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David Tennant David Tennant is a Scottish stage and screen actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, the British science-fiction television series. Apart from the show, Tennant has enjoyed a prolific career with more than 100 TV, film, stage, and voice-over credits to his...
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Mark Rutte Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who drew praise for his chameleonic ability to find common ground and broker unlikely alliances to form coalition governments during his four terms as prime minister of the Netherlands (2010–24). He eschewed visionary ideals in favor of practicalities, saying...
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List of Influential Women and Nonbinary People in Computing Computer science, like many other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines, is primarily male-dominated. Women have made important contributions to the field with significantly less recognition than their male counterparts, and, as of 2023, approximately a fifth of...
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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, beloved Thanksgiving Day tradition enjoyed by generations of Americans that draws an estimated 3.5 million attendees in person in Manhattan, New York, and tens of millions more viewers for television. The annual parade, which is sponsored by American department store...
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First-time homebuyer programs: Help with becoming a homeowner Buying your first house or condominium has long been a monumental step, but steadily increasing home prices have made affording a home even more challenging for many first-time homebuyers. High costs, fluctuating mortgage rates, and a shortage of homes for sale have left aspiring homeowners feeling...
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Tyreek Hill Tyreek Hill is one of the most explosive and prolific wide receivers in the NFL. In 2020 he helped the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl LIV. However, Hill’s exploits on the field have occasionally been overshadowed by run-ins with law enforcement. Hill was born to Anesha Sanchez and Derrick Shaw....
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Axis of Resistance Axis of Resistance, loose and informal military network of militant groups, which bill themselves as resistance forces, and state-controlled armed forces in the Middle East that are supported by Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In addition to the IRGC, the axis comprises...
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What Time of Night It Is In 1881 National Woman Suffrage Association founders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage published History of Woman Suffrage. Through newspaper articles, letters, and other related materials, the women endeavored to document the 30-year history of the women’s suffrage...
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Svetlana Mojsov Svetlana Mojsov is a Yugoslavian-born Macedonian American chemist known for her pioneering contributions to the discovery and understanding of peptide hormones that regulate physiological processes. Her work has been especially influential in the study of glucagon-like peptides (GLPs), a class of...
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Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Are you a taxpayer in the U.S.? Then you need to know the rules that determine your tax obligations. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—signed into law by then-president Donald Trump on December 22, 2017—is significant legislation that altered many parts of the federal U.S. tax code. The goals of the...
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Crunchyroll Crunchyroll, LLC is an American production, distribution, licensing, and streaming company dedicated to anime, manga, and dorama (a type of Japanese drama similar to American television soap operas). It is a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music...
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Shailene Woodley Shailene Woodley is an American actress who first received recognition for her authentic, emotionally rich portrayals of teenaged characters in the ABC Family television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–13) and Alexander Payne’s film The Descendants (2011). Her notable later...
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Anti-slavery address by William Lloyd Garrison Antislavery movements had existed in the United States since the Revolution. They had even received occasional support in the South, on moral grounds; but the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made slavery appear as an economic necessity. In addition, rebellions of enslaved people stirred old...
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List of Provinces and Territories of Canada Canada is the second largest country in the world in area (after Russia), measuring more than 3.8 million square miles (nearly 10 million square kilometers). It consists of 10 provinces and 3 territories that vary greatly in size. The combination of vast area and discontinuous settlement has led to...
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Ja Morant Ja Morant is an American basketball player who is one of the NBA’s leading point guards, known for his dynamic and acrobatic plays. Morant was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the second overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, and he was named Rookie of the Year in 2020. He faced controversy in...
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Taylor Tomlinson Taylor Tomlinson is an American comedian and television host known for stand-up that combines commentary on contemporary sexuality and dating with frank personal reflections on mental health, therapy, and mortality. She achieved wide popularity through several stand-up specials, social media, and a...
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Freedom’s Journal Letter to the Editor Freedom’s Journal—with its masthead slogan “Righteousness Exalteth a Nation,”—was the first Black-owned and operated weekly newspaper in the United States. The paper served not only as a forum for the abolitionist sentiments of educated African Americans but also as an official sounding board for...
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red-light district What is a red-light district? A red-light district is an area in a city where people perform sex acts for money or participate in sexually evocative performances, often at strip clubs and peep shows. The area is also often home to shops selling sex-related products. Where might the term red-light...
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Mount Erebus Mount Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano, located on the western half of Ross Island, off the coast of Antarctica in the Ross Sea. Its summit is 12,448 feet (3,794 meters) above sea level, making it the second tallest volcano in Antarctica, after Mount Sidley. Mount Erebus is also one...
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How to ask for a raise: 6 steps to a bigger paycheck Perhaps you’ve been at your job for a while, doing great work but thinking you should be better paid for your efforts. If that strikes a chord, it might be time to ask for a raise. The idea of hitting your boss up for more money may seem daunting, but getting the pay you deserve is essential to...
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A Canticle for Leibowitz What is A Canticle for Leibowitz about? Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s novel explores themes of Christian theology, the tension between religion and science, and the cyclical nature of human civilizations. It is post-apocalyptic science fiction set after a nuclear war. Its narrative, which is divided into...
