Mark Lewney, scientist and rock guitarist, greeted those taking their seats at his SciFest presentation with fully amplified rock guitar licks.

SciFest 08, St. Louis' first annual International Science Festival, kicked off at high altitude on Thursday with a showing of the popular IMAX film "Everest" followed by a presentation by members of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team.

SciFest's version of Project Runway this weekend encouraged contestants to design and make eco-friendly clothing.

Materials ranged from the traditional -- silk and wooden buttons -- to more unconventional -- shower curtain valences, placemats, neckties and dryer lint.

As scientific studies increasingly point to problems with plastics made with bisphenol A, or BPA, the Food and Drug Administration has failed to give consumers adequate warning. 

The Science Center's SciFest, which starts Thursday, is more than an ambitious 5-day celebration designed to make science accessible to and fun for St. Louisans. It's also intended to raise St. Louis's visibility as a world-class science center. Among dozens of presentations: the physics of baseball, the science of dating.

Jingyue (Jimmy) Liu, Ph. D., director of the Center for Nanoscience at the University of Missouri St. Louis, has focused much of his attention on making better chemical catalysts. His work embodies many of the principles important to nanoscience and nanotechnology

A catalyst increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself becoming changed. For instance, enzymes are biological catalysts; that pepsin in your stomach causes the breakdown of lots of proteins, but doesn't break down itself in the process.

George Johnson still misses his dog, Boswell. And remembering the terrier, got the biology professor to thinking about the ancestor of dogs: wolves, coyotes, jackals or some combination?

The tainted baby formula scandal in China clearly demonstrates why regulation and testing are not optional. Greed will harm the innocent in the absence of supervision.