Sniffing drugs may prove a more useful method of administration to the brain when access via the bloodstream is limited, or if they cause undesirable side effects elsewhere when taken by mouth. German scientists got volunteers to sniff compounds known to affect brain function. The concentrations of all but one compound rose rapidly in brain fluid, with little change seen in the general circulation (Nature Neuroscience 2002; advance online publication www.nature.com/neuro/10.1038/nn849).

The Cremation Society of Great Britain has announced that the 2002 cremation conference will take place in Torquay in July. Minerva was amused to read that the conference hotel has a “cliff top position” and that one of the talks to be given by a social anthropologist is entitled “Where have all the ashes gone?”

Despite the careful wording on British cremation forms asking doctors about the possibility of pacemakers being left in situ, a recent survey found that half of crematoria workers who responded had experienced a body exploding during cremation …