And finally, there was a small but poignant victory for science communication at last week's science festival in Cheltenham. During one public session, academics discussed synaesthesia - a condition in which a person interprets a signal from one of the senses as coming from another sense, that is "seeing" sounds or "hearing" colours. Interesting stuff, but a revelation for one woman in the audience, who had kept her strange sensory reactions a secret for years after being reprimanded for complaining that words didn't taste nice at school, suffering quietly when she was too "full" to eat after a morning of lessons.