For the more than billion Muslims worldwide, there is nothing more sacred than the month of Ramadan or Ramazan. It was during this ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar that Jibril (the Archangel Gabriel in the Judeo-Christian faith) revealed the first verses of the Quran Islam's holy text to the prophet Muhammad. The auspicious month's start, based on the appearance of the super-slim young crescent Moon, is determined by moon-sighting committees in various Muslim countries, most notably in Saudi Arabia. This year, Ramadan will begin on Monday, April 12th, or Tuesday, April 13th.
Dan Pashman, a podcaster, spent three years creating a new pasta shape (Credit: Stoglini.com)
With over 120 sizes and pasta shapes available, one would think there was a design to satisfy every palette. However, Dan Pashman, host of the James Beard and Webby Award-winning podcast âSporkful,â was unhappy with the available options. So, the food-lover spent three years, and a substantial amount of his personal savings, to create cascatelli â a new pasta shape that is purportedly more functional than any available today.
Pashman s noodle-design journey â documented in a five-series podcast dubbed Mission ImPASTABle â began accidentally in 2018. During a live performance at New York s Caveat Theater, the podcaster expressed his frustration with spaghetti. â
The 2020 Summer Olympic torch relay across Japan began on March 25, 2021 (Credit: Olympic.org)
The 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay is finally underway. The Olympic flame, which was kindled in Olympia, Greece, on March 12, 2020, and transported to Japan on March 20, 2020, spent a year at the Olympic Museum in Tokyo after the Games were postponed due to the coronavirus. It began its 121-day journey from Fukushima to Tokyo s National Stadium the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies on March 26, 2021. Inspired by the Olympic values of peace and solidarity, the Olympic Torch Relay will carry Tokyo 2020’s message, hope lights our way, across Japan and the world, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said. It will also acknowledge the challenges faced by society since last year, highlighting the importance of unity and solidarity within humankind, showing that we can only become stronger - together.
Mount Etna has been erupting spectacularly since February 16, 2021 (Credit: FishnewsYouTube screen capture)
Mount Etna, Europe s most active volcano, has been erupting regularly since 2011. However, the latest series of explosions, which began on February 16, 2021, has been particularly noteworthy. Emanating from the youngest of the volcano s four craters the Southeast Crater they have spewed spectacular fountains of lava as high as 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometers). To put it in perspective, that is about three times the height of One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the United States.
“The most recent novelty is that the last six eruptive paroxysms were among the most violent in the Southeast Crater s young history,” says Marco Neri, a volcanologist with Italy s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
An illustration of the ancient lineage of steppe mammoths, which led to the wooly mammoths that roamed the Arctic (Credit: Beth Zaiken/Center For Palaeogenetics)
A team of Swedish scientists has successfully extracted and reconstructed the world s oldest DNA from the tooth of a Siberian mammoth, which roamed Earth over a million years ago. Also known as deoxyribonucleic acid, the all-important molecule which contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living things. provides new insights into the evolution of the ancient Ice Age giants. Prior to this, the oldest DNA sequenced came from the bone of a horse that trotted around Canada about 700,000 years ago.