At Dr Dario's laboratory, the Centre for Research in Microengineering, scientists have been designing prototypes of capsule robots that have legs for active locomotion.

All but five of the mothers had gone to college; all but one had been active, before or after marriage, as scientists, laboratory technicians, physicians, nurses, librarians, artists.

But for an active galaxy Centaurus a is close, a mere 10 million light-years away, and is a relatively convenient laboratory for exploring these powerful sources of energy.