International Space Station’s artificial intelligence has turned belligerent

It’s supposed to be a plastic pal who’s fun to be with. CIMON isn’t much to look at. It’s just a floating ball with a cartoonish face on its touch screen. It’s built to be a personal assistant for astronauts working on the International Space Station … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Clapham Junction Rail Crash (1988)

Near London on the morning of December 12, 1988, the driver of the 7:18 train from Basingstoke to Waterloo saw a signal in front of him abruptly change from green to red. He stopped his train and called the signalman, who told him to proceed. Before he could, however, the 6:14 from Poole rammed into his train’s rear at about 40 mph (64 km/h). Then, an empty train traveling in the opposite direction hit the wreckage. The crashes killed 35 and injured hundreds more. What caused the signal failure? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico, and on December 12 thousands of pilgrims flock to her shrine at the famous Church of Guadalupe outside Mexico City. On the evening of December 11, crowds have already gathered for singing and special ceremonies at midnight, which are carried on national television. This great religious festival commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, north of present-day Mexico City. The story is reenacted in a puppet show each year, and relics of Our Lady of Guadalupe are sold in the streets. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Helen Frankenthaler (1928)

A member of abstract expressionism’s second generation, Frankenthaler was greatly influenced by Jackson Pollock. Inspired by his way of working on a canvas laid on the floor rather than mounted upright, Frankenthaler developed a technique for staining unprimed canvases with thinned pigments that she poured. Her work gave rise to the color-field movement of the late 50s. An appointee to the National Endowment for the Arts, she controversially opposed government grants to artists on what grounds? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Emotional Contagion

People have a tendency to express and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by the emotions of others—to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another and, consequently, to converge emotionally. This phenomenon, known as emotional contagion, can be observed among mobs, in the workplace, in the classroom, and even at home. What physiological and psychological mechanisms may contribute to making moods contagious? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Monk seal spotted with eel stuck up its nose. Oh yeah, that happens, scientists say

Have you ever gotten home from work and thought, boy, that was a rough day? Well, at least you don’t have a big eel hanging out of your nose. Researchers at the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program spotted a monk seal lounging with an eel jammed up its nose on … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Established (1946)

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)—now the United Nations Children’s Fund—was founded in 1946 for the purpose of providing relief to children in countries devastated by World War II. After 1950, it turned to general children’s welfare programs, winning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1965. Today, it focuses on areas in which relatively small expenditures can have a significant impact. How did its famous “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF” fundraising campaign begin? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Max Born (1882)

A prominent German physicist, Born taught theoretical physics at the University of Göttingen from 1921 to 1933, until Nazi policies forced him—a person of Jewish descent—to flee to England, where he continued to teach at the university level. He made contributions to various branches of physics, including solid-state physics and optics, but his most important work was that related to quantum mechanics, which earned him a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954. What noted scientists studied under Born? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary