Bubble Brains

Government bureaucrats in space:

Of all the experiments Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki has carried out in space -- making sushi in a kimono and playing a harp -- blowing soap bubbles has arguably brought the biggest breakthrough.

Yamazaki on Wednesday mixed red tropical fruit juice with soap and blew shiny red bubbles in space to the delight of her daughter Yuki, who watched with the astronaut's husband Taichi on a video phone...

The experiment worked because space's zero-gravity environment allowed colour pigments to spread evenly around a bubble

Microgravity allows for research on new chemical compounds and metal alloys which simply cannot be performed in a gravity well. Private industrial research in space, driven by profit motive, could invent thousands of new products, improve our standard of living in ways we can't even imagine, and bring on the greatest acceleration in wealth creation since the exploration of the New World.

Good thing NASA and their foreign affiliates are on top of the bubble-blowing, sushi-making and harp-playing.