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In 1775, the Continental Army shakily took aim at the mighty British Empire in hopes of freeing the American colonies from imperial oppression. George Washington and his men had no idea what they were really getting into — but their ultimate triumph sealed the American Revolution and gave rise to formidable force. In our quiz, what do you really know about the United States military?
From the Revolution to the Spanish-American War to Vietnam, from Normandy to Tokyo, the country’s military has played a major role in history. In some cases, the military even kept America from fading into the ashes of history.
These days, the American military is a ridiculously powerful force, equipped with incredible technologies that allow the U.S. to dominate entire regions of the world. Its Air Force and drone capabilities, along with the Navy, mean America can project its influence anywhere in a matter of hours. What do you know about the nation’s military capabilities?
As if aircraft carriers, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles weren’t enough, America also has plentiful numbers of special forces troops. These personnel undergo the toughest training anywhere in order to prepare for hostage situations and national emergencies of the worst kind. How much do you know about America’s special forces teams?
Ten hut! Spit shine those boots, snap to attention, and get ready to do battle with this incredible military quiz. We’ll find out if you’re cut out for combat action or if you should stick to cleaning out the latrines. | <urn:uuid:c4c26ec3-d635-4c1e-93ca-e7d686b4d7eb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/only-people-an-iq-135-can-get-a-perfect-score-this-us-military-quiz-can-you?amp%3Bremoraexp=PHSW_4221_SEQUENCER_FB&%3Bremorasrc=6a3f0ea67adb4444b46dc4ec68693616&%3Bmkcpgn=core4&%3Butm_source=hswrr&%3Bremorapos=1&rmalg=es&remorapos=6&remorasrc=123d68c7889f466ea0462cdf7f3a6f6b&remoraregion=bottom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184870.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125213038-20201126003038-00320.warc.gz | en | 0.951495 | 310 | 2.6875 | 3 |
A study of over 1,000 patients with atherosclerosis reveals fat tissue secretes factors that can trigger or worsen blood vessel conditions linked to cardiometabolic disorders.
By clarifying the poorly-understood link between obesity and blood vessel conditions, the findings could help scientists create new therapies for vascular and metabolic diseases like coronary artery disease. The study is published in Science Translational Medicine.
Obesity changes how fat tissue secretes signaling molecules, which in turn can influence the structure and function of blood vessels in the body.
Studies have implicated both the Wnt signaling pathway and oxidative stress from enzymes as contributors to vascular disease, but the mechanisms by which obesity affects these pathways remain a mystery. Seeking insight, Ioannis Akoumianakis (a DPhil student from the Antoniades group), together with researchers from OCDEM, Bristol Medical School and Athens University medical School, analyzed a group of 1,004 patients with atherosclerosis.
The researchers discovered that obese individuals showed much higher levels of a protein named WNT5A in plasma, as well as elevated expression of WNT5A receptors in the walls of arteries.
In a separate experiment, the authors saw that higher levels of WNT5A in plasma correlated with the development of calcified plaques – a key marker of vessel disease – in 68 patients with coronary artery disease.
Further studies showed obesity boosted the secretion of WNT5A from fat tissue surrounding blood vessels, which in turn increased oxidative stress and the migration of smooth muscle cells through the enzymes USP17 and RAC1.
The authors suggest that WNT5A and the enzymes it affects could be targeted in obese patients, although further work in animal models is necessary. | <urn:uuid:cc331a5d-9872-433c-afb3-9fc050a2f5a8> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/news/how-obesity-worsens-blood-vessel-disease-in-patients?ref=image | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195656.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128125557-20201128155557-00480.warc.gz | en | 0.938056 | 350 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The Sword verse, found in the fifth verse of the ninth chapter of the Qur’ān (Q 9.5), is arguably the most powerful verse in Islam’s holiest book. According to Muslim scholars, the Sword verse abrogates or nullifies over a hundred pacifist verses that call for peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance with non-Muslims. This aptly named verse (“…slay the idolaters wherever you find them…” ) allegedly was revealed to Muģammad after the earlier pacifist verses, which means its command takes precedence.
- What is the history and application of the Sword verse since its revelation?
- How does the Sword verse impact the politics, culture, and traditions of Islam?
- How do Muslim moderates view jihad?
- When Islamic terrorist groups, such as Islamic State, apply the Sword verse, are they radical or righteous Islamists?
- Is Islam really a religion of peace?
This book is an extensive examination of the Sword verse, providing the historical context that preceded its introduction and analyzing the Qur’ānic challenges to its supremacy. It also presents the interpretations of this controversial verse by notable Muslim scholars, past and present, and how these explanations influence its application in today’s world.
Noteworthy resources in this study include a detailed table of 129 verses abrogated by the Sword verse, with commentary and references, paired with its own index to help readers locate particular abrogated verses by specific topic and issue.. | <urn:uuid:74a9aa27-4d84-4e19-b95e-dffc605680ea> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://waterlifepublishing.com/Store/tabid/40/ProductID/59/List/1/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141748276.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205165649-20201205195649-00160.warc.gz | en | 0.929734 | 306 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Venetian patrician wives of the late Middle Ages brought to their marriages material goods and family loyalty, both vitally important to the prosperity of conjugal families. The crucial resource was the dowry. During the marriage it sustained the family economy under the husband’s administration. Afterward, as the wife’s inherited property, it returned to her, supporting her widowhood and benefiting her children and kin. The economic connection established by the dowry, which included a corredo, a gift to the groom, encouraged collaboration between families, demonstrated in spouses’ appointment of both agnates and affines as testamentary executors. Moreover, accompanying the financial contents of the dowry were trousseaux consisting of clothing and furnishings for the bride, bestowed by her family and supplemented by the groom. These items further enhanced the relationships forged in marriage by giving visual testimony of a married woman’s position as the bridge between her natal and marital families. | <urn:uuid:fa21d373-9f1f-46b2-80ac-ea639be7a3fa> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.berghahnjournals.com/abstract/journals/historical-reflections/43/1/hrrh430109.xml?rskey=nmEbnE&result=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674594.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201135627-20201201165627-00200.warc.gz | en | 0.972248 | 199 | 3.25 | 3 |
Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) are one of the smallest ducks in North America. They’re also very skittish. Combine those two things, and you get pictures like this:
Hopefully this won’t be the last of my bufflehead photos.
Why are buffleheads called buffleheads?
“Buffle” is derived from buffalo; the name refers to the duck’s large, bulbous head. (American buffalos have ginormous heads.) The male’s head looks especially big because of contrasting white coloring on his crown. When he puffs out these headfeathers, it looks gargantuan.
Guess what? The bufflehead’s genus name means almost the same thing! Bucephala is a Latinized version of the Ancient Greek boukephalos, which means “bull-headed” (bous=bull, kephale= head). The species name, albeola, comes from the Latin for “white” and refers to the white markings on both males and females—although males have a higher proportion of white to black in their overall coloration.
Buffleheads share the Bucephala genus with goldeneyes. | <urn:uuid:51352837-9a20-48ff-9d06-261d885480bb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.seasonofplenty.com/birds-day-buffleheads-bucephala-albeola/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00280.warc.gz | en | 0.925215 | 265 | 3.296875 | 3 |
For people with glaucoma, regular monitoring of intraocular pressure (IOP) is important for making sure that their treatment is effective. But testing involves going to the eye doctor, which can be a burden, especially for older patients. Can glaucoma patients safely and accurately measure their own IOP at home?
To test that concept, researchers recruited 100 glaucoma patients (average age, 67) and taught them how to measure their own IOP with a rebound tonometer. This handheld and battery-powered device consists of a tiny plastic ball on a steel wire, held in place by an electromagnetic field. When the device is held up to the eye and activated, the ball touches the cornea and decelerates. The speed of deceleration is measured and converted into IOP.
Study results, which were reported in 2017 in JAMA Ophthalmology, were encouraging: 73 participants successfully measured their IOP, meaning they reported a reading within 5 mm Hg of that obtained by a researcher using the same device. Most people reported being comfortable doing the test.
The device used in this study was recently approved by the FDA as a home tonometer, called Icare Home. It is available through optometrists and ophthalmologists, who typically charge patients a fee to take it home and use it for a limited time to get a more complete picture of IOP levels throughout the day and night.
The device sends the results to the doctor via a computer hook-up. Medicare does not cover the cost. To find out more, talk to your eye specialist. | <urn:uuid:17fea56b-a020-4136-a69d-6f207247c2e3> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.healthandwellnessalerts.berkeley.edu/topics/state-of-the-art-glaucoma-care-at-home-iop-monitoring/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141177607.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124224124-20201125014124-00081.warc.gz | en | 0.970724 | 326 | 3.125 | 3 |
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a drone. Introducing the PigeonBot, a new UAV designed to soar like a real-life pigeon using bird-like feathered wings.
Developed by a team of researchers at Stanford University, the experimental drone boasts a pair of “biohybrid morphing wings” which are constructed from real feathers and help to propel the device through the skies.
From the outset, building a robotic pigeon may seem a little high-school science class, and the makeshift construction won’t disabuse you of that notion. But the device is actually attempting to solve some pretty complex problems, like how to build more agile unmanned aerial vehicles that can make better turns in tighter spaces.
PigeonBot may also help us to better understand how birds fly—specifically, the dynamic wing shape and the complex positions of individual feathers—which, up until this point, has remained something of a mystery.
So, how exactly did PigeonBot take flight? The head of Stanford’s Bio-Inspired Research & Design (BIRD) Lab David Lentink challenged his graduate students to “dissect the biomechanics of the avian wing morphing mechanism and embody these insights in a morphing biohybrid robot that features real flight feathers,” according to TechCrunch.
The students began by analysing bird skeletal motion, taking as their muse the humble pigeon, which Lentink admires for its resilience. They discovered that it only took a couple of motions—or flaps—to move 20 primary flight feathers and 20 secondaries. Then, they took all that research and created a lightweight robotic frame. Forty real pigeon feathers were affixed to the frame, and PigeonBot was born.
With a little help from a propellor attached to the front, PigeonBot can steer and maneuver through dense urban environments or forests, just like one of our regular feathered friends.
PigeonBot’s morphing wing tech could help improve wing design within aircraft and ensure drones operate more safely. As an added bonus, Lentink says the softness of the feathered wings will make it harder for the drone to injure people if there are any accidents.
At this stage, PigeonBot is just a prototype, and Lentink is currently working on a tail to match the wings. The industrious engineer is also working on a new robotic falcon that could feature both legs and claws, according to TechCrunch. Can an EagleBot be far behind? | <urn:uuid:a167e166-3a92-425a-a4d9-73ebb35f48f9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://robbreport.co.uk/motors/aviation/meet-the-pigeonbot-a-new-drone-that-uses-feathered-wings-to-fly-like-a-real-bird-2797651/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00161.warc.gz | en | 0.953865 | 531 | 3.5 | 4 |
Photo by Nicole Fara Silver
They’re the main ingredient in lemonade, but lemons are good for so much more than a refreshing, front porch staple — they’re packed with health-boosting vitamin C and antioxidants known as flavonoids. The C contributes to collagen synthesis in the body and may help prevent you from catching a cold. Plus the rest of those flavonoids contribute to fighting off damaging free radicals in the body, which could decrease the risk of heart disease, reduce inflammation, and help fight some cancers.
Wondering what else there is to do with lemons? Add to seltzer water instead ofdrinking soda, or substitute for the sugar in a cocktail. Use it to flavor foods with iron, like leafy greens to help the body better absorb the greens’ iron. Just try to stick to fresh, whole lemons, as pre-squeezed juice can rapidly lose its vitamin C.
The Takeaway: Integrate whole, fresh lemons into your diet for better-tasting foods and health bonuses like a lessened chance of catching a cold and even a potentially decreased risk of cancer.
Not a chef? Lemons have practical purposes, too, like repelling insects and lightening hair (no salon required).
To get all the juice out of a fresh lemon, roll it firmly against the counter before cutting into it. Still feeling firm? Microwave it for 20 seconds before squeezing. The average lemon should yield 2 to 3 tablespoons of juice. | <urn:uuid:32e15db1-0b77-4be2-b9a3-4339b0f96e88> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://greatist.com/tips/add-lemons-boost-flavor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.909991 | 312 | 2.78125 | 3 |
It is every parent’s nightmare — you send your child outside to play with friends, and he returns home bloodied and crying. First, you wash off the blood and assess the damage. With dog bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends seeking medical care under certain conditions such as extreme bleeding, intense pain or exposed bone. Other serious symptoms, like swelling and fever, may appear hours or days later.
Do not let financial concerns dictate the care your child will receive going forward. Pet owners are responsible for taking care of the monetary aspects, and their insurance may cover everything. Your priority is ensuring that your child gets all the care he needs.
Your child’s injuries will determine your course of action. Puncture wounds may get infected, calling for antibiotics. Any long or deep cuts may require stitches. If the dog is familiar or you can contact the owner, ask about rabies vaccinations. If necessary, a physician may begin a rabies protocol to help prevent or treat possible exposure.
Long-term medical care
Bite wounds may go much deeper than surface cuts and bruises. A bite may cause breaks or fractures in the small bones of forearms, wrists and hands. Also be sure to check for damaged or severed tendons.
Injuries on the face, head and neck may require plastic surgery, and growing children may need more than one procedure. Whatever the case, be sure you go to all follow-up appointments as advised by medical professionals.
Your child’s physical injuries may seem minor, perhaps just a few cuts or bruises. However, the mental and emotional effects may be more serious. To minimize long-term negative effects, talk about the incident with your child. Encourage him to recount the situation, communicating openly about how he felt at the time and how he feels now. Children need to know that they are not to blame and that they need not be fearful of every dog they encounter in the future. | <urn:uuid:549858f3-f487-4589-b6a6-8ee70ce67ec2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.zumbado-elmore.com/blog/2020/02/a-dog-bit-my-child-what-should-i-do/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193856.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127161801-20201127191801-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.944694 | 398 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The letters of Alessandra Strozzi provide a vivid and spirited portrayal of life in fifteenth-century Florence. Among the richest autobiographical materials to survive from the Italian Renaissance, the letters reveal a woman who fought stubbornly to preserve her family's property and position in adverse circumstances, and who was an acute observer of Medicean society. Her letters speak of political and social status, of the concept of honor, and of the harshness of life, including the plague and the loss of children. They are also a guide to Alessandra's inner life over a period of twenty-three years, revealing the pain and sorrow, and, more rarely, the joy and triumph, with which she responded to the events unfolding around her.
This edition includes translations, in full or in part, of 35 of the 73 extant letters. The selections carry forward the story of Alessandra's life and illustrate the range of attitudes, concerns, and activities which were characteristic of their author. | <urn:uuid:b0483547-baf2-4cad-9137-76ed13e8c88f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520203907/selected-letters-of-alessandra-strozzi-bilingual-edition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195967.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129004335-20201129034335-00601.warc.gz | en | 0.956576 | 196 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Aerial refueling is an incredibly difficult procedure that requires precision controls and flawless teamwork conducted by a number of highly-trained military aviators. Given how difficult the maneuver can be, understandably, the situation does not always go as planned.
Check out some unfortunate mid-air refueling mishaps in the compilation video below.
Aerial refueling requires at least two aircraft to fly in tandem with one another. The larger of the two, a tanker, will extend its fueling hose out towards the aircraft in need. The second plane, often a fighter jet or combat aircraft, then must attach itself to the fueling hose – all while maintaining a constant speed and altitude.
If successful, the entire process can take just a couple of minutes. The delicate procedure is invaluable in allowing military aircraft to extend their flying range, continue engaging targets without landing, or avoiding hotspots altogether.
When things go wrong with the aerial fueling process, the situation can quickly become dangerous. In the best-case scenario, a missed fuel hose will spill hundreds of gallons of jet fuel into the air before the flight crew can regain control of the situation.
If things take a turn for the worst, the two aircraft involved in the refueling process could even collide. After all, the aircraft must maintain a close enough distance to one another in order to successfully attach themselves for the fuel transfer.
In the video, the mishaps mainly involve missed fueling lines. If the pilots cannot come together properly and successfully refuel, the two aircraft will usually distance themselves in order to reset and try again. Fortunately, the pilots are not alone. An aerial refueling procedure usually includes multiple spotters and other crewmen directing the entire operation. Sometimes, a third or fourth aircraft will fly nearby as well to offer an additional set of eyes.
Aerial refueling began as an experiment in the mid-1920s when pilots wanted to attempt record-breaking long-distance flights. By the end of the 1930s, the process was refined and proved successful. In 1949, it allowed for the first non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.
Today, many different forms of aerial refueling exist and assist in allowing military from all over the world to fly farther and longer in various situations. | <urn:uuid:5674d375-b5c8-4941-a37c-be13e41031f4> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/02/watch-the-biggest-air-refueling-mishaps-ever-caught-on-video/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141685797.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201231155-20201202021155-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.953577 | 456 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Paleontology takes patience. Even though we live during a time of frenetic fossil activity, the process of finding, excavating, preparing, studying, and describing previously-unknown creatures from Deep Time often takes years. And that's just when things go smoothly. Sometimes extinct species get hung up in scientific limbo, waiting even longer to receive their names. That's what happened to Gengasaurus nicosiai.
Named for the Italian town where it was found and the paleontologist who prepared the nearly-complete skeleton, Gengasaurus nicosiai was a big-eyed ichthyosaur that swooped through Jurassic seas around 152 million years ago. Its body was found in 1976, one of the most complete "fish lizards" ever found in Italy, but, as paleontologist Ilaria Paparella and coauthors explain in their paper describing the seagoing reptile, the fossil was forgotten about for two decades before expert Umberto Nicosia set about cleaning up the old bones. Another twenty years later, Paparella have recognized "L’Ittiosauro di Genga" as something new to science.
