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Today's featured article

Marasmius rotula, the pinwheel mushroom, is a fungus in the family Marasmiaceae. Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, it was first described scientifically in 1772 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The mushrooms are characterized by thin whitish caps up to 2.0 cm (0.8 in) wide that are sunken in the center and pleated with scalloped margins. The wiry black hollow stalks measure up to 8.0 cm (3.1 in) long by 1.5 mm (0.06 in) thick. On the underside of the caps are widely spaced white gills, attached to a collar encircling the stalk. The mushrooms grow in groups or clusters on decaying wood such as moss-covered logs and stumps. Spore release is dependent upon sufficient moisture. Dried mushrooms may revive after rehydrating and release spores for up to three weeks, much longer than most gilled mushrooms. Although the mushrooms are not generally considered edible, they produce a unique peroxidase enzyme that is attracting research interest for use in bioengineering applications. (Full article...)

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In the news

Narendra Modi

In the Indian general election, the National Democratic Alliance, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi (pictured), is re-elected with a reduced majority.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft conducts its first crewed flight, carrying two astronauts to the International Space Station.
The CNSA Chang'e 6 completes sampling and takeoff from the far side of the Moon.
Claudia Sheinbaum is elected President of Mexico.

Today's featured picture

An oblique shock is a shock wave that, unlike a normal shock, is inclined with respect to the direction of incoming air. It occurs when a supersonic flow encounters a corner that effectively turns the flow into itself and compresses. This photograph shows an oblique shock at the nose of a Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft, made visible through Schlieren photography.

Photograph credit: NASA & US Air Force (J.T. Heineck, Ed Schairer, Maj. Jonathan Orso, Maj. Jeremy Vanderhal)

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Did you know...

The Archangel Raphael and Tobias by Titian

... that depictions of Tobias and the Angel (example pictured), unusually for a religious subject, typically show Tobias's dog?
... that Australian gamer Zer0 led his team to an Apex Legends Global Series championship with a substitution teammate to whom he had never spoken before?
... that Louisa May Alcott wrote A Modern Mephistopheles as part of an anonymous series in which readers were meant to guess the author?
... that the first model of cosmic inflation was formulated by a Soviet physicist but initially remained unknown outside the Soviet Union?
... that the Beep the Meep puppet created for "The Star Beast" took six people to operate?
... that football player Levi Drake Rodriguez, considered small for his position, went on an "eat-as-much-as-humanly-possible diet" to be noticed by NFL teams?
... that Macklemore's song "Hind's Hall" refers to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl who was killed in the Gaza Strip in January 2024?
... that starting at age 16, future Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci was named top sewing machine salesperson three years in a row?
... that the ancient Greek game polis is one of the world's oldest known strategy games?

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