We all know that cats' eyes glow in the dark, but what about their skin? Haven't you always wanted a cat that glowed softly so that you could always find it at night?

No, nor have I - but it seems genetic engineers like the idea. MSNBC reports that US scientists have created a cat that glows in the dark. The Frankenfeline, Mr. Green Genes, was cloned at the Audubon Nature Institute, New Orleans, and was displayed last week on the Today programme. A modified gene inserted during his creation means that his skin is phosphorescent and glows under ultraviolet (UV) light. So strictly speaking he doesn't glow in the dark, you'd need a "black light" torch to find him at night.

My first reaction to the idea of a phosphorescent cat was "Why?", however there is a serious point to this. The phosphorescence wasn't the objective of the experiment, simply an easy way to check that it had worked. Betsy Dresser, senior vice president for the Audobon Institute, said:

"We wanted to know for sure that we could insert this gene into a cell and have it multiply. If nothing glows, we wouldn’t know if the gene was really inserted. So, because it glows, we know we inserted the gene and were successful with that technique."

The idea is that the genetic engineering techniques being explored at the Institute might one day be used to help save endangered species or even help cure disease in humans.

One worrying thing is that Mr Green Genes isn't sterile. Dresser commented "We’ll breed him and we’ll see if his kids glow, too!" Given that the cat's being trotted round TV studios I worry about the risk of him running off and spreading his modified genes in the wild. I've nothing against genetic experimentation in the lab but it really mustn't be allowed to escape into the wild in the way that GM food has done; it's a genie that can never be put back in the bottle.

One of the problems facing any science fiction story or SETI style project is communication between humanity and an alien race. Even assuming the aliens use symbol-based communication, how do we learn their language when we have no cultural historical or cultural reference points? Most fiction gets round this problem by assuming some sort of Star Trek style "Universal Translator".

Such an interplanetary Rosetta Stone is way beyond our current technology however it might have just come one small step closer to reality.

The Telegraph reports that Dr John Elliott of Leeds Metropolitan University is working on a computer program to help analyse alien messages and work out their language. Elliot's theory is that any language must have a structure and it should be possible to decode some of that structure - for instance identifying verbs and adjectival phrases - even if we don't know the meaning of the "words". To assist in this pattern recognition Elliot is analysing the syntax of dozens of different human languages.

Elliot also suggests that we might be able to deduce something about the aliens' intelligence level from the complexity of their language. Personally I think we just need look at whether or not they know how to use apostrophes correctly.

New evidence - if any were needed - that strangeness is often a lot closer than we think. Associated Press reports that humble, everyday Scotch Tape you buy in the stores can emit X-Rays!

The discovery was made by researchers at the University of California, LA, whilst peeling Scotch tape in a vacuum. The team were following up older reports from Russia in 1953 that peeling sticky tape could produce X-rays. The researchers were sceptical about the Russian reports, however they found to their surprise that X-rays were indeed emitted when Scotch tape was peeled in a vacuum. The high energy pulses were sufficient to allow the researchers to take Xray photos of their fingers.

The mechanism behind this discovery - called triboluminescence - is unclear and has a number of scientists puzzled. One theory is that splitting a crystal separates out positive and negative charges that then neutralise each other and release energy as light or - in this case - X-rays. However this theory fails to explain why quite so much energy is released, especially given the nature of the adhesive on the tape.

The researchers are keen to avoid worrying people about using sticky tape and stress that their experiments require the tape to be peeled in a vacuum. Team member Juan Escobar said: "We don't want to scare people from using Scotch tape in everyday life".