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Kyle Shanahan Kyle Shanahan is an American football coach who is considered one of the most creative offensive minds in the NFL. Since 2017 Shanahan has been the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, and he has led the team to two Super Bowl appearances (2020 and 2024). Shanahan is the eldest of two children...
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nostalgia Nostalgia, affectionate and often sentimental feeling experienced when remembering past times, places, and experiences, especially those with happy personal associations. The feeling may also connote a desire to return to past times and places or wishing that they could be experienced again....
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Cueva de las Manos Cueva de las Manos, archaeological site comprising a stunning collection of cave art, perhaps best known for featuring more than 2,000 black, white, red, yellow, and purple stenciled handprints dating back more than 9,000 years. There are also depictions of geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, red...
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A Thousand Splendid Suns A Thousand Splendid Suns, novel by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2007. Through its depiction of the relationship between two women, Mariam and Laila, the novel describes the shifting political and social climate of Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion of 1979 and subsequent war through the...
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Sean Sherman Sean Sherman is a chef, activist, ethnobotanist, educator, and member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe. Sherman garnered attention for spotlighting traditional North American Indigenous foods and their ecological and human health advantages. Sherman’s food philosophy centers on his ancestry and...
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Wham! In the early 1980s, American fans of pop music found themselves in the midst of the Second British Invasion. British pop and new wave groups such as Culture Club, Duran Duran, the Police, Depeche Mode, Human League, and A Flock of Seagulls stormed American radio, the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and...
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Demographics of the United States The United States contains a highly diverse population. Unlike a country such as China that largely incorporated Indigenous peoples, the United States has a diversity that to a great degree has come from immense and sustained global immigration. Probably no other country has a wider range of...
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milpa Milpa, symbiotic and symbolic interplanting of beans, corn (maize), and squash in Mesoamerican and North American Indigenous agricultural tradition. These three crops have long been viewed as the most important food plants to many people groups, and ancient communities found that planting the three...
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2020 Beirut explosion 2020 Beirut explosion, deadly blast that took place on August 4, in Beirut, and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. The explosion was caused by the improper storage of ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse. The explosion killed 218 people, injured about 7,000, displaced some...
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navagraha Navagraha, in Indian astrology (jyotisha), the set of nine celestial bodies that is thought to impact people’s lives in positive and negative ways, which many Hindus, and some Jains and Buddhists, endeavor to influence through rituals. The term navagraha comes from the Sanskrit words nava (“nine”)...
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whale vocalization Whale vocalization, process used by whales that produces any of several vocal sounds that assist in communication and the collection of information about their environment. Whales vocalize primarily to navigate, share information with one another, find food, locate other whales, and compete (for...
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Alia Bhatt Alia Bhatt is an Indian-born actress known for her contributions to contemporary Bollywood cinema. She is celebrated for her endearing screen presence, versatility, and success at the box office. She is also an entrepreneur, producer, and fashion trendsetter. Bhatt belongs to a new wave of...
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Big Dig Big Dig, the largest and most expensive highway infrastructure project in American history. Initially conceived in the 1970s and begun in 1991, it took 15 years of construction to reroute Boston’s major highway, Interstate Highway 93 (I-93), through an underground tunnel. The project was plagued...
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doxing Doxing, the act of exposing private or identifying information on the Internet about an individual or group without the person’s or group’s consent, usually with malicious intent. It derives from the phrase “dropping dox,” a term for disclosing another person’s “documents” or personal information....
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The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers, American musical comedy film, released in 1980, that was directed by John Landis and stars actors John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The movie centers on musicians and brothers “Joliet” Jake Blues (Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Aykroyd), who are reunited after Jake is released from...
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sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa, the region in Africa that lies south of the Sahara desert. The term is often used to label the countries of that region and its environs, including island nations and countries that contain part of the desert within their borders. This immensely large area covers more than...
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HMS Hood HMS Hood, British battle cruiser, launched in 1918 and destroyed on May 24, 1941, during World War II in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Its sinking, which led to the deaths of all but 3 of a crew of 1,418, remains the single greatest loss of life in Royal Navy history. Construction of the HMS...
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persistence hunting Persistence hunting, a form of hunting in which a hunter drives prey to exhaustion with a combination of walking and running, usually in a hot environment. A number of instances of persistence hunting have been noted among modern hunter-gatherer groups. Some scholars argue that persistence hunting...
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Hughes H-1 Hughes H-1, record-breaking racing plane that was designed by American aviator Howard Hughes and engineer Richard Palmer and built by mechanic Glenn Odekirk to be the fastest landplane in the world. The H-1 earned this title in 1935, when it achieved a new world speed record of 567.113 km/hr...
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PHP PHP, general-purpose programming language commonly used for web development. The language was created in 1994 and has remained popular since then because of its relative ease of use and open-source code. PHP was used in 2024 by more than three-fourths of all websites on the Internet for which the...
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BAFTA BAFTA, colloquial name for the prestigious award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (also called BAFTA), an independent, membership-driven charitable arts organization based in London. BAFTA Awards honor the best in British and international film, television, and...
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Ayşenur Eygi Ayşenur Eygi was a Turkish-American citizen and longtime activist for multiple causes. While participating in a protest on September 6, 2024, in the occupied West Bank, she was fatally shot by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) sniper. The Israeli government conceded that it was “highly likely” that...
