Coal-burning power plants may get a new life and one that is tied to the co-firing of biomass, or wood chips, that may result in less pollution.

FORBES: Biomass Breathing New Life Into Coal Plants

Harry Truman, late in life, caught his wife, Bess, burning their letters to each other.

NEWYORKER: State of the Union

If you look at across the whole life cycle of growing corn, making ethanol and burning it in a car, and compare that to what happens when you find oil and make gasoline and burn it in a car, you only have about 15 percent less greenhouse gas going into the air from burning ethanol than you would if you're burning gasoline.

NPR: Biofuels and Food Prices

It could be used instead of stainless steel to line a nuclear reactor, which would extend the reactor's working life and allow it to be operated more efficiently by burning a higher percentage of nuclear fuel.

ECONOMIST: New materials for renewable energy

Regional newspapers relish tales of posties' life-saving heroics - resuscitating a choking nine-month-old boy, carrying a blind pensioner out of a burning house or spotting the jaundiced face of someone with liver disease, to name a few real-life events.

BBC: Are we falling out of love with the postie?

It also could give us a new way to look deep inside our bodies without X-rays, or to look through a window into a burning building from a distance to see if anyone is left inside --without risking a firefighter's life.

CNN: A camera that can see around corners