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Today's featured article

Skeletal diagram of Mimodactylus

Mimodactylus is a genus of istiodactyliform pterosaur that lived in what is now Lebanon during the Late Cretaceous, 95 million years ago. The only known specimen was discovered in a limestone quarry near the town of Hjoula. The owner of the quarry allowed the specimen to be prepared by researchers, and it was donated to the MIM Museum in Beirut. In 2019, the researchers named the new genus and species Mimodactylus libanensis; referring to the MIM Museum, with the Greek word daktylos for 'digit', and the specific name refers to Lebanon. The well-preserved holotype specimen is the first complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent (which consisted of the then joined Arabian Peninsula and Africa), and the third pterosaur fossil known from Lebanon. The marine deposits of Hjoula are late Cenomanian in age and are well-known for fish fossils. The holotype specimen is comparatively small, with a wingspan of 1.32 metres (4.3 ft), and was probably young. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

December 5: Krampusnacht in parts of Central Europe

Henry Knox's noble train of artillery

1456 – The first of two major earthquakes struck the Kingdom of Naples, killing up to 70,000 people.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Continental Army colonel Henry Knox arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of 60 tons of artillery (depicted) to support the siege of Boston.
1807 – Napoleonic Wars: British ships began a raid on Griessie after the Dutch captain refused a British demand for surrender.
1918 – National Guards and Sokol volunteers protested in Zagreb, leading to an armed clash with regiments of the Home Guard and former Common Army.
1958 – Britain's first motorway, the Preston By-pass, opened to the public.

Sigismund Rákóczi (d. 1608)
Yūjirō Motora (b. 1858)
Priscilla Jana (b. 1943)
Neil Druckmann (b. 1978)

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In the news

Protesters in South Korea

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law (protests pictured) and lifts it hours later after a vote by the National Assembly.
Syrian opposition forces enter Aleppo in the first offensive since the 2020 ceasefire.
Israel and Lebanon agree to a 60-day ceasefire to halt the current hostilities.
In motorsport, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe win the World Rally Championship.

Did you know...

Jack Russell Terrier

... that dogs (example pictured) have much more sensitive noses and ears than humans, but have trouble distinguishing red from green?
... that in 1809, two ministers leading the British war effort against Napoleon fought a duel against each other?
... that in his first year in the NFL, Lou Rash was told he was released and began flying back home, but was told upon landing that the release was a mistake and he was to return?
... that muthkwey was not harvested or walked over, because oral tradition held that it had grown from the droppings of a two-headed serpent?
... that the Mongol princess Al-Altan was rumoured to have poisoned her brother Ögedei Khan?
... that the Saybrook Colony was sold to Connecticut for an annual payment of 180 pounds of equal quantities of wheat, peas, and either rye or barley?
... that future Olympic weightlifter Chiu Yuh-chuan received a job offer in marketing after media coverage about his difficulty securing employment?
... that out of 148 candidates in the 1957 Manipur Territorial Council election there was only one woman?
... that basketball coach Trisha Stafford-Odom left the Eagles to join the Eagles?

Today's featured picture

Picture of the day

The fall of man is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1–3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but a serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the tree of life and becoming immortal. The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity constitute a mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions. The fall of man has been depicted many times in art and literature. This 1828 oil-on-canvas painting, titled Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Thomas Cole (1801–1848), is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States.Painting credit: Thomas Cole

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