Rarely do they resemble their original species: they've been treated with radiation, doused with hormones, crossed and crossed again all so that they can be kept low and tight.

NPR: Excerpt: 'The American Meadow Garden'

This plummeted over 80% when the dam began operation, and a decade later, through extensive government investment to restock the river, the species number is still less than half the original amount.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Across a cluttered table at Lego's base in Billund an original Mindstorms robot faces the new crew like a last dinosaur eyeing frisky new species.

FORBES: Son of Lego

It ranks with the original human exodus from Africa about 60, 000 years ago, which led to Homo sapiens becoming a global species, and the beginning of the industrial revolution, 250 years ago, when many people stopped being farmers and began to earn their livings in other ways.

ECONOMIST: The earliest granaries