Fuzzy Logic 11 February

This has to be a first: my adding the producer's report on the same day as the show... And after seven hours of drinking, laughing and feasting (thanks for the fun, guys).

Today's show featured a new recruit, Michael, as well as Pip, one of our experienced campaigners.

She kicked things off with the very disturbing news that there's a shingleback lizard who gives birth to young that are the equivalent in human size of a seven year-old. Their scales don't stretch outwards like humans do so the baby lizard expands upwards, meaning the poor mother's organs are pushed upwards and she can barely move or breathe.

Also:

• There's a new blood test taking advantage of the fact that human babies shed cells into the mother's bloodstream at about 5 weeks - the newly-found ability to isolate enough foetal DNA to detect genetic defects means that amniocentesis may be become a thing of the past.
• A sixth star has been discovered in the Southern Cross and a computer has written a fairytale all on its own (sort of).
• French scientists have worked out how bees are able to determine how fast they're flying (thus providing an explanation for why they fall into still ponds and drown)
• Other researchers have developed a computer that uses tiny bubbles instead of electricity to make calculations
• Female Antarctic fur seals aren't the passive individuals they've previously been supposed to be when it comes to choosing a mate to try and avoid inbreeding, whereas there's a fish that selectively breeds with brothers and sisters because for them inbreeding isn't a bad thing
• A 14 year-old transsexual in Germany wants to bring his sex-change operation forward by two years
• Brain scans have measured changes in blood flow that signal poeple's intentions
• The Vikings may have used special crystals and their property of birefringence to be able to navigate in cloud, fog or bad weather
• A really exciting new census of the bacteria on human skin has detected more of them than anyone ever realised, and many of which are new and unidentified (this is no cause for panic and at this point we dipped into Fuzzy Knows Best and I ranted a little about the use of antibacterial sprays and wipes in the home - DO NOT USE THEM. They only promote bacterial resistance to antibiotics and they are not necessary if you keep your home clean and practice personal hygiene. Our immune systems need constant stimulation, so let your kids go play in the mud, it's good for them)
• The CSIRO has just released a new real-time information tool to help graziers in eastern Australia better cope with the impact of climate variations on pasture production
• And finally, and perhaps the story that appealed to my warped sense of humour the most, was the bombshell that the United Kingdom weighs 24,000,000 billion tonnes. No, not its inhabitants, the actual, physical bits of the earth's crust that make up their land mass.

Today was also the day we officially said goodbye to Tim and Chris - both are migrating to other places and we shall miss them. Hopefully as our European and Sydney correspondents we can still keep them on the show through all this new-fangled technology stuff.

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