Dome Watch: A weekly series that tells you what Peter Mandelson wants kept from you: what's underneath The Millennium Dome

'Kelp! I need somebody!' comes the familiar cry from the customers of Cheshire-based Innovative Technologies, the firm which has patented a seaweed dressing for weeping wounds. This British product developed by Dr Keith Gilding, a polymer chemist, and his geneticist wife, Dr Diane Mitchell, is thought to be destined for special display inside the Docklands Dome.

It relies on the fact that seaweed can absorb up to 30 times its own weight in liquid and yet still allow the skin beneath to breathe.

The 'calcium alginate' dressing first went on sale in the US a couple of years ago and, after a bumpy launch, is now riding the crest of a proverbial wave.

Other potential applications of the seaweed weave include surgical gloves and condoms.