Gengasaurus is one of the ophthalmosauid icthyosaurs. This is a specific group of the shark-like marine reptiles that was widespread through Late Jurassic oceans. And in addition to upping the ichthyosaur count by one, the relationships of Gengasaurus to other ichthyosaurs underscores longstanding questions about how these marine reptiles moved around the planet.
Ichthyosaurs like Gengasaurus have often thought to be fast-swimming, migratory animals, Paparella and coauthors write, but the emerging picture is that many ichthyosaur species have narrow geographic ranges. Rather than being global swimmers, many Late Jurassic ichthyosaur species may have patrolled smaller areas, evolutionary convergence creating a false image of global travelers. The full story of the Jurassic seas has yet to be drawn from the reptiles who called the ancient waters home.
Name: Gengasaurus nicosiai
Meaning: Gengasaurus means "Genga lizard", after the town where the fossil was found, while nicosiai honors Italian paleontologist Umberto Nicosia.
Age: Jurassic, around 152 million years old.
Where in the world?: Camponocecchio, Italy.
What sort of critter?: An ichthyosaur belonging to a big-eyed group called ophthalmosaurids.
Size: Over eight feet long.
How much of the creature’s body is known?: A nearly-complete skeleton of one individual.
Paparella, I., Maxwell, E., Cipriani, A., Roncacè, S., Caldwell, M. 2016. The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy). Geological Magazine. doi: 10.1017/S0016756816000455
Previous Paleo Profiles: | <urn:uuid:6cedeb96-0e32-40cb-a33c-d5e0827bdea6> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-the-genga-lizard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141168074.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123211528-20201124001528-00561.warc.gz | en | 0.911226 | 647 | 3.5 | 4 |
The 16-story Ingalls Building, still in use today, was the world's first reinforced concrete skyscraper. Its success led to the acceptance of high-rise concrete construction in the United States.
Melville E. Ingalls, for whom the building is named, spent two years convincing city officials to issue a building permit. Skepticism was high, because the existing height record for a concrete building was only six stories.
Ingalls knew that Ernest L. Ransome had been using reinforced concrete since the mid-1800s, analyzing ways to increase its strength. In 1884, Ransome patented the use of twisted steel bars for the reinforcing of concrete. His pioneering efforts helped establish the viability of concrete for large, multi-level buildings.
The 210-foot-high building was designed to act as a monolithic unit, with each floor slab providing a rigid diaphragm to steady the building from wind loads. | <urn:uuid:2eac97bb-f4e3-42e4-8af5-343bfdde27a2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.inventionandtech.com/landmark_landing/80255 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141686635.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202021743-20201202051743-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.969169 | 191 | 3.796875 | 4 |
The farther smokers live from cigarette retailers, the more likely they are to quit, based on results of a longitudinal Finnish study of nearly 21,000 smokers.
Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, this study looked at the association between residential access to cigarettes and smoking status. Many studies suggest that easier access to cigarettes increases chances of smoking, but findings have been inconsistent.
To learn more, researchers analyzed data from the Finnish Public Sector study and the Health and Social Support study. The Finnish Public Sector study included employees from various occupations in Finland, while the Social Support Study included a representative sample of the Finnish population. Together, both studies included a total of 20,729 past or present smokers, all of which completed periodic surveys on health and lifestyle between 2003 and 2012.
Based on survey responses, 8,349 participants were smokers and 12,380 were ex-smokers at the beginning of the study. After following participants for up to nine years, researchers found that nearly one-third of smokers quit over the study period, while 7% of ex-smokers relapsed.
Similar to past findings, distance to the nearest tobacco outlet had a significant impact on chances of quitting. Among smokers, every 1/3 mile increase in distance from home to tobacco outlet was associated with a 16% increase in chances of quitting, after taking into account factors like income and health status.
However, researchers note that there was no significant association between access to tobacco outlets and chances of smoking relapse among ex-smokers.
Based on findings, authors believe that reducing access to tobacco outlets in residential areas could be a useful tool to combat smoking. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and reducing smoking is a major public health goal in the U.S. and worldwide. While education is a key component of anti-smoking efforts, policy change is also needed to tip the scale when it comes to ending smoking. Reducing the number of stores that sell cigarettes, particularly in residential areas, may offer yet another way to help eliminate smoking and improve America’s health. | <urn:uuid:03d8cb44-1e2d-4b79-87a9-03d827d58456> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.cardiosmart.org/news/2016/9/living-farther-from-cigarette-outlets-increases-chances-of-quitting-smoking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141182776.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125100409-20201125130409-00201.warc.gz | en | 0.960457 | 420 | 3.25 | 3 |
Wispy arms swirling out from a bright, elongated core distinguish a particular kind of spiral galaxy known as a barred spiral, seen here in this Hubble Space Telescope image.
July 17 | 2017
Residing about 30 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Lynx, this galaxy was first discovered by British astronomer William Herschel over 200 years ago. Barred spirals are actually more common than was once thought. Around two-thirds of all spiral galaxies – including the Milky Way – exhibit these straight bars cutting through their centers. These cosmic structures act as glowing nurseries for newborn stars, and funnel material towards the active core of a galaxy. This galaxy is still actively forming new stars, although this process appears to be occurring very unevenly. The upper half of the galaxy – where the spiral arms are slightly better defined – hosts many more star-forming regions than the lower half, as indicated by the bright, dotted islands of light. Credit: ESA/Hubble/NASA | <urn:uuid:e7b9bfd2-c404-45b5-b4ff-de592904834c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://sergeyyushkeev.rebelmouse.com/wispy-arms-swirling-out-from-a-bright-elongated-core-distinguish-a-par | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126171830-20201126201830-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.955087 | 200 | 3.953125 | 4 |
The food distribution industry in California is seeking accommodation regarding a labeling matter, contending that state law mandating a specific outcome is overly arduous and unfeasible from any practical perspective.
The subject matter surrounding what seems to be a growing debate is Bisphenol A, a synthetic compound widely used in product manufacturing involving plastics. Bisphenol A is a chemical and has special utility in the lining of bottled and canned foods. Essentially, the chemical serves as a coating/sealant that isolates foods and liquids from the insides of containers.
As noted in a recent article discussing Bisphenol A and labeling requirements for products containing the chemical, a demonstrated link reportedly exists between the compound and adverse effects in the reproductive systems of women.
And that nexus is sufficiently apparent to enough state officials that they added the chemical in 2015 to a list of toxic components that require special labeling.
Specifically, applicable law mandates that the potential danger posed by Bisphenol A must be disclosed on either product labels or store shelves where products are displayed that contain the chemical.
Food industry spokespersons say that such a requirement is flatly onerous and unworkable, given the millions of cans already on shelves in California stores.
State environmental officials agree, stating that a more logical response to the concern would be the placement of warning signs at store cash registers.
At least one environmental group advocating for consumers has responded that the register-based solution would be ineffective. That organization states that the food industry has already been given considerable time to adjust and should be forced to abide by the labeling requirement.
The matter continues to unfold, with officials presently considering an industry request for an extension — essentially a moratorium — on a duty to act.
We will keep readers duly apprised of any material developments that emerge in the matter. | <urn:uuid:732479c2-e6dd-4ce4-a49e-74162d3cfd8d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.caufieldjames.com/blog/2016/03/food-industry-chemical-under-a-spotlight-in-california/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141486017.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130192020-20201130222020-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.944878 | 372 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Bringing together the work of scholars in many disciplines, Women in the Metropolis provides a comprehensive introduction to women's experience of modernism and urbanization in Weimar Germany. It shows women as active participants in artistic, social, and political movements and documents the wide range of their responses to the multifaceted urban culture of Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s.
Examining a variety of media ranging from scientific writings to literature and the visual arts, the authors trace gendered discourses as they developed to make sense of and regulate emerging new images of femininity. Besides treating classic films such as Metropolis and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, the articles discuss other forms of mass culture, including the fashion industry and the revue performances of Josephine Baker. Their emphasis on women's critical involvement in the construction of their own modernity illustrates the significance of the Weimar cultural experience and its relevance to contemporary gender, German, film, and cultural studies. | <urn:uuid:ef3c9fa8-db6b-439b-82ad-11779aab0553> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520204652/women-in-the-metropolis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141171126.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124053841-20201124083841-00401.warc.gz | en | 0.936572 | 195 | 2.71875 | 3 |
For two weeks in 1956, people who lived near Taipei, Taiwan, were terrified of a mysterious slasher roaming the streets. The fiendish character would surreptitiously slice people as he slipped through crowds or brushed past them. About two dozen folks, most of whom were poor women and children, reported being slashed [source: Bartholomew and Goode].
But then something even stranger happened. After police spoke with the victims, it became clear that there was no mass slasher. Spurred by hysterical news reports, people thought that regular minor cuts on their bodies were the work of a crazed killer. In one case, the "slash" was an old injury which the person had scratched and re-opened.
Such mass hysterias, or collective delusions, are actually quite common. They happen often in places where small, tight-knit groups of people are gathered together and may be under stress — like schools, convents and factories. Young women are the most likely victims. The hysterias generally spread rapidly but are relatively short-lived [sources: Bartholomew and Goode, Dominus].
In medical terms, mass hysteria occurs when people become afflicted with conversion disorder,also called functional neurological symptom disorder. When this happens, a bad scare or stress — something mental or emotional — transforms into a medical issue. There are two types of conversion disorders: anxiety hysteria and motor hysteria. In the former, people develop symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and nausea, typically after perceiving something threatening, such as a foul odor or unusual stain. Hundreds of these cases occur annually in the U.S.
Motor hysteria involves everything from twitching and stuttering to catatonic states and melodramatic outbursts. This is rarer and is often found in restrictive social settings, such as discipline-heavy boarding schools or prisons [sources: Bartholomew and Goode, Dominus, Mayo Clinic].
Mass hysterias have occurred across cultures and throughout time. Here's a chronological look at 10 of the stranger ones. | <urn:uuid:406ed1b3-a8a0-477b-abfb-d216514cc35e> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/10-strangest-mass-hysterias.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184123.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125183823-20201125213823-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.967879 | 419 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Furnace waste may find use in longer-lasting concrete
Salt may indeed keep winter roads free of ice, but it also actively degrades them. There may be a way out of the conundrum, however. Drexel University's Dr. Yaghoob Farnam has been experimenting with making "salt-proof" concrete that incorporates waste products generated by coal furnaces and the smelting process.
Ordinarily, regular Portland-style cement contains calcium hydroxide, which reacts with road salt (calcium chloride) to form calcium oxychloride. Unfortunately, calcium oxychloride expands as it forms, creating cracks in the concrete.
Fortunately, though, Farnam believes that fly ash, slag and silica fume could be used to replace the calcium hydroxide. The mixture serves much the same purpose, yet produces very little calcium oxychloride when combined with salt. Additionally, given that the fly ash, etc are currently unwanted and plentiful waste products, concrete made with the mixture should also be cheaper than traditional concrete.
In lab tests, when samples of regular concrete were exposed to road salt, they began degrading in just eight days. By contrast, samples of the fly ash concrete remained undamaged over the same period.
Farnam and his team are also looking at using a protective surface layer of bacteria to prevent calcium oxychloride formation on concrete.
Source: Drexel University | <urn:uuid:1ebb7c2f-aaf1-43e1-a8da-f10a340e3851> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://newatlas.com/fly-ash-concrete/49618/?0000016e-d4b4-d036-a77f-defe204f0000-page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00121.warc.gz | en | 0.939789 | 292 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Researchers prove the security of the Vector Stream Cipher
How do we know if the electronic keys we use in our devices are really secure? While it is possible to rigorously test the strength of a cipher—a kind of digital data lock—there are rarely any definitive proofs of unbreakability. Ciphers are highly complex, and while they may ward off certain attacks, they might be vulnerable to others.
Now, in a series of papers published in IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security and IEICE Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, researchers from Kyoto University have definitively demonstrated the strength of a cipher based on principles of chaos theory.
The group's Vector Stream Cipher (VSC) is the first example of a 128-bit key chaotic cipher with provable security. "We first developed VSC in 2004 as a simple, fast cipher, and parts of it have already been utilized in the private sector," explains Ken Umeno, leader of the study. "Many theoretical attacks in the past have failed to break it, but until now, we hadn't shown definitive proof of security."
The researchers conducted a number of tests, such as a method to evaluate the lock's randomness. Many ciphers rely on number sequences that appear to be random, but are actually generated through recurring relations that are vulnerable to being reproduced.
"Before evaluating the security of VSC with randomness tests, we found a way to make it significantly more reliable and sensitive," continues Umeno. "We then continued this refinement during the actual investigation."
The research highlights that VSC is not only secure, but structurally simple and low on memory usage compared with existing technology, making it useful for high-density data transmission applications such as in 5G mobile networks and 4K television broadcasts.
Umeno concludes, "Chaotic ciphers have been in use for about 30 years, but before this study we had not expected to find proof of security. We hope that our work will be studied widely and applied throughout our digital world." | <urn:uuid:5aeaae3e-7047-40b4-92b4-bfa5887c0cf0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://phys.org/news/2017-07-vector-stream-cipher.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141202590.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129184455-20201129214455-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.956741 | 415 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Microcracks are tiny cracks, usually invisible to the naked eye, that appear on solar panels after installation. While microcracks generally develop over time through exposure to weather, they are made worse when hotspots develop. Hotspots form on the cells of solar panels when areas are covered by dirt and grime. This puts more stress on the areas that aren't covered, leading to overheating and cracking. Existing microcracks become worse when hotspots remain and new mircrocracks form, dramatically reducing the overall energy efficiency of solar panels. | <urn:uuid:522616e0-b29d-4a0c-8d39-f16c63cf275b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.originenergy.com.au/solar/maintenance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141711306.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202144450-20201202174450-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.944038 | 112 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Modern medicine has done a great job at creating antibiotics to fight infection — in fact, it might be doing too good of a job. As antibiotic use has spiked over the past century or so, the potential for antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” has grown ever more frightening. Now, new research is helping scientists rethink their approach to antibiotics, and their inspiration comes from a rather unlikely source: platypus milk.
Platypuses are weird animals. With their duck-like bill and rodent-like bodies, the creatures have always been fascinating, and researchers now know that their milk is just as bizarre as the animals themselves. In a new paper published in Structural Biology Communications, Australian scientists reveal the strange properties that give platypus milk incredible antibiotic power, and the breakthrough could yield a new tool for fighting dangerous bacteria.
“The platypus belongs to the monotreme family, a small group of mammals that lay eggs and produce milk to feed their young,” Dr Janet Newman, lead author of the study, explains. “By taking a closer look at their milk, we’ve characterized a new protein that has unique antibacterial properties with the potential to save lives.”
Those unique properties are related to the shape of the protein structure in the milk. By recreating the protein in a laboratory the researchers were able to study it in greater detail, and that’s when they realized just how remarkable it was. The animals have developed an odd, curly fold in their milk protein which led the team to dub it the “Shirley Temple” in honor of the child star’s iconic hair.
The protein’s novel structure is thought to be responsible for its remarkable resistance to bacteria, and the researchers now hope to extend their work by applying this newfound knowledge to antibiotic creation. The next phase of the work will reveal whether the discovery could be meaningful in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
“Although we’ve identified this highly unusual protein as only existing in monotremes, this discovery increases our knowledge of protein structures in general, and will go on to inform other drug discovery work done at the Centre,” Dr Newman says. | <urn:uuid:f72b360d-731c-45a0-94f3-50f2b4806b31> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://bgr.com/2018/03/15/platypus-milk-antibiotic-life-saving-medicine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195656.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128125557-20201128155557-00481.warc.gz | en | 0.954461 | 454 | 3.46875 | 3 |
On March 7, Mongabay’s Rhett A. Butler released a great feature about jaguars (Panthera onca) in Bolivia. More specifically, the article deals with a ranch that is serving as a bastion of conservation.
The ranch at the center of Butler’s article is called San Miguelito. Run by Duston Larsen and his partner Anai Holzmann, San Miguelito is showing other ranchers that it is possible to coexist with jaguars.
Larsen and Holzmann have invested in ecotourism – allowing guests to pay to visit their ranch and search for wildlife – which diversifies their income. As such, Larsen and Holzmann are better able to absorb the financial losses that occur when jaguars harm their cattle. San Miguelito also experiences far less jaguar predation than it once did.
Larsen and Holzmann have been working with Panthera, the global wildcat conservation organization, to better protect their cattle from jaguars. Taking steps like corralling calves and incorporating water buffalo and Criollo cattle into their herds – both of which are known to stand their ground against predators – has led to a sharp reduction in jaguar attacks; between 2013 and 2018, livestock losses declined by 92% on San Miguelito.
Of course, jaguars cannot survive without suitable habitat. To that end, Larsen and Holzmann are advocating for leaving wider strips of trees in soy fields than the government mandates. While these habitat paths are not as preferable as intact forests, they could serve as corridors that allow jaguars to move throughout human-dominated farmlands.
Forest patches are also good for soy beans, which benefit from the lower temperatures and higher humidities that the trees promote.
All together, San Miguelito is an example of how other ranches in Central and South America might operate. Rather than trying to ‘combat’ nature, Larsen and Holzmann have found ways to benefit both themselves and their local environment. In that regard, San Miguelito may serve as a glimpse into a better future. | <urn:uuid:5483a287-c8f6-4de3-bf87-30abbdf21916> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://thejaguarandallies.com/2019/03/09/a-model-ranch-for-jaguars-in-bolivia/?like_comment=15699&_wpnonce=47c4e0e478 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141203418.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129214615-20201130004615-00561.warc.gz | en | 0.9601 | 441 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Loggerhead sea turtle populations have a rough time keeping up as it is, but humankind’s excessive use of plastic for just about everything could be making things even tougher on them.
A paper published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin this week by researchers from Florida State University underscores how microplastic pollution hinders the species’ population growth by contaminating its delicate nesting environment.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
"With increasing populations, higher demand for resources and more use of plastic, we're having a lot more plastic and microplastic appearing as marine debris," explained study co-author Mariana Fuentes.
