Historical records show that asbestos cloth was used by ancient Egyptian pharaohs.

Methane hydrates are found on the continental shelves. They are molecules of methane that have been locked up inside a 'cage' of frozen water so that they are trapped.

In 1990, there were 239 near misses, or 'air proximity incidents', reported in European Airspace. By 1999 this had risen to 499.

Half of the tropical forests, where two-thirds of all species find their habitat, have now been logged or burned to clear land for human development, with another 1 million square kilometres disappearing every five to ten years.

Over the last 100 years, investigations of Stonehenge have shown that it was built in several stages from 2800 – 1800 BC.

Panspermia Theory is the theory that life on primordial Earth was 'seeded' by microbes from outer space.

CS gas causes pain, burning and irritation of exposed mucous membranes and skin, and will incapacitate an individual in agony for up to ten minutes. After being gassed by riot police in South Korea, the writer PJ O'Rourke described the effects as being like 'trying to breathe fish bones'.

An atomic clock powered by a hydrogen atom is accurate to 1 part in 2 quadrillion.

The atmosphere on Venus contains sulphuric acid.