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Today in context,
January 11, 2021
Solo Across the Pacific (and Other Aviation Firsts)
On January 11, 1935, Amelia Earhart took off from Hawaii and, 17 hours later, landed in California, becoming the first person to complete a solo flight of that route.
“Queen of the Air”
The mystery surrounding Earhart’s disappearance has often overshadowed her significant accomplishments as an aviator.
So what did happen to her on that final flight?
We’re still not quite sure, but some evidence seems to point to Nikumaroro, an uninhabited island in the central Pacific.
First solo nonstop across the Atlantic
Charles Lindbergh was one of the best-known figures in aeronautical history, but his calls for appeasement and anti-Semitic remarks during World War II tarnished his reputation.
First licensed African American pilot
Unable to work as a commercial pilot because of discrimination, Bessie Coleman was a stunt flyer until losing her life in a plane crash.
Alexander Hamilton
One of the lesser-known Founders was propelled to 21st-century celebrity status thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster hip-hop musical. Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755/57 (the year of his birth is uncertain), on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. The young Hamilton made his way to the pre-Revolutionary American colonies, and once there, he became active in the growing independence movement. The ambitious Hamilton soon found himself at the right hand of George Washington, and as a part of Washington’s inner circle, he helped craft the guiding principles of the young United States.
The Ten-Dollar Founding Father
article / Politics, Law & Government
Frost & Reed, Ltd./Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-pga-03160)
Podcasts
See All Shows And Podcasts
Botanize!
Botanize!, hosted by Melissa Petruzzello, is a podcast that will introduce you to some of the world’s most remarkable plants, fungi, and algae. These overlooked organisms have fascinating evolutionary stories to tell about survival, exploitation, adaptation, and general scrappiness, and every episode will pique your curiosity. From parasitic plants to kelp forests, Botanize! aims to showcase some of Earth’s finest nonanimal life-forms and their brilliant ecologies.

Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction
So far there have been five notable mass extinctions on Earth. A growing number of scientists argue that we’re now in the midst of a sixth. Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction is a podcast hosted by John P. Rafferty that attempts to personalize extinction, emphasizing the survival challenges that familiar forms of life currently face, while at the same time considering the pivotal roles they play in their own ecosystems.

On This Day
Hear the stories that propelled us to the present day through insights that lend perspective to our world with a nod to our own humanity. Britannica media editor Kurt Heintz, together with Emily Goldstein and Meg Matthias, is on a mission to spotlight poignant and noteworthy events for every day of the year.
Mad Monarchs

Mad King Ludwig
This Bavarian king worked to strengthen the nascent German Empire, but his real passions were Wagner, the arts, and the construction of fairy-tale castles in the Alps.

Joan the Mad
The queen of Spain was reputed to have suffered from bouts of extreme melancholia. When she refused to be parted from her dead husband’s embalmed body, she was forcibly committed to a convent.
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Entertainment and leisure activities have been a part of all cultures in one form or another since the ancient times, whether the activity in question involved participating in a dance performance, attending a Broadway show, going to a music festival, or watching a movie.
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Jazz
music
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Wine: Fact or Fiction?
Pour yourself a glass and test your knowledge of this...
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Ice Cream
I scream, you scream, we all scream when we check our...

Planet Earth contains some extraordinarily diverse environments, some of which are easily habitable and some not so much. In different areas of Earth, one might find sweltering deserts, dense tropical rainforests, or bone-chilling tundras. Each biome and habitat comes with its own selection of flora and fauna, and it may include physical features such as canyons, volcanoes, rivers, or caves. Human beings have built homes in many different environments, settling the area and organizing it into units such as cities, states, regions, and countries, each with its own points of interest. Shifting trends in human migration have resulted in a human geography that is profoundly different from that of centuries ago.
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Quick Quiz: Deserts
What is the largest desert in the world? Where is the...
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Geography of the United States Quiz
Take a trip from sea to shining sea across the United...

The study of the human mind and body, how these function, and how they interact—not only with each other but also with their environment—has been of utmost importance in ensuring human well-being. Research on potential treatments and preventive medicine has expanded greatly with the development of modern medicine, and a network of disciplines, including such fields as genetics, psychology, and nutrition, aims to facilitate the betterment of our health.
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Muscle
anatomy
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How Does A Ventilator Work?
Mechanical ventilators have played an important, if...
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How Do Face Masks Control the Spread of Disease?
Face masks have long been used for various reasons...

It's easy enough to agree that human beings all around the world have certain basic requirements that must be fulfilled in order to ensure their individual and collective well-being. History has shown us, however, that it's not so easy to form societies or communities that fulfill these requirements for all members. The fight over human and civil rights has persisted for hundreds of years and remains alive today, both within the borders of nations and on an international scale. It has led to large-scale social movements and reforms concerning issues such as suffrage, slavery, women's rights, racial discrimination, environmentalism, gay rights, and more.
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Feminism
sociology
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What Is Gaslighting?
Is someone you know gaslighting you?
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How Are Hurricanes and Typhoons Named?
Ivan, Katrina, Andrew, Ingrid. Why do we name storms,...