"In these coastal areas, we're seeing significantly more pollution."
The researchers reached their conclusion after surveying ten of Florida’s most prominent loggerhead nesting sites and found evidence for bits of microplastics virtually everywhere they looked.
And to make matters worse, microplastics were most prevalent in the sand dunes that the loggerheads take advantage of for nesting.
Many of the microplastics they found measured no more than just a few millimeters thick, but it’s enough to alter the composition of the sand residing at the nesting sites.
Plastic tends to retain heat, so its presence in the sand impacts the surrounding sand temperature. Given how loggerheads exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination during the incubation period, this excessive heat fluctuation can translate to too many of one gender and make it more challenging for the species to reproduce adequately.
While the situation looks bleak for loggerheads, the researchers seem confident that humankind will be able to reverse the damages before it’s too late. Countless efforts are underway to reduce plastic waste, and this could dramatically slash the amount of plastic pollution found on beaches in the future.
"There is a lot of hope," Fuentes said. "We're beginning to see more and more initiatives providing incentives to discourage the use of plastics. I see my students making those changes every day. It's up to everyone."
Perhaps there’s a light at the end of the tunnel after all…
Source: Florida State University | <urn:uuid:4f4b268e-e273-4489-ac4c-1536c634eae2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/8680/microplastic-pollution-threatens-loggerhead-sea-turtle-nesting-sites | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141716970.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202205758-20201202235758-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.934537 | 435 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Beginning with the Gospels, interpretations of the life of Jesus have flourished for nearly two millennia, yet a clear and coherent picture of Jesus as a man has remained elusive. In Rabbi Jesus, the noted biblical scholar Bruce Chilton places Jesus within the context of his times to present a fresh, historically accurate, and revolutionary examination of the man who founded Christianity.
Drawing on recent archaeological findings and new translations and interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton discusses in enlightening detail the philosophical and psychological foundations of Jesus' ideas and beliefs. His in-depth investigation also provides evidence that contradicts long-held beliefs about Jesus and the movement he led. Chilton shows, for example, that the High Priest Caiaphas, as well as Pontius Pilate, played a central role in Jesus' execution. It is, however, Chilton's description of Jesus' role as a rabbi, or "master," of Jewish oral traditions, as a teacher of the Cabala, and as a practitioner of a Galilean form of Judaism that emphasized direct communication with God that casts an entirely new light on the origins of Christianity.
Seamlessly merging history and biography, this penetrating, highly readable book uncovers truths lost to the passage of time and reveals a new Jesus for the new millennium. | <urn:uuid:be50fcbb-2382-43f3-96f4-bc485c8d02d0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.recordedbooks.com/title-details/9780385505444 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195745.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128184858-20201128214858-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.941837 | 259 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The possibilities of wood as a primary material for all sorts of applications is explored in a project called ‘Hello Wood,’ an annual event in the fields of Hungary that invites students to create unusual outdoor installations. This year’s theme was ‘playing with balance,’ exploring the interaction of opposite forces. The results are pretty incredible, from an elevated walkway made of criss-crossing lumber to a set of wooden games for kids and adults alike.
‘Cornwalk’ (pictured top) is a ramp that rises above a cornfield to face the point where the sun sets, offering an ideal vantage point. It makes use of a simple repeating A-frame gradually increasing in height. The playground by Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop uses simple wooden objects to create new games, often requiring improvisation on the part of participants.
A project by András Cseh of CZITA Architects makes tongue-in-cheek reference to the opposites of low-tech materials and high-tech concepts by building a ‘wooden spaceship.’
The flexibility of thin strips of wood is put on display with the Mochi installation led by Pep Tornabell of CODA, creating lightweight but self-supporting structures. See all of the entries over at ArchDaily. | <urn:uuid:f5ee0f1e-5b84-4e80-bbd8-186095eaf856> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://easternwhitepine.org/hello-wood-students-create-stunning-outdoor-installations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141205147.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130035203-20201130065203-00121.warc.gz | en | 0.934765 | 269 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Stockton-on-Tees seems like your basic British market town with a history dating back to the 12th century. You’ve got your lovely rowhouses, your pleasant parks, and your 18th century ship replica. It’s very charming!
Naturally, there’s a network of mysterious underground tunnels beneath the city, reports the Teesside Gazette.
A Georgian townhouse in the center of town was slated for renovations, and in the process, the owner discovered a series of crumbling rooms and tunnels underneath the house.
The most striking part of the rooms is the details: there are cut-outs in the wall to hold candles, doorways still framed with aging wood, and windows with intact glass panes.
The tunnels, though, are more mysterious: tight and filled with rubble, it’s not clear where they lead.
It looks like there once would have been street access to this underground network, and Jeff Highfield, the building’s owner, has a few ideas about what the rooms and tunnels might have been used for. There’s a larder, and perhaps servants lived in these basement rooms.
Another possibility: these rooms were used to store cows. The cattle market was right across the street, and it would have been a convenient place to store animals. The tunnels could have been “cow tunnels,” used as passageways for cows so that they wouldn’t create traffic above.
These tunnels are just one part of a wider network, locals says. “We all know or have heard stories about the underground tunnel system beneath the High Street,” one commented on Facebook. One is supposed to pass through a local park and once might have connected to the river. The stories about those tunnels propose much more exciting users than cows, though—smugglers, Vikings, and Romans. When your town has been around for almost a millennium, you never know who was digging secret tunnels underneath it. | <urn:uuid:ece87ab0-3954-4540-ad2d-271f74a443e2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-a-centuriesold-network-of-secret-underground-tunnels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674594.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201135627-20201201165627-00201.warc.gz | en | 0.972542 | 409 | 2.890625 | 3 |
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Black Eden chronicles the history of Idlewild, a Michigan black community founded during the aftermath of the Civil War. As one of the nation’s most popular black resorts, Idlewild functioned as a gathering place for African Americans, and more importantly as a touchstone of black identity and culture. Benjamin C. Wilson and Lewis Walker examine Idlewild’s significance within a historical context, as well as the town’s revitalization efforts and the need for comprehensive planning in future development. In a segregated America, Idlewild became a place where black audiences could see rising black entertainers.
Profusely illustrated with photos from the authors’ personal collections, Black Eden provides a lengthy discussion about the crucial role that Idlewild played in the careers of artists such as Louis Armstrong, B. B. King, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, and Della Reese. Fundamentally, the book explores issues involved in living in a segregated society, the consequences of the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent integration, and the consequences of integration vs. racial solidarity. The authors ask: Did integration kill Idlewild?, suggesting rather that other factors contributed to its decline. | <urn:uuid:01a0f78d-a540-4d31-b745-0393238a8630> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.bibliovault.org/BV.book.epl?ISBN=9780870138041 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.931757 | 251 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Colorado Geographic Bee Comes to DU
One of the oldest universities in the world, al-Azhar, was founded in the tenth century and still exists today in what present-day capital city located near the Eastern Desert?
The correct answer is Cairo. On March 31, 100 of Colorado's top geography students in grades four through eight will gather in Sturm Hall to test their knowledge with questions just like this. The winner of the Colorado State Bee will qualify for the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.
Organized by the National Geographic Society, the competition is intended to inspire and reward curiosity toward the world. Students from 10,000 schools across the nation compete for a chance to win college scholarships.
DU's Department of Geography & the Environment has hosted the competition for the past 15 years. The collaboration involved with this event embodies the aspirations outlined in DU IMPACT 2025, the University’s strategic plan, which calls for engagement with the community and collaboration with schools across Colorado.
"For more than two decades, we've partnered with the National Geographic Society in supporting geography education throughout Colorado," says Michael Keables, department chair. "We are excited once again to host this year's competition."
"Hosting the Bee and seeing first-hand the enthusiasm and mastery of these students is truly inspiring," says geography professor Hillary Hamann. "In today’s globalized and interconnected world, geographic knowledge is more important than ever."
Hamann and a volunteer team of faculty, staff, and students are providing support for the Bee, which counts 80,000 students from 235 schools throughout Colorado as participants this year. The champion from each school completed an online geography test to qualify as one of the state's 100 top finalists.
Vice Chancellor Lili Rodriguez will open the competition with a brief statement at 9:00 a.m. Andrei Kutateladze, dean of the Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, will introduce the final round at 1 p.m. Moderated by Amelia Earhart of 9News, the final round consists of the top 10 competitors and is open to the public and media.
Housed within the Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, the Department of Geography & the Environment offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in both geography and environmental science, with courses ranging from hydrology to urban sustainability, climatology, geographic information systems, and more. | <urn:uuid:522c093d-0632-45e2-bf44-1de8155a8bd1> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.du.edu/news/colorado-geographic-bee-comes-du | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141750841.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205211729-20201206001729-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.95271 | 490 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny. The struggle ranges across three worlds - heaven, hell, and earth - as Satan and his band of rebel angels plot their revenge against God. At the centre of theconflict are Adam and Eve, motivated by all too human temptations, but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love. Milton's influence has been felt by many writers since, none more so in recent times than the novelist Philip Pullman. His acclaimed trilogy His Dark Materials takes it title from a line in the poem, and the worlds he created for Lyra and Will have entranced readers across generations. His introduction to the poem is a tribute that is both personal and full of insight; his enthusiasm for Milton's language, his skill, and his supreme gifts as a storyteller is infectious andinstructive. He encourages readers above all to experience the poem for themselves, and surrender to its enchantment. | <urn:uuid:aa705345-f18d-4fa3-aef2-fdf77173d22f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://books.telegraph.co.uk/Product/John-Milton/Paradise-Lost/11405502 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141177607.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124224124-20201125014124-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.962015 | 239 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Genre and Still Life Painting
Object-Thomas Waterman Wood, The Yankee Pedlar
In his portraits and genre paintings, Thomas Waterman Wood combined realism and moralizing narrative to document American life during the mid- and late nineteenth century. The Yankee Pedlar presents a moment of negotiation between a persuasive peddler, who offers manufactured and luxury goods, and a cautious yet eager farm family, accustomed to the barter exchanges more typical of agrarian life. As a Vermont native, Wood was familiar with such transactions in the northeastern United States. His model for The Yankee Peddler was a celebrated tin salesman known as “Snapping Tucker” from Calais, Vermont. Based on a veritable fixture in midcentury rural culture, Wood’s peddler reflects a figure of the past for America’s rising urban population. In an era of evolving, complex economic relations and competitive commercialism, The Yankee Peddler personified ideals of thrift, hard work, and plain dealing associated with a simpler time and a vanishing way of life.
Learn more about this painting on the Terra Foundation website. | <urn:uuid:f77e2bd5-1750-40f2-b118-b743aea4479d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://conversations.terraamericanart.org/artworks/the-yankee-pedlar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193221.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127131802-20201127161802-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.932798 | 226 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Well, it looks like Canada’s National Library is completely embracing April Fools Day, having just released the declassified journals and military records of James “Logan” Howlett. You know who James Howlett is, right? That’s right; he’s the freaking Wolverine! Yes, it’s Wolverine’s origin declassified thanks to Canada’s National Library and their incredibly authentic-looking documentation. Check it out!
This “misinformation” was shared through the Library and Archives Facebook page, and disseminated a lot of very interesting, facts regarding the once-shrouded history of Wolverine! A few of those interesting facts relayed through the aforementioned Library and Archives Facebook page:
“Logan was born in 1882 in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, to wealthy landowner Elizabeth Howlett and her grounds-keeper Thomas Logan.
Logan’s journals provide valuable insight into his early life in Canada, including work as a miner in a British Columbia stone quarry, a fur trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company, and a homesteader in the Canadian Rockies. His military career spanned multiple conflicts, making his personnel records an unprecedented study in Canadian military history. Logan was gravely wounded in action many times, and gained a reputation as a gritty survivor.”
• WWI: captain in the Canadian Armed Forces (Devil’s Brigade). Fought at Ypres in 1915. Wounded by a sword through the chest.
• WWII: Returned to the Devil’s Brigade in the Second World War, as an allied spy and paratrooper for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during the Normandy landings on D-Day.
• Cold War: based in Ottawa and Calgary, worked for both CSIS and the CIA.
• Logan later changed his operative name to ‘Wolverine’, and worked with various NGOs.”
It’s the completely accurate, fake facts regarding the origins of Wolverine! | <urn:uuid:93bdd828-2330-497e-b1c7-6d272fabde34> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://source.superherostuff.com/comics/wolverines-origin-declassified/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.951253 | 430 | 2.625 | 3 |
Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (1887–1965) is widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of the 20th century. From private villas to mass social housing projects, his radical ideas, designs, and writings presented a whole-scale reinvention not only of individual structures, but of entire concepts of modern living.
Le Corbusier’s work made distinct developments over the years, from early vernacular houses in Switzerland through dazzling white, purist villas to dynamic syntheses of art and architecture such as the chapel at Ronchamp and the civic buildings in Chandigarh, India. A hallmark throughout was his ability to combine functionalist aspirations with a strong sense of expressionism, as well as a broader and empathetic understanding of urban planning. He was a founding member of the Congrès international d’architecture moderne (CIAM), which championed “architecture as a social art.”
This book presents some of Le Corbusier’s landmark projects to introduce an architect, thinker, and modern pioneer who, even in his unrealized projects, offered discussion and inspiration for generations to come. | <urn:uuid:f69e17ae-3c96-4307-9c00-2d768316eda0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/architecture/all/49211/facts.le_corbusier.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141685797.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201231155-20201202021155-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.957243 | 248 | 3.125 | 3 |
Forgiving is no easy task: in fact, it may be the most difficult endeavor one can undertake. St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, said, “I didn’t need to learn how to forgive, because God has taught me how to love.” Still, even this saint struggled with the trying task of forgiving. This collection of anecdotes from his life explores his experiences in offering and accepting forgiveness.
Life as a priest in the midst of the violent Spanish Civil War offered St. Josemaría countless opportunities to practice forgiveness. Owing to an attitude of prayer, mortification, and total confidence in God, he was as immediate and resolute in forgiving in dramatic situations as he was in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. He knew when a situation necessitated silence, and was always prompt in offering an apology when he found himself in the wrong. Readers will find themselves equally amazed and humbled by the gentle charity that contributed to Josemaría’s sainthood.
In addition to anecdotes from St. Josemaría Escrivá’s life, this powerful introduction to forgiveness includes a biography of St. Josemaría, an explanation of the message of Opus Dei, excerpts from Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St. Josemaría and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) at the beatification of Josemaría Escrivá, as well as resources for further information in print and online. | <urn:uuid:25ba3f21-9ace-4188-862e-418b0e15b7d5> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://catholicbooksdirect.com/product/a-man-who-knew-how-to-forgive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194634.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127221446-20201128011446-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.951459 | 308 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Two immunologists, American James P. Allison and Japan's Tasuku Honjo, have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work on a new approach to treating cancer.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the winners on October 1, citing "their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation."
"This year's Nobel Prize constitutes a landmark in our fight against cancer. The discovery made by the two Medicine Laureates takes advantage of the immune system's ability to attack cancer cells by releasing the brakes on immune cells," the assembly said.
Allison studied a protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. He realized the potential of releasing the brake and unleashing the body's immune cells to attack tumors, developing the concept into a new approach for treating cancer patients.
Separately, Honjo discovered a protein on immune cells and revealed that it can also operate as a brake, but with a different mechanism of action. Therapies based on his discovery have proven to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer.
The two scientists will share the 9 million-Swedish-kronor ($1 million) prize. | <urn:uuid:9b65dee9-0b4d-456c-8ff4-d0779d75a7f7> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.rferl.org/a/two-scientists-win-nobel-prize-for-medicine-with-revolutionary-work-on-cancer-therapy/29519045.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194634.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127221446-20201128011446-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.953248 | 244 | 2.734375 | 3 |
While South African novelist and Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee is best known for his fiction, he recently had a show celebrating his lesser-known creative work: his black and white photographs taken during his adolescence in apartheid-era South Africa. The photographs offer an intimate view of the writer and his upbringing.
Scholar Harald Leusmann analyzes J. M. Coetzee’s cultural critique of white, postcolonial, post-apartheid South Africa. He argues that Coetzee’s writing, often loosely autobiographical fiction, is important and even integral to understanding South African history. Leusmann notes that Coetzee’s 1999 novel Disgrace “written after the demise of the apartheid regime…deals with the collective mood of present-day South Africa’s white population at the end of the dark twentieth century.” According to Leusmann, the author “forces his readers to look into abysses they do not really want to look into but are actually unable to turn away from anymore.”
The exhibition of Coetzee’s previously unpublished photographs—many of which were never printed, only surviving as negatives until now—offers a similarly intimate look at apartheid South Africa, from the point of view of a white, Boer-English South African. The young Coetzee captured private moments at home with his family, along with significant events he happened to witness. One photo documents a white policeman pulling up to two black pedestrians; another photo from around 1955 immortalizes his family taking two black farmhands to the ocean for the first time.
Coetzee’s landscapes portray some of the same places he describes in his books. He spent time in the southernmost part of South Africa in Karoo, for instance, photographing the arid landscape. Later, he wrote about Karoo, where “there in the grandiose emptiness, the scattered islands of colonialism—the settlements of the white farmers—can be found.”
