All that is required to take an interest in science is to discover something of personal relevance. 

I gave a good deal of thought as to which comic shop dweller should speak up, and I decided to go with the one clearest to early Tedd in priorities. So... Yay Rich...?

I SAID "YAY" O_O

Non-Newtonian

Confession: I likely would have failed to make Tedd sound knowledgeable in panel three if I had not been reminded of that term by readers. I have heard it before, and again, it was because of Mythbusters, but I had been planning to just refer to this general idea without the mention of anti-newt-conans or whatever.

The general concept is one I've heard many times applies to super defenses. Not specifically to explain why someone's skin appears normal, and potentially not even involving skin, but just the idea that *something* activates when hit, or about to be hit, by something with enough speed and/or force.

I believe I've most commonly heard this as explanation for how individual force shields work in science fiction, though I haven't been keeping track or anything. I'm pretty sure it's a thing in Mass Effect, though if I'm mistaken, about ten thousand people will let me know.