From today's featured article
The Edmontosaurus mummy SMF R 4036 is a dinosaur fossil in the collection of the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. It was found in 1910 in Wyoming, United States, in rocks of the Lance Formation that are about 66 million years old. The mummy is ascribed to the species Edmontosaurus annectens. It comprises a nearly complete skeleton found wrapped in skin impressions, a rare case of preservation for which the term dinosaur mummy has been used. It is assumed that the individual died during a drought and the carcass dried out before being carried away by a sudden flood and buried rapidly. Sand filled the body cavity, preserving the three-dimensional shape of the body, and a biofilm on the skin formed a thin crust of clay that preserved the shape of the skin in positive relief (protruding up from the surface). The mummy was found by Charles Sternberg and his sons. It is one of the best-preserved hadrosaurid mummies and the second to be discovered. (Full article...)
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Mount Bonaparte Lookout
- ... that in the 1980s, a baby grand piano was assembled at the top of a 7,260-foot (2,210 m) mountain in the Mount Bonaparte Lookout (pictured)?
- ... that cheetahs were once commonly tamed as hunting companions?
- ... that voice actress Yuri Usui holds a nutritionist license?
- ... that "Dear Friend" was Paul McCartney's attempt at reconciliation with John Lennon following the break-up of the Beatles?
- ... that 35 years after a woman was stabbed in the back and killed in her basement, no weapon had been found, the police had no motive, and no one had been arrested?
- ... that UK courts are expected to decide if embankments built to protect sugarcane in Nchalo created damage and deaths in a nearby Malawian village?
- ... that Jagoda Lazarević's ministry launched a platform that lets citizens monitor the prices at all 27 major supermarket chains in Serbia?
- ... that, for the centennial of Arenaza, Argentina, residents painted their houses pink, green and yellow under an artist's direction?
- ... that Teresa van Lieshout fought to represent Batman?
In the news
Earthquake damage in East Manggarai, Indonesia
- A magnitude-7.7 earthquake (damage pictured) strikes off the coast of Flores, Indonesia, causing at least 83 deaths.
- Former premier of China Zhu Rongji dies at the age of 97.
- A solar eclipse causes totality from Siberia to Iberia.
- A ferry capsizes on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe, leaving at least 97 people dead.
- A magnitude-7.4 earthquake strikes Chocó Department, Colombia, leaving at least 319 people dead.
On this day
August 22: Madras Day in Chennai, India (1639)
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America's Cup
- 1485 – At the Battle of Bosworth Field, Lancastrian forces under Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated Yorkist forces under Richard III of England, decisively ending the Wars of the Roses.
- 1711 – Queen Anne's War: A British attempt to attack Quebec failed when eight ships wrecked on the St. Lawrence River.
- 1851 – The yacht America won the race for the Cup of One Hundred Sovereigns (trophy pictured), later renamed the America's Cup, near the Isle of Wight, England.
- 1985 – A fire broke out on British Airtours Flight 28M at Manchester Airport, causing 55 deaths mostly due to smoke inhalation, and leading to changes to make aircraft evacuation more effective.
- 2003 – Roy Moore, Alabama's chief justice, was suspended after refusing to comply with a U.S. federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Supreme Court of Alabama building.
- John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (d. 1553)
- George Herriman (b. 1880)
- Kate Chopin (d. 1904)
- Lautaro Martínez (b. 1997)
Today's featured picture
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Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He was seen, during his lifetime and afterwards, as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born to a family of modest means, he was admitted at the age of 10 to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 before achieving international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, Pelléas et Mélisande. Debussy developed his own style in the use of harmony and orchestral colouring. His works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers, including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin and the jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. This photograph of Debussy was taken by the studio of the French photographer Nadar around 1900. Photograph credit: Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden
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