write book in a day

We caught up with three academics from the University of Surrey who joined forces with a team of other science communicators to perform the superhuman feat of writing a book in a weekend.

The book, called "The Secret Science of Superheroes", was written in a weekend during the Salford Science Festival. The idea for the book came from Professor Mark Lorch at the University of Hull, who assembled a crack team of science communicators, working in a single room to each contribute one chapter on different science topics, linked by the theme of 'superhero'.

The University of Surrey team comprised, Dr David Jesson, who wrote the chapter entitled "The Mechanics of Marvellous"; Dr Suze Kundu, who wrote the one called "The Science of Supersuits"; and Dr Mark Whiting, who wrote "Is it a ceramic? Is it graphene? No it’s vibranium".

Dr Jesson said: "We’ve covered interesting topics in an accessible way, looking at how cutting-edge science underpins the powers of superheroes.

"The book is aimed mainly at young adults, and should appeal to most age groups as well – it would be 'super' if the book gets people more interested in science and engineering.

"It was fun to write, and having to write an entire chapter in a weekend means you don’t have time to get writer’s block! The authors were experts from lots of different disciplines chipping in together as we wrote it in one room, and considering most of us were meeting for the first time, there was a great team spirit."