Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras; instead, designers of everything from cars to computer monitors have adopted a cornerless style of smooth surfaces and curves that is more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape for its own sake.

The Chicago and Calumet Rivers originally flowed into the St. Lawrence by way of Lake Michigan, but having been redirected by constructing canals so that the water now empties into the Mississippi by way of the Illinois River.

Like the great navigators who first sailed around the Earth, to gather information about its size and curvature of its surface, new observations have been made by astronomers that show with startling directness the large-scale geometry of the universe.

Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine’s.

Unlike the steam locomotive, which required an hour or two of firing up before it was possible to move under its own power, nearly full power could be summoned almost instantly from the cold engine of a diesel locomotive.

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously found in North America.

Using technology as new as space-age fabrics and as ordinary as common dry-cleaning chemicals, scientists and historians, in their attempt at cleaning and preserving the American flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore in 1814, are hoping that it will then last another 200 years.

Like those of the African white and black rhinos, the Sumatran rhino has two horns, but the front one is generally less than a foot long and the second is so small that it often appears to be missing.

As it is with traditional pharmacies, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to be successful, since it is primarily prescriptions that attract the customers, who then also buy other health-related items.

According to one expert, the cause of genetic irregularities in many breeds of dog is not so much that dogs are being bred for looks or to meet other narrow criteria as that the breeds have relatively few founding members.