The two subject areas have another parallel, since both address issues of origins, says the Caltech Carroll. “The two most interesting things are life and the universe, and we are both trying to figure out how they came to be what they are.”

Both Carrolls are prolific writers; the Caltech Carroll is a frequent blogger on astronomy and physics and has even blogged, with humor, about his experience as “the other” Sean Carroll.

But the two have crossed paths only in cyberspace. “I would love to meet him,” says the cosmologist of the biologist. “I am furiously typing away at my first popular book, and he has written a couple of books that I've enjoyed.” They may just meet up one day on the book tour circuit, he says.

HHMI's Carroll is game: “I'd love to meet Sean. My hunch is that we have similar senses of humor.”

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