The Great Escape.

Over the last few weeks, one dozen snails lived in polystyrene boxes in the STEM Lab. We enjoyed studying them and their slow, graceful ways. Now, with the lids taken off their boxes, the snails wasted no time escaping. They seemed to enjoy the fresh air and renewed contact with terra firma. The snail dubbed "Usain Bolt" was the first to make it out of the box, stretching its foot and extending tentacles in anticipation of freedom. -mjp 

"After weeks of around-the-clock companionship, there was no doubt about the relationship: the snail and I were officially cohabiting. I was, I admit, attached. I felt some guilt that it has been taken, unasked, from its natural habitat, yet I was not ready to part with it. It was adding a welcome focus to my life, and I couldn't think how I would otherwise have passed the hours" (from Elisabeth Tova Bailey, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating).