The number of women on university science faculties has been growing too slowly to satisfy many people. But one category of researchers-miniature ones made of plastic-will soon get an infusion of female members. LEGO, the manufacturer of the plastic-block construction sets beloved by children everywhere, has announced that a new kit consisting of three female scientists and their research gear will hit the market by the fall. 

The new group is multidisciplinary, with figures representing an astronomer, a chemist, and a paleontologist. As LEGO deconstructs the stereotype that women can't do science, kids will be building a dinosaur, a telescope, and a chemistry lab. The three new figures join LEGO's first-ever female scientist, a member of an unspecified discipline that involves flasks of colored liquid, who  made her debut last year.

The idea for this kit beat out a number of other proposals. Maia Weinstock offers background at Scientific American.

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