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Amundsen Sea Amundsen Sea, arm of the Southern Ocean adjoining West Antarctica south of about 70° S latitude, bordered on the west by Cape Dart on Siple Island and on the east by Cape Flying Fish at the northwestern edge of Thurston Island (see also Antarctica). The sea also includes the ice-covered portion of...
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Hindu temple Hindu temple, sacred space in Hinduism for devotional worship of Hindu deities. Temples are considered to be homes for deities and powerful locations where the divine and human realms are bridged. Unlike in places of worship in many Western religions, attendance at a Hindu temple is not a ritual...
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Stone Circles of Senegambia Stone Circles of Senegambia, more than 1,000 megalithic monuments found across the countries of The Gambia and Senegal in western Africa. The stone circles, which are made from pillars of carved stone that are assembled in a ring formation, are situated in a 100-km- (62-mile-) wide zone along a...
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Beta, benchmarks, and risk: Measuring volatility How risky might a stock or fund be relative to the broader market? That’s a question you’re likely to ask when shopping for investments to add to your portfolio. Fortunately, this is exactly what the metric called beta aims to tell you. It’s also easy to find: Just look closely at any stock or fund...
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knafeh Knafeh, traditional Middle Eastern pastry made from phyllo or semolina, layered with soft cheese filling, and covered with a sweet syrup. There are many regional variations of the dessert, which is popular throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe for its mixture of sweet...
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In search of alpha: Hard to prove; hard to sustain If you’re looking to invest in an actively managed fund, you probably have one goal in mind: to beat the market. You’re looking for added value above and beyond what a passive index fund can deliver. This added value comes in the form of a fund manager’s superior skill (or their perceived skill,...
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the Spinners The Spinners are an American rhythm and blues (R&B) vocal group that became one of the greatest soul groups of the 1970s with a string of hit songs, including “It’s a Shame,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” and “Games People Play.” Formed in the suburbs of Detroit, the Spinners...
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Anthony Mackie Anthony Mackie is an American actor best known for playing the character Sam Wilson/the Falcon in multiple films and television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He will star as Captain America in the upcoming film Captain America: Brave New World, set to be released in 2025. Mackie is the...
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Brock Purdy Brock Purdy is an American professional football player who went from being the last player selected in the 2022 NFL draft—a pick known as “Mr. Irrelevant”—to one of the top young quarterbacks in the league. In his second season with the San Francisco 49ers, Purdy led the team to a berth in Super...
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Tim Tebow Tim Tebow is a former American football player who was a dominant dual-threat quarterback at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, where he won a Heisman Trophy and led the team to two national championships. After playing briefly in the NFL, he spent several years as a baseball player in the...
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flunitrazepam Flunitrazepam, benzodiazepine drug known for its sedative, hypnotic, and anxiolytic (antianxiety) properties and for its illicit use, most notably as a so-called date rape drug. Flunitrazepam is sold under various trade names, including Rohypnol. Because of its high potential for misuse and its...
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Ferris wheel Ferris wheel, popular amusement ride that typically consists of several seats, or cars, that rotate around a large axis. The Ferris wheel was invented by engineer George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, which took place in Chicago. Sometimes called...
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Andrew Scott Andrew Scott is an Irish actor known for his carefully constructed performances on stage and screen. Critics and fans enjoyed his portrayals of the psychopath Jim Moriarty in Sherlock (2010–17), the irreverent priest in the second season of Fleabag (2019), and the mercurial Tom Ripley in Ripley...
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Nzinga Nzinga was the queen of the Mbundu kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba during the 17th century in what is now Angola in sub-Saharan Africa. Nzinga was a skillful politician, variously allying with local groups—particularly the Imbangala—and European powers to maintain and improve her position as queen...
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Letter to Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, August 19, 1791 Letter by Benjamin Banneker, primary sourceMathematician and almanac-maker Benjamin Banneker was one of the most accomplished Black men in the early life of the United States. Largely self-educated, he was born to free Black parents and grew up on his family’s tobacco farm, where he became adept in...
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accelerationism Accelerationism, in political and social theory, a class of ideologies that call for a drastic increase in and expansion of capitalistic growth and technological development to hasten an inevitable collapse of the status quo. British theorist Nick Land, an influential accelerationist thinker,...
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Vivek Murthy Vivek Murthy is a doctor who has served (2014–17 and 2021– ) as U.S. surgeon general under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He is the first person of Indian descent to be surgeon general. Murthy is known for declaring gun deaths and injuries a public health crisis, for urging Congress to...
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adobo Adobo, type of dish, marinade, or blend of spices typically consisting of vinegar and a mix of seasonings, including salt, garlic, black pepper, oregano, and paprika. Adobo is widely considered to be the unofficial national dish of the Philippines, where the term adobo also refers to a specific...
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history of Burundi History of Burundi, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Burundi. The landlocked country is located in east-central Africa, south of the Equator. Gitega, a town rich with cultural and historical significance, was designated the country’s political capital in 2019. At the same...
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Onam Onam, Hindu harvest festival that occurs in the Malayali month of Chingam, which overlaps with August and September in the Gregorian calendar. The 10-day harvest festival celebrates the Malayali New Year and is observed predominantly in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Other Indian regions,...