Through Coetzee’s literature, he “exposes layer by layer the nightmares South Africans must have and the mental deformations of and within a racist caste system.” As Leusman notes, Coetzee “is a white African in whose novels the country of apartheid and the postcolonial presence of South Africa are scrutinized in a clear and uncompromising light that makes sure no traces of injury and destruction can escape.” His photographs are similarly clear and uncompromising. | <urn:uuid:e5d06ebb-5a67-492e-ad64-ee10146efa48> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://daily.jstor.org/novelist-j-m-coetzee-apartheid-era-photographs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141216897.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130161537-20201130191537-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.957717 | 517 | 3.125 | 3 |
In an interview with the Chilean publication MasDeco, Urban Planning Professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris discussed design strategies necessary to make sidewalks safe for all users. Loukaitou-Sideris explained that, while sidewalks were originally designed with the sole purpose of accommodating foot traffic and separating pedestrians from fast-moving cars, these narrow corridors are now overwhelmed by bikes, scooters and pedestrians, all moving at different speeds within the same space. New laws require bikers in many cities to ride in the street instead of on the sidewalk, but Loukaitou-Sideris stressed the importance of creating a designated bike lane to protect bikers riding alongside cars. In the interview, published in Spanish, Loukaitou-Sideris said design should be informed by the demography of the area in order to create space for everyone, especially older adults and small children. She concluded that urban planning and design can minimize conflict by creating space for all types of sidewalk users. | <urn:uuid:d2d7c29a-09f9-4a2c-bc29-ee425fd526b7> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://luskin.ucla.edu/loukaitou-sideris-discusses-strategies-to-ease-sidewalk-congestion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141686635.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202021743-20201202051743-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.926232 | 202 | 3.015625 | 3 |
During this Mexican holiday, graves are cleaned and decorated with marigolds, which are thought to attract souls. Household altars are constructed and adorned with the deceased's favorite foods. It is hoped that on this day the spirits enjoy some of the things they loved when they were alive. More than the departed themselves, The Day of the Dead commemorates the good things in life, and culminates in parties and family gatherings.
At The Museum of the American Indian's celebration, visitors can learn how to make papel picado, "paper flowers," as well as plaster skeleton figurines called calacas. These figures, icons of the holiday, are usually dressed festively and represent joy rather than grief. Other festivities include dance performances by the troupe Danza Mexica Cetiliztli Nauhcampa, storytelling by playwrights Elvira and Hortensia Colorado, an art installation, and even skulls made of sugar!
Like the Day of the Dead, the Museum of the American Indian sheds light on the past while keeping the present, living traditions of the Americas' indigenous peoples in focus. Historical objects and contemporary art are given equal space, and an exhibit on clothing and identity tracks the changing role of native women through their dresses.
As if you needed one more reason to visit, the museum building, The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, is a work of art itself. It was designed by Cass Gilbert, who would later plan the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Exhibitions spread out in rooms around the main rotunda, a gorgeous beaux-arts style Roman dome illustrated with murals by Reginald Marsh and illuminated from above by a giant skylight.
A final incentive? This being a part of the Smithsonian, admission to The National Museum of the American Indian is free. | <urn:uuid:9f9d35b5-579a-47cf-8650-25fcc1144434> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.weekendnotes.com/day-of-the-dead-at-the-national-museum-of-the-american-indian/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141692985.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202052413-20201202082413-00602.warc.gz | en | 0.963517 | 377 | 2.625 | 3 |
For decades, Sesame has brought joy and learning to the lives of children across Europe. Our first production outside the U.S., Germany’s Sesamstrasse, was the template for adapting our approach to different needs and cultures around the world. The program is loved by generations of families, many of whom think of the show as an original German creation. In areas of the continent marked by cultural conflict, our programs bring lessons in mutual understanding to help sow the seeds of peace.
The Dutch version of Sesame Street is one of the longest-running kids’ shows in the Netherlands, reaching millions of children daily. The program has taught generations of preschoolers about letters and numbers while helping them form important social and emotional skills. Segments address issues of local and global importance like cultural stereotyping, bullying, peaceful problem solving, and expressing emotion in healthy ways.
Millions of children have grown up with Sesamstrasse, which first aired in Germany in 1973. Created for 3- to 5-year-olds, the show encourages creative play, asking questions, and using active imaginations. The characters tackle issues like sharing and taking turns, protecting the environment, and mutual respect and understanding—especially relevant for the diverse population of modern Germany.
In areas marked by conflict, Sesame Street helps promote respect and understanding among children of all backgrounds. Past examples include our Sesame Tree co-production in Northern Ireland, where two Muppet role models—Hilda the Irish Hare and Potto, a furry purple monster—overcame their cultural differences to become friends and live together peacefully in their tree. Likewise, our programs in Kosovo became a powerful tool for healing rifts between the Kosovo-Albanian and Kosovo-Serb peoples as they moved toward reconciliation.
When you support Sesame Workshop, you’re making a positive difference in the lives of children around the world. Join us! | <urn:uuid:c138e14c-0683-4f4e-9306-d48cf80754df> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.sesameworkshop.org/where-we-work/europe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141746320.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205044004-20201205074004-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.950786 | 391 | 2.84375 | 3 |
A newly unearthed set of fossils may have just moved back the milepost for when the first forms of life appeared on Earth. A team of scientists from the University of Tokyo studying rock formations in Labrador, the northern region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, found evidence that life may have formed as long as 3.95 billion years ago — a mere 590 million years after the Earth formed.
If they’re correct, this finding will move the date for the first life on Earth back 150 million years. Previously, scientists believed the earliest life on Earth emerged 3.8 billion years ago.
This research is outlined in a paper published Wednesday in Nature. In the paper, co-lead authors Yuji Sano, professor of marine analytical chemistry, and Tsuyoshi Komiya, associate professor of geology, explain that their microscopic analysis of the makeup of Labrador’s ancient rocks revealed evidence of early life.
They argue that the deposits of graphite — which is made of carbon — in the rock samples from the Saglek Block formation came from some of the earliest organisms on Earth. The rocks contain a particular mixture of carbon and carbonate isotopes that suggest they were left behind by autotrophic marine microorganisms.
Most graphite is made inorganically as carbon in the Earth’s crust is heated and pressurized to form the distinctively dark silver mineral. But in rare cases, graphite can form through biological means, as microorganisms pile up, die, and are crushed by heat and pressure into rock over time.
Living organisms tend to carry plenty of a specific carbon isotope known as carbon-12, which lingers long after they die. So, when scientists come across graphite that contains a lot of carbon-12, there’s a pretty good chance that it came from living organisms. That was the case here, and the scientists think the organisms that left all that carbon-12 behind might have been autotrophs — which, like modern algae, produce nutrients from inorganic molecules — but it’s still too early to know for sure.
Their next steps? Further analysis of the rocks will hopefully reveal not only what the heck the first forms of life actually were but, more importantly, how they lived — and where they came from.
If you liked this article, check out this video of a 99 million-year-old dinosaur fossil. | <urn:uuid:cdc41b34-b24f-482b-bc47-91ff1d13581b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.inverse.com/article/36956-oldest-life-on-earth-first-autotrophs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188947.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126200910-20201126230910-00562.warc.gz | en | 0.953321 | 491 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Human brains are nearly three times larger than those of chimpanzees, but we’ve got nothing on our closest cousins in the testicle department. Whereas human testes top out at about 50 grams, chimpanzees’ routinely reach weights of 150 to 170 grams. Scientists think the difference has to do with each species’ mating habits. Among primates in which females tend to have one mate at a time, like humans and gorillas, testicles are generally smaller. Larger testes—along with more tissue designed for holding semen—are found in species in which females have sex with several males during a fertility cycle, like chimpanzees and rhesus macaques. New research suggests that the forces governing the difference lie in each species’ transcriptome, or the set of RNA molecules that translates genetic codes into actual physical traits. In more polygamous species, the transcriptome directs testicles to continue developing for longer after birth, researchers report this month in a study on the preprint server bioRxiv. In humans, testicle development starts later and ends earlier, leaving men about as well endowed as an adolescent chimpanzee. But hope is not lost, puny humans! Our primate ancestors appear to have switched between mating types—and, therefore, testicle size—at least six times before we came along, suggesting that testicle tissue may respond to evolutionary pressure more rapidly than other body parts do. | <urn:uuid:47dc69e1-e3c4-40d8-a823-ef6b97b2e784> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/10/why-humans-are-less-well-endowed-chimps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141201836.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129153900-20201129183900-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.938665 | 284 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, and a West Virginia local conservationist filed a complaint against Beech Ridge Energy and its parent company in June, contending that their massive industrial wind power facility being built in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, will unlawfully injure and kill the endangered Indiana bats who live near the project site.
“We were hoping to avoid a federal lawsuit,” says John Stroud, spokesperson for Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy. “However, Beech Ridge Energy is currently moving forward with construction, despite repeated requests to first bring the project into compliance with the Endangered Species Act.”
The wind project will include 124 turbines, each nearly 400 feet tall, along a 23-mile stretch of forested Appalachian mountain ridgelines. Habitat-destroying roads, buildings and transmission lines necessary to operate the facility will also be installed.
Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal, the public interest law firm representing the plaintiffs, had informed Beech Ridge Energy of the likelihood that its wind power project would adversely impact the endangered bats. The US Fish and Wildlife Service had also warned Beech Ridge of the project’s threat to bats, recommending a full three years of pre-construction wildlife monitoring before making a siting decision. Beech Ridge, however, failed to respond and has proceeded with construction plans.
Plaintiffs are particularly concerned about the project’s impacts in light of the increasing threat posed by White-nose Syndrome—a disease ravaging bat populations in the eastern US.
“According to conservative estimates, the Beech Ridge project alone is expected to kill more than 130,000 bats over a 20-year period,” says D.J. Schubert, AWI wildlife biologist. “Poorly sited wind power projects in the eastern US have already killed and maimed scores of bats.”
The date and location of the trial still remains to be scheduled in what is possibly the first lawsuit challenging an industrial wind energy project under the Endangered Species Act. | <urn:uuid:5797feba-7377-4514-840a-1c5969df1efb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2009-summer/turbines-threaten-endangered-bats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141747323.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205074417-20201205104417-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.944631 | 429 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Clean energy offers a significant opportunity to diversify the rural economy while generating cheap, renewable power for rural homes and businesses.
Wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects help revitalize rural communities by taking advantage of their rich energy resources. New tax revenue from these projects help shore up local infrastructure, like schools and emergency services, while reducing the local tax burden on rural people. Meanwhile, farmers and landowners receive land-lease payments from project developers in an unpredictable farm economy. In addition, new jobs are created by the increased demand for local manufacturing and project operators.
To maximize the impact of clean energy development, a critical need arises for new and upgraded transmission capacity to carry renewable energy generated across wide geographic areas to consumers. Investing in transmission infrastructure creates new access to clean energy and allows rural economies in the Midwest and Great Plains to unlock their clean energy potential.
We aim to assist landowners and other rural stakeholders to ensure that clean energy transmission is built in an equitable, sustainable way—a way that works best for rural citizens and their communities.
Click here to view our wind energy story map, and watch the video below to see how the small town of Petersburg, Nebraska, realized its clean energy potential. Check out our clean energy transmission database, which provides project details on proposed or newly developed transmission projects in the Midwest and Great Plains. | <urn:uuid:6b79dcac-b537-465f-baee-46abdeb07296> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.cfra.org/clean-energy?page=21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176049.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124082900-20201124112900-00682.warc.gz | en | 0.918693 | 269 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Standing Up Against Hate tells the stories of the African American women who enlisted in the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in World War II. They quickly discovered that they faced as many obstacles in the armed forces as they did in everyday life. However, they refused to back down. They interrupted careers and left family, friends, and loved ones to venture into unknown and sometimes dangerous territory. They survived racial prejudice and discrimination with dignity, succeeded in jobs women had never worked before, and made crucial contributions to the military war effort. The book centers around Charity Adams, who commanded the only black WAAC battalion sent overseas and became the highest ranking African American woman in the military by the end of the war. Along with Adams’s story are those of other black women who played a crucial role in integrating the armed forces. Their tales are both inspiring and heart-wrenching. The book includes a timeline, bibliography, and index. | <urn:uuid:aee1a78b-75cb-4671-84b8-5f61a9e24438> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://books.apple.com/us/book/standing-up-against-hate/id1359122717 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.973847 | 195 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Snoring all night might not just be keeping your partner awake—it might be signaling something serious about your health.
Excessive snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, a serious condition where you actually stop breathing in your sleep. It’s been linked to problems like morning headache, daytime sleepiness, and much more serious issues like high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack. (Here are 7 signs you actually stop breathing in your sleep.)
The gold standard of diagnosing sleep apnea is a sleep study, usually a polysomnogram. This test records brain activity, heart rate oxygen levels, and snoring, among other signs. It’s painless, but you’ll have to go to a sleep lab to get it done. Some doctors offer home-based monitors, but they are difficult to use and tend to disrupt your sleep.
Now, a new device may bridge the gap between accurate diagnosis and convenience: Scientists have developed a one-ounce, adhesive patch that can confidently identify sleep apnea, according to preliminary research presented at SLEEP 2017, the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
After testing the device on 174 people with sleep apnea, the researchers discovered 87 percent agreement on sleep apnea diagnosis from the patch and traditional in-lab polysomnography tests.
A separate study looking at how well patients were able to use the device on their own found that 38 out of 39 people got successful readings from it, according to a press release.
This skin-adhesive patch measures nasal pressure, blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, any respiratory struggles, sleep time, and body position.
The results from this study will be used in petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval for the device.
In the meantime, if you think you’re suffering from sleep apnea—you snore, fall asleep easily in places outside your bed, wake up with a headachy or scratchy throat, or feel tired all the time—talk with your doctor. Until this device is approved, a sleep study may be your best bet to ID’ing sleep apnea. | <urn:uuid:1e043bb0-a332-48a2-980e-29e9ef15eb4c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19518875/patch-diagnoses-sleep-apnea/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.931567 | 449 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Scientists are exploring ways to use mineral waste from mines to pull huge amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air.
On a scorching day this August, Caleb Woodall wielded his shovel like a spear, stabbing it into the hardened crust of an asbestos-filled pit near Coalinga, California.
Woodall, a graduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, was digging out samples from an asbestos mine that’s been shuttered since 1980, a Superfund site on the highest peak in the state’s Diablo Range. He extracted pounds of the material from several locations across San Benito Mountain, shoveled them into Ziploc bags, and shipped them to a pair of labs for analysis.
He and his colleagues are trying to determine the makeup and structure of the materials pulled from the pits, and to answer two critical questions: How much carbon dioxide do they contain—and how much more could they store?
The vast surface area of certain types of fibrous asbestos, a class of carcinogenic compounds once heavily used in heat-resistant building materials, makes them particularly good at grabbing hold of the carbon dioxide molecules dissolved in rainwater or floating through the air.
That includes the most common form of asbestos, chrysotile, a serpentine mineral laced throughout the mountain (serpentine is California’s state rock). The reaction with carbon dioxide mainly produces magnesium carbonate minerals like magnesite, a stable material that could lock away the greenhouse gas for millennia. | <urn:uuid:e2dfcad1-980a-4e8d-acdc-45dea81bac90> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://famanz.org/2020/10/20/asbestos-could-be-a-powerful-weapon-against-climate-change-you-read-that-right/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141163411.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123153826-20201123183826-00000.warc.gz | en | 0.93524 | 305 | 3.8125 | 4 |
New research suggests that our immune system may play an active role in shaping the digestive-tract flora, which is tightly linked to health and disease.
An innovative approach from Priya Rajasethupathy has been used to link genetics to behavior in mice. The analysis identifies a gene that underpins the role of the brain’s thalamus region in maintaining short-term memory.
Research led by Jean-Laurent Casanova shows Covid-19 patients with life-threatening illness have antibodies that disable key immune system proteins called interferons.
Just how sick we get from COVID-19 depends on genetic variations, including ones that sabotage immune molecules called interferons. Jean-Laurent Casanova's work aims to better understand why, which could lead to new treatments for COVID-19 and other scourges. | <urn:uuid:adf703d6-5015-4d8c-8dc3-4235a665454e> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/?start-date=10%2F28%2F2020&end-date=10%2F28%2F2020 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141163411.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123153826-20201123183826-00000.warc.gz | en | 0.928781 | 174 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Doesn't this sound like a cross between a dinosaur and a snake? Actually, bronchoconstriction affects the airways in a person's lungs. You can think of airways like straws or tubes. They let air flow in and out so you can breathe. These airways have muscles, but not the kind you flex! When bronchoconstriction occurs, the muscles surrounding the airways contract, or tighten. This narrows the airways so there's less space inside for air to get through. Bronchoconstriction happens to people who have asthma, but asthma medicines can help relax the muscles in the airways and make breathing easier. | <urn:uuid:c076ffc5-71e4-43d5-9759-0798c4e9b27b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://m.rossa-editorial.kidshealth.org/en/kids/word-bronchoconstriction.html?WT.ac=m-k-ra | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00160.warc.gz | en | 0.88123 | 135 | 3.75 | 4 |
Chinese–American relations are often viewed through the prism of power rivalry and civilization clash. But China and America’s shared history is much more than a catalog of conflicts. Using culture rather than politics or economics as a reference point, Xu Guoqi highlights significant yet neglected cultural exchanges in which China and America have contributed to each other’s national development, building the foundation of what Zhou Enlai called a relationship of “equality and mutual benefit.”
Xu begins with the story of Anson Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln’s ambassador to China, and the 120 Chinese students he played a crucial role in bringing to America, inaugurating a program of Chinese international study that continues today. Such educational crosscurrents moved both ways, as is evident in Xu’s profile of the remarkable Ge Kunhua, the Chinese poet who helped spearhead Chinese language teaching in Boston in the 1870s. Xu examines the contributions of two American scholars to Chinese political and educational reform in the twentieth century: the law professor Frank Goodnow, who took part in making the Yuan Shikai government’s constitution; and the philosopher John Dewey, who helped promote Chinese modernization as a visiting scholar at Peking University and elsewhere. Xu also shows that it was Americans who first introduced to China the modern Olympic movement, and that China has used sports ever since to showcase its rise as a global power. These surprising shared traditions between two nations, Xu argues, provide the best roadmap for the future of Sino–American relations. | <urn:uuid:9d63177c-7097-41f5-80ff-0dc0e78bac91> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674052536 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00160.warc.gz | en | 0.962417 | 312 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Republics of Knowledge
Nations of the Future in Latin America
An enlightening account of the entwined histories of knowledge and nationhood in Latin America—and beyond
The rise of nation-states is a hallmark of the modern age, yet we are still untangling how the phenomenon unfolded across the globe. Here, Nicola Miller offers new insights into the process of nation-making through an account of nineteenth-century Latin America, where, she argues, the identity of nascent republics was molded through previously underappreciated means: the creation and sharing of knowledge.
