Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
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Franklin in 2006 during the launch of The Ursula Franklin Reader at Massey College in Toronto
Ursula Martius FranklinCCOOntFRSC (16 September 1921 – 22 July 2016) was a Canadian metallurgist, activist, research physicist, author, and educator who taught at the University of Toronto for more than 40 years. Franklin is best known for her writings on the political and social effects of technology. She was the author of The Real World of Technology, which is based on her 1989 Massey Lectures; The Ursula Franklin Reader: Pacifism as a Map, a collection of her papers, interviews, and talks; and Ursula Franklin Speaks: Thoughts and Afterthoughts, containing 22 of her speeches and five interviews between 1986 and 2012. Franklin was a practising Quaker and actively worked on behalf of pacifist and feminist causes. She wrote and spoke extensively about the futility of war and the connection between peace and social justice. Franklin received numerous honours and awards, including the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case for promoting the equality of girls and women in Canada and the Pearson Medal of Peace for her work in advancing human rights. In 2012, she was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. A Toronto high school, Ursula Franklin Academy, as well as Ursula Franklin Street on the University of Toronto campus, have been named in her honor. (Full article...)
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Istiodactylus is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago. The first fossil was discovered on the English Isle of Wight in 1887, and in 1901 became the holotype specimen of a new species, O. latidens (Latin for "wide tooth"), in the genus Ornithodesmus. This species was moved to its own genus, Istiodactylus, in 2001; this name is Greek for "sail finger". More specimens were described in 1913, and Istiodactylus was the only pterosaur known from three-dimensionally preserved fossils for much of the 20th century. In 2006, a species from China, I. sinensis, was assigned to Istiodactylus, but it has also been suggested to belong to a different genus. (Full article...)
The nuthatches (/ˈnʌthætʃ/) constitute a genus, Sitta, of small passerinebirds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs. Most species exhibit grey or bluish upper parts and a black eye stripe. (Full article...)
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A Canadian cavalry recruitment poster
The use of horses in World War I marked a transitional period in the evolution of armed conflict. Cavalry units were initially considered essential offensive elements of a military force, but over the course of the war, the vulnerability of horses to modern machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire reduced their utility on the battlefield. This paralleled the development of tanks, which ultimately replaced cavalry in shock tactics. While the perceived value of the horse in war changed dramatically, horses still played a significant role throughout the war. (Full article...)
The African river martin (Pseudochelidon eurystomina) is a passerinebird, one of two members of the river martin subfamily of the swallowfamily, Hirundinidae. When discovered, it was not initially recognised as a swallow, and its structural differences from most of its relatives, including its stout bill and robust legs and feet, have led to its current placement in a separate subfamily shared only with the Asian white-eyed river martin. The African river martin is a large swallow, mainly black with a blue-green gloss to the head and a greener tint to the back and wings. The under-wings are brownish, the underparts are purple-black, and the flight feathers are black. This martin has red eyes, a broad orange-red bill and a black, square tail. Young birds are similar in appearance to the adults, but have browner plumage. This species has a variety of unmusical calls, and displays both in flight and on the ground, although the purpose of the terrestrial display is unknown. (Full article...)
Triturus is a genus of newts comprising the crested and the marbled newts, which are found from Great Britain through most of continental Europe to westernmost Siberia, Anatolia, and the Caspian Sea region. Their English names refer to their appearance: marbled newts have a green–black colour pattern, while the males of crested newts, which are dark brown with a yellow or orange underside, develop a conspicuous jagged seam on their back and tail during their breeding phase. (Full article...)
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Adult of subspecies P. p. pyrrhocorax at South Stack, Anglesey
The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough (/ˈtʃʌf/CHUF; Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the western coasts of Ireland and Britain east through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China. (Full article...)
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Artist's illustration showing the life of a massive star: Nuclear fusion converts lighter elements into heavier ones; when fusion no longer generates enough pressure to counteract gravity, the star collapses into a black hole. During this collapse, energy may be released as a momentary burst of gamma-rays aligned to the axis of rotation.
In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic events occurring in distant galaxies which represent the brightest and most powerful class of explosion in the universe. These extreme electromagnetic emissions are second only to the Big Bang as the most energetic and luminous phenomenon ever known. Gamma-ray bursts can last from a few milliseconds to several hours. After the initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived afterglow is emitted, usually in the longer wavelengths of X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave or radio frequencies. (Full article...)
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Banksia verticillata, commonly known as granite banksia or Albany banksia, is a species of shrub or (rarely) tree of the genus Banksia in the family Proteaceae. It is native to the southwest of Western Australia and can reach up to 3 m (10 ft) in height. It can grow taller to 5 m (16 ft) in sheltered areas, and much smaller in more exposed areas. This species has elliptic green leaves and large, bright golden yellow inflorescences or flower spikes, appearing in summer and autumn. The New Holland honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae) is the most prominent pollinator, although several other species of honeyeater, as well as bees, visit the flower spikes. (Full article...)
Ambulocetus (Latinambulare "to walk" + cetus "whale") is a genus of early amphibiouscetacean from the Kuldana Formation in Pakistan, roughly 48 or 47 million years ago during the Early Eocene (Lutetian). It contains one species, Ambulocetus natans (Latin natans "swimming"), known solely from a near-complete skeleton. Ambulocetus is among the best-studied of Eocene cetaceans, and serves as an instrumental find in the study of cetacean evolution and their transition from land to sea, as it was the first cetacean discovered to preserve a suite of adaptations consistent with an amphibious lifestyle. Ambulocetus is classified in the group Archaeoceti—the ancient forerunners of modern cetaceans whose members span the transition from land to sea—and in the familyAmbulocetidae, which includes Himalayacetus and Gandakasia (also from the Eocene of the Indian subcontinent). (Full article...)
The Cuban macaw or Cuban red macaw (Ara tricolor) is an extinct species of macaw native to the main island of Cuba and the nearby Isla de la Juventud. It became extinct in the late 19th century. Its relationship with other macaws in its genus was long uncertain, but it was thought to have been closely related to the scarlet macaw, which has some similarities in appearance. It may also have been closely related, or identical, to the hypotheticalJamaican red macaw. A 2018 DNA study found that it was the sister species of two red and two green species of extant macaws. (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 a poem by Moses da Rieti includes an encyclopedia of the sciences, a Jewish paradise fantasy, and a post-biblical history of Jewish literature?
... that Mary Clutter used her directorial position at the National Science Foundation to require scientific conferences to include women speakers when presenting research done by them?
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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...)
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 rising costs of research papers behind paywalls. 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...)
Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
Vibrating glass beam at Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, by Ben pcc (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Archaeological excavation at Atapuerca Mountains, by Mario modesto (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)
Drop impact on a liquid surface, by José Manuel Suárez (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Archaeologists prospecting Santa Ana Cave at Excavation (archaeology), by Mario modesto (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Projectile motion of a bouncing ball at Inelastic collision, by MichaelMaggs (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Mechanical advantage device, by Prolineserver (edited by Tomia, Ss181292 and Atropos235) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Color cathodoluminescence of a diamond, by Pavel.Somov (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Section of the Large Hadron Collider, by Maximilien Brice (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Animation of a water drop, by Chris 73 and Gmaxwell (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)
Simulation of liquids with different viscosities, by Synapticrelay (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Translational motion at Thermodynamic temperature, by Greg L (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Nobel Prize in Physics diploma, by Sofia Gisberg (restored by Jebulon) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance at Primary production, by SeaWiFS Project (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)
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