Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, April 26, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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PrepositionsPrepositions are used to express the relationship of a noun or pronoun (or another grammatical element functioning as a noun) to the rest of the sentence. How do prepositions differ from infinitives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 RetrovirusesA retrovirus is a type of RNA virus that reproduces itself by transcribing its DNA into the genetic material of the host cell. These viruses are therefore used as vectors by genetic engineers to import foreign DNA into certain cells. Retroviruses sometimes destroy the cells whose DNA they alter, as with HIV, and sometimes cause them to become cancerous, as with the viruses that cause certain leukemias. What enables retroviruses to rapidly develop resistance to antiviral drugs? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Tanganyika and Zanzibar Merge to Form Tanzania (1964)Located in central East Africa, Tanzania has been inhabited by humans or their ancestors perhaps longer than any other place on Earth, with hominid fossils discovered there dating back over two million years. The country of Tanzania is a more recent development, forming in 1964 with the merger of two newly independent republics—Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The former leaders of Tanganyika and Zanzibar then became Tanzania's first president and vice president. What is Tanzania's official language? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John James Audubon (1785)Audubon was a US ornithologist and artist known for his drawings and paintings of North American birds. After failing in business, he concentrated on compiling his extraordinary four-volume Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838. Though his bird poses are sometimes unrealistic—the result of painting dead birds wired into position—and some details are inaccurate, his studies were fundamental to New World ornithology. How many bird species are featured in Birds of America? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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cowboy up— To act tough and determined, like a stereotypical cowboy. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Arbor Day (2019)Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), one of the earliest American conservationists, settled on the treeless plains of Nebraska in 1855. Morton began planting trees and urged his neighbors to do the same. On April 10, 1872, when he proposed that a day be set aside for planting trees, the response was overwhelming: a million trees were planted in Nebraska on that day alone. All 50 states now observe Arbor Day—usually on the last Friday in April. Most observances take place in the public schools, where the value of trees is discussed and trees and shrubs are planted. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inhabitantinfernal - An inhabitant of the underworld can be called an infernal. More... sherpa - Literally means "inhabitant of an eastern country." More... aborigine - From Classical Latin meaning "ancestors," it was spelled with a capital A as the name of the primeval Romans; the first people called aborigines were the original inhabitants of Italy and Greece and aborigine was specifically applied to the inhabitants of a country ab origine, "from the beginning." More... sylvans - Natives or inhabitants of forests or woods. More... | |