Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
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The letter-winged kite (Elanus scriptus) is a small, rare and irruptive bird of prey that is found only in Australia. Measuring around 35 cm (14 in) in length with a wingspan of 84–100 cm (33–39 in), the adult letter-winged kite has predominantly pale grey and white plumage and prominent black rings around its red eyes. Its name derives from its highly distinctive black underwing pattern of a shallow 'M' or 'W' shape, visible when in flight. This distinguishes it from the otherwise similar black-shouldered kite. This species is also the only nocturnal species within the order Accipitriformes despite few differences found in its visual anatomy to other closely related kites. (Full article...)
An octopus (pl.: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the orderOctopoda (/ɒkˈtɒpədə/, ok-TOP-ə-də). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, an octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beaked mouth at the centre point of the eight limbs. The soft body can radically alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates. (Full article...)
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Banksia ilicifolia, commonly known as holly-leaved banksia, is a tree in the familyProteaceae. Endemic to southwest Western Australia, it belongs to Banksia subg. Isostylis, a subgenus of three closely related Banksia species with inflorescences that are dome-shaped heads rather than characteristic Banksia flower spikes. It is generally a tree up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall with a columnar or irregular habit. Both the scientific and common names arise from the similarity of its foliage to that of the English holly Ilex aquifolium; the glossy green leaves generally have very prickly serrated margins, although some plants lack toothed leaves. The inflorescences are initially yellow but become red-tinged with maturity; this acts as a signal to alert birds that the flowers have opened and nectar is available. (Full article...)
The Zapata rail (Mustelirallus cerverai) is a medium-sized, dark-coloured rail. It has brown upperparts, greyish-blue underparts, a red-based yellow bill, white undertail coverts, and red eyes and legs. Its short wings render it almost flightless. It is endemic to the wetlands of the Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where its only known nest was found in sawgrasstussocks. Little is known of its diet or reproductive behaviour, and its described calls may belong to a different species. (Full article...)
Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids belonging to the family Paraceratheriidae. It is one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed and lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch (34–23 million years ago). The first fossils were discovered in what is now Pakistan, and remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. Paraceratherium means "near the hornless beast", in reference to Aceratherium, the genus in which the type speciesP. bugtiense was originally placed. (Full article...)
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Bradley, his deputy's badge visible on the left side of his chest
Guy Morrell Bradley (April 25, 1870 – July 8, 1905) was an American game warden and deputy sheriff for Monroe County, Florida. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he relocated to Florida with his family when he was young. As a boy, he often served as guide to visiting fishermen and plume hunters, although he later denounced poaching after legislation was passed to protect the dwindling number of birds. In 1902, Bradley was hired by the American Ornithologists' Union, at the request of the Florida Audubon Society, to become one of the country's first game wardens. (Full article...)
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Buruli ulcer lesions. Top-left, an early ulcer. Top-right, a larger ulcer across the lower arm and wrist. Bottom, a large ulcer on the thigh.
Buruli ulcer (/bəˈruːli/) is an infectious disease characterized by the development of painless open wounds. The disease is limited to certain areas of the world, with most cases occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia. The first sign of infection is a small painless nodule or area of swelling, typically on the arms or legs. The nodule grows larger over days to weeks, eventually forming an open ulcer. Deep ulcers can cause scarring of muscles and tendons, resulting in permanent disability. (Full article...)
Mesopropithecus is an extinct genus of small to medium-sized lemur, or strepsirrhineprimate, from Madagascar that includes three species, M. dolichobrachion, M. globiceps, and M. pithecoides. Together with Palaeopropithecus, Archaeoindris, and Babakotia, it is part of the sloth lemur family (Palaeopropithecidae). Once thought to be an indriid because its skull is similar to that of living sifakas, a recently discovered postcranial skeleton shows Mesopropithecus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs—a distinctive trait shared by sloth lemurs but not by indriids. However, as it had the shortest forelimbs of all sloth lemurs, it is thought that Mesopropithecus was more quadrupedal and did not use suspension as much as the other sloth lemurs. (Full article...)
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Front panels of the shrine
The Corp Naomh ([kɔɾˠpˠn̪ˠiːvˠ], KORPNEEV, English: Holy or Sacred Body) is an Irish bell shrine made in the 9th or 10th century to enclose a now-lost hand-bell, which probably dated to c. 600 to 900 AD and belonged to an early Irish saint. The shrine was rediscovered sometime before 1682 at Tristernagh Abbey, near Templecross, County Westmeath. The shrine is 23 cm (9.1 in) high and 12 cm (4.7 in) wide. It was heavily refurbished and added to during a second phase of embellishment in the 15th century, and now consists of cast and sheetbronze plates mounted on a wooden core decorated with silver, niello and rock crystal. It is severely damaged with extensive losses and wear across almost all of its parts, and when discovered a block of wood had been substituted for the bell itself. The remaining elements are considered of high historical and artistic value by archaeologists and art historians. (Full article...)
