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The success of Viagra has drastically reduced the demand for the body parts of wild animals that are used in traditional cures for impotence, especially in Asia. Since the drug was introduced in 1998, worldwide trade in some rare and endangered species has fallen more than 70%. Frank von Hippel says, “Viagra is cheaper than many animal products and its action is pronounced, immediate and effective.” He studied three illegally hunted animals: Alaskan reindeer, hooded seals and harp seals.

Sales of reindeer antlers fell by 72% from $700,000 in 1997 to $200,000 in 1998. The number of seal penises being traded fell from around 40,000 in 1996 to 20,000 in 1998, and the price dropped from $100 to $15 each by 1999.
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The FBI is monitoring computer use in at least one public library–and probably in libraries across the country. Bill Olds, a reporter for The Hartford Courant, discovered the Feds have bugged the computers at the Hartford Public Library, in an effort to get leads to terrorist organizations.

The FBI installs special software on the computers that allows them to track your internet use and read your e-mail messages. Members of the public who use the library haven’t been informed about this. And Olds says it’s not just the computers–library book circulation lists are also accessible to the government.
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Mars is coming closer to the Earth, and will be easier to see, than it has been since Neanderthal times. It will slowly appear to grow larger and brighter until at 5:51 am EST on August 27, 2003, Mars will be within 34,646,488 miles of Earth, the closest it’s come to our planet in 73,000 years. Whenever Mars is close to the Earth, the number of UFO sightings increases. The red light of Mars will look more than six times larger and shine 85 times brighter than it does now. Only the Moon and Venus will appear brighter in the night sky.
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Motherhood may make women smarter and help prevent Alzheimer’s by bathing the brain in protective hormones. Tests on rats show that the ones who raise two or more litters of pups do better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies. Their brains also show changes that suggest they may be protected against Alzheimer’s.

“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen, which we know has many neuroprotective effects,” says researcher Craig Kinsley. “When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to infants and the mother from the neck down. They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain.?
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