Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, October 19, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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colloquial
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The Shaanxi Earthquake of 1556The deadliest earthquake on record and the fifth deadliest natural disaster in history, the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 killed approximately 830,000 people in inner China. The quake destroyed an area spanning 520 miles, and aftershocks continued to rock the region several times a month for half a year. Contributing to the high death toll on the Loess Plateau was the fact that millions of people lived in artificial caves that were destroyed by landslides. What was the earthquake's magnitude? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Streptomycin Is First Isolated (1943)After coining the word "antibiotic" for bacteria-killing chemicals derived from micro-organisms, American microbiologist Selman A. Waksman, working with Albert Schatz, isolated streptomycin—the fourth antibiotic ever discovered. Waksman won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery. Streptomycin acts by inhibiting protein synthesis and damaging cell membranes. Produced by soil bacteria, it was the first specific agent effective in the treatment of what disease? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910)For his contributions to the knowledge of the evolution of stars, Indian-American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. His work advanced the understanding of white dwarfs, supernovas, neutron stars, and black holes. He determined the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf—about 1.44 solar masses, the Chandrasekhar limit—beyond which a star will ultimately collapse and become a neutron star or black hole. Who else in his family was a Nobel laureate? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Quotation, n.: the act of repeating erroneously the words of another.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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curdle (one's) blood— To terrify someone. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of the Martyrs of North America (2022)The Feast of the North American Martyrs commemorates the death of eight priests who were killed by the Iroquois, enemies of the Huron Indians, with whom the priests had been working for 34 years. The eight who are remembered on this day are St. Rene Goupil (1608-1642), St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), St. John Lalonde (d. 1646), and their companions, French Jesuits who died in 1649. They were canonized together in 1930, and a shrine built for them at Auriesville, New York, holds a novena each year over nine days, including October 19. More... | |