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Cyathus striatus
Cyathus is a genus of fungi in the Nidulariaceae, which is a family collectively known as the bird's nest fungi. They are given this name as they resemble tiny bird's nests filled with "eggs" – structures large enough to have been mistaken in the past for seeds. However, these are now known to be reproductive structures containing spores. The "eggs", or peridioles, are firmly attached to the inner surface of this fruit body by an elastic cord of mycelia known as a funiculus. The 45 species are widely distributed throughout the world and some are found in most countries, although a few exist in only one or two locales. Cyathus stercoreus is considered endangered in a number of European countries. Some species of Cyathus are also known as splash cups, which refers to the fact that falling raindrops can knock the peridioles out of the open-cup fruit body. The internal and external surfaces of this cup may be ridged longitudinally (referred to as plicate or striate); this is one example of a taxonomic characteristic that has traditionally served to distinguish between species. (Full article...)
... that public health measures and advances in medical science in modern human history helped raise global life expectancy from about 31 years in 1900 to over 66 years in 2000?
... that the Data Colada bloggers drew attention to the replication crisis by exposing faulty social science research?
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According to a report in the academic journalScience, the population of the 554 recorded species of butterflies in the U.S. have declined by 22% since 2000. (NPR)
A plot of normal distribution (or bell-shaped curve) where each band has a width of 1 standard deviation – See also: 68–95–99.7 rule. In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation of the values of a variable about its mean. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while a high standard deviation indicates that the values are spread out over a wider range. The standard deviation is commonly used in the determination of what constitutes an outlier and what does not. Standard deviation may be abbreviated SD or std dev, and is most commonly represented in mathematical texts and equations by the lowercase Greek letterσ (sigma), for the population standard deviation, or the Latin letters, for the sample standard deviation. (Full article...)
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Sci-Hub is a library website that provides free access to millions of research papers, regardless of copyright, by bypassing publishers' paywalls in various ways. Unlike Library Genesis, it does not provide access to books. Sci-Hub was founded in Kazakhstan by Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011, in response to the high cost of research papers behind paywalls (see Serials crisis). The site is extensively used worldwide. In September 2019, the site's operator(s) said that it served approximately 400,000 requests per day. In addition to its intensive use, Sci-Hub stands out among other shadow libraries because of its easy use/reliability and because of the enormous size of its collection; a 2018 study estimated that Sci-Hub provided access to most of the scholarly publications with issued DOI numbers. On 15 July 2022, Sci-Hub reported that its collection comprised 88,343,822 files. Since December 2020, the site has paused uploads due to legal troubles. (Full article...)
In this illustration by Milo Winter of Aesop's fable, "The North Wind and the Sun", a personified North Wind tries to strip the cloak off a traveler. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather. Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioral traits to wild as well as domesticated animals. (Full article...)
Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
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Mechanical advantage device, by Prolineserver (edited by Tomia, Ss181292 and Atropos235) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Drop impact on a liquid surface, by José Manuel Suárez (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Color cathodoluminescence of a diamond, by Pavel.Somov (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Translational motion at Thermodynamic temperature, by Greg L (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Projectile motion of a bouncing ball at Inelastic collision, by MichaelMaggs (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Vibrating glass beam at Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, by Ben pcc (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Toroid magnets of the ATLAS detector, by Maximilien Brice, CERN (edited by Bammesk) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Section of the Large Hadron Collider, by Maximilien Brice (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Nobel Prize in Physics diploma, by Sofia Gisberg (restored by Jebulon) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Simulation of liquids with different viscosities, by Synapticrelay (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Animation of a water drop, by Chris 73 and Gmaxwell (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Archaeologists prospecting Santa Ana Cave at Excavation (archaeology), by Mario modesto (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Peruvian Andes at United States Exploring Expedition, by Alfred Thomas Agate (edited by Durova) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Parallax, by Mila Zinkova (edited by Richard Bartz) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
NASA study on wingtip vortices at Wake turbulence, by Langley Research Center (edited by Fir0002) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Archaeological excavation at Atapuerca Mountains, by Mario modesto (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance at Primary production, by SeaWiFS Project (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others).jpg)
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Vital articles to understand Science.
