United By Music
The 68th Eurovision Song Contest is in full swing. The competition gathers performers—selected at the national level by each participating country—from across Europe, representing virtually every genre of pop music. It has launched the careers of winners such as ABBA and Céline Dion, but even those who don’t win benefit from Europe’s biggest stage. Julio Iglesias fell short in 1974 but was launched into international stardom, while Michael Flatley’s Riverdance debuted during an intermission in 1994.
How Eurovision Became the Olympics of Pop Music
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History of the Eurovision Song Contest
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Every Eurovision Winner Since 1956
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Animals in the News
There's a lot of animal news happening out there—and we're not even talking about tapeworms—so let’s get caught up.
Bird flu fears
Bird flu is flaring up again in America, with nine states reporting instances of infected cattle. The viral respiratory disease was first reported in 1997, and between 2003 and 2016, more than 850 people were infected worldwide—over half of whom died, according to the World Health Organization. Waterfowl such as wild ducks are thought to be primary hosts, but infected cattle can pass it back to birds, keeping the virus alive.
Dr. Orangutan
A wild orangutan in Indonesia was observed making and using an herbal remedy to heal an open wound on its face, the first time scientists have recorded this behavior, according to a study recently published in Scientific Reports. The adult male orangutan chewed up the leaves of a tropical plant called akar kuning, commonly used throughout Asia to reduce pain and inflammation. He then applied the juices to the wound and bandaged it with the leaf, helping the wound to heal within a month.
What sperm whales say
After decades of research, scientists have discovered the basic building blocks of language used by sperm whales. It has long been known that sperm whales communicate with one another using a series of clicks called codas, and that each coda has a purpose. Slight coda differences have been observed between communities, suggesting that they’ve developed regional dialects. But until now, sperm whale codas had never been charted into a “phonetic alphabet,” according to the study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.
© Wilfredo Rodríguez
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