Drawing evidence from Argentina, Chile, and Peru, Republics of Knowledge traces the histories of these countries from the early 1800s, as they gained independence, to their centennial celebrations in the twentieth century. Miller identifies how public exchange of ideas affected policymaking, the emergence of a collective identity, and more. She finds that instead of defining themselves through language or culture, these new nations united citizens under the promise of widespread access to modern information. Miller challenges the narrative that modernization was a strictly North Atlantic affair, demonstrating that knowledge traveled both ways between Latin America and Europe. And she looks at how certain forms of knowledge came to be seen as more legitimate and valuable than others, both locally and globally. Miller ultimately suggests that all modern nations can be viewed as communities of shared knowledge, a perspective with the power to reshape our conception of the very basis of nationhood.
With its transnational framework and cross-disciplinary approach, Republics of Knowledge opens new avenues for understanding the histories of modern nations—and the foundations of modernity—the world over. | <urn:uuid:e97615f4-8585-4dbc-9bb0-4de15f120f0c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://childrensbookworld_1.mymustreads.com/id007025609/Republics-of-Knowledge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193221.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127131802-20201127161802-00240.warc.gz | en | 0.930649 | 330 | 3.1875 | 3 |
The mechanisms governing tree drought mortality and recovery remain a subject of inquiry and active debate given their role in the terrestrial carbon cycle and their concomitant impact on climate change. Counter-intuitively, many trees do not die during the drought itself. Indeed, observations globally have documented that trees often grow for several years after drought before mortality. A combination of meta-analysis and tree physiological models demonstrate that optimal carbon allocation after drought explains observed patterns of delayed tree mortality and provides a predictive recovery framework. Specifically, post-drought, trees attempt to repair water transport tissue and achieve positive carbon balance through regrowing drought-damaged xylem. Further, the number of years of xylem regrowth required to recover function increases with tree size, explaining why drought mortality increases with size. These results indicate that tree resilience to drought-kill may increase in the future, provided that CO2 fertilization facilitates more rapid xylem regrowth. | <urn:uuid:7144bf0a-3c58-47eb-acfc-9766c95f13ff> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://hive.utah.edu/catalog?f%5Bcreator_sim%5D%5B%5D=Bartlett%2C+M.+K.&f%5Bkeyword_sim%5D%5B%5D=carbon+metabolism&f%5Bkeyword_sim%5D%5B%5D=hydraulic-carbon+coupling&f%5Bkeyword_sim%5D%5B%5D=CO2+fertilization&f%5Bresource_type_sim%5D%5B%5D=Dataset&locale=en&per_page=10&sort=system_create_dtsi+asc&view=gallery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00320.warc.gz | en | 0.918531 | 188 | 3.5 | 4 |
Inguinal hernia is the most common type of hernia. It occurs when a portion of the intestines protrudes through the inguinal canal. General symptoms include pain, discomfort, and possibly a lump near the groin. These symptoms tend to get worse during the day, while coughing, during exercise, or while bearing down (for example, during a bowel movement). Symptoms may improve when lying down. Surgery is not always necessary, but the situation can become a medical emergency if the protruding organ gets cut off from its blood supply. | <urn:uuid:5cadbebf-6649-4809-b8cf-e25a80130909> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://herniapedia.com/faqs_type/what-is-an-inguinal-hernia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141211510.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130065516-20201130095516-00400.warc.gz | en | 0.96261 | 110 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Drug companies around the world are working to develop a vaccine for Covid-19. In mid-November, both Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna, report that — based on early data — they have vaccines that are about 90 percent and 94 percent effective against Covid-19, respectively.
Even with this news, Vox’s Umair Irfan reports, many key steps remain before a vaccine is rolled out. First, the trials must be completed, the vaccines must be proven safe, and they need to get approved. Once that happens, a global supply chain, from the glass vials that hold the vaccine to the syringes used to inject them, needs to spool up to make huge quantities of the vaccines.
Manufacturers will also have to ensure that vaccines remain intact and under strict temperature controls from the factory to the hospitals and clinics where they will be used. The process of manufacturing, distributing, and administering a vaccine could take months.
And vaccine research doesn’t end once a vaccine gets approved. Researchers and companies will still have to track complications across millions of people and pay attention to how quickly immunity wanes.
It’s also important to remember that a vaccine is not enough on its own to end the pandemic. Measures like social distancing, good hygiene, and wearing face masks will remain essential to control the spread of Covid-19 until a vaccine is widely available. Public acceptance will also be a major issue, and health officials will have to overcome a wave of vaccine hesitancy. | <urn:uuid:18da511a-809e-4235-9316-87bf8084a50c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://apostz.com/covid-19-vaccines-news-and-updates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141737946.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204131750-20201204161750-00640.warc.gz | en | 0.955449 | 315 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Look at the Weather
From 7 | 152 pages
Through four chapters—sun, rain, ice and snow, and extreme weather—this book explores different weather phenomena, from rainbows and sunsets to clouds, frost, and rainstorms. Moments of distress and destruction are offset by the calm after a storm or the peaceful feeling of a blanket of fresh snow.
Evocative paintings convey the sheer power of weather, while lyrical text captures the richness of our natural environment. The book takes an inspiring tone rather than an exhaustive, factual one. The book explicitly makes the links between extreme weather, climate change, and human activity, and poses questions often, inviting young readers to observe and inquire about their own environment or to imagine other ones. | <urn:uuid:6d1c890f-1093-4362-afef-4f0f86db41df> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://shop.owlkids.com/products/look-at-the-weather?variant=37616794817 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141737946.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204131750-20201204161750-00640.warc.gz | en | 0.904097 | 149 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown explores what happens when communities let loose and express themselves by dancing together. | <urn:uuid:016d2b28-0f02-4937-ad77-bd34f14e4f56> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.tolerance.org/search?f%5B0%5D=facet_sitewide_grade_level%3A37&f%5B1%5D=facet_sitewide_social_justice_domain%3A42&f%5B2%5D=social_justice_standard%3A50&%3Bf%5B1%5D=facet_sitewide_grade_level%3A38&%3Bamp%3Bf%5B1%5D=facet_sitewide_social_justice_domain%3A39&%3Bamp%3Bf%5B2%5D=facet_sitewide_grade_level%3A38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141737946.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204131750-20201204161750-00640.warc.gz | en | 0.905332 | 75 | 3 | 3 |
About 9,000 years ago, the Fuzhou Basin in southeastern China fell victim to rising sea levels, pushing underwater the marshy lands needed for rice farming. The marooned people there became seafarers, which eventually led to the colonization of Taiwan.
The long-term flooding of the Fuzhou Basin completely changed the topography of the region, turning what are today hilltops into solitary islands not more than a mile across. With rice paddies no longer an option, the ancient inhabitants were forced to find a new way to survive, and they made the most of their sudden influx of water. That's the idea put forward by University of Hawaii archaeologist Barry Rolett, who argues it was this shift to a nautical lifestyle that ultimately made possible the settlement of Taiwan.
Rolett says the area's inhabitants probably built outposts on the newly created islands and began working on their nautical skills. They would have started small, building canoes and bamboo rafts strictly for fishing and the gathering of other aquatic food just off shore. But over time, the maritime culture would have developed to the point that far longer journeys became possible, culminating in the 80-mile trek to Taiwan, and this might well have changed the course of human history.
Linguistic studies suggest ancient Taiwan was the jumping off point for the vast majority of cultures that now populate the Pacific, including the Polynesians whose seafaring culture extended all the way to Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island, and perhaps even South America. The basics of the maritime technology that made the settlement of the Pacific Ocean possible might well have originated in the flooded Fuzhou Basin thousands of years ago. | <urn:uuid:4a8894f4-932c-4b52-9b59-05970fe8b524> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-centuries-of-flooding-turned-the-ancient-chinese-in-5788360 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193856.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127161801-20201127191801-00520.warc.gz | en | 0.972563 | 338 | 4.03125 | 4 |
Study states almost 3 billion North American birds have vanished since 1970
Even though a species may be considered "abundant," there's definitely still cause for concern if it's becoming significantly less so. A new study indicates that this is the case with North American birds, the total number of which has reportedly declined by 29 percent since 1970.
Led by Cornell University conservation scientist Kenneth V. Rosenberg, a group of American and Canadian researchers recently examined multiple datasets from ground-based bird-monitoring stations, going back 48 years. They determined that for 529 of the most common species in both countries, a net loss of 2.9 billion birds has occurred since that time.
Over 90 percent of the loss took place within 12 bird families, which included songbird species such as warblers and sparrows. On the other hand, species such as waterfowl and raptors have actually experienced a population increase. This is likely due to conservation efforts, which the study suggests should be extended to other bird species that aren't doing so well.
Additionally, the team analyzed data from the continent-wide NEXRAD radar network, which is capable of detecting flocks of migratory birds. Based on this, it was determined that the "biomass passage of migrating birds" has undergone a similarly steep decline in the past 10 years, particularly in the eastern US.
"Species extinctions have defined the global biodiversity crisis, but extinction begins with loss in abundance of individuals that can result in compositional and functional changes of ecosystems," the researchers state. "Given the current pace of global environmental change, quantifying change in species abundances is essential."
A paper on the study was recently published in the journal Science. | <urn:uuid:ef64e148-ff2e-4d4b-97bc-8d85124faa9f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://newatlas.com/environment/north-american-bird-abundancy/?0000016e-d4b4-d036-a77f-defe204f0000-page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193856.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127161801-20201127191801-00520.warc.gz | en | 0.966952 | 349 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Many people mistake knowledge for wisdom because they are intimately related, and this is unfortunate because they are quite different in an important way. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts and information. Wisdom is the synthesis of knowledge and experiences into insights that deepen one’s understanding of relationships and the meaning of life. In other words, knowledge is a tool, and wisdom is the craft in which the tool is used.
If one understands this difference, he or she will also appreciate why it is vital to properly distinguish between the two. With the Internet, it is now relatively easy for a reasonably diligent person to quickly become knowledgeable in virtually any field of his or her choosing. We are literally awash in a sea of information! But having a hammer and knowing how to use it are two entirely different propositions. A hammer is amoral. Whether it is used for good or ill depends entirely on the wielder. Sadly, history is a lengthy record of the harms wrought by knowledgeable, well-meaning people who lacked wisdom.
In contrast to knowledge, wisdom is generally considered to be morally good. Why is this the case? Albert Einstein once said, ‘Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.’ Such a process is lengthy and arduous, which teaches the pursuer patience and humility. Seldom is a person unchanged by such a trial. When one finally uncovers a connection or insight that he or she believes to be universally applicable ‘truth,’ it often inspires awe akin to a spiritual experience.
‘Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers,’ wrote Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Truths stay with a person for the rest of his or her life, coloring all subsequent thoughts and actions. Wisdom requires no law or threat of punishment to ensure compliance. The practitioner typically feels a strong compulsion to obey his or her own beliefs. The wise can still fall prey to indiscretions and questionable moral behavior–being flesh and blood like us all–however, if one tracks such statistics, the odds of such failings are likely to be very small compared to the general populace.
Society esteems the wise for their virtuosity and for their rarity. Subject matter experts number in the thousands, but the wise may only number in the tens or hundreds. And history records their names and achievements for posterity’s sake. | <urn:uuid:f76bf65c-9b14-4ca9-ad01-df6463fb17d1> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://philoscifi.com/2010/09/26/knowledge-vs-wisdom/?replytocom=208 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141685797.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201231155-20201202021155-00040.warc.gz | en | 0.961647 | 485 | 2.9375 | 3 |
NASA released an impressive inventory of 219 recently discovered "planet candidates," 10 of which are close to the size of Earth and could conceivably host intelligent alien life.
Objects of interest identified by NASA's Kepler space telescope are eventually called "planet candidates" after further vetting. Some candidates can end up being false positives later on, meaning that they're not new planets, after all. But even if that happens, Kepler's catalogue gives us some interesting insight, particularly on "exoplanets" (planets that exist beyond our solar system).
"We're going to determine how common other planets are. Are there other places we could live in the galaxy that we don't yet call home?" Susan Thompson, a Kepler research scientist at the SETI research, said at a press conference on Monday.
Many of the possible planets Kepler has collected have already been filed into two noticeably different groups: gaseous planets that are generally smaller than Neptune, and rocky planets around the size of Earth.
“We like to think of this study as classifying planets in the same way that biologists identify new species of animals,” Benjamin Fulton, a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, said in a NASA release. "Finding two distinct groups of exoplanets is like discovering mammals and lizards make up distinct branches of a family tree."
The 10 new Earth-like planet candidates bring the total list to 49, Business Insider reported, and they could conceivably support alien life so long as they have a "stable atmosphere."
Of course, there's a slightly less exciting alternative to consider, too. These potential new planets — and their speculated extraterrestrial citizens — could just end up being false positives. | <urn:uuid:4342b0ff-1430-476e-bba3-816a7ed0df64> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.mic.com/articles/180388/a-nasa-telescope-just-spotted-219-possible-planets-including-10-that-could-support-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141727627.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203094119-20201203124119-00120.warc.gz | en | 0.948743 | 348 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Assessing the prospects for Zero Hunger—Sustainable Development Goal 2—requires an understanding of food security that goes beyond developmental or humanitarian issues, to include linkages with geopolitics. Geopolitical challenges cut across areas such as natural resources, trade, armed conflict and climate change where unilateralism and zero-sum approaches to security directly hamper efforts to eradicate hunger and undermine the frameworks that govern those efforts.
The report provides an overview of how geopolitics interacts with these areas. Competition for agricultural resources can be both a cause and a consequence of geopolitical rivalry. International trade, while essential for food security, also creates vulnerabilities through supply disruptions—sometimes politically motivated. Armed conflict is a driver of food insecurity, which can itself feed into social unrest and violence. Climate change interacts with all three phenomena, reshaping both the physical landscape and political calculus. These overlapping linkages require further integrated policy engagement and analysis. | <urn:uuid:c3beb5e1-b98b-4029-aa68-79ae3f3314d0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.sei.org/publications/the-geopolitics-of-food-security-barriers-to-the-sustainable-development-goal-of-zero-hunger/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188800.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126142720-20201126172720-00000.warc.gz | en | 0.918815 | 181 | 2.671875 | 3 |
by Rashid Khalidi
At a time when a lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis seems virtually unattainable, understanding the roots of their conflict is an essential step in restoring hope to the region. In The Iron Cage, Rashid Khalidi, one of the most respected historians and political observers of the Middle East, homes in on Palestinian politics and history. By drawing on a wealth of experience and scholarship, Khalidi provides a lucid context for the realities on the ground today, a context that has been, until now, notably lacking in our discourse.
The story of the Palestinian search to establish a state begins in the mandate period immediately following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the era of British control, when fledgling Arab states were established by the colonial powers with assurances of eventual independence. Mandatory Palestine was a place of real promise, with unusually high literacy rates and a relatively advanced economy. But the British had already begun to construct an iron cage to hem in the Palestinians, and the Palestinian leadership made a series of errors that would eventually prove crippling to their dream of independence.
The Palestinians' struggle intensified in the stretch before and after World War II, when colonial control of the region became increasingly unpopular, population shifts began with heavy Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, and power began to devolve to the United States. In this crucial period, Palestinian leaders continued to run up against the walls of the ever-constricting iron cage. They proved unable to achieve their long-cherished goal of establishing an independent state-a critical failure that set a course for the decades that followed, right through the eras of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas. Rashid Khalidi's engrossing narrative of this torturous history offers much-needed perspective for anyone concerned about peace in the Middle East. | <urn:uuid:3b4bc1d7-6c57-497b-8686-3f3d0edcdfd0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://burningbooks.com/products/the-iron-cage-the-story-of-the-palestinian-struggle-for-statehood | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194634.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127221446-20201128011446-00080.warc.gz | en | 0.946211 | 364 | 3.265625 | 3 |
It wasn’t man-made lights along a seaside boardwalk that caused this glow in late April and early May. This light show on Southern California and northern Mexico’s Pacific shores was all natural. The bright blue gleam in the crashing waves was caused by bioluminescent plankton tumbling in the surf.
The affected section of the Pacific experienced an algal bloom commonly called “red tide.” By day, the algae, which are a type of phytoplankton, give the water a rusty orange appearance. But at night, they glow neon blue. The phenomenon was a nighttime gift to evening beachgoers—but sadly, with beaches mostly closed, not so many were able to enjoy the rare event. Law enforcement quickly dispersed the crowds that did try to gather. With beach parking areas closed, cars congested roadways along the shoreline, creating potentially dangerous traffic situations. Officials also worried that large groups of spectators might increase transmission of the novel coronavirus.
Surfers did get to enjoy the glow up close as they took advantage of the waves at the beaches of San Diego. There, swimming, surfing, and paddleboarding were all allowed activities despite the stay-at-home orders. Dolphins and sea lions were spotted leaping and diving in the midst of the bloom, churning up the water and causing the algae to flash and sparkle with colored light with each splash and dive.
What makes the algae glow? The microscopic organisms contain chemical molecules called luciferin. The glow may be a defense mechanism for the plankton. When water is turbulently churned up—as it might be if a predator descended on the algae—the algae expends precious energy to release an enzyme called luciferase. When luciferase, luciferin, and oxygen all meet up, a chemical reaction occurs and heatless light results. Scientists speculate that the flashes of light might startle would-be predators, causing them to turn away from the glowing plankton.
