The title “Tasty skin” may make you think of crispy potato skins, but this week I read an article about an animal that also has an edible skin – the caecilian female feeds its young by letting them peel off bits of its skin, which contain the nutrients for it to grow.

It makes my skin itch just to think about it!

An interesting piece of news caught my eye this week – tourists are being warned of tough drug laws in the United Arab Emirates.

This is the only country that I have ever been to in the Middle East, and even then I only saw the airport as I was in transit between Singapore and London. I can remember how the cabin crew told us to leave our hand luggage on the plane to avoid any problems when re-boarding.

Maybe now I understand why – the article describes how people have been sentenced for having minute amounts of cannabis stuck to their shoes. Other had prescription medicines with them.

The one that really makes me shudder is the man traveller who had poppy seeds on his clothes from a bread role that he had eaten and was sentenced to four years in jail!

It all makes me want to stay away from that country.  But wait – only today I read that Germany has a similar situation.  Apparently eating three pieces of poppy seed cake is sufficient to fail a roadside drugs test, resulting in the loss of your driving license.

I think I’ll stick to cheese cake!

The German Focus magazine reported yesterday about a new technology that means that clothes made with it no longer would have to be washed – they clean themselves.

It sounds like science fiction – remember the jacket in Back to the Future II that dried itself?

Or maybe it’s April Fool’s Day and I didn’t notice?

No – it’s serious. The textiles are treated with titanium dioxide, which reacts with sunlight to set off nanoparticles that remove dirt and bad smells, and this has more far-reaching implications that just not having to wash your clothes.

Firstly, the titanium dioxide is considered non-toxic to the environment, and secondly, by not having to wash the clothes the amount of detergent released into the water supply would be reduced.

Great news for the fashion industry and the environment – not so good news for makers of washing machines and washing powder!