A premature infant (26 weeks 6 days) in an incubator.Meconium is basically a baby or foetus’ first stool. Turd that is, not furniture item. Meconium is waste matter made up of amniotic fluid, mucus, water, bile, epithelial cells and lanugo (extremely fine downy hairs that the foetus sheds at about 33 to 36 weeks). Normally meconium stored in the infant's intestines until after birth. It doesn’t have much odour, it’s basically sterile, but it’s thick and sticky and in my opinion it’s pretty gross. It is perhaps even more gross when the meconium is expelled into the amniotic fluid. Sometimes (between 5 and 20 percent of the time) this happens during labour or delivery. The situation turns from unpleasant to dangerous if the baby inhales the meconium. It is not wise to breathe stools (of any kind). More . . .

I really should know better than to be surprised at the findings - and techniques – of science, but this is pretty cool. The 17 October edition of Nature Neuroscience published a paper detailing experiments in optogenetics. The researchers incorporated light-reactive proteins into the olfactory systems of mice, so that the systems are triggered by light rather than smell.

Basically they have genetically engineered the mice so their noses act like retina.

Now, the idea of mice being able to smell light is interesting (although perhaps not as fantastic as mice that can see odours), but of course that’s not the point of the research. More . . .

I've been involved with the Victorian Science Drama Awards for about 15 years. Students across Victoria write short pieces of theatre inspired by science. Sometimes this is a scientific phenomenon, sometimes a piece of science history, sometimes an exploration of the relevance to day-to-day life of a specific piece of research or technology.

Some years ago there was a piece about the elements. The script was centred about the planning for a party. The persona of each character was inspired by a chemical element. There was some debate among the judging panel about whether the piece sufficiently explained the scientific theory, although clearly the students who wrote the piece understood the theory very well. In the end we agreed that the Awards were not about teaching the audience anything in particular, but should be judged in equal part on the accuracy of the scientific information contained in them and the theatrical skill and creativity employed in the development of the piece.

From memory it was quite a fun piece, but the reason I mention it now is because I've discovered something similar (and equally fun) on YouTube. Here it is - enjoy!

Yours truly at the gates of . . .It was not until I arrived at Cincinnati and started reading a tourist brochure that I was reminded about the existence (and relative proximity) of the Creation Museum. I simply had to go there and see it for myself.

As you pull into Bullittsburg Church Road, Petersburg, Kentucky, you are greeted by a large white stone gateway adorned with a silhouetted Stegosaurus. The Creation Museum’s uniformed security officers point you in the direction of parking and you join the couples, families and groups (mainly church groups, going by the number of church buses in the car park) making their way to purchase tickets. An adult ticket will set you back $US23.27. I must admit that I was very uncomfortable adding to the coffers of this place or those of “Answers in Genesis”, the group behind the Museum, but for reasons of research and curiosity I paid up.

The notice on the back of the ticket explained that “loud, disrespectful, destructive, obscene or abusive behavior or inappropriate dress will not be tolerated”, so I was on my best behaviour. I also made sure I was dressed. I was concerned about my ability to remain quiet and polite, but at this point I honestly felt like this was going to be a bit boring. I was mistaken.

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The Living Roof at California Academy of Sciences. Photo: Mary VailOver the last couple of decades I have been to many science centers and museums around the world. A week ago I visited the California Academy of Sciences. It's not the biggest science museum I've been to, but it has some impressive features. There is a rainforest. On any one level it does not cover a great deal of floor space, but it extends through three vertical levels. This represents the various strata of the rainforest ecosystem from ground to canopy and emergence. There are frogs, birds and butterflies in the main rainforest section and lizards, snakes, ands and spiders in smaller exhibits around the edges. Of course there are also hordes of children running back and forth, tapping on things and screaming. This is exactly what they are designed to do, but mercifully children are rare in a real rainforest. Perhaps the Academy might consider "losing" a few in the forest - it would keep the noise down, produce a more authentic rainforest environment and generally add to the mystique of the display.

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