Sometimes red tide algae blooms are toxic to other marine life. But that’s not the case with this one, which stretched from Baja California as far north as Los Angeles. This bloom was dominated by a phytoplankton called Lingulodinium polyedra, or L. poly for short. It is a nontoxic alga, even when it is as prolific as this one. | <urn:uuid:65933747-9800-49a0-b9f4-ba37812a9338> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://teen.wng.org/comment/65529 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141216897.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130161537-20201130191537-00240.warc.gz | en | 0.960582 | 498 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion
This lesson plan examines a critical episode in George Washington's second administration, when federal efforts to collect an excise tax on liquor sparked armed resistance in the frontier communities of western Pennsylvania. Students first review the events that led up to this confrontation, then read from the diary that Washington kept as he gathered troops to put down the insurrection. Focusing on Washington's account of a meeting midway on his march, with spokespersons for the rebels, students outline the arguments on both sides and explore the risks and benefits of the options Washington had before him: whether to uphold the law with military force or withdraw and let the already-waning rebellion sputter out. After debating this choice, students consider the political climate of the times, as reflected in the message Washington delivered to Congress upon his return from the frontier, and consider how far Washington's actions in the Whiskey Rebellion crisis were motivated by politics rather than principle. Finally, students return to the central issue raised by the Whiskey Rebellion to compare Washington's decision with the those of later presidents who faced this same question of constitutional authority: When is the federal government justified in using force against American citizens?
Was Washington's response to the rebellion justified?
Evaluate the significance of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 to the early history of the United States.
Analyze George Washington's rationale for using military force against citizens.
Evaluate the extent to which political pressures influenced Washington's decision.
Examine the merit of Washington's policy in light of more recent challenges to federal authority. | <urn:uuid:6cd5f32c-64e0-4782-a5c9-f05d35118eba> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/washington-and-whiskey-rebellion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141182776.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125100409-20201125130409-00200.warc.gz | en | 0.939077 | 316 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) is hailed as the most important proponent of the Pop Art movement. A critical and creative observer of American society, he explored key themes of consumerism, materialism, media, and celebrity.
Drawing on contemporary advertisements, comic strips, consumer products, and Hollywood’s most famous faces, Warhol proposed a radical reevaluation of what constituted artistic subject matter. Through Warhol, a Campbell’s soup can and Coca Cola bottle became as worthy of artistic status as any traditional still life. At the same time, Warhol reconfigured the role of the artist. Famously stating “I want to be a machine,” he systematically reduced the presence of his own authorship, working with mass-production methods and images, as well as dozens of assistants in a studio he dubbed The Factory.
This book introduces Warhol’s multifaceted, prolific oeuvre, which revolutionized distinctions between “high” and “low” art and integrated ideas of living, producing, and consuming that remain central questions of modern experience. | <urn:uuid:e3bb4bf7-bf39-414a-94f4-7cd5563e1497> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://foliobooks.pl/en/shop/warhol-basic-art-series/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194982.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128011115-20201128041115-00360.warc.gz | en | 0.939727 | 228 | 2.75 | 3 |
Ida B. Wells, an investigative journalist who risked her life exposing the horrors of lynching in the late 1890s, was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize special citation May 4 for her powerful reporting, which has inspired generations of journalists.
The Pulitzer Prize Board’s citation honors Wells for her “outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.” It comes with a bequest of at least $50,000 in support of Wells’ mission. Recipients of the bequest will be announced later.
The board announced the honor one day after World Press Freedom Day. For many, Wells’ legacy defines press freedom.
She reported bravely about atrocities against her own racial group at a time when women did not have the right to vote. Her investigations, reported well after the abolition of slavery, exposed attempts by white mobs to control African Americans through violence.
“The only thing she really had was the truth,” Wells’ great-granddaughter Michelle Duster told the Chicago Tribune. “And she used journalism as a tool to not just report what was going on, but she used her skill as a journalist, to the best of her ability, to impact social change.”
Born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862, Wells blazed a trail for future activists and reporters.
She helped launch the national anti-lynching crusade in Memphis, Tennessee, where she co-owned, edited and reported for the Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. She published articles condemning extrajudicial murders. She also spent several months traveling through the South by herself to investigate hundreds of lynchings.
After a mob destroyed her newspaper offices, she decided to never set foot in Memphis again. She moved to Chicago and published the findings of her field reporting in two pamphlets: “Southern Horrors” in 1892 and “A Red Record,” an extensive, data-driven report released in 1895. | <urn:uuid:b84949a7-3f3e-43c0-b97c-0dfa5b881f54> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://share.america.gov/ida-b-wells-receives-posthumous-pulitzer-prize/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194982.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128011115-20201128041115-00360.warc.gz | en | 0.971648 | 411 | 3.5 | 4 |
Several species of mole exist across the United States, but the Eastern Mole is the most significant pest. Not only is it the most widespread variety, it also has the highest population count. Moles grow to be roughly 7 inches in length. They have velvety, grayish fur and a hairless, pointed snout. Due to their subterranean existence, moles have no external ears and eyes so small that they appear to be missing. The mole’s most identifying characteristic is their paddle-like fore feet and stout claws, the better to tunnel with.
Moles are not rodents, but insectivores. They feed on insects and snail larvae, but prefer eating grubs. Their favorite food, however, is earthworms. They are voracious eaters, consuming up to 80 percent of their body weight daily, actively feeding both day and night at all times of the year.
While they typically pose no real threat, moles’ tunneling can create unsightly disturbances in lawns, gardens, golf courses and cemeteries. Although burrowing activity takes place year-round, it peaks during warm, wet months.
While some tunnels are travel lanes, located 3 to 12 inches below the surface that may be abandoned immediately after being dug, main passageways and nesting cavities can be 40 inches deep. These permanent tunnels result in what is known as “molehills,” mounds of soil brought to the surface while burrowing. In addition to softening the earth to the point of becoming unstable, tunneling can expose roots to the open air, depriving them of the necessary nutrients.
Depending on the yard and surrounding environment, we use two methods for removing moles: Traps and worms. Regardless of the method(s) used, periodic inspection is necessary, in order to assess the need for possible adjustments. For example, resetting the trap(s), and/or adding more worm bait. In addition, once the initial problem is resolved, we offer ongoing maintenance programs, to ensure that any return in activity is dealt with before it becomes a nuisance. | <urn:uuid:feec78b3-cae6-4c19-bc84-ddb608ffa888> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.cogentpest.com/pests/moles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141746320.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205044004-20201205074004-00040.warc.gz | en | 0.949771 | 433 | 3.53125 | 4 |
The careers of two popular second-century rhetorical virtuosos offer Maud Gleason fascinating insights into the ways ancient Romans constructed masculinity during a time marked by anxiety over manly deportment. Declamation was an exhilarating art form for the Greeks and bilingual Romans of the Second Sophistic movement, and its best practitioners would travel the empire performing in front of enraptured audiences. The mastery of rhetoric marked the transition to manhood for all aristocratic citizens and remained crucial to a man's social standing. In treating rhetoric as a process of self-presentation in a face-to-face society, Gleason analyzes the deportment and writings of the two Sophists--Favorinus, a eunuch, and Polemo, a man who met conventional gender expectations--to suggest the ways character and gender were perceived. Physiognomical texts of the era show how intently men scrutinized one another for minute signs of gender deviance in such features as gait, gesture, facial expression, and voice. Rhetoricians trained to develop these traits in a "masculine" fashion. Examining the successful career of Favorinus, whose high-pitched voice and florid presentation contrasted sharply with the traditionalist style of Polemo, Gleason shows, however, that ideal masculine behavior was not a monolithic abstraction. In a highly accessible study treating the semiotics of deportment and the medical, cultural, and moral issues surrounding rhetorical activity, she explores the possibilities of self-presentation in the search for recognition as a speaker and a man. | <urn:uuid:e4502999-6d13-43c4-ac75-1628125d1aeb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://classics.stanford.edu/publications/making-men-sophists-and-self-presentation-ancient-rome | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195069.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128040731-20201128070731-00640.warc.gz | en | 0.949489 | 320 | 2.84375 | 3 |
C.S. Lewis imagined it as a grey, joyless city. The Italian poet, Dante Aligheri, wrote that it was a series of nine circles. You might have your own vision of it. But what do we really know about Hell? What does the Bible tell us about it, and what is speculation, myth, or even plain error? Is Hell a place or a state of being? What does Hell look like? What kind of suffering do people in Hell experience? What are the devil and demons really like?
How does the coronavirus outbreak relate to the vivid, end-time biblical prophecies about plagues, pestilences, and pandemics? Jesus listed “pestilences in various places” as a sign of his coming. How does the coronavirus foreshadow what lies ahead?
What are the cultural insights Westerners often miss when the Eastern context of the Bible is ignored? What were the ways Jesus taught that were thoroughly Eastern—rooted in story, honor, and community—yet appeal to Western thinking—based in reasoning and linear process—today? How does understanding Eastern idioms and customs make mysterious or seemingly confusing Bible passages understandable?
More than ever, modern cultural conversation seems driven by conflict and anger. People sitting together in pews every Sunday have started to feel like strangers, loved ones at the dinner table like enemies. What is the biblical way to have a civilized dialogue? | <urn:uuid:e155249b-76cd-4231-bff0-fd99814e0b98> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://classic.biblegateway.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141201836.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129153900-20201129183900-00000.warc.gz | en | 0.971267 | 296 | 2.53125 | 3 |
First, there was the egg. Then, there was a chick. But what happened in the middle? This illustrated worksheet builds young readers’ skills around story comprehension and drawing conclusions. Here, kids look at three simple stories and what happened in the middle. Created for the first grade, this worksheet relies on illustrations in fiction texts and students’ fiction comprehension skills. | <urn:uuid:beef3d78-4f96-4130-be39-43d6c00f6599> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/story-comprehension-drawing-conclusions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141201836.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129153900-20201129183900-00000.warc.gz | en | 0.958176 | 76 | 4.25 | 4 |
The US government has multiple responsibilities for the protection of endangered species, many of them stemming from its role as the nation's largest landowner. To explore how endangered species are distributed across the federal estate, we carried out a GIS-based analysis using natural heritage species occurrence data. In this 10-year update of a previous analysis, we found that the Department of Defense and the USDA Forest Service harbor more endangered species than other US agencies. The densities of endangered and imperiled species are at least three times higher on military lands. Defense installations in Hawaii are especially significant, holding one-third of all ESA-status species. These findings highlight the continued importance of public lands for the survival of America's plant and animal species.
- Bruce A. Stein, Cameron Scott, Nancy Benton | <urn:uuid:fe2a90df-7ca5-4faa-9729-03789114fa8f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://connect.natureserve.org/biodiversity-science/publications/federal-lands-and-endangered-species-role-military-and-other | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141747323.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205074417-20201205104417-00320.warc.gz | en | 0.90861 | 159 | 3.609375 | 4 |
“This is a rare discovery,” said Walid Atrash of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who described the statue as “of exceptional artistic quality.” He also mentioned that its small dimensions—it stands at a diminutive 1.6 feet—make it particularly unique, since Roman statues of mythological characters tended to be life-sized.
The son of Zeus by a mortal woman, the demigod Hercules was considered a paragon of strength, power and courage. According to legend, Zeus’ jealous wife Hera sent Hercules into a fit of rage in which he killed his wife and children. To atone for his sins, the murderer was ordered to perform 12 superhuman tasks known as the labors of Hercules. The recently unearthed statue features an animal pelt slung over one shoulder that alludes to the first of these feats: Hercules’ slaying of the monstrous Nemean lion.
Israeli archeologists uncovered the Hercules figure at Horvat Tabernet, located in the Jezreel Valley of biblical fame and once home to a third-century Jewish settlement. It sat amid pottery shards and broken glass vessels in the remains of what appears to be a Roman bathhouse complex from the second century A.D., which comprises a large pool, a well and sophisticated drainage channels.
The Horvat Tarbenet excavation is part of a project to rebuild the historic Jezreel Valley railway, which linked the Israeli city of Haifa with Damascus from the early 20th century until it fell into disrepair around 1948. Israel’s National Roads Authority plans to complete a new 37-mile rail line with a similar route by 2016. | <urn:uuid:089c8497-135b-47ad-be35-6fb04bab49b9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.history.com/news/headless-hercules-unearthed-in-israel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176049.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124082900-20201124112900-00680.warc.gz | en | 0.962286 | 343 | 3.140625 | 3 |
A student can read about the American Revolution or watch a video about the ocean, but it does not have the same impact as seeing Colonial Williamsburg or enjoying the marvels snorkeling in Catalina. Our unique Field Studies program integrates academic content areas into a realistic approach to learning beyond the classroom environment. Through one-day field trips or weeklong field studies, students experience learning among a natural setting, reinforcing the concepts taught in the classroom. This program offers distinctive opportunities for observation, research and interaction all within native settings. Field studies build responsible and cooperative learning that occurs in real-world situations to provide academic enhancement while creating cultural awareness amidst historic and educational settings. | <urn:uuid:bbf72438-544d-41d1-8b5a-9fa99870284c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.smaa.org/discover-st-marys/a-day-in-the-life/the-benefits?siteId=1387 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176049.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124082900-20201124112900-00680.warc.gz | en | 0.921341 | 134 | 3 | 3 |
Next time your kids ask you if monsters are real, you might have to fib a little if you say "no." Some recent discoveries in the animal kingdom would be right at home in an H.P. Lovecraft story.
Over the summer, marine biologists found that giant jellyfish are becoming much more common in the world's oceans. Sometimes the word "giant" is used to describe animals that are bigger than normal but still smaller than a human. As you can see from the picture, though, these monsters definitely deserve the title. Apparently they are taking over the ocean because overfishing has depleted many of their natural predators while warmer oceans have increased their food supply. At least one Japanese entrepreneur is bucking the movie stereotype by catching the jellyfish and turning them into a variety of consumer products.
Meanwhile, Austrian scientists have reported new findings on the Spanish ribbed newt. Apparently, this species uses its own ribs as a defense mechanism. When threatened, it rotates the ribs forward and forces the sharp ends out through its skin. The kicker is that the skin doesn't have any special openings or sheaths like a cat's claws. The bones simply cut through the chest wall and the skin, leaving a small hole, a strong immune system and regenerative abilities. Comparisons to a certain Canadian mammal immediately leap to mind.
Finally, fishermen off the northern coast of France have found a large parasitic isopod (a relative of the louse) that has evolved a rather hideous method for survival in its host: It gets into the fish's mouth and then devours its tongue. It then attaches itself at the back of the fish's throat where it presumably feeds of whatever the fish normally eats. The really bizarre part is that the fish doesn't seem to suffer any ill effects other than the loss of its tongue. | <urn:uuid:51417a4b-27ba-42bf-8ed5-ad239cbecd66> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.wired.com/2009/09/when-nature-is-freakier-than-sci-fi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176049.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124082900-20201124112900-00680.warc.gz | en | 0.966188 | 383 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Marengo and his colleague used Spitzer's infrared vision to study the dust around Delta Cephei. This particular star is racing along through space at high speeds, pushing interstellar gas and dust into a bow shock up ahead. Luckily for the scientists, a nearby companion star happens to be lighting the area, making the bow shock easier to see. By studying the size and structure of the shock, the team was able to show that a strong, massive wind from the star is pushing against the interstellar gas and dust. In addition, the team calculated that this wind is up to one million times stronger than the wind blown by our sun. This proves that Delta Cephei is shrinking slightly.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Cosmology standard candle not so standard after all: Cepheids have since become reliable rungs on the cosmic distance ladder, but mysteries about these standard candles remain. One question has been whether or not they lose mass. Winds from a Cepheid star could blow off significant amounts of gas and dust, forming a dusty cocoon around the star that would affect how bright it appears. This, in turn, would affect calculations of its distance. Previous research had hinted at such mass loss, but more direct evidence was needed. | <urn:uuid:132526dc-a45c-4e07-b473-a0df42c3b377> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://blog.submeta.org/2011/01/cosmology-standard-candle-not-so.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00120.warc.gz | en | 0.963618 | 254 | 4.15625 | 4 |
When rehabilitation is the ultimate goal, the overall size of the prison needs to shrink. For effective reform, experts suggest no more than 1,000 inmates.
This small number allows employees and administrators to get to know the inmates better and facilitates an individual approach to their rehabilitation. Accounting for individual inmates’ strengths and weaknesses provides a greater opportunity to prepare inmates for successful transitions out of the system and into society.
Smaller numbers also mean prisons can be designed with campus-style layouts, which are growing in popularity. It’s a layout that mimics communities, and inmates are housed in adjacent self-sufficient units according to security risk and needs. Like college campuses, these prisons have an abundance of communal spaces such as dining areas, kitchens, laundry rooms, study halls, entertainment areas, and gyms.
At Bastøy prison in Norway (pictured above), inmates are housed in wooden bungalows. Each house can accommodate six prisoners, and while they have their own rooms, they share a kitchen and other facilities. The men earn a wage and shop for provisions at the island’s supermarket for their self-prepared breakfasts and dinners. This environment gets the inmates used to what life will be like on the outside.
Read more about prison design trends that foster rehabilitation. | <urn:uuid:9f34f72d-3546-4fb9-8ace-fed4ea9f8fd6> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://blog.acorneng.com/preparing-inmates-transition-building-design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00120.warc.gz | en | 0.941005 | 263 | 2.90625 | 3 |
If you’ve ever seen a scallop before, then you can probably attest to how non-complex they look at first glance; their eyes, on the other hand, tell an entirely different story.
Image Credit: Dan-Eric Nilsson, Lund University
A closer look will expose oodles of little eyes staring back at you – around 200 of them to be exact. While we know scallops use these to discern their surroundings, they’re vastly-unlike the eyeballs we understand in most animals, to say the least.
