The reaction of the liquid at the start of the film, and the reaction of the mur

I think there probably IS something to this. Very good point... [i]"I think we've affected the atmosphere in the room."[/i]

The crucible at the beginning had a kind of 'skin' that broke down dynamically to uncover the black liquid within. It could well have been exposure to air that kicked it off. There were two reactions in the ampule room: the urn activation and the transformation of the murals. Shaw's theory that the atmosphere triggered the change to the murals is a plausible explanation. Something that threw me a little when this happened is that the change was accompanied by a strange sound that sounds eerily reminiscent of the noise made by the baby alien in Alien 3 when it comes out of the dog. Did you notice when the sweating urn produces black goo that starts to slowly writhe and squirm, it soon picks up pace? In one shot you can see it going absolutely mental, at a frenzied pace.

MVMNT, yep, it seems 'air affects Urn-tech' but it's never 'really' explained other than Shaw stating we've altered it 'with our breath?' [i]which would be a carbon dioxide reaction[/i], not an oxygen one. CO2 is bad, is that the message?