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Harry Allen Overstreet Harry Allen Overstreet was an American social psychologist and a staunch advocate of an informed citizenry. He dedicated much of his career to educating adults on social, psychological, and political subjects through lectures and books. Overstreet received degrees from the University of California,...
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Daron Acemoglu What award did Daron Acemoglu receive in 2024? Daron Acemoglu is a Turkish-American economist who, along with Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson, won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics. The trio demonstrated through extensive studies that societies with inclusive political and economic...
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James A. Robinson What is James A. Robinson known for? James A. Robinson is known for his significant contributions to the study of political economy and economic development, particularly concerning how institutions affect prosperity. Along with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, Robinson received the 2024 Nobel...
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Simon Johnson What is Simon Johnson known for? Simon Johnson is known for his extensive contributions to the field of political economy and economic development. He, along with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics for their research on how institutions are formed and...
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Ari Aster Ari Aster is an American film director and screenwriter known for combining wrenching psychological drama with darkly humorous horror spectacle. He established his distinctive creative voice in a series of short films before reaching—and shocking—wider audiences with his feature-length debut,...
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microRNA MicroRNA (miRNA), small molecule in cells, typically about 21–25 nucleotides in length, that plays a crucial role in the regulation of gene expression. MicroRNA (miRNA) is unique relative to other forms of RNA, which function primarily to carry and translate the genetic code from DNA into protein....
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United Nations Resolution 1701 United Nations Resolution 1701, resolution passed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council on August 11, 2006, during the 34-day Lebanon War in 2006. The resolution, whose adoption by the warring parties led to the end of hostilities, called for an immediate ceasefire, the deployment of Lebanese...
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Trevor Lawrence Trevor Lawrence is an American football quarterback who led Clemson University to a national championship in 2019 as a freshman. Known for his strong arm, elusive scrambling talents, and mane of long blond hair, Lawrence was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars as the number one pick in the 2021...
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Jim Harbaugh What are Jim Harbaugh’s most notable achievements as a head coach? Jim Harbaugh is known for his ability to turn around struggling teams, and he had success at both the professional and college levels. In the NFL, he led the San Francisco 49ers to an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. At the...
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Get Out Get Out, American film, released in 2017, that was written, coproduced, and directed by comedian Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. Although it is frequently characterized as a horror movie, Peele describes his film as a “social thriller,” a phrase he uses to categorize movies in which society...
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The grand IPO rollout: Form S-1 and the transition from private to public Apple. Microsoft. IBM. Amazon. The legends of American business are pretty much all publicly traded companies—and at one time, they were all quite small. The traditional way for companies to get listed and begin trading on a stock exchange is via an initial public offering (IPO), a process that...
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Could biweekly mortgage payments save you money? Paying off your mortgage early can save you thousands in interest payments and cancel your debt years ahead of schedule. One of the simplest ways to pay down your mortgage sooner is by making biweekly or bimonthly mortgage payments rather than a standard monthly payment. Biweekly and bimonthly...
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Financial engineering: Agent of innovation or market chaos? The term financial engineering almost sounds made up. After all, what does money have to do with mechanical or scientific protocols? Not much, at a glance. But engineering at its core is focused on problem-solving, and there’s no shortage of problems when it comes to money. Financial engineering...
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M.K. Stalin M.K. Stalin is an Indian politician and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Dravidian Progressive Federation; DMK) party in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He has served as a member of the Tamil Nadu legislature (1989–91, 1996– ), mayor of Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai (1996–2002),...
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Factor ETFs and their smart beta cousins Investors and fund managers are always looking for ways to beat the market. Many financial researchers spend their entire careers slicing, dicing, and modeling data to find the common traits that drive asset returns. Sounds like a perfect match, right? That’s the philosophy behind factor...
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The Burning Plain The Burning Plain, a collection of short stories, including the title story, by the Mexican author Juan Rulfo (1917–1986), published in 1953. The rainless, infertile Llano Grande, or Great Plain, in the west-central Mexican state of Jalisco frames these tales about the Mexican Revolution and the...
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Lisa Blunt Rochester Who is Lisa Blunt Rochester? Lisa Blunt Rochester is a U.S. representative who, in 2017, became the first woman and the first person of color to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Delaware. In addition to her groundbreaking role in the House, she is poised to become...
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blood eagle Blood eagle, method of ritual execution employed by Viking cultures described in Norse literature. The ritual’s place in Viking lore is probably overemphasized in modern literature and history because of its incredible level of brutality. When performing the blood eagle, executioners separate the...
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Statue of Unity Statue of Unity, statue of Vallabhbhai Patel—a leader in the Indian Independence Movement who served as India’s first deputy prime minister—located in the state of Gujarat, India. Standing 597 feet (182 meters), upon construction it held the distinction of being the tallest statue in the world....
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Luis Garcia Luis Garcia was a Spanish right winger (midfielder) who gained fame in the sport of football (soccer) for his versatility with his body—he could use both feet equally in play and had good aerial skills. Although he was known around the world, he was especially popular in Spain and England. Garcia...
