Barb Wormald

The World’s Biggest Iceberg, A23a, Stuck For 37 Years In The Weddell Sea, Is Now Moving From Antarctica. A23a Is More Than Twice The Size Of Greater London, 400m Thick, And Set Adrift Due To Natural Conditions. Its Journey May Disrupt Animal Habitats In South Georgia But Contributes Nutrients Upon Melting, Which Is Vital For Ocean Life.

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Nepal Saw Its First Same-Sex Marriage Between Maya Gurung, 35, And Surendra Pandey, 27, In The Lumjung District On Nov. 29, 2023. Following Nepal’s Supreme Court Order Allowing The Registration Of Such Marriage 5 Months Prior, This Marks A Significant Stride, With Taiwan Being The Sole Other Asian Region To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage.

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Missy Elliott Became The First Female Rapper Inducted Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Queen Latifah Introduced Her, Highlighting Her Impact On Music And Her Barrier-Breaking Role For Women In Hip-Hop. Afterward, Elliott Performed Iconic Hits Like “Get Ur Freak On,” & “Work It.” And Shared Her Gratitude & Reflections In Her Acceptance Speech.

Simone Biles, Aged 26 And A 19-Time World Champion, Made History As The First Woman To Nail A Highly Challenging Vault, Yurchenko Double Pike, With A 6.4 Difficulty Score At The 2023 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships In Antwerp, Belgium, Following A Two-Year Hiatus Due To Mental Health Concerns. Her Team Is Favored To Win The Women’s Team Final.

Harvard University Inaugurated Claudine Gay As Its First Black And Second Female President. Gay, The 30th President In Harvard’s History, Is A 1998 Distinguished Harvard Alum And Accomplished Political Scholar. Gay’s Tenure Follows Her Role As Dean Of The Faculty Of Arts And Sciences And Founding Chair Of The Inequality In America Initiative.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Released A Capsule 63,000 Miles From Earth. The Capsule, Containing The First Asteroid Sample Collected In Space By NASA, Landed In Utah, On 9/24/2023, After A 4-hr Journey. OSIRIS-REx Will Now Divert To The Asteroid Apophis, With The Same Mission To Better Understand Similar Asteroids From The Early Solar System.

Geneticists, For The First Time, Have Extracted RNA From An Extinct Animal—A 130-Yr-Old Tasmanian Tiger. This Achievement Offers Insights Into The Genetic Functioning Of Thylacine, Which Vanished 2k Years Ago, Except In Australia, Where It Went Extinct Primarily Due To Hunting. This Research Could Aid Thylacine De-Extinction Efforts.

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A 127 Myr-Old Fossil Of A Side-Necked Turtle (SNT), Said To Be UK’s First SNT, Was Discovered On The Isle Of Wight. SNT Is Known For Retracting Its Neck Sideways When Threatened. The Fossil, Dubbed ‘Burby,’ Missing Only The Skull, Was Radiometrically Dated & Analyzed Via Micro CT Scan. The Findings Were Donated To The Dinosaur Isle Museum.

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A Live Invasive Yellow-Legged Hornet (YLH) Was Spotted For The First Time In The US, Near Savannah, GA. YLHs, Native To SE Asia & Cousin To Murder Hornet, Pose Major Threats To Honeybees & Agric, As They Are More Predatory Than Native Hornets, Jeopardizing Honey Prod. & Pollination, Valued At $15 B. Efforts Are Underway To Eradicate Them.

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A Spotless Female Reticulated Giraffe Was Born At Brights Zoo, Tennessee, On July 31, 2023—A Rarity Seen Only Once Before In A 1970s Japanese Birth. The Public Is Helping To Name The Calf From 4 Swahili Name Options. Reticulated Giraffes’ Population, In The Wild, Has Declined From 36,000 To 16,000 In 35 Years, Raising Conservation Concerns.