Researchers have long wondered about how scallops' eyes work, but it wasn’t until after a new study conducted by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the Lund University in Sweden that we could drum up a definitive answer.
They used both a scanning electron microscope and a precise method dubbed cryogenic scanning electron microscopy to obtain a closer look at the inner mechanisms of the eyes, and their findings are now published in the journal Science.
While most animals (humans included) have eyeballs that focus light through a lens before it reaches the retina, these observations validated longstanding theories that scallops’ eyes utilize of a plethora of tightly-packed, crystalline guanine-based mirrors that reflect light into the retina instead.
This in and of itself was an exciting finding, as most guanine-based crystals form bulky prisms rather than flat surfaces like mirrors. Furthermore, the inside of the eye provides a concave surface for those mirrors to rest on, which aims all incoming light directly at the retina just like the optics system inside of a telescope would.
Scallops also have two different retinas, and researchers believe the upper retina helps them discern potential predator attacks from up above, while the lower retina acts as the scallops’ peripheral vision. Combined with more than 200 distinct eyes, one might say scallops can see fairly well.
The findings not only underscore how we have a lot to learn about how different organisms see the world, but they also raise questions about how scallops form these unusually-flat crystalline guanine mirrors inside of their eyes for light reflection.
Future studies could not only answer the multitude of new questions but also help us in improving optical systems in the real world. After all, there’s no better innovator than Mother Nature herself.
Source: Live Science | <urn:uuid:b8d94f15-5518-479e-a8fc-96557af102c8> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/7484/researchers-crack-secret-scallops-vision | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195417.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128095617-20201128125617-00200.warc.gz | en | 0.921063 | 497 | 4.21875 | 4 |
Drop any Bible passage into the Passage Guide, and you’ll get relevant results from your entire Logos library, including commentaries and sermons, cross-references, illustrations, ancient literature, media, cultural concepts, and more.
Compare Bible translations side by side or line by line. Logos highlights the differences between them automatically.
Lemma in Passage
This section in the Exegetical and Bible Word Study Guides scours your library for every occurrence of the original-language lemma in the passage you want to investigate.
Get started fast with study templates, reading plans, video courses, and other essential resources. They're all available with a click, right from the Logos Home Page.
Understanding a word’s range of potential meanings provides a starting point for discovering what a word means in a specific passage. Exploring semantic domains can help you uncover resonances in a biblical text or trace concepts and themes throughout the Bible.
Explore differences across ancient Bible translations. Get commentaries, manuscripts, modern editions, and ancient versions all in one place.
Deuterocanon Addressee Dataset
With Logos, you can quickly identify and search for speakers, addressees, and more. The Reported Speech, Speakers, and Addressees for the Deuterocanon dataset provides annotations for everywhere an individual or group speaks, the contents of that speech, and the person or group who is being addressed. This data can be visually displayed in your biblical text or searched to find, for instance, everywhere Gabriel speaks within the deuterocanonical literature.
Convert Greek and Hebrew text in seconds. Just copy and paste the text, and the Text Converter transforms it into a variety of transliteration schemes. | <urn:uuid:8d3666ff-6296-4d0d-8ccc-22c881d503f9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.logos.com/features | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141652107.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201043603-20201201073603-00360.warc.gz | en | 0.820125 | 362 | 2.671875 | 3 |
In the developing world, cooking over open flames causes serious pollution-related health problems. These clean cookstoves could change that.
Clean cookstoves can mean the difference between life and death for people who use indoor wood cooking fires. According to our sister site, Sustainablog, “more people die from respiratory diseases brought on by cooking smoke than from HIV/AIDS or malaria.” Clean cookstoves let folks keep cooking indoors without the dangerous indoor air pollution.
A new line of clean cookstoves from Energant – the K2 – burn clean even when users put up to eight percent plastic into the mix of materials. That’s huge, since folks are burning plastic now with no safety measures in place. In fact, in areas where open cooking fires are common practice, they double as trash disposal. That includes burning food waste and plastic trash.
Not only can the K2 provide a safer way for folks without electricity to cook indoors, but it can convert heat into electricity and provide heat for their homes.
Help Get These Clean Cookstoves to Market
Energant was started by “a passionate team of students and engineers at the University of California, Berkeley.” They wanted to use technology to change lives, and they wanted to do it in a way that was affordable for the people who need it.
Sustainablog explains, “the team chose materials based on costs of production in poor areas of the world so the K2 could serve economic needs, too.” They were initially planning to release the clean cookstoves in The Philippines, but the cost was going to be too high. Instead, “Energant has set its sights on the Chinese market, where the government supports the development of such appropriate technologies.”
If you want to help Energant get its clean cookstoves to market, you can help fund additional testing they need to complete. Head over to their Indiegogo campaign page to help them out. | <urn:uuid:d2d9c1d8-9e66-4680-961f-6cccb3adf760> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://eatdrinkbetter.com/articles/clean-cookstoves-burn-plastic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141711306.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202144450-20201202174450-00440.warc.gz | en | 0.963282 | 411 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Having already suffered the early loss of his wife and three of their children, Rembrandt’s later years were burdened with bankruptcy, acrimonious legal proceedings with a former lover, and the loss of his common-law wife and only remaining son. However, far from diminishing as he aged, Rembrandt’s creativity gathered new energy.
From the 1650s until his death in 1669, Rembrandt pursued an artistic style that was expressive and radical. His bold manipulation of printing and painting techniques and progressive interpretations of traditional subjects inspired generations of artists, earning him a reputation as the greatest master of the Dutch Golden Age.
Through famous masterpieces and rare drawings and prints, ‘The Late Works’ examines the themes that preoccupied Rembrandt as he grew older: self-scrutiny, experimentation, light, observation of everyday life and even other artists’ works; as well as expressions of intimacy, contemplation, conflict and reconciliation. | <urn:uuid:6bed7dee-90ae-46f1-8942-663fc79fe76d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://galeriadieguez.com/2015/12/21/the-late-works/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141733120.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204010410-20201204040410-00520.warc.gz | en | 0.97541 | 201 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Early beginnings as a fishing and farming community
Block Island’s history is a rich one, encompassing Native American tribes, Revolutionary War heroes, legendary shipwrecks, and its emergence in the late 1800s as one of New England’s premiere summer attractions.
Learn more about the island’s history by visiting the Historical Society Museum and gift shop downtown. A white mansard-roofed building, the Historical houses an extensive collection of furniture, textiles, quilts, oral histories, fishing gear, tools, and Native American artifacts. Then head to Issac’s Corner, at the intersection of Center Road, Lakeside Drive, and Cooneymous roads. Named for the island’s last full-blooded Native American, who died in 1886, it is near the Indian burial ground and the stone monument erected just last year in honor of the Manissean Indians.
On that same corner, overlooking Fresh Pond, sits the gambrel-roofed cottage of composer and poet Arthur Penn, who lived there with his wife Nell in the 1920s. His song “Smilin’ Through” is named for his Block Island home.
No history of Block Island would be complete without mentioning shipwrecks. While some have become the stuff of legend, others remain accessible for sport divers. Among the legendary is the Princess Augusta, which inspired John Greenleaf Whittier’s 1867 poem The Palatine.
Block Island’s rough seas and rocky coastlines would certainly have claimed more ships were it not for two lighthouses. The North and Southeast lighthouses have achieved iconic status, revered for their historic significance and as symbols of the community spirit that has allowed them to be restored and preserved.
The Southeast Lighthouse made national headlines in the early nineties when, after years of erosion, it found itself just 50 feet from the cliff’s edge. Islanders banded together to save the beloved structure, raising nearly $2 million in federal and private grants and donations to move the lighthouse 245 feet back from the bluff.
You’ll want to see the North Light, too, by hiking past Settler’s Rock. The lantern on that lighthouse was recently restored and re-lit, and its small museum renovated.
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In 1775, the Continental Army shakily took aim at the mighty British Empire in hopes of freeing the American colonies from imperial oppression. George Washington and his men had no idea what they were really getting into — but their ultimate triumph sealed the American Revolution and gave rise to formidable force. In our quiz, what do you really know about the United States military?
From the Revolution to the Spanish-American War to Vietnam, from Normandy to Tokyo, the country’s military has played a major role in history. In some cases, the military even kept America from fading into the ashes of history.
These days, the American military is a ridiculously powerful force, equipped with incredible technologies that allow the U.S. to dominate entire regions of the world. Its Air Force and drone capabilities, along with the Navy, mean America can project its influence anywhere in a matter of hours. What do you know about the nation’s military capabilities?
As if aircraft carriers, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles weren’t enough, America also has plentiful numbers of special forces troops. These personnel undergo the toughest training anywhere in order to prepare for hostage situations and national emergencies of the worst kind. How much do you know about America’s special forces teams?
Ten hut! Spit shine those boots, snap to attention, and get ready to do battle with this incredible military quiz. We’ll find out if you’re cut out for combat action or if you should stick to cleaning out the latrines. | <urn:uuid:c4c26ec3-d635-4c1e-93ca-e7d686b4d7eb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/only-people-an-iq-135-can-get-a-perfect-score-this-us-military-quiz-can-you?amp%3Bremoraexp=PHSW_4221_SEQUENCER_FB&%3Bremorasrc=6a3f0ea67adb4444b46dc4ec68693616&%3Bmkcpgn=core4&%3Butm_source=hswrr&%3Bremorapos=1&rmalg=es&remorapos=6&remorasrc=123d68c7889f466ea0462cdf7f3a6f6b&remoraregion=bottom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184870.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125213038-20201126003038-00320.warc.gz | en | 0.951495 | 310 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Da’oud and Sa’ad Georges – a disabled father and son – were found dead outside of the city of Bashiqa in the Mosul District. The two men were kidnapped by Islamic State militants , who proceeded to starve the Georges men; ultimately, leading to their untimely death in this historic, Assyrian city in northern Iraq. Both of these civilians were reportedly deaf and mute, making them unable to communicate without sign language. Upon the discovery of these victims, Muslim neighbors retrieved the men and buried their bodies, noting that the two bodies were extremely malnourished.
This heinous crime is another blow to the civilians in the Mosul District, as the Islamic State continues to institutionalize their form of governance in northwestern Iraq. Despite the recent success at the Mosul Dam, many of the cities in the Mosul District remain controlled by the Islamic State. In particular, the city of Bashiqa was once a tourist attraction with its illustrious history and majestic landscape; today, most of the Christians and Yazidi Kurds have fled the area, leaving behind a cultivated society.
The Islamic State has continued its reign of terror in the Levant and Iraq, executing many civilians for alleged crimes against the Caliphate. After the capture of Mosul by the Islamic State, many politicians feared their spread could be disastrous for a country healing from a devastating war. In response to their exponential growth in the Levant and Iraq, the United States has recently carried out numerous airstrikes to combat the presence of the I.S. in Iraq. | <urn:uuid:17d4a0fa-d826-4611-ac12-44092dfe0a76> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/disabled-father-son-starved-death-mosul-islamic-state/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184870.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125213038-20201126003038-00320.warc.gz | en | 0.971042 | 307 | 2.515625 | 3 |
A study of over 1,000 patients with atherosclerosis reveals fat tissue secretes factors that can trigger or worsen blood vessel conditions linked to cardiometabolic disorders.
By clarifying the poorly-understood link between obesity and blood vessel conditions, the findings could help scientists create new therapies for vascular and metabolic diseases like coronary artery disease. The study is published in Science Translational Medicine.
Obesity changes how fat tissue secretes signaling molecules, which in turn can influence the structure and function of blood vessels in the body.
Studies have implicated both the Wnt signaling pathway and oxidative stress from enzymes as contributors to vascular disease, but the mechanisms by which obesity affects these pathways remain a mystery. Seeking insight, Ioannis Akoumianakis (a DPhil student from the Antoniades group), together with researchers from OCDEM, Bristol Medical School and Athens University medical School, analyzed a group of 1,004 patients with atherosclerosis.
The researchers discovered that obese individuals showed much higher levels of a protein named WNT5A in plasma, as well as elevated expression of WNT5A receptors in the walls of arteries.
In a separate experiment, the authors saw that higher levels of WNT5A in plasma correlated with the development of calcified plaques – a key marker of vessel disease – in 68 patients with coronary artery disease.
Further studies showed obesity boosted the secretion of WNT5A from fat tissue surrounding blood vessels, which in turn increased oxidative stress and the migration of smooth muscle cells through the enzymes USP17 and RAC1.
The authors suggest that WNT5A and the enzymes it affects could be targeted in obese patients, although further work in animal models is necessary. | <urn:uuid:cc331a5d-9872-433c-afb3-9fc050a2f5a8> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/news/how-obesity-worsens-blood-vessel-disease-in-patients?ref=image | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195656.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128125557-20201128155557-00480.warc.gz | en | 0.938056 | 350 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Endometriosis is classically defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma in ectopic locations. Affecting from 6% to 10% of reproductive-aged women, endometriosis may result in dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and/or subfertility. The prevalence of this condition in women experiencing pain, infertility, or both is as high as 50%. Endometriosis is a debilitating condition, posing quality-of-life issues for the individual patient. The disorder represents a major cause of gynecologic hospitalization in the United States, estimated to have exceeded $3 billion in inpatient health care costs in 2004 alone. The significant individual and public health concerns associated with endometriosis underscore the importance of understanding its pathogenesis. The first recorded description of pathology consistent with endometriosis was provided by Shroen in 1690. Despite the passage of time and extensive investigation, the exact pathogenesis of this enigmatic disorder remains unknown.
THEORIES REGARDING PATHOGENESIS
Numerous theories detailing the development of endometriosis have been described. For purposes of review, these theories can generally be classified into those that propose that implants arise from tissues other than the endometrium and those that propose that implants arise from uterine endometrium (Table 10.1.1).
Metaplasia of coelomic epithelium represents a distinct pathogenic mechanism for the establishment of endometriotic implants. | <urn:uuid:f75588c4-54ed-4fd3-889c-6879a63d478f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://core-cms.prod.aop.cambridge.org/core/books/nezhats-operative-gynecologic-laparoscopy-and-hysteroscopy/endometriosis/3D7E8A6F27BD5E3A58BAFC8AD34A9B93 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141203418.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129214615-20201130004615-00560.warc.gz | en | 0.916133 | 307 | 3.125 | 3 |
In the mid-1990s, residents of Anniston, Alabama, began a legal fight against the agrochemical company Monsanto over the dumping of PCBs in the city's historically African American and white working-class west side. Simultaneously, Anniston environmentalists sought to safely eliminate chemical weaponry that had been secretly stockpiled near the city during the Cold War. In this probing work, Ellen Griffith Spears offers a compelling narrative of Anniston's battles for environmental justice, exposing how systemic racial and class inequalities reinforced during the Jim Crow era played out in these intense contemporary social movements.Spears focuses attention on key figures who shaped Anniston--from Monsanto's founders, to white and African American activists, to the ordinary Anniston residents whose lives and health were deeply affected by the town's military-industrial history and the legacy of racism. Situating the personal struggles and triumphs of Anniston residents within a larger national story of regulatory regimes and legal strategies that have affected toxic towns across America, Spears unflinchingly explores the causes and implications of environmental inequalities, showing how civil rights movement activism undergirded Anniston's campaigns for redemption and justice.
Subjects: Environmental Science, Sociology, History
Table of Contents
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on JSTOR. Try logging in through your institution for access. | <urn:uuid:22539160-b0f3-485d-88e6-b7af0fe95a50> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://slave2.omega.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469611723_spears | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141203418.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129214615-20201130004615-00560.warc.gz | en | 0.932845 | 276 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Judges in Michigan and around the country set bail to ensure that criminal defendants will appear to face trial, and remand is generally reserved for individuals who are considered a flight risk or could pose a danger to the general public. These decisions should be based on the character of the defendant and the nature of the crimes they are charged with, but a study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics suggests that judges are often influenced by racial bias and unfounded stereotypes.
A team of researchers studied cases involving more than 150,000 criminal defendants who had bail hearings in Philadelphia or Miami between 2006 and 2014, and they found that white defendants were generally treated far more leniently. The study, which was published on May 30, reveals that the average bail set for black defendants was $7,281 higher than it was for white defendants and black defendants were 2.4 percentage points more likely to be kept in custody.
According to the research team, judges treated black defendants more harshly because they believed stereotypes about the dangers of releasing them back into the community. However, the data suggests that bail judges become less likely to make decisions based on bias or stereotypes as they gain experience. After studying 256,253 criminal cases, the researchers concluded that data-based risk assessments would be a valuable tool for inexperienced judges.
Experienced criminal defense attorneys may advocate on behalf of their clients during bail hearings by informing judges about their deep ties to the community, their sincere remorse and the support they can expect to receive from their family members and friends. Attorneys could also seek to revisit the issue of bail when new evidence emerges. | <urn:uuid:a79c4fcd-d8e4-4338-83b8-94d668261dd9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.marrsterry.net/blog/2018/08/racial-bias-often-plays-a-role-in-bail-decisions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141672314.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201074047-20201201104047-00640.warc.gz | en | 0.984249 | 320 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Imagine that, instead of going to church, the church came to you! That was the case in Philadelphia in the mid-19th century. The Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey decided to construct a floating church to serve the needs of those working in the shipping industry along the Delaware River. The Floating Church of the Redeemer began its mission in 1849, although whenever it changed location, it had to be towed by a tugboat.
The church could seat as many as 600 worshippers for a Sunday service. This number rarely must have been reached, as the families of mariners and longshoreman frequently left early due to seasickness. The chaplain himself sometimes had trouble staying upright during services as the floating chapel contended with waves on the Delaware. The unpowered craft also tipped sideways in high winds and even sank once. By 1853, these problems, along with the pressure of increased waterfront commerce—mercantile industries objected to dock space being tied up for non-commercial use—and rising maintenance costs, resulted in the boat’s sale.