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Uzumaki Uzumaki, a horror manga (Japanese comic book) by Ito Junji, originally published in 1998–99 in the magazine Big Comic Spirits in vols. 7–39. It was released in North America in 2001–02 by VIZ Media in the now-discontinued magazine Pulp. The title, Uzumaki (“spiral”), is conventionally untranslated...
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The Station nightclub fire The Station nightclub fire, fire on February 20, 2003, that destroyed The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, U.S., and killed 100 people. When it was announced that the hard rock act Great White would be headlining an evening of 1980s retro rock music at The Station, fans turned out...
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List of Chinese Philosophers Chinese philosophy is one of the world’s most ancient philosophical traditions. Unlike Western philosophy and Indian philosophy, Chinese thought places relatively little emphasis on metaphysical questions and focuses mainly on human society and the maintenance of social order. This is illustrated...
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Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci is a prolific American actor, filmmaker, and writer widely recognized for his versatile acting skills in film, television, and theater, as well as his acclaimed work behind the camera. His decades-long career has often been intertwined with the culinary world, and he experienced a...
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Nihon Hidankyo Nihon Hidankyo, Japanese grassroots movement dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons. Nihon Hidankyo was founded in 1956 by survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a group known as hibakusha (“bomb-affected people”). Its main activities include sending delegations to...
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Demis Hassabis Demis Hassabis is an English computer scientist who was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict protein structures. He shared half the prize with his colleague, American computer scientist John M. Jumper, and the other half of the prize...
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disability rights movement Disability rights movement, civil and social advocacy campaign that aims to ensure accessibility, equal opportunities, and inclusion for persons with disabilities worldwide. The disability rights movement is focused on breaking down social and physical barriers that otherwise prevent disabled...
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John M. Jumper John M. Jumper is an American computer scientist who was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work using artificial intelligence (AI) to find the three-dimensional structure of proteins. He shared half the prize with his colleague, English computer scientist Demis Hassabis, and the...
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Heat Heat, American crime film, released in 1995, that was written and directed by Michael Mann. The film is loosely based on the criminal career and takedown of real-life thief Neil McCauley and is considered to be one of the greatest crime films of all time. The story begins with the robbing of an...
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The Book of Margery Kempe The Book of Margery Kempe, medieval memoir that is widely believed to be the first autobiography written in English. It was most likely written in the late 1430s. Extracts of the work first appeared in 1501 as a seven-page devotional pamphlet. The full manuscript languished in obscurity until 1934,...
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Hair Hair, American musical that showcases the counterculture of the 1960s through a loosely connected series of sketches and songs that deride the Vietnam War and social conformity and celebrate sexual freedom, recreational drug use, racial equality, and individuality. Widely acknowledged as the first...
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John J. Hopfield John J. Hopfield is an American physicist who was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with neural networks. He shared the prize with British-Canadian cognitive psychologist Geoffrey Hinton. At age 91, he became the third oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize, after John B....
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Ten Depictions of Hell In depicting the place where, in many religious traditions, the spirits of the damned reside and are punished, artists have found inspiration from religious texts, sermons, literature, mythology, or their own imaginations. A whole lot of artists were inspired by Dante’s chilling Inferno, the first...
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Shubhanshu Shukla Shubhanshu Shukla is an Indian astronaut who is part of the Gaganyaan program, which will send India’s first astronauts into space in their own crewed vehicle, and who is scheduled to visit the International Space Station (ISS) as the primary mission pilot on Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) in 2025. Shukla,...
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Uma Thurman Known for her statuesque beauty and sophisticated demeanor, American actress Uma Thurman began appearing in films in the late 1980s before landing her breakout role as raven-haired trophy wife Mia Wallace in Quentin Tarantino’s neo-noir Pulp Fiction (1994). It was not long before Thurman began...
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Han Kang Han Kang is a South Korean writer who is known for her experimental fiction and her works that address humanity’s capacity for violence. In 2024 she became the first South Korean author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, cited by the Nobel committee “for her intense poetic prose that confronts...
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Angela Alsobrooks What notable firsts has Angela Alsobrooks achieved in her career? In 2011, Angela Alsobrooks became the first woman to hold the position of the state’s attorney in Prince George’s County, Maryland. In 2018 by becoming the first Black woman to serve as the county executive in Maryland. As of 2024,...
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4-methylthioamphetamine 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA), synthetic psychoactive drug known primarily for its effects on serotonin, a monoamine neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with the regulation of mood. Chemically, 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA) is classified as an amphetamine, and it is structurally...
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Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, writer, and plant ecologist perhaps best known for her book of essays Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (2013). She holds appointments as a distinguished teaching professor and as a founding director of the...
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Battle of Plassey Battle of Plassey, battle fought between troops of the British East India Company, led by Robert Clive, and forces led by Sirāj al-Dawlah, the last independent nawab (ruler) of Bengal, on June 23, 1757. A decisive victory for the British East India Company marked its transformation from a mere...
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David Baker David Baker is an American biochemist and computational biologist who developed computerized methods for the de novo (from scratch) design of proteins with entirely new functions. Baker’s work on protein structure prediction and design fueled advances in synthetic biology and in the development of...
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Theranos, Inc. Theranos, Inc., medical diagnostic company founded in 2003 by Stanford University dropout and entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes that was later revealed to have falsified its data and inflated its claims. Holmes was charged with 11 counts of fraud, and the company shut down in 2018. Holmes founded...
