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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale, Arizona

In Clarkdale, Arizona, a train line offers a chance to experience beautiful landscapes and a vintage railroad experience all in one. The Mogollon Rim, made famous by numberless Westerns from Zane Grey onward, is a prominent escarpment that runs roughly east to west through much of central Arizona. It is the southern erosional edge of the Colorado Plateau, a large area of generally flat-lying strata that hosts many of the Southwest’s most iconic national parks. Along the Mogollon Rim……

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Me Little Brudder Memorial in Creeragh, Ireland

Just outside the car park of the Kilkee Cliffs, lies a sweet memorial to John Holmes who slipped and fell to his death in 2004.  The memorial contains three brass plates with a perfectly crafted ode to John, a loved son, brother, and father These cliffs have been described as the Cliffs of Moher without the barriers. It’s a beautiful view along the Wild Atlantic Way, a route along Ireland’s western coast with miles of unspoiled land and stunning……

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In the history lab, delving into the...

Researching history in the MIT archives is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, according to junior Jupneet Singh. “You get a name from here, a picture from here” and you begin to piece together stories about people from the past, says Singh, who has been diving into the archives this spring for class 21H.S04 (South Asian MIT Oral History and Digital Archive), a special topic in history taught by Associate Professor Sana Aiyar. Following in the path of similar……

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Zoë Marschner and Charlotte Wickert named 2022-23...

MIT students Zoë Marschner and Charlotte Wickert have been selected to receive a Barry Goldwater Scholarship for the 2022-23 academic year. Over 5,000 college students from across the United States were nominated for the scholarships, from which only 417 recipients were selected based on academic merit.  The Goldwater scholarships have been conferred since 1989 by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. These scholarships have supported undergraduates who go on to become leading scientists, engineers, and mathematicians in……

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MIT Global Languages celebrates students’ diversity

The MIT community is known for its multicultural fabric. But how often do students have a chance to reflect on what it means to be part of two or more different cultures? On Friday, March 11, over 60 MIT undergraduate students came together to celebrate their cultural and linguistic background during the “Heritage Meets Heritage” event hosted by MIT Global Languages. During the event, students participated in a humorous warm-up activity, played language trivia games, won prizes, and discussed……

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Big Sycamore Tree in Worthington, Indiana

Is this the largest Sycamore Tree that ever grew in Indiana? In the United States? It’s hard to say with complete certainty, but this one would be in the running for that title. In the Worthington City Park is a gazebo containing a limb of that tree. The tree was originally located along the river bottoms in Highland Township, but was placed here after it fell to a storm. The sign on the tree reads: “A limb from the……

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Division II star emerges among NFL’s small-school...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Fayetteville State cornerback Joshua Williams recites the Kyle Dugger story as if he wrote the book. He talks about how the late-blooming safety chose to play Division II football in small town North Carolina after receiving just three scholarship offers. And how Dugger went from being an overlooked prep recruit to a second-round draft pick in just a few years. So as Williams watched Dugger’s journey from less than 200 miles away in Fayetteville, North Carolina,…

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Runner’s Diary: Ukrainian runs Boston to help...

BOSTON (AP) — Igor Krytsak, a 33-year-old Ukrainian, is a sporting event organizer who planned to run the Boston Marathon after qualifying in London last year with a personal best 2 hours, 57 minutes, 33 seconds. When Russia invaded his homeland, he sent his wife and two daughters to safety in Spain, but he could not leave the country without a special permit. Krytsak received permission to run in Boston for humanitarian purposes and arrived in the United States…

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Feeling blue in today’s world? Head for...

HALLE, Belgium (AP) — Nature’s beauty is rapturous again this springtime — flaunting its purple haze of bluebells in the woods south of Brussels. This time though, any and all can enjoy the spectacle following two years of pandemic measures that had kept visitors to a trickle. And what’s more: flowers, and blossoms — be it in Japan, the Netherlands or Belgium — can provide a balm for the soul in these days of anxiety over COVID-19 and war….

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Latest apps promise fast service but can...

NEW YORK (AP) — When Mahlet Berhanemeskel gets back to her New York City home from her 90-minute commute, she doesn’t feel like cooking. So instead she orders food like BLTs, Cheez-Its and cookies from an app called Gorillas. It’s affordable and takes 10 minutes. “It’s instant gratification,” she said. Gorillas is one of several companies that venture capitalists have poured billions into in the latest pandemic delivery craze: companies that promise to get you a bottle of Tylenol,…

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Geteilte Kirche am Kreuzbichl (Divided Church) in...

If you attend a service in the small Roman Catholic church Sankt Maria in the Liesertal north of Gmünd in Carinthia, you might find that the pastor has to pause the sermon for an unusual reason: A road runs through the middle of the church. While the pastor preaches his sermon in the sanctuary on the east side of the road, the churchgoers sit in the building on the opposite side of the road. As early as 1443, a……

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Using plant biology to address climate change

On April 11, MIT announced five multiyear flagship projects in the first-ever Climate Grand Challenges, a new initiative to tackle complex climate problems and deliver breakthrough solutions to the world as quickly as possible. This article is the fourth in a five-part series highlighting the most promising concepts to emerge from the competition and the interdisciplinary research teams behind them. The impact of our changing climate on agriculture and food security — and how contemporary agriculture contributes to climate……

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Statue of Abraham Lincoln at Lytle Park...

Charles P. Taft, brother of former U.S. President William Howard Taft, hoped to honor another former commander-in-chief but instead caused a controversy that found its way the halls of the U.K. Parliament. Taft commissioned American sculptor George Grey Barnard to sculpt an 11-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln as a gift to the city of Cincinnati in 1917. But rather than basing his work on airbrushed photos and idealized paintings, Barnard sought out life masks of Lincoln’s face from before……

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Skissernas Museum in Lund, Sweden

Founded by art historian Ragnar Josephson in 1934, the Skissernas Museum at Lund University focuses mainly on the sketches and preparatory drawings produced for public art, offering visitors a unique look at the creative process of contemporary art. Housed in the university’s former gymnastic hall, the museum contains a variety of artworks in different media, from modern Swedish sculptures to early 20th-century drawings by such famed artists as Henri Matisse, Sonia Delaunay, and Diego Rivera. It’s the largest collection……

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Podcast: Gnomesville

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we learn about the thousands of kitschy lawn gnomes that have taken over an Australian roundabout. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Join us daily, Monday through……

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