Something that produces electricity when heated it was not; when Bruce Cook, Alan Russell and their fellow researchers at the Ames Laboratory tried to curl, cut and carve their newly crafted material, they found something else, though: it wouldn't.
Dubbed BAM, the alloy from boron, aluminum and magnesium is exceptionally hard — if you can get a hold of it: BAM is also super slippery with less friction than, say, graphite, diamond or teflon.
Now, that's from 1999 and slippery; what's from 2010/11 and sticky? To what email programs and services do you cling? What new email features will you remember?
›› Nominate the best email products in categories including free email services, email programs, mobile email, e-card sites and social network messaging.

Pick a number between 2 and 9. Say it out loud. Now start counting, also aloud: "One".
It's my turn: "Two". Now, whenever we reach a multiple of the number you picked, we'll not say that number. We'll shout "Buzz!" instead. All right?
Let's say you picked 3: 1, 2, Buzz!, 4, 5, Buzz!, 7, 8, Buzz!, 10, 11, twe... Oh, looks like I'm out — out, out as Buzz can be out of Gmail:
›› Prefer Gmail without the social headaches of Google Buzz? Here's how to disable Buzz in Gmail and remove it from your account.

King penguins don't build nests. They grow a flap on their bellies instead.
Covered by this fold of skin called brood patch, the single egg a pair lays about every 15 months rests incubating on the penguin's feet until the partner takes over, after a week or two. The chicks hatch after some 2 months.
Now, granted, we cannot see the brood patch, egg or hatchling in this email background, but we do have two majestic grownups' pretty faces looking into the distance:
›› The King penguins easily star on any tour to the Falklands — and in your emails, too. (IncrediMail)

Domenico Fontana is thrilled to find a crack in the 330-ton Egyptian obelisk he has just engineered moving 280 yards (250 m) to make room for a new Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome: it's the only one. Even better, the crack had already been there when movement started in April 1586. Apparently, the ancient Romans had nicked a few feet when they imported the Vatican Obelisk from Egypt.
Are you or your friends and contacts moving, too? Yahoo! Mail can do the heavy lifting of keeping your address book up to date:
›› Want to make sure your contacts always and automatically have your current contact information? Here's how to make Yahoo! Mail push changes address card changes you make to connections automatically — and get updates from them, too.