That figure of speech to do with the wrong end of the stick might apply to this weeks guests at ANSTO who will be talking about their innovative tool for better understanding constipation.
In what's probably one of the most unusual talks we've hosted at ANSTO, Professor John Arkwright from CSIRO and Dr Phil Dinning from Flinders University Medical Centre will join us for our Distinguished Lecture Series to talk about the dynamics of swallowing in the most interesting way.
Professor Arkwright and Dr Dinning were winners of the 2011 ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology for a fibre optic cable that can be used to investigate the intricate workings of the human colon.
Their Eureka journey started in many ways over 15 years ago, when John was working on submarine telephone systems, and Phil was trying to work out what to do with a degree in Marine Biology.
"In a very strange combination of events, Phil ended up studying intractable constipation and I started making fibre optic catheters for studying the dynamics of swallowing," Professor Arkwright said.
Somewhere between the oesophagus and rectum they teamed up and have since gone on to use optical fibre to investigate, and even start to understand, the intricate workings of the human colon.
Join us at ANSTO's Lucas Heights campus as the two present the highs and lows of their journey, and even perhaps some of the humorous times in between.