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pronoun Pronoun, a word that replaces a noun or noun phrase and one of eight parts of speech in English grammar. Pronouns are used to avoid repetition of nouns and can help sentences be more succinct. There are several different types of pronouns, which are described in detail below. Personal pronouns...
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Eric Adams Eric Adams is the 110th mayor of New York City, a position he has held since 2022. He previously worked in the New York City Police Department for more than 20 years, retiring with the rank of captain. He represented parts of central Brooklyn in the New York state senate (2007–13) and served as the...
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Austerlitz Austerlitz, the final novel written by German-English author W.G. Sebald. Published in 2001, Austerlitz, like all Sebald’s works, explores themes of the Holocaust, memory, time, and identity. It received several awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award. Austerlitz tells the story of...
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Mount Ruang Mount Ruang, active stratovolcano located on Ruang Island, which lies in the Sangihe arc on the eastern edge of the Celebes Sea north of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The volcano’s summit stands 2,378 feet (725 meters) above sea level. It has a caldera approximately 2 miles (3,219 meters) wide, which since...
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Sunshine Skyway Bridge Sunshine Skyway Bridge, cable-stayed concrete bridge over the southern end of Tampa Bay in western Florida that connects St. Petersburg in Pinellas county with Terra Ceia (near Bradenton) in Manatee county. Designed by Eugene C. Figg, Jr., and Jean Muller, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge was the longest...
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Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), independent U.S. government organization dedicated to disaster relief. Part of the Department of Homeland Security since 2003, FEMA employs more than 20,000 people across 10 regional offices and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. More than $20 billion...
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Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene, large, catastrophic tropical cyclone notable for its rapid intensification that ultimately produced a wide swath of damage and loss of life that extended from northwestern Florida, where the storm made landfall, to Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. Helene’s high winds and...
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Strange Fruit Strange Fruit, searing anti-lynching protest song written by American author and songwriter Abel Meeropol and first recorded in 1939 by American jazz singer Billie Holiday. Meeropol wrote the poem that became “Strange Fruit” after seeing a horrifying photograph of the 1930 lynching of two Black...
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Glen Powell Glen Powell is an American actor who has proved that he is more than his easy smile and classic good looks with roles in such hits as Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Anyone But You (2023), and Twisters (2024). Before finding widespread success, Powell was recognized for his versatility in portraying...
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FedEx Corp. FedEx Corp. is a global leader in transportation, e-commerce, and logistics; the company started by introducing express shipping services to the U.S. in the 1970s. Founded in 1971 as Federal Express Corp. in Little Rock, Arkansas, FedEx is best known as a shipping company. In addition to delivering...
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Gary Ruvkun Gary Ruvkun is an American molecular biologist and geneticist renowned for his groundbreaking research on microRNA (miRNA) and RNA interference (RNAi) as well as for his work on aging and longevity. In particular, his studies provided critical insight into the fundamental process of gene regulation...
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Shigeru Ishiba Shigeru Ishiba is a Japanese politician who serves as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and prime minister of Japan (2024– ). He has held key ministerial roles throughout his career. He initially focused on agriculture and then spent many years working primarily on defense and...
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Victor Ambros Victor Ambros is an American developmental biologist and molecular geneticist best known for his pioneering work in the discovery of microRNA (miRNA), a type of small RNA molecule that serves essential functions in regulating gene expression. Ambros’s contributions to the discovery of miRNA had a...
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Jalen Brunson Jalen Brunson is a star point guard for the New York Knicks of the NBA who is known for his strength and speed. Brunson played college basketball at Villanova, where he helped win NCAA national championships in 2016 and 2018. Brunson is the elder of two children born to Rick Brunson, an NBA player...
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What’s the Origin of Happy Hour? Happy hour is an American tradition in which people gather at a local bar or restaurant (more or less between 3:00 and 6:00 pm) for discounted alcoholic beverages and appetizers. For many, it is also a time to congregate with friends or coworkers and have fun before going home after a hard day’s...
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Battle of Berlin Battle of Berlin, one of the final battles of World War II. It took place from April 20 to May 2, 1945, and it ended with the fall of Berlin, the capital of the Third Reich, to the Soviet Red Army, which took revenge for the suffering of the Soviet people since 1941. In April 1945, the Soviet Union...
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Siege of Breda The capture on June 5, 1625, of the fortress city of Breda, in the present-day Netherlands, was the last great Spanish victory of the Eighty Years’ War. It was the finest moment of the illustrious military career of Ambrogio Spinola, the Genoese commander of the Spanish forces, who had previously...
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immortal jellyfish Immortal jellyfish, (Turritopsis dohrnii), species of tiny, translucent, jellyfish-like invertebrate animals of the phylum Cnidaria, which is renowned for its ability to evade death by cycling repeatedly between its polyp and medusa forms. The immortal jellyfish is not a true jellyfish, however, as...
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Almost Transparent Blue Almost Transparent Blue, novella by notable Japanese writer Ryū Murakami that was published in 1976. Almost Transparent Blue is a layered, almost hallucinatory work that is rendered in excruciating, often repugnant detail and describes the day-to-day existence of a group of nihilistic youths living...