Oh, but it glorious while it lasted! The floating church even inspired a hymn or two. Read about the Floating Church of the Redeemer at Hidden City Philadelphia. -via Metafilter
(Image source: Library Company of Philadelphia) | <urn:uuid:fb94a055-fa18-45e2-a2b2-dfc9185ba01f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.neatorama.com/2016/03/03/The-Floating-Church-of-the-Redeemer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141672314.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201074047-20201201104047-00640.warc.gz | en | 0.976821 | 275 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The Sword verse, found in the fifth verse of the ninth chapter of the Qur’ān (Q 9.5), is arguably the most powerful verse in Islam’s holiest book. According to Muslim scholars, the Sword verse abrogates or nullifies over a hundred pacifist verses that call for peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance with non-Muslims. This aptly named verse (“…slay the idolaters wherever you find them…” ) allegedly was revealed to Muģammad after the earlier pacifist verses, which means its command takes precedence.
- What is the history and application of the Sword verse since its revelation?
- How does the Sword verse impact the politics, culture, and traditions of Islam?
- How do Muslim moderates view jihad?
- When Islamic terrorist groups, such as Islamic State, apply the Sword verse, are they radical or righteous Islamists?
- Is Islam really a religion of peace?
This book is an extensive examination of the Sword verse, providing the historical context that preceded its introduction and analyzing the Qur’ānic challenges to its supremacy. It also presents the interpretations of this controversial verse by notable Muslim scholars, past and present, and how these explanations influence its application in today’s world.
Noteworthy resources in this study include a detailed table of 129 verses abrogated by the Sword verse, with commentary and references, paired with its own index to help readers locate particular abrogated verses by specific topic and issue.. | <urn:uuid:74a9aa27-4d84-4e19-b95e-dffc605680ea> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://waterlifepublishing.com/Store/tabid/40/ProductID/59/List/1/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141748276.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205165649-20201205195649-00160.warc.gz | en | 0.929734 | 306 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Last year, a group of scientists said they’d measured neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. This caused a huge uproar. If true, it would contradict Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. All of modern physics would be in doubt. Everything we thought we knew about gravity, black holes, and nuclear power would be called into question. Pigs would start flying, dogs would stop chasing cats, and the world as we know it would come to an end!
But now everyone can calm down. Researchers found a problem with the original experiment. There was a faulty cable somewhere which may have created an inaccurate measurement. Also, the experiment has been repeated, and the new test results show neutrinos travel at the speed of light, not faster than light. The Theory of Relativity is saved!
Personally, I never believed the original experiment would hold up. Relativity works too well and explains too many weird things in the universe. It’s hard to imagine it being so fundamentally flawed. But I wanted to believe, because the discovery of a faster-than-light particle would begin an exciting new era in science, one that might even allow faster-than-light travel.
For more on the second neutrino experiment, click here. | <urn:uuid:4d923635-ed80-47d2-a4f4-70d775253830> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://planetpailly.com/2012/03/20/slower-than-light/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141205147.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130035203-20201130065203-00120.warc.gz | en | 0.960765 | 259 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Venetian patrician wives of the late Middle Ages brought to their marriages material goods and family loyalty, both vitally important to the prosperity of conjugal families. The crucial resource was the dowry. During the marriage it sustained the family economy under the husband’s administration. Afterward, as the wife’s inherited property, it returned to her, supporting her widowhood and benefiting her children and kin. The economic connection established by the dowry, which included a corredo, a gift to the groom, encouraged collaboration between families, demonstrated in spouses’ appointment of both agnates and affines as testamentary executors. Moreover, accompanying the financial contents of the dowry were trousseaux consisting of clothing and furnishings for the bride, bestowed by her family and supplemented by the groom. These items further enhanced the relationships forged in marriage by giving visual testimony of a married woman’s position as the bridge between her natal and marital families. | <urn:uuid:fa21d373-9f1f-46b2-80ac-ea639be7a3fa> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.berghahnjournals.com/abstract/journals/historical-reflections/43/1/hrrh430109.xml?rskey=nmEbnE&result=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674594.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201135627-20201201165627-00200.warc.gz | en | 0.972248 | 199 | 3.25 | 3 |
Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) are one of the smallest ducks in North America. They’re also very skittish. Combine those two things, and you get pictures like this:
Hopefully this won’t be the last of my bufflehead photos.
Why are buffleheads called buffleheads?
“Buffle” is derived from buffalo; the name refers to the duck’s large, bulbous head. (American buffalos have ginormous heads.) The male’s head looks especially big because of contrasting white coloring on his crown. When he puffs out these headfeathers, it looks gargantuan.
Guess what? The bufflehead’s genus name means almost the same thing! Bucephala is a Latinized version of the Ancient Greek boukephalos, which means “bull-headed” (bous=bull, kephale= head). The species name, albeola, comes from the Latin for “white” and refers to the white markings on both males and females—although males have a higher proportion of white to black in their overall coloration.
Buffleheads share the Bucephala genus with goldeneyes. | <urn:uuid:51352837-9a20-48ff-9d06-261d885480bb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.seasonofplenty.com/birds-day-buffleheads-bucephala-albeola/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00280.warc.gz | en | 0.925215 | 265 | 3.296875 | 3 |
On Monday, federal and state officials joined with California-American Water Co. (CALAM) in signing a declaration to cooperate on removal of the San Clemente Dam on the Carmel River in Monterey County. The Planning and Conservation League Foundation was also on hand, having worked for the last decade to help the parties reach this historic milestone. As Michael Chrisman, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, noted at the ceremony, “projects like this are all about partnerships.”
The 106-foot tall dam, built in 1921, is nearly filled to the brim with silt. The structure is also seismically unsafe, jeopardizing downstream residents. Removal of the dam would provide access to one of the top steelhead streams on California’s Central Coast.
“Dam removal will help us improve river habitat and comply with a directive from the Department of Safety of Dams,” said CALAM President Rob MacLean. “We’ve altered our operations over time to minimize impacts to the river and the dam no longer serves its original purpose as a water storage facility for our customers. Instead, its removal provides an opportunity to work in partnership with natural resource agencies toward protection of the river and its habitat.”
MacLean says demolition work could begin in 2013, with the project completed by 2016. | <urn:uuid:62b20fa4-52db-4035-a906-954a06e20433> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.pcl.org/2010/01/cooperation-leads-to-breakthrough-restoration-on-carmel-river/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141163411.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123153826-20201123183826-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.953577 | 272 | 2.65625 | 3 |
For people with glaucoma, regular monitoring of intraocular pressure (IOP) is important for making sure that their treatment is effective. But testing involves going to the eye doctor, which can be a burden, especially for older patients. Can glaucoma patients safely and accurately measure their own IOP at home?
To test that concept, researchers recruited 100 glaucoma patients (average age, 67) and taught them how to measure their own IOP with a rebound tonometer. This handheld and battery-powered device consists of a tiny plastic ball on a steel wire, held in place by an electromagnetic field. When the device is held up to the eye and activated, the ball touches the cornea and decelerates. The speed of deceleration is measured and converted into IOP.
Study results, which were reported in 2017 in JAMA Ophthalmology, were encouraging: 73 participants successfully measured their IOP, meaning they reported a reading within 5 mm Hg of that obtained by a researcher using the same device. Most people reported being comfortable doing the test.
The device used in this study was recently approved by the FDA as a home tonometer, called Icare Home. It is available through optometrists and ophthalmologists, who typically charge patients a fee to take it home and use it for a limited time to get a more complete picture of IOP levels throughout the day and night.
The device sends the results to the doctor via a computer hook-up. Medicare does not cover the cost. To find out more, talk to your eye specialist. | <urn:uuid:17fea56b-a020-4136-a69d-6f207247c2e3> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.healthandwellnessalerts.berkeley.edu/topics/state-of-the-art-glaucoma-care-at-home-iop-monitoring/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141177607.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124224124-20201125014124-00081.warc.gz | en | 0.970724 | 326 | 3.125 | 3 |
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a drone. Introducing the PigeonBot, a new UAV designed to soar like a real-life pigeon using bird-like feathered wings.
Developed by a team of researchers at Stanford University, the experimental drone boasts a pair of “biohybrid morphing wings” which are constructed from real feathers and help to propel the device through the skies.
From the outset, building a robotic pigeon may seem a little high-school science class, and the makeshift construction won’t disabuse you of that notion. But the device is actually attempting to solve some pretty complex problems, like how to build more agile unmanned aerial vehicles that can make better turns in tighter spaces.
PigeonBot may also help us to better understand how birds fly—specifically, the dynamic wing shape and the complex positions of individual feathers—which, up until this point, has remained something of a mystery.
So, how exactly did PigeonBot take flight? The head of Stanford’s Bio-Inspired Research & Design (BIRD) Lab David Lentink challenged his graduate students to “dissect the biomechanics of the avian wing morphing mechanism and embody these insights in a morphing biohybrid robot that features real flight feathers,” according to TechCrunch.
The students began by analysing bird skeletal motion, taking as their muse the humble pigeon, which Lentink admires for its resilience. They discovered that it only took a couple of motions—or flaps—to move 20 primary flight feathers and 20 secondaries. Then, they took all that research and created a lightweight robotic frame. Forty real pigeon feathers were affixed to the frame, and PigeonBot was born.
With a little help from a propellor attached to the front, PigeonBot can steer and maneuver through dense urban environments or forests, just like one of our regular feathered friends.
PigeonBot’s morphing wing tech could help improve wing design within aircraft and ensure drones operate more safely. As an added bonus, Lentink says the softness of the feathered wings will make it harder for the drone to injure people if there are any accidents.
At this stage, PigeonBot is just a prototype, and Lentink is currently working on a tail to match the wings. The industrious engineer is also working on a new robotic falcon that could feature both legs and claws, according to TechCrunch. Can an EagleBot be far behind? | <urn:uuid:a167e166-3a92-425a-a4d9-73ebb35f48f9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://robbreport.co.uk/motors/aviation/meet-the-pigeonbot-a-new-drone-that-uses-feathered-wings-to-fly-like-a-real-bird-2797651/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00161.warc.gz | en | 0.953865 | 531 | 3.5 | 4 |
Photo by Nicole Fara Silver
They’re the main ingredient in lemonade, but lemons are good for so much more than a refreshing, front porch staple — they’re packed with health-boosting vitamin C and antioxidants known as flavonoids. The C contributes to collagen synthesis in the body and may help prevent you from catching a cold. Plus the rest of those flavonoids contribute to fighting off damaging free radicals in the body, which could decrease the risk of heart disease, reduce inflammation, and help fight some cancers.
Wondering what else there is to do with lemons? Add to seltzer water instead ofdrinking soda, or substitute for the sugar in a cocktail. Use it to flavor foods with iron, like leafy greens to help the body better absorb the greens’ iron. Just try to stick to fresh, whole lemons, as pre-squeezed juice can rapidly lose its vitamin C.
The Takeaway: Integrate whole, fresh lemons into your diet for better-tasting foods and health bonuses like a lessened chance of catching a cold and even a potentially decreased risk of cancer.
Not a chef? Lemons have practical purposes, too, like repelling insects and lightening hair (no salon required).
To get all the juice out of a fresh lemon, roll it firmly against the counter before cutting into it. Still feeling firm? Microwave it for 20 seconds before squeezing. The average lemon should yield 2 to 3 tablespoons of juice. | <urn:uuid:32e15db1-0b77-4be2-b9a3-4339b0f96e88> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://greatist.com/tips/add-lemons-boost-flavor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.909991 | 312 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Four Unknown Beatrix Potter Illustrations Found in England
Four previously unknown Beatrix Potter illustrations were found tucked away in the library at Melford Hall, a Tudor mansion and National Trust property in Suffolk, England.
The drawings focus on interior and exterior scenes of Melford Hall itself, which was frequently visited by Potter between 1899 and 1938 when her cousin Ethel Leech lived there with her husband and three children.
Conservation work unearthed the drawings. House manager Josephine Waters and a colleague were moving bookcases when they discovered the drawings tucked away in some of the old books. Waters immediately recognized Potter's unique style.
"I am never going to forget it, it was the most amazing moment. It made me catch my breath, a real spine-tingling moment," Waters said in an interview with the Guardian. "Still now, when I think about it, I get that special feeling. It is the sort of thing you dream of when you are working with a historic collection, that you will discover something new."
It's been quite a year for Beatrix Potter fans, with a previously unpublished Potter story set to be released in September, Peter Rabbit showing up on a Brisith coin, and the author's 150th birthday just around the corner on July 28.
[Image from the National Trust] | <urn:uuid:0a9d1416-b144-40c1-a213-acdc5df9ba5c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/four-unknown-beatrix-potter-illustrations-found-england | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.964996 | 267 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The Earth has entered its sixth mass extinction phase, a new study warns, and the time we have to avoid dramatic consequences is rapidly running out.
Vertebrates -- which include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish -- are disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal, according the study published Friday in the journal Science Advances. The study, led by Stanford, Princeton and the University of California-Berkeley, stated the number of vertebrate species that have gone extinct in the last century normally take 800 to 10,000 years to disappear under natural extinction rates.
"These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way," the researchers wrote. The last such extinction was 65 million years ago, The Telegraph noted, when dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the planet.
Human activity related to development and climate change are exacerbating the problem, the study argued.
"Our analysis emphasizes that our global society has started to destroy species of other organisms at an accelerating rate, initiating a mass extinction episode unparalleled for 65 million years," the researchers wrote. "Avoiding a true sixth mass extinction will require rapid, greatly intensified efforts to conserve already threatened species and to alleviate pressures on their populations -- notably habitat loss, overexploitation for economic gain, and climate change ... However, the window of opportunity is rapidly closing."
The study found that given these extinctions, the benefits of biodiversity like crop pollination and water purification could disappear in as little as three lifetimes, putting the human species in serious danger before others.
"If it is allowed to continue," lead study author Gerardo Ceballos told BBC News, "life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on." | <urn:uuid:d6ceed23-80cb-4bae-a491-cf241b89136c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.huffpost.com/entry/earth-extinction-phase_n_7629330 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.946177 | 369 | 3.625 | 4 |
Mary Beale (1633–99) was one of the earliest professional women artists in Britain. Her successful career as a Baroque-era portrait artist was documented by her husband, Charles, whose almanacs provide a unique record of Beale’s patrons, painting technique, and family affairs. Her portraits of politicians, clergy, aristocracy, and intellectuals reflect the vibrant literary, scientific, and political scene of the seventeenth century.
Beale is recognized as a feminist icon for her success in the male-driven world of portrait painting, and in addition to being a professional artist, she was also as a poet and author. Her book Discourse on Friendship, published in 1667, argued for the equality of husband and wife in marriage—a radical concept at that time. My Dearest Heart, the first biography of Mary Beale, features more than 120 color illustrations of her ground-breaking artistry. | <urn:uuid:3c09c808-7f81-4558-a727-741b9775422d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://gift.gardnermuseum.org/products/my-dearest-heart | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141211510.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130065516-20201130095516-00401.warc.gz | en | 0.9769 | 187 | 2.9375 | 3 |
It is every parent’s nightmare — you send your child outside to play with friends, and he returns home bloodied and crying. First, you wash off the blood and assess the damage. With dog bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends seeking medical care under certain conditions such as extreme bleeding, intense pain or exposed bone. Other serious symptoms, like swelling and fever, may appear hours or days later.
Do not let financial concerns dictate the care your child will receive going forward. Pet owners are responsible for taking care of the monetary aspects, and their insurance may cover everything. Your priority is ensuring that your child gets all the care he needs.
Your child’s injuries will determine your course of action. Puncture wounds may get infected, calling for antibiotics. Any long or deep cuts may require stitches. If the dog is familiar or you can contact the owner, ask about rabies vaccinations. If necessary, a physician may begin a rabies protocol to help prevent or treat possible exposure.
Long-term medical care
Bite wounds may go much deeper than surface cuts and bruises. A bite may cause breaks or fractures in the small bones of forearms, wrists and hands. Also be sure to check for damaged or severed tendons.
Injuries on the face, head and neck may require plastic surgery, and growing children may need more than one procedure. Whatever the case, be sure you go to all follow-up appointments as advised by medical professionals.
Your child’s physical injuries may seem minor, perhaps just a few cuts or bruises. However, the mental and emotional effects may be more serious. To minimize long-term negative effects, talk about the incident with your child. Encourage him to recount the situation, communicating openly about how he felt at the time and how he feels now. Children need to know that they are not to blame and that they need not be fearful of every dog they encounter in the future. | <urn:uuid:549858f3-f487-4589-b6a6-8ee70ce67ec2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.zumbado-elmore.com/blog/2020/02/a-dog-bit-my-child-what-should-i-do/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193856.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127161801-20201127191801-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.944694 | 398 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The letters of Alessandra Strozzi provide a vivid and spirited portrayal of life in fifteenth-century Florence. Among the richest autobiographical materials to survive from the Italian Renaissance, the letters reveal a woman who fought stubbornly to preserve her family's property and position in adverse circumstances, and who was an acute observer of Medicean society. Her letters speak of political and social status, of the concept of honor, and of the harshness of life, including the plague and the loss of children. They are also a guide to Alessandra's inner life over a period of twenty-three years, revealing the pain and sorrow, and, more rarely, the joy and triumph, with which she responded to the events unfolding around her.
This edition includes translations, in full or in part, of 35 of the 73 extant letters. The selections carry forward the story of Alessandra's life and illustrate the range of attitudes, concerns, and activities which were characteristic of their author. | <urn:uuid:b0483547-baf2-4cad-9137-76ed13e8c88f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520203907/selected-letters-of-alessandra-strozzi-bilingual-edition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195967.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129004335-20201129034335-00601.warc.gz | en | 0.956576 | 196 | 2.609375 | 3 |
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