It may be hard to imagine, but just a mere 20 years ago, the Internet was nothing more than a novelty -- a way for incredibly smart college professors and researchers to share information, and for a few people to network across the newly developed World Wide Web. E-mail was nothing like it is today. The primitive e-mail systems found at universities or even through accounts offered with the first Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Prodigy and America Online were often difficult to use.

Reichelt announced to the press in early February 1912 that he had finally received permission to conduct an experiment from the Eiffel Tower to prove the value of his invention, the “parachute suit”.

It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in. In daylight hours, refresh yourself of these 10 crucial safety tips that will help you in an emergency situation. The tips were written by personal safety adviser Pat Malone and have been shared via email by millions of people. It is worth repeating:

Chemical and biological warfare has been used long before World War One. During the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BC, Spartans used bombs made of sulphur and pitch to overcome the enemy. During ancient and medieval times, soldiers sometimes threw bodies of plague victims over the walls of besieged cities, or into water wells. During the French and Indian wars in North America (1689-1763), blankets used by smallpox victims were given to American Indians in the hope they would carry the disease.

As the decade draws to a close, we look back at key events of the last ten years in a bid to find the most iconic image of the noughties.

These images highlight the decade's most documented manmade disasters.

Hi-tech GPS enabled phones, more accurate guns and faster cars – The criminals have taken their favorite cat-and-mouse game with the police on to a whole new level.

Exclusive photos of Russian
atomic reactor being inserted in place by a few super-heavy cranes, 
capable of 350 tons lifting.

Tsar-Bomb, A602EN, “Ivan”, “Kuzka’s mother” - a thermonuclear device that was being developed in the USSR in 1954-1961 by Russian physisists.