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From today's featured article

Satellite image of Cerro Panizos

Cerro Panizos is a Miocene-age shield-shaped volcano spanning the Potosí Department of Bolivia and the Jujuy Province of Argentina. It features two calderas, a group of lava domes and part of the Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex (APVC). Cerro Panizos is also part of the Central Volcanic Zone, a volcanic arc that extends from Peru to Chile. Volcanic activity commenced in the APVC about 10 million years ago, producing the large volcanic calderas of Cerro Panizos, Vilama, Cerro Guacha, and the volcano Uturuncu. The formation of the APVC is linked to a giant magmatic body in the crust of the Central Andes. The Cienago Ignimbrite erupted over 350 cubic kilometres (84 cu mi) from Panizos about 7.9 million years ago, and 6.7 million years ago the Panizos Ignimbrite erupted over 650 cubic kilometres (160 cu mi). Volcanic cones were active between the ignimbrite eruptions and a plateau of lava flows and lava domes formed in the central area of the Panizos Ignimbrite after the last eruptions. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Otter in Marina Bay, Singapore

... that otters in Singapore (example pictured) have adapted to the urban environment, with groups such as the Zouk otter family known for their tolerance of humans?
... that Edward Victor Appleton was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Appleton layer?
... that Lord Allen built an obelisk with a groin vault at its base for his wife?
... that the Frankish king Theudebert I considered the Byzantine emperor Justinian I to be his father?
... that there is a video game based on the Jamaica national bobsled team?
... that the reception for most YouTuber movies has "largely been negative"?
... that one of makeup artist Mimi Choi's signature designs makes her face appear as a hollow void?
... that the Boiler Shop, a music venue, occupies a building where the first locomotive to haul a passenger train on a public railway was built?
... that Tahitian princess Ninito Sumner sailed to Hawaiʻi in 1848 to marry Hawaiian prince Moses Kekūāiwa, only to arrive after learning of his death?

In the news

Broad Peak

Shootings at a residence and a Debsirin School branch in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, leave at least nine people dead.
An avalanche on Broad Peak (pictured) in Pakistan kills ten climbers.
About 80,000 migrants cross the Morocco–Spain border at Ceuta, leading to at least 111 deaths.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, leaving at least 38 people dead.

On this day

August 8

Warsaw radio mast

685 BC – Spring and Autumn period: Amid a succession dispute, the forces of Duke Zhuang of Lu, who was attempting to install a claimant to the Qi throne, were defeated at the Battle of Qianshi.
1695 – The foundation for what is now known as the Wren Building, the oldest surviving college building in the United States, was laid in a ceremony at Middle Plantation, Virginia.
1918 – The Battle of Amiens began in northern France, marking the start of the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
1991 – The Warsaw radio mast (pictured), then the tallest structure ever built, at 646.38 metres (2,120.7 ft), collapsed due to an error in exchanging the guys on the highest telecommunications equipment of the mast.
2010 – A massive mudslide in the Chinese province of Gansu killed at least 1,471 people.

Sophia Duleep Singh (b. 1876)
S.Coups (b. 1995)
Daniel Jarque (d. 2009)
Olivia Newton-John (d. 2022)

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Today's featured picture

The small red scorpionfish (Scorpaena notata) is a species of scorpionfish found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. First described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1810, it typically grows to a length of around 15 cm (6 in), although individuals can reach 20 cm (8 in). It is typically reddish-brown, with a distinctive black spot on the spiny dorsal fin. A benthic predator, it rests on rocky seabeds and feeds on small fishes, crustaceans and other invertebrates. The species has venomous fin spines and is assessed as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This small red scorpionfish was photographed in the Mediterranean off the coast of Catania, Sicily.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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