Buffalo's economy went into decline in the 1950s and by the 1970s residents were leaving the city in their droves. The population has shrunk from more than half a million in the late 1950s to 290,000 today. City officials and business leaders are exploring Buffalo's potential to become a biotech centre. But biotechnology is an invisable industry, hidden within the walls of pristine labs and squeaky-clean processing facilities. None of the noise, smoke and commotion that inspired the guidebook (New York: A Guide to the Empire State - 1940s) authors will ever return, even if Buffalo's fortunes do.