It is estimated that one in 2000 people experience a form of synesthesia, which means that sense perception might be "mixed up" (or perhaps "evolved")  from what is considered typical. For example, letters might always be perceived as having particular colors (A, for example, might always appear blue). Colors can be associated with sounds, or touch. People may see images or colors during a massage or while listening to music.

Recent research has revealed that "vision and hearing are inextricably linked in everyone's brain, but only synesthetes are aware of it" (The Globe and Mail, Dec. 30, 2006).

The sense of smell too can be involved, triggering images or colors. What is marvellous here for me is how diverse we are, and how hard it can be to fully appreciate what exactly might be going on inside another's head. Even as we all listen to the same music or read the same text, it is a challenge to appreciate the full range of perceptions which greet the work.

I like to joke that Alice B. Toklas had an experience with synesthesia. In her case, a bell rang in her head whenever she met genius.

Very excited by developments at the Chester Zoo, in England.  Flora, an 8 year old Komodo dragon, has reproduced all on her own.  Way to go, Flora!  After several months gestating, her eggs have recently hatched, although she never had any sort of contact with a male Komodo dragon.  This ability to clone oneself, called parthenogenesis, is quite common in the insect world, but has never been so clearly demonstrated before by Komodo dragons (which are very large lizards, at the top of the food chain).

Paternity tests show that while the young are not exact clones of the mother, there is no genetic input from a father.  Staff at the zoo are referring to Flora as the mother, and the father.

What is unknown is whether this is a recent evolutionary development in the world of Komodo dragons, or a latent ability which can be resorted to under restrictive conditions, such as being locked up in a zoo, or isolated on some Indonesian island. 

In any event, Flora has shown the world, once again, that we tend to underestimate the power of nature.