From today's featured article
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 Drosera regia is a carnivorous plant in the sundew genus Drosera and is endemic to a single valley in South Africa. The tentacle-covered leaves can capture large prey, such as beetles, moths, and butterflies. The tentacles of all Drosera species are specialised stalked glands on the leaf's upper surface that produce a sticky mucilage. The leaves are considered active flypaper traps that respond to captured prey by bending to surround it. The genus name Drosera comes from the Greek word droseros, meaning "dew-covered". The specific epithet regia is derived from the Latin for "royal", a reference to the "striking appearance" of the species. It has many unusual relict characteristics not found in most other Drosera species, and these factors, combined with molecular data from phylogenetic analysis, contribute to the evidence that it possesses some of the most ancient characteristics within the genus. Of the two known populations of D. regia, the higher altitude site appears to be overgrown and is essentially extirpated. The lower altitude site is estimated to have about 50 mature plants, making it the most endangered Drosera species, since it is threatened with extinction in the wild.
Recently featured: Anna of East Anglia – "Imagine" – Supernatural (season 2)
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Did you know...
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In the news
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On this day...
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December 10: Human Rights Day; Constitution Day in Thailand (1932)
- 1508 – The Papal States, France, Aragon and the Holy Roman Empire formed the League of Cambrai, an alliance against the Republic of Venice.
- 1684 – Edmond Halley (pictured) presented the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, containing Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, to the Royal Society.
- 1861 – Forces led by Nguyen Trung Truc, an anti-colonial guerrilla leader in southern Vietnam, sank the French lorcha L'Esperance.
- 1898 – The Spanish–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, with Spain recognizing the independence of Cuba; and ceding Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States.
- 1941 – Second World War: Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers sank the Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse east of Malaya.
More anniversaries: December 9 – December 10 – December 11
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From today's featured list
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 The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period, the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen major Antarctic expeditions being launched from eight countries. The common factor in these expeditions was the limited nature of the resources available to them before advances in transport and communication technologies revolutionised the work of exploration. Each expedition became a feat of endurance that tested its personnel to physical and mental limits, and sometimes beyond. During the course of these expeditions, the geographical and magnetic poles were both reached. The achievement of being first to the geographical South Pole was a primary object in some expeditions and was the sole rationale for the venture undertaken by Roald Amundsen (pictured). The expeditions also generated large quantities of scientific data and specimens across a wide range of scientific disciplines, the examination and analysis of which would keep the world's scientific communities busy for decades. (Full list...)
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Today's featured picture
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A pair of lotus shoes, which are shoes that were worn by women in China who had bound feet. They were delicately constructed from cotton or silk, and small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. They are cone or sheath-shaped, intended to resemble a lotus bud. Though foot binding is no longer practiced, many lotus shoes survive as artifacts in museums or private collections.
Photo: Daniel Schwen
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