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Today's featured article

Heptamegacanthus is a genus of acanthocephalans (thorny- or spiny-headed parasitic worms) containing a single species, Heptamegacanthus niekerki. This worm is a parasite of the endangered giant golden mole found only in isolated forests near East London and in the Transkei, both in South Africa. The worms are about 4 millimetres (0.2 in) long and 2 millimetres (0.08 in) wide with minimal sexual dimorphism. Their body consists of a short trunk and a proboscis with 40 to 45 hooks arranged in rings, which are used to pierce and hold the rectal wall of its host. The life cycle of H. niekerki remains unknown; however, like other acanthocephalans, it likely involves complex interactions with at least two hosts. Although the intermediate host for Heptamegacanthus is not definitively identified, it is presumed to be an arthropod, such as an insect, which is eaten by the giant golden mole. The worms then mature and reproduce sexually within the mole's lower gastrointestinal tract, creating eggs which are released in its feces. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

November 26: Feast day of Saint Sylvester Gozzolini (Catholicism); Constitution Day in India (1949)

Main Building of the University of Notre Dame

1842 – The University of Notre Dame (building pictured) was founded by Edward Sorin of the Congregation of Holy Cross as an all-male institution in the U.S. state of Indiana.
1942 – World War II: Josip Broz Tito and the Yugoslav Partisans convened the first meeting of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia at Bihać in northwestern Bosnia.
1977 – A speaker claiming to represent the "Intergalactic Association" interrupted a broadcast of Southern Television in South East England.
2011 – NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory mission from Cape Canaveral, carrying the Curiosity rover on board.

Ralph Agas (d. 1621)
Rudolph Koenig (b. 1832)
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (b. 1931)
Tina Turner (b. 1939)

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In the news

Gintautas Paluckas

Following parliamentary elections, the Seimas elects Gintautas Paluckas (pictured) as the prime minister of Lithuania.
The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif in its investigation of war crimes in Palestine.
In New Zealand, the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti protest march arrives at Parliament in response to a proposed bill that would reform the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Did you know...

Kiki Wong

... that heavy-metal guitarist Kiki Wong (pictured) played drums for Taylor Swift before joining the Smashing Pumpkins?
... that during the colonial period, the Dutch East Indies was the third-largest exporter of tea after the British Raj and Ceylon?
... that the director of Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds once described the film as "gaysploitation"?
... that Xu Xinfu adapted the fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan for Chinese audiences?
... that large aircraft once operated on a regular basis from Griffin–Spalding County Airport despite it only having a 3,100-foot-long (940 m) runway?
... that Susanne Craig won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for her reporting on Donald Trump's taxes after receiving a copy of his tax records in her mailbox?
... that New York City's Hotel Marseilles, once a shelter for Holocaust survivors, later became affordable housing for the elderly?
... that Anatolii Brezvin helped establish a youth hockey championship in Ukraine, and sought to open 60 ice rinks?
... that the Union of Assyrians's mishandling of shoe-polishing stations led to violent conflicts in 1920s Moscow?

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Picture of the day

Ice eggs, also known as ice balls, are a rare phenomenon caused by a process in which small pieces of sea ice in open water are rolled over by wind and currents in freezing conditions and grow into spheroid pieces of ice. They sometimes collect into heaps of balls on beaches where they pack together in striking patterns. The gentle churn of water, blown by a suitably stiff breeze, makes concentric layers of ice form on a seed particle that then grows into the floating ball as it rolls through the freezing currents. This formation of ice eggs was photographed in 2014 on Stroomi Beach in Tallinn, Estonia. The temperature was around −20 to −15 °C (−4 to 5 °F), and the diameter of each ball around 5 to 10 centimetres (2 to 4 in).Photograph credit: Aleksandr Abrosimov

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