India Made History, With Its Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft, As The First Country To Successfully Land On The Moon‘s Unexplored South Pole. This Achievement, Under Modest Budgets, Also Marks The 4th Lunar Landing After Russia, The U.S., And China. The South Pole’s Significance Lies In Recent Water Ice Discoveries, Potentially Fueling Future Space Exploration.

Spain Makes History By Winning Its First Women’s World Cup Title, In 2023, In A Final (1- 0) Against England. Yet, Their Path Was Marred By Year-Long Internal Conflicts Involving Players, Coach Jorge Vilda, Technical Staff, And The Soccer Federation. Key Player Boycotts Due To Disputes Highlight Off-Field Discord, Despite On-Field Success.

Heba Saadieh, 34, Is The First Palestinian, Male Or Female, To Officiate In A FIFA Women’s World Cup In 2023. She Honed Her Skills In Various Countries, Received International Recognition, And Became An Inspiration To Women, Like Yasmine Nairoukh, In Palestine And Beyond. Her Success Highlights The Progress Of Gender Inclusion In Sports.

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Larry Fitzgerald Solidified His NFL Status As A Top Wide Receiver (WR) With An Unmatched Earning Of $182,490,000, After A 16-Year Career At Arizona Cardinals. This Earning Surpasses Julio Jones, The Second-Highest Paid WR, By $36,170,956. Calvin Johnson Is The Only Other WR To Exceed $100 M While Playing For A Single Team, Detroit Lions.

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Singapore Executed Its First Woman In 18 Years For Drug Trafficking, Since Yen May Woen In 2004. Saridewi Binte Djamani, 45, Was Hanged For Possessing 30.72 Grams Of Heroin. But Anti-Death Penalty Advocates Argue That Such Law/Punishment Is Inhumane And Doesn’t Deter Drug Use Or Availability, As A Study In The Philippines Has Found.

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A Record-Breaking 111 Python Eggs, From A Burmese Python Nest, Was Removed In The Florida Everglades. The Previous Record Was 96 Eggs Found In 2022 In Big Cypress. The Large Reproductive Capacity Of The Species–Can Lay 50 To 100 Eggs At A Time, Has Contributed To Their Success As Invasive Creatures, With Over 16,000 Being Removed From Florida Since 2000.

The 4th Of July, 2023, Was Earth’s Hottest Day In Up To 125,000 Years. The Global Avg Temp Reached 17.18 Oc, Surpassing The Record Set The Previous Day. This Extreme Temp Is Attributed To El Niño, Exacerbating The Effects Of Global Warming. The Trend Of Broken Temp Records Is Likely To Continue Due To El Niño’s Quickening Of Global Warming.

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Taylor Swift‘s (TS) Eras Tour Is Projected To Become The Highest-Grossing Tour Of All Time, With An Estimated $1 B In Sales. The Tour Features, E.G., Elaborate Staging, And Over 40 Songs. The Top 3 Highest-Grossing Concert Tours Include Elton John ($853 M), Ed Sheeran ($776 M), And U2 ($736 M). Total Spending On TS Tour In 2023 Is ~$5 B.

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The World’s Largest Cruise Ship (WLCS), Royal Caribbean’s (RC) “Icon Of The Seas,” Has Conducted Its First Sea Trials. It Spans 365 M And Weighs ~250,800 Tones; Can Hold 5,610 Passengers And 2,350 Crews. The Ship, Which Boasts The World’s Largest Waterpark At Sea, Will Begin Its Caribbean Sail In Jan. 2024. The Previous WLCS Is RC’s “Wonder Of The Seas.”

Regulators, For The First Time, Approved The Sale Of Lab-Grown Meat (LGM) In The US, With Upside Foods And Good Meat Authorized To Sell Chicken Made From Animal Cells. LGM Will Be Served In Some Restaurants Initially. Supermarket Availability May Take Time. LGM Aims To Reduce Harm To Animals And The Envir. But Public LGM Skepticism Remains

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