New Articles

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  Why do earthquakes happen far away from plate boundaries? It's commonly assumed that earthquakes occur only near the boundaries of tectonic plates, and roughly 90% of earthquakes do happen in these areas. These boundaries include, for example, the San Andreas Fault, which runs roughly along the west coast of California, where the North American and Pacific plates meet. But not all earthquakes occur along plate boundaries. For example, an...
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  'The most critically harmful fungi to humans': How the rise of C. auris was inevitable Fifteen years ago, scientists discovered a new species of deadly, drug-resistant fungus: Candida auris. It is now considered one of the most dangerous fungal pathogens on Earth. In this excerpt from What if Fungi Win? (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), author Arturo Casadevall looks at the rise of this deadly fungus, which could be the first to have emerged as...
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  dairy cattle breeds 　　Cattle, at the initial stages of their domestication, produced a relatively small amount of milk, sufficient only to rear their calves. Early cattle breeding focused largely on meat production, and the development of high milk yield in cows was a later development. Dairy cattle breeds were eventually established by years of careful selection and mating of animals to attain desired...
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  beef cattle breeds 　　All modern domestic cattle are believed to belong to the species Bos taurus (European breeds such as Shorthorn and Jersey) or Bos indicus (Zebu breeds such as Brahman) or to be crosses of these two (such as Santa Gertrudis). Beef cattle breeds as they are known today did not always exist, and many are of recent origin to meet an...
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  Odd earthquake swarm in Central Europe hints at magma bubbling below the surface An odd earthquake swarm on the border of Germany and the Czech Republic may hint at magma moving deep below the surface. The quakes are in Vogtland, a region known for regular, low-level earthquake swarms. These swarms tend to last several weeks and lead to mostly mild shaking. The largest known quakes from the area are around magnitude 4.5, said...
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  paramilitary 　　paramilitary, group or organization that operates outside a country’s formal military structure. Paramilitaries are typically modeled after military organizations and may have similar training and equipment. These groups often have political or ideological aims and may be involved in activities such as counterinsurgency, anti-terrorism, or internal security. They are often associated with governments but can also be used by non-state...
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  NREM sleep 　　In full: non-rapid eye movement sleep (Show more) Also called: non-REM sleep (Show more) NREM sleep, one of two phases in the sleep cycle, considered the restful or quiet sleep phase. The other phase of the human sleep cycle is known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A single sleep cycle, with both NREM and REM phases, lasts about 90...
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  Birkin bag 　　Birkin bag, handbag produced by French luxury retailer Hermès and named after English model, actress, and singer Jane Birkin. First debuting in 1984, the Birkin bag (or simply “Birkin”) became a status symbol in the 1990s and has become known for its sizable price tag and its difficulty to purchase. The origin story of the Birkin bag has gained many...
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  Fairy Chimneys: The stone spires in Turkey that form 'the world's most unusual high-rise neighborhood' QUICK FACTSName: Fairy Chimneys Location: Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Turkey Coordinates: 38.660576078243686, 34.81971335767199 Why it's incredible: Both the place and its name are straight out of a fairy tale Turkey's fairy chimneys are natural yet surreal-looking spires up to 130 feet (40 meters) tall that were carved out of soft volcanic rock by the elements over millions of years. Thousands of...
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  Weird blobs lurking near Earth's core may have been dragged from the surface Strange blobs deep in Earth's middle layer may be chunks of ancient continental crust that have been dragged down by tectonic forces, new research suggests. These blobs, known as ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs), have long puzzled scientists. They're deep in the mantle, near the boundary with Earth's core, so researchers can only glimpse them by studying earthquake waves as they...
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  Collapse of Earth's magnetic field may have fueled evolution of life 600 million years ago A near collapse of Earth's magnetic field may have paved the way for life to evolve past the microscopic stage. New research on ancient rocks from South Africa and Brazil suggests that Earth's magnetic field underwent a major weakening about 591 million years ago. This corresponds to a time period called the Ediacaran (about 635 million to 541 million years...
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  Havana syndrome 　　Also known as: anomalous health incidents (Show more) Havana syndrome, largely discredited medical condition reported among U.S. diplomats and other government employees stationed internationally. Havana syndrome was first publicized in 2016 following reports of an unidentified condition in officials at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba. Reported symptoms of Havana syndrome include tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and headaches, often...
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  sheep breeds 　　Sheep were first domesticated from wild species by at least 5000 bce and are raised for their fleece (wool), milk, and meat. The flesh of mature sheep is called mutton while that of immature animals is called lamb. Of more than 200 breeds of sheep in existence in the world, the majority are of limited interest except in the localities...
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  hardcore punk 　　Also called: hardcore (Show more) Key People: Henry Rollins (Show more) hardcore punk, a genre of punk music defined by its speed and intensity, aggressive sound, and DIY (do-it-yourself) ethics. Hardcore came to the fore in a number of American cities during the late 1970s and early ’80s and spread to many other countries. It spawned several subcultures that subscribe...
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  The Gulf Stream stopped pumping nutrients during the last ice age — and the same could be happening now The Gulf Stream slowed dramatically at the end of the last ice age with dire effects on organisms in the Atlantic, scientists have found. This discovery could help researchers forecast how Atlantic currents will change in response to climate change today. The Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current that originates in the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba, before...
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  Taiwan Strait crises 　　Taiwan Strait crises, a series of confrontations between the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and the Republic of China (Taiwan; R.O.C.) across the Taiwan Strait that occurred from the 1950s through the early 2020s. These incidents involved the deployment, and in some cases active use, of military forces. Experts generally recognize four distinct crises, but conflict between the two governments...
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  freshwater crocodile 　　Also called: Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnson’s crocodile, or freshie (Show more) freshwater crocodile, (Crocodylus johnsoni), moderately large species of crocodile inhabiting inland swamps, rivers, and other tropical freshwater environments in the northern parts of Queensland, Western Australia, and Australia’s Northern Territory. The species is distinguished from other crocodiles by its gray-to-brown coloration and its narrow V-shaped snout. Freshwater crocodiles are...
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  Where Bonnie and Clyde died—and still live on 　　It is a strange thing to grow up in a town marked by killers and killing, a town in flight from its own infamy. I grew up in just such a place. A hamlet of hundreds, Gibsland, Louisiana, was not known for much until when, on May 23, 1934, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow, the Depression-era crime duo,...
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  1948 Arab-Israeli War 　　Also called: Israel’s War of Independence or Nakba (Show more) 1948 Arab-Israeli War, an existential war fought between Israel and Arab forces from Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The war formally began on May 15, 1948, and ended on July 20, 1949, although it followed a civil war that began after the passage of United Nations partition plan...
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  Record-shattering Tonga volcanic eruption wasn't triggered by what we thought, new study suggests Scientists have proposed an alternative explanation for why the record-shattering Tonga volcanic eruption of 2022 was so violent: The explosion may have been triggered by gas, rather than by a reaction between magma and water as previously suggested. Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, an underwater volcano in the South Pacific Ocean, erupted on Jan. 15, 2022, unleashing the most intense lightning storm...

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