The researchers regularly collect sea squirts from Blyth Harbour in Northumberland, where they are regarded as a pest because they foul up ropes and chains by attaching themselves in huge numbers.

BBC: Sea squirts aid fertility research

The ultrasound tech squirts gel on her belly, the expectant mom looks at the beating heart on the flickering screen, and a dozen friends and family members huddle in for a closer look -- drinks in hand.

MSN: Aging in place: Most seniors want to stay put

If all goes to plan, come 2007, Japanese phone users will not use an electric charger to power their mobiles, they will instead carry a small bottle of methanol and with just a few squirts, they will have power for their phones.

CNN: Search for better phone power

These printers use something like a toothpaste tube of plastic or other material held vertically in an X-Y plotter that squirts out thin layers of tiny dots of material that build up, layer by layer, to produce a 3D replica of the computer-generated design.

FORBES: Why I Believe That This Will Be The Most Innovative Decade In History