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From today's featured article

Holotype specimen of Podokesaurus

Podokesaurus is a genus of coelophysoid dinosaur that lived in what is now the eastern United States during the Early Jurassic Period between 201 and 190 million years ago. Its only known fossil was discovered by the geologist Mignon Talbot near Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1910. Talbot described and named the new genus and species Podokesaurus holyokensis based on it, becoming the first woman to find and describe a dinosaur. The holotype fossil (pictured) was recognised as significant and was studied by other researchers, but was lost when the building it was in burned down in 1917; no unequivocal Podokesaurus specimens have since been discovered. It was nominated as the state dinosaur of Massachusetts in 2021. Estimated to have been about 1 m (3 ft) in length and 1–40 kg (2–90 lb) in weight, Podokesaurus was lightly constructed with hollow bones and it is estimated it could have run at 15–20 km/h (9–12 mph). It is believed to have been a fleet-footed predator, with powerful forelimbs and grasping hands. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Priest-King, circa 2000–1900 BCE

... that Indira Gandhi made Zulfikar Ali Bhutto choose between the sculptures Dancing Girl and Priest-King (pictured) to be returned to Pakistan in 1972?
... that actor Arthur Blake was famous for his female impersonations of Bette Davis, Carmen Miranda, and Eleanor Roosevelt?
... that Mennonites and Lutherans both think Canada should recognize the Stoney Knoll First Nation?
... that boxer Nadine Apetz is undertaking a doctorate studying deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease in old age?
... that Oophaa is a composition by Iannis Xenakis for a harpsichordist and a percussionist playing seven ceramic flower pots and seven skin instruments?
... that Christian radio station KIXL near Austin, Texas, pulled an anti-pornography program off-air in mid-transmission because of its graphic descriptions of gay sex?
... that according to one source, the Chinese femme fatale Xia Ji married seven times?
... that Bucket of Blood Street and the Bucket of Blood Saloon are located in a town that had a reputation as "too tough for women and churches"?

In the news

Naftali Bennett

A new government is formed in Israel, with Naftali Bennett (pictured) becoming prime minister, ending Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year tenure.
The spacecraft Juno performs a flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
Using a compromised encrypted device network, a multinational sting operation results in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of several tons of illegal drugs.
Two trains collide in Sindh, Pakistan, killing at least 65 people.

On this day

June 16

Rudolf Nureyev in 1973

1407 – Ming Chinese forces captured Hồ Quý Ly and his sons, conquering Đại Việt and ending the Vietnamese Hồ dynasty.
1883 – In the Victoria Hall disaster, 183 children were crushed to death when they ran down the stairs to collect gifts after a variety show in Sunderland, England.
1911 – The technology company IBM was founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.
1961 – Pioneering Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (pictured) defected from the Soviet Union at Paris–Le Bourget Airport with the help of French police and a Parisian socialite friend.
2013 – A cloudburst caused severe flooding in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, continuing for several days and resulting in over 5,700 deaths.

James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon (b. 1653)
William Lawson (d. 1850)
Tupac Shakur (b. 1971)

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Today's featured picture

H.M.S. Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1878. The Gilbert and Sullivan work was very popular in the United Kingdom, the United States, and elsewhere. It continues to be regularly performed today, and has sparked a number of adaptations. This illustration, depicting a sailor on a ship's rigging, forms the frontispiece to The Pinafore Picture Book, a 1909 children's book by Gilbert and illustrated by Alice B. Woodward. The book retells the story of Pinafore, in some cases giving considerable backstory that is not found in the libretto.

Illustration credit: Alice B. Woodward; restored by Adam Cuerden

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