1. Calling all women engineers! If you are not already a member, I cannot recommend the Women's Engineering Society too highly. My first WES Conference proved the perfect antidote to the feeling I developed when I started out in the profession: "I am not a man (like 90% of the people I meet) and I am not a 'normal' woman - so what am I?" I discovered I was a member of a wonderful sub-group of people who are creative, broad-visioned and, from having experienced being seen as "odd" themselves, with a far greater capacity than the average population to accept quirks in others. Then when I gave up my job to raise my family, I found WES friends valued the totality of my life experience and still saw me essentially as an engineer, in contrast to male former colleagues who considered me effectively dead. WES events give women from different fields of engineering and at different stages of their careers a chance to get together and draw strength from one another. I see the friendship which develops between Wendy and Andrea as a microcosm of WES.

2. Science fiction has always been the genre in which ethical questions have been most intensively examined. I consider it no coincidence that many of our most influential science fiction writers to date have also been prominent Humanists. It is much easier to follow a train of thought to its logical conclusion if you are free from belief in "God" and the authority of holy writ. American Humanist Isaac Asimov was undoubtedly the writer who made most extensive use of the robot story to examine ethical questions in general; indeed, the creation of a machine intelligence comparable to our own possibly presents the greatest challenge to the way we think of our place in the Universe. I find Humanism gives me a useful framework for tackling ethical questions large and small, whilst British Humanist Association membership brings access to a wealth of relevant information and the fellowship of others who are similarly interested. There are also local Humanist groups around the country (and around the world). For historical reasons, many of the older ones are known as 'Secular Societies'. The oldest in the world is Leicester Secular Society, which is also unusual for having retained its original building, the magnificent Secular Hall.

3. Artificial Intelligence which is capable of learning is a very new thing in today's world. To see its leading edge, take a look at Jabberwacky. Jabberwacky chatbot George won the 2005 Loebner Prize and Jabberwacky chatbot Joan won the 2006 one. You may think it has a long way to go, but creator Rollo Carpenter is a man not short on ambition, as you will see if you check out his commercial arm, Icogno Limited.

4. Humanoid robots truly capable of sharing human living environments are still some way off. The most promising innovations are currently coming out of the workshop of David Buckley.

5. Breastfeeding advocates in our bottle-feeding culture are working hard to get the slogan 'Breast is Best' dropped in favour of 'Breast is Normal'. As a Breastfeeding Counsellor and Breastfeeding Counsellor Tutor, I took great pleasure in creating a character for whom breastfeeding is an everyday part of raising a child, whilst her passions and problems lie elsewhere. Breastfeeding is natural but, like most human behaviour, not instinctive, and good quality information is essential for any woman wanting to do as well at it as Wendy. The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers is a particularly inclusive and baggage-free organisation dedicated to helping mothers and babies get the very best out of their breastfeeding experience.

6. Brompton bicycles? You can't spend more than five minutes in London without seeing one! I've had my Brompton since 1992, and have become convinced that if I were restricted to owning only one bicycle, this would be it. The bicycle technology references in relation to my robots, especially those which drew inspiration from the new Brompton catalogue, started out as a joke. But consider this: bicycles and humanoid robots are both human scale structures bearing human scale loads, so some cross-fertilisation of technology may well be beneficial to the development of both. You heard it first here!

7. Oxy-whatsit? If you'd like to know more about this interesting feature of the human program, Wikipedia has a good bit on oxytocin.

8. Fabulous designer bunting for every home and every occasion but not at designer prices! If you think you are HCR-328's Number One Fan, you're in competition with Kate Wood who runs the British Bunting Company.

9. To have one's work hailed as an act of courage is a wonderful thing, especially by a man who is both a petroleum engineer and a Samaritan. So I have no hesitation in recommending the wonderfully clever technical solutions offered by Brian Moffatt's petroleum fluids consultancy, Petrophase.

10. If you would like to find out a little more about me, I now have a personal web page giving biographical information.