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Major Supreme Court Cases from the 2024–25 Term The United States Supreme Court will issue a number of significant decisions in its 2024–25 term, which begins on October 7, 2024, and is likely to end in late June or early July 2025. By July 26, 2024, the Court had added fewer than 30 cases to the term, though it added more cases on October 4 and...
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Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (AfD), far right-wing German political party founded in 2013. Established during the rise of Euroskepticism in the wake of the euro-zone debt crisis, the party has since adopted a platform based on German nationalism and Islamophobia. In the 2010s some German conservatives...
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list of countries, dependencies, and territories by population This list provides the populations for all countries of the world and for all but the smallest political dependencies and territories. It is ordered by population rank. The populations are estimates calculated by Encyclopædia Britannica’s World Data editors using a combination of statistical...
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Blackish Blackish, American television sitcom that aired on ABC from 2014 to 2022. It depicts an affluent Black family whose patriarch, Andre (Dre) Johnson (played by Anthony Anderson), questions whether his family’s success has come at the cost of losing their African American cultural identity. Although a...
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Brandi Carlile Brandi Carlile is an American musician and singer-songwriter known for her powerful voice and distinctive blend of folk, rock, country, and Americana music. In addition to her rise to fame in music, she has been widely recognized for her storytelling, advocacy for LGBTQ rights, and her role in...
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13 Great Indigenous Writers to Read and Celebrate The Indigenous peoples of what are now the United States and Canada have a rich history of oral tradition and folk literature that dates back thousands of years. In the 20th and 21st centuries many Native American and First Nations writers emerged to become among the most exciting voices in...
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birthday problem Birthday problem, question in probability theory that asks in a group containing a given number of n people, what is the probability that at least one pair of people share the same birthday. The problem is famous for its counterintuitive outcomes, as only a small number of people are needed for...
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Sheila Hicks Sheila Hicks is an American artist renowned for her groundbreaking approach to textile art, creating fiber works that defy traditional two-dimensional forms. Her work incorporates raw materials, such as linen flax, wool, synthetic threads, and industrial fibers as well as found objects, including...
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Reconstruction Article by Frederick Douglass, primary sourceReconstruction was a transformative era in U.S. history, as the government sought to rebuild the country following the Civil War and redress the enduring political, social, and economic inequities of slavery. In 1865–66 Congress took significant steps to...
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Battle of Cajamarca On November 14, 1532, a small force of 168 Spanish soldiers and auxiliaries, led by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, arrived in the valley of Cajamarca, in the Andean highlands of what is now Peru. Arrayed against them on the surrounding hillsides were an estimated 80,000 Inca soldiers. When...
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Battle of Benevento The Battle of Benevento, which occurred on February 26, 1266, was the result of the long-running power struggle in Italy between the Guelfs (supporters of the papacy) and the Ghibellines (supporters of the Holy Roman Empire). The defeat of Manfred of Sicily marked a triumph for the papacy, all but...
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Pakistan floods of 2022 Pakistan floods of 2022, instances of massive flooding of the Indus River and its tributaries in Pakistan between June and October 2022. The term also refers to the subsequent humanitarian crisis. This natural disaster—considered to be the worst in Pakistan’s history by Prime Minister Shehbaz...
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Standing Rock protests Standing Rock protests, campaign undertaken in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017 to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Early resistance to the oil pipeline was launched by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who argued it would threaten sacred land as well as their water supply,...
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Fall of Antwerp In the years after the Battle of Gembloux—one of the decisive engagements of the Eighty Years’ War between the rising Habsburg Empire and the Low Countries—the Spanish governor-general, Alessandro Farnese, slowly consolidated his control of Flanders and Brabant. Spanish control of the southern...
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Battle of Beachy Head After besting the English at Bantry Bay, Ireland, in the first major naval engagement of the Nine Years War, the French navy, supporting the deposed King James II, defeated an allied Anglo-Dutch fleet supporting William III off Beachy Head, in southern England, on July 10 (June 30 OS), 1690. The...
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Which countries have had women leaders? In 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to extend the right to vote to women. Dozens more would do so in the years following World War I, and as a wave of countries gained independence after World War II, equal voting rights for men and women were often guaranteed in their...
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How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Win Friends and Influence People, popular and influential self-help and salesmanship book by the author, radio host, and public-speaking coach Dale Carnegie. Since its original publication in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 30 million copies, making it one of...
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Carlos Alcaraz Carlos Alcaraz is a Spanish professional tennis player who in 2022, at age 19, became the youngest athlete in history to reach the top spot in the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour rankings. He attained number one that year by winning the U.S. Open, becoming the first male...
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cuckoo bee Cuckoo bee, any of more than 3,000 species of solitary bees that engage in brood parasitism, a form of kleptoparasitism in which the bees deposit their eggs in the food-provisioned nests of other bees. Cuckoo bees are found on every continent except Antarctica and occupy a range of habitats. The...
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Nusantara Nusantara, planned capital of Indonesia, located in East Kalimantan province near the city of Balikpapan. Construction began in 2022, and the first residents are expected to arrive in 2024. The project is scheduled for completion by 2045. Indonesian officials have discussed relocating the capital...
