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From today's featured article

Banded sugar ant worker with cocoon

The banded sugar ant (Camponotus consobrinus) is a species of ant endemic to Australia. A member of the genus Camponotus in the subfamily Formicinae, it was described by German entomologist Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson in 1842. Its common name refers to the ant's preference for sweet food and the distinctive orange-brown band around its gaster. The ant is polymorphic and relatively large, with castes called major workers (soldiers) and minor workers. Ants in these groups measure around 5 to 15 millimetres (0.20 to 0.59 inches) in length. Mainly nocturnal, the ants prefer a mesic habitat, and are commonly found in forests and woodlands; they are also found in urban areas, where they are considered a household pest. The ant's diet includes sweet secretions obtained from aphids and other insects. Workers prey on some insects, killing them with a spray of formic acid. Banded sugar ants are prey for other ants, echidnas and birds. The eggs of this species were consumed by Indigenous Australians. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

USS Gyatt, with her new missile system aft

... that USS Gyatt (pictured), after being fitted with a Terrier anti-air missile launcher, became the world's first guided-missile destroyer?
... that VTuber Sakura Miko was featured in a paper on structural stability and thermodynamics?
... that "Grim Reaper of Love" by the Turtles features an unusual quintuple-meter (⁵
₄) beat?
... that 269 Justitia is one of the reddest known asteroids in the asteroid belt?
... that the first Indian-American mayor of Fremont, California, succeeded its first female and first Asian-American mayor?
... that Oris Aigbokhaevbolo was included on YNaija's 2024 list of influential people in the Nigerian film industry?
... that the 1992 edition of Beringia, with a distance of 2,044 kilometres (1,270 mi), holds the Guinness World Record for the longest sled dog race?
... that Dallas Mavericks fans held a mock funeral with a coffin for Luka Dončić in response to him being traded?

In the news

Walter Clayton Jr.

A nightclub roof collapse in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, kills more than 220 people.
In basketball, the Florida Gators win the NCAA Division I men's championship (Most Outstanding Player Walter Clayton Jr. pictured) and the UConn Huskies win the women's championship.
In the National Hockey League, Alexander Ovechkin breaks Wayne Gretzky's record for most goals scored.
In horse racing, Nick Rockett, ridden by Patrick Mullins, wins the Grand National.
South Korea's Constitutional Court removes Yoon Suk Yeol as the president of South Korea, following his earlier declaration of martial law.

On this day

April 11

Mary II and William III

1689 – William III and Mary II (both pictured) were crowned joint sovereigns of England in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
1809 – Napoleonic Wars: A hastily assembled Royal Navy fleet launched an assault against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet; an incomplete victory led to political turmoil in Britain.
1951 – U.S. president Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands for making public statements about the Korean War that contradicted the administration's policies.
2001 – In a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, Australia defeated American Samoa 31–0, the largest margin of victory recorded in international football.

Romanos III Argyros (d. 1034)
Ewelina Hańska (d. 1882)
Trevor Linden (b. 1970)

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From today's featured list

Pedro Pascal

The American television series The Last of Us has won 58 awards from 147 nominations. Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for HBO and based on the video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog, it follows the characters Joel and Ellie. Pedro Pascal (pictured) and Bella Ramsey have received the most acting nominations for the series. It has been nominated for twenty-four Primetime Emmy Awards, with a leading eight wins at the 75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards; Ramsey's was the second non-binary acting nomination and the first for a leading role, Pascal was the second Latino nominated for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and the first since 1999, and Keivonn Montreal Woodard was the second-youngest Emmy nominee, the youngest ever for Guest Actor in a Drama Series, and the first nominated black deaf and second deaf actor. From major guilds, the series has won two awards at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and one at the Directors Guild of America Awards and Writers Guild of America Awards, and received two nominations at the Producers Guild of America Awards. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Jewish Cemetery is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael. Painted in 1654 or 1655, it is an allegorical landscape painting suggesting ideas of hope and death, while also being based on Beth Haim, a cemetery located on Amsterdam's southern outskirts, at the town of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Beth Haim is a resting place for some prominent figures among Amsterdam's large Jewish Portuguese community in the 17th century. Ruisdael presents the cemetery as a landscape variant of a vanitas painting, employing deserted tombs, ravaged churches, stormy clouds, dead trees, changing skies, and flowing water to symbolize death and the transience of all earthly things. The known provenance for the painting dates back only to 1739 and its original owner is not documented; since 1926, it has been owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Painting credit: Jacob van Ruisdael

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