Of Human Interest: News lite

FINDING THE METEOR CRATER

Beneath the protective seabed of the southern North Sea off the British coast lies an enigmatic crater apparently created by a meteor slamming into Earth about the time the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago.

Energy explorers say the unusually shaped deep gouge -- revealed during prospecting for oil and natural gas -- is so pristinely preserved it shows features never before seen in any such impact structure on the planet.

The study, published in the Aug. 1 issue of the British journal Nature, notes most surviving remnants of Earth's close encounters with extraterrestrial objects give detail-craving scientists little to shout about.

The earth-crunching visitor, likely a 4-billion-year-old, 2-million-ton boulder from space, slammed into the warm, shallow waters that then covered most of present-day Great Britain, scientists theorize.

(Thanks to UPI's Lidia Wasowicz in San Francisco.)

LIBRARY CREATES CURIOSITY CABINET

The New York Public Library has recreated a Renaissance-style "cabinet of curiosities" in an unusual display of objects from its vast trove of rarely seen oddities collected over a period of 150 years.

The exhibition was inspired by the Wunderkammerns -- Wonder Cabinets -- that proliferated in royal and noble palaces throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. These cabinets were reborn in the United States in the 19th century as the curio museums.

The library's show, which runs through Aug. 24, provides an hour or two of pleasurable browsing if you enjoy viewing such unusual items as Nathaniel Hawthorne's passport, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's tiny satin slippers, or a snippet of Mary Shelley's hair.

For the non-literary-minded, there are such historical items as remnants of Confederate reconnaissance balloons made from Southern belles' silk dresses and a handbill announcing the abdication of Czar Russia's Nicholas II.

(Thanks to UPI's Fred Winship in New York.)

THE CAR CALLS 911

General Motors Corp. is touting its new crash notification system that will automatically call 911 for help and provide information on the severity of a crash.

The new GM advanced automatic crash notification system will be available on 400,000 OnStar-equipped 2004 model-year vehicles sold in the United States and Canada.

Current systems make an emergency call when air bags deploy. The new system will have a collection strategically places sensors that will call if a vehicle is involved in a moderate to severe frontal, rear or side-impact crash, regardless of air bag deployment.

Eventually, the sensors also may be able to determine the number of people in the vehicle, whether they were using seat belts and other information that would help emergency workers determine the severity of injuries.

(Thanks to UPI's Marcy Kreiter in Chicago)

GROCERY SUPERSTORES MOST POPULAR

A new study finds consumers are heading for supercenters in greater numbers, although they still prefer buying their meat and produce at traditional grocery stores.

The study by Information Resources Inc. also finds convenience is a major determinant of where consumers spend their grocery dollars.

The IRI survey found supercenters gained 5 million new customers in 2001, cannibalizing both shopping trips and dollars spent at grocery outlets. Fifty-four percent of shoppers said they frequent supercenters for the convenience of buying everything in one place. Location also ranked high when it came to choosing where to shop.

The survey was based on interviews with 5,000 shoppers in 16 U.S. metropolitan markets.