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Alamut What is Alamut about? Vladimir Bartol’s novel Alamut reimagines the story of the 11th-century founding of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, better known in the West as the Assassins, by Ḥasan-e Ṣabbāḥ. Set in the fortress of Alamūt, in what is today Iran, the story is told mainly through the perspective of...
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Ed Wood Ed Wood was an American filmmaker best known for cult classics such as Glen or Glenda (1953), Bride of the Monster (1955), and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). Although he has been called “the worst director of all time,” critics and fans have praised him for his drive, ingenuity, and unconventional...
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Renting out your property: Tips for first-time landlords If you’re thinking about moving, you may also be considering what to do with your existing home. Sure, selling your house or condo may net you a nice nest egg, but it’s not your only choice. One popular option is turning your home into a rental property. It’s tempting, especially considering...
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list of iPhone models The Apple iPhone, first released in 2007, ushered in a new era of smartphone innovation. The first widely distributed touchscreen phone, the iPhone was created after two years of development and ran on the iPhone OS 1 (developed from Mac OS X) operating system. The main appeal of the device was its...
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Russell Westbrook Russell Westbrook is an American basketball player known for his obsessive work ethic and ferocious competitive intensity on the court. In 2016–17 Westbrook became the second player in NBA history, after Oscar Robertson, to average a triple-double (double figures in major categories, most commonly...
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Eddie Izzard Eddie Izzard is a British comedian and actor best known for her surreal, stream of consciousness stand-up comedy. She is also well known for her work in film and television, as well as her political activism. Izzard is gender-fluid and prefers to be called Suzy, though she continues to use the name...
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Bridgerton Bridgerton, blockbuster Netflix romance drama series (2020– ) created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes’s production company, Shondaland. The show, inspired by the eight-book historical fiction series written by author Julia Quinn, follows each of the eight close-knit Bridgerton...
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Toby Keith Toby Keith was an American country singer and songwriter whose songs are known for their patriotic themes and blend of traditional country sounds with modern influences. Keith was influential as a country music artist in the late 1990s and 2000s, having released numerous hit songs and multiple...
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Atishi Atishi is an Indian social activist and politician, best known as one of the top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP; “Common Man’s Party”). In September 2024 she replaced AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal as chief minister of Delhi union territory, the third woman and second youngest person to ever...
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scientific notation Scientific notation, method of writing large or small numbers in a shorter form. For example, 4,800,000,000,000 is written in scientific notation as 4.8 ⨉ 1012. Similarly, 0.0000000000048 is written as 4.8 ⨉ 10-12. These numbers are referred to as “4.8 times 10 to the power of 12” and “4.8 times 10...
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Infancy Gospel of Thomas Infancy Gospel of Thomas, apocryphal Christian text that purports to reveal events in the life of Jesus when he was a child between the ages of 5 and 12. It fills the gap in New Testament accounts between stories of Jesus’ infancy and the narrative, reported in Luke 2:41–52, of his conversation...
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Lynching and the Excuse for It Article by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, primary sourceFrom 1882 to 1968 more than 4,700 Americans were lynched, the overwhelming majority of whom were African Americans. While disproportionally occurring in Southern states, lynching was a national problem. In 1901 Chicagoans Jane Addams and Ida B....
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list of African countries by area List of African countries by area, Africa is the second largest continent (after Asia), covering about one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth. Across the continent and its islands, the areas of Africa’s countries vary significantly. Algeria sits at the top of the list with an area of 919,590...
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Sarah Paulson Sarah Paulson is a versatile American actress who is admired for effortlessly disappearing into roles on both stage and screen and for playing difficult, often unlikable characters. She is perhaps best known for her long-running collaboration with writer and director Ryan Murphy on the television...
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Ted Chiang Ted Chiang is an American science-fiction writer known for his award-winning short stories. Both of Chiang’s parents were Chinese escapees from the communist revolution of 1949 who went to college in Taiwan before seeking graduate degrees in the United States, where they met. Chiang’s father,...
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The Confessions of Nat Turner Work by Nat Turner, primary sourceNat Turner led the only effective and sustained slave rebellion in U.S. history. Occurring on August 21, 1831, the insurrection was the climax of a three-year period of unrest among enslaved people, during which time Turner had been successful in convincing his...
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Should you get an annuity in your 401(k) plan? With longevity increasing and retirees wondering if they’ll outlive their nest eggs, some employees are starting to side-eye their 401(k) plans. A 401(k) is a defined contribution plan, meaning the onus is on you to determine how much to put into it and how to invest it, with no guarantee you’ll...
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gender-affirming hormone therapy Gender-affirming hormone therapy, medical treatment that uses hormones to help transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive individuals align their physical characteristics with their gender. Gender-affirming hormone therapy often is associated with significant alleviation of gender dysphoria,...
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warbonnet Warbonnet, eagle-feather headdress worn by some members of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains as indicators of accomplishment. Warbonnets are typically worn in ceremonial situations but were occasionally worn into battle historically. Warbonnets come in several different styles. Some trail...
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Project Blue Book Project Blue Book, code name for the United States’ longest-running Air Force program dedicated to investigating sightings of UFOs (unidentified flying objects), which ran from 1952 to 1969. The program generated controversy because of its subject matter and the secrecy surrounding its operation....