With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
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- Russian literature
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Another Russian Literature Quiz
Who wrote Dead Souls? Which character is the...
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Chinese Literature Quiz
How much do you know about the history of Chinese literature?...

Humans have long pondered not only how we came to be but also why we came to be. The earliest Greek philosophers focused their attention upon the origin and nature of the physical world; later philosophers have theorized about the nature of knowledge, truth, good and evil, love, friendship, and much more. Thus, philosophy involves a methodical assessment of any and all aspects of human existence and experience. The realms of philosophy and religion have sometimes intersected in conducting inquiries such as these. As with philosophy, the study of religion underscores how humankind has long speculated about its origins. The possibility of a higher being (or beings) to which livings things owe their existence has long captived human thought. Many religions also offer their own views on the nature of good and evil, and they may prescribe guidelines and judgment on different kinds of human behavior.
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Hinduism
religion
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The Olympian Gods
This wordsearch challenge will have you thinking of...
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Notable Popes
Every answer is the name of a pope (or popes).

The world today is divided territorially into more than 190 countries, each of which possesses a national government that claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to its will by its citizens. Governments can be classified in any number of ways. For example, they might be classified by the number of rulers, thus distinguishing government by one (as in a monarchy or a tyranny) from government by the few (in an aristocracy or oligarchy) and from government by the many (as in a democracy). Governments can also be classified by mode of succession; for example, ascension to governmental leadership may follow the rules of hereditary succession, or it may be determined through elections or by force. Governments also vary in terms of the laws and rules of conduct that each political entity follows.
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Marketing
business
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Quick Quiz: Determining Currency Exchange Rates
On your next international trip, you’ll have to exchange...
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Can You Answer These Questions from the United States Citizenship Test?
What is a Constitutional amendment? Who wrote the Declaration...

How can the sky be blue one day and stormy the next? Why do heavy objects tend to fall downwards when dropped? How are birds able to fly (and why can’t I do the same?)? Human beings have long been curious about the world in which we live, striving to identify connections among the phenomenons we witness and to understand how it all works. The field of science has developed over many centuries as a way of studying and understanding the world, beginning with the primitive stage of simply noting important regularities in nature and continuing through the rise of modern science. The modern-day sciences cover a vast range of fields, including biology, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, physics, and much more.
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- Typology
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Shorthair Cat Breeds
Cats, cats, and more cats.
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Longhair Cat Breeds
Some pretty pets.

Physical contests and recreational games have long played a part in human society. In both team and solo sports, the human body has been pushed to its limits in the name of improving athletic performance and to break record upon record. The ancient Olympic Games are an early example of the contests in which humans have engaged to showcase physical prowess. In modern times, sports and games have evolved into a lucrative and competitive industry, while other leisure activities, such as card and video games, can be competitive or can just be a way to unwind or socialize.
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Online gaming
electronic games
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Figure Skating Quiz
The first account of figure skating was published in...
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Water Sports Quiz
Whether you’re swimming, surfing, kayaking, or enjoying...

Humankind has long striven to improve its living conditions through the development of tools, instruments, and transportation and communications systems, all with the goal of making our lives easier, more productive and—why not—more fun, too! Thanks to human curiosity and technological research, many significant inventions have been made throughout history that in turn made a difference in our daily lives.
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Energy conversion
technology
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Computers: Fact or Fiction?
Is QWERTY a computer language? Was the first Web site...
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Technological Ingenuity
From the first tools of early humans to IBM’s Deep...

These are the arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of skill and imagination. They include the most ancient forms, such as painting and drawing, and the arts that were born thanks to the development of technology, like sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installation art, the latter a combination of multiple creative expressions. Though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, different eras in art history have had their own principles to define beauty, from the richly ornamented taste of the Baroque to the simple, utilitarian style of the Prairie School.
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- Byzantine art
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Walt Disney’s First Cartoon Critter Was Not Mickey Mouse
Before Mickey Mouse, there was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
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How a Rejected Block of Marble Became the World’s Most Famous Statue
Michelangelo turned an unfinished statue into an iconic...

Does history really repeat itself, or can we learn from the mistakes of those who came before us? History provides a chronological, statistical, and cultural record of the events, people, and movements that have made an impact on humankind and the world at large throughout the ages. Investigating the causes and results of past events is critically important in gaining a full understanding and perspective of present-day issues.
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World War II
1939–1945
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Timeline of the Battle of Stalingrad
How the Battle of Stalingrad unfolded.
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15 Nelson Mandela Quotes
Words of wisdom from Nelson Mandela.
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