Crash Sites

After you have all the tech, weapons and cash you want, is there any harm in leaving crash sites untouched? Does it damage diplomacy with the country it's in or have any other negative effects?

How does research work?

I've always wondered how research works. Is it a cumulative point system or is it more sinister than that? In other words, I always want the heavy plasma ASAP - but I can never seem to research it for a couple months. Is there some algorithm stopping me from getting that gun early in the game? Is there a hidden research tree that makes it so if I research other plasma weapons first, my heavy plasma research will be enabled?

Hidden alien?

I remember seeing something years ago that said that if you press SHFT of ALT or some other combination during the equip screen of a Sectoid mission, the Sectoids would appear to be a different race of aliens. If I remember right, they were a canned species that didn't make the final cut. I seem to remember them as being floaty, tenticly ugs. Maybe something like a Tentaculat? I looked on the wiki and elsewhere but can't find any mention of this. Is this a myth, fact or product of my imagination?

Awesome Bug

I'm reliving this glorious game through DosBox on XP and have found the most wonderful bug. If I'm in my quantum science lab and then click on my bio lab, the research item complete with progress is transferred over to my bio lab and they start researching! Yes, I can research guns and UFOs in the bio lab! The progress of research is really slow, though, but in the meantime I'm almost doubling my research. Maybe I'll take a picture...

UFO screen capture

hey wassup, i've never done a screen capture before, but my rookie entered a small UFO and saw 5 floaters...a great screen. how can i save it as a file on my Win 2000 comp?