Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, biofuels - ethanol - was touted as the savior of the environment if it replaced fossil fuels. Former Vice-President Al Gore of Tennessee advocated them, environmental corporations pushed for lobied and finally, in 2005, they were mandated and subsidized.

It quickly became evident that the claims about ethanol were not based on science.

Ethanol was already big business in Brazil and given the benefit of time, scholars can now analyze their air quality as a result of switching from gasoline - and then back. Oddly, ethanol became too expensive so residents of São Paulo, Brazil switched from ethanol back to gasoline for their flexible-fuel vehicles.

It used to be that homelessness was a way of life - the hobo lifestyle was one of odd jobs and flop houses.

But as governments increasingly regulated buildings, flop houses were no longer viable and it is illegal to hire people unless they are registered contractors or making them employees. Actual homelessness has surged. 

Terrorism can be a successful strategy for rebel groups during civil war, according to a Michigan State University political science academic, because governments will believe responding with force extends the conflict 

Jakana Thomas, assistant professor of political science, writing in the American Journal of Political Science, believes that if governments negotiate or use sound counter-terrorism efforts, they stand a better chance of bringing about a peaceful resolution 

Sweet potato products have increased in popularity so growers and processors are interested in identifying ways to make the crop more widely available. 

Costs of natural hazards are at historically high levels, and show an increasing trend, which is expected, because wages and inflation go up every year, but estimates are almost meaningless. When estimated damage gets high-profile media claims, like in New York City after tropical storm Sandy, the costs unsurprisingly match those and even allow for a generous overrun.

When and where did the ancient Iapetus Ocean suture (the most fundamental Appalachian structure) form? Is part of New England made up of ancient African-derived rocks? What is the Moretown terrane? 

Mountain-building events, called "orogenies," in the northern U.S. Appalachia record the closure of the Iapetus Ocean, an ancient precursor to the Atlantic. The Iapetus separated continental fragments of ancestral North America and Africa more than 450 million years ago.