We are, I trust, all but universally familiar with the knee jerk, or patellar, reflex. A doctor taps the patellar tendon with a rubber mallet, and our leg kicks forward in response. The reaction is ...

You might have experienced the popular knee jerk in the doctors room or you may have heard of someone having an automatic 'knee-jerk response' to a situation without thinking. Strange, isn't it? Well, ...