Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the United States because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.

When a ton of wheat was being moved from Buffalo to New York City before the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it took three weeks and cost $100, but when the canal was used, it took less than eight days and cost less than $6.

Researchers have announced that the magnetic fields emitted by one manufacturer's security surveillance system, of which type there are 200,000 worldwide, can interfere with pacemakers and that this interaction can bring on missed or irregular heartbeats, nausea, breathlessness, dizziness, and even fainting.

By the same techniques used for genetically enhancing plants, making them disease-or pest-resistant, researchers have been able to increase the amount of protein in potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tobacco.

Researchers are using computer images to help surgeons plan difficult operations and to develop programs that will work for doctors and nurses in the same way that flight simulators do for pilots, letting medical personnel practice their techniques and test their reflexes before they ever see a patient.

Citing the recent increase in earnings by several computer companies, economists feel that a cycle has begun in which personal computer users, especially corporate consumers, are replacing their PC's with more powerful models.

The artist Renoir's last word was "flowers," spoken as they arranged a bouquet of roses just picked from his garden in a vase on his bedroom windowsill.

Gas hydrates, chemical compounds of water and natural gas, are increasingly being studied for their potential to be huge reservoirs of energy, possibly causing sea floor instability, and significant contributors to global warming.

Scientists have recently discovered that the ultrathin, layered construction of a butterfly's wings, the same as the one making some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence, are enabling the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

Biologists working in Spain say that their discovery of teeming life in a highly acidic river may not only broaden the search for life, or for evidence of past life, on other planets but also show that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have long thought hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria.