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Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, and biologist. He is known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection. Wallace did extensive fieldwork, identified the faunal divide called the Wallace Line, and was considered the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species, leading some to call him the father of biogeography, or more specifically of zoogeography. An account of his adventures in Southeast Asia, titled The Malay Archipelago, was published in 1869. He worked on warning coloration in animals, and on reinforcement, a way that natural selection could contribute to speciation by encouraging barriers against hybridisation. He was also a social activist, critical of the social and economic system of 19th-century Britain. He was one of the first prominent scientists to raise concerns over the environmental impact of human activity. (Full article...)

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Mercedes-Benz CLK LM

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... that the neutron has a magnetic moment even though it lacks an electric charge?
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... that the Georgia Cryptologic Center is an NSA facility that uses the code name "Sweet Tea"?
... that in the 1920s, Australian journalist E. George Marks predicted military conflict in the Pacific between Japan and the United States?
... that the North-Western Regional Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) ran an underground network to distribute literature to German soldiers in occupied areas?
... that National Football League player Grant Hermanns won his state high-school wrestling championship just months after a near-fatal staph infection?
... that Kamibox's video game A Joke That's Worth $0.99 is permanently on special offer because Itch.io does not allow $0.99 as a regular price?

In the news

Michael Smith

Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro invade the Brazilian National Congress, the Supreme Federal Court and the Palácio do Planalto.
Michael Smith (pictured) wins the PDC World Darts Championship.
Croatia adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Area.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at the age of 95.
Brazilian footballer Pelé dies at the age of 82.

On this day

January 8

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

1198 – Lotario dei Conti was elected as Pope Innocent III; he later worked to restore papal power in Rome.
1889 – American statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electromechanical tabulating machine for punched-card data.
1936 – Reza Shah issued the Kashf-e hijab decree, ordering Iranian police to remove hijabs from any women in public.
1972 – Following Pakistan's defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto released Bangladeshi politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (pictured) from prison in response to international pressure.
1991 – Jeremy Wade Delle committed suicide in his high-school class in Richardson, Texas, an event that inspired the Pearl Jam song "Jeremy".

Athelm (d. 926)
Fanny Bullock Workman (b. 1859)
David Bowie (b. 1947)

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Today's featured picture

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light-years away from Earth. The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward led to very high compression in the nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars. This photograph of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula was taken with a 127 mm (5.0 in) refracting telescope.

Photograph credit: Chuck Ayoub

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