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From today's featured article

Cast of a Livyatan skull

Livyatan melvillei is an extinct species of sperm whale that lived about 9.9 to 8.9 million years ago, during the Miocene epoch. The name was inspired by the biblical sea monster Leviathan, and Herman Melville, the author of Moby-Dick. It was probably an apex predator, preying on whales and seals. The teeth, found in the Pisco Formation of Peru, measured 36.2 cm (14.3 in), the longest of any known animal, excluding tusks. The whale's length has been estimated at 13.5 to 17.5 m (44 to 57 ft), making it one of the largest predators ever. It is distinguished from the other raptorial sperm whales by the basin on the skull, and how it spans the entire length of the snout. The spermaceti organ, contained in the skull basin, is thought to have been used in echolocation and communication, or for ramming prey and other sperm whales. The whale may have competed with the giant extinct shark megalodon. Livyatan's extinction was probably caused by a cooling event at the end of the Miocene which resulted in a drop in food populations. (Full article...)

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In the news

Alexei Navalny

Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny (pictured) is awarded the Sakharov Prize.
PAICV candidate José Maria Neves is elected President of Cape Verde.
British Member of Parliament Sir David Amess dies after being stabbed during a constituency meeting.
Severe Tropical Storm Kompasu kills 40 people in the Philippines and Hong Kong.

On this day

October 24

George Washington Bridge

1648 – The second treaty of the Peace of Westphalia was signed, ending both the Thirty Years' War and the Dutch Revolt, and officially recognising the Dutch Republic and the Swiss Confederation as independent states.
1795 – As a result of the Third Partition of Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist as an independent state, with its territory divided between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
1889 – Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, gave a speech in which he called for the federation of the six Australian colonies.
1931 – The George Washington Bridge (pictured), connecting New York City to Fort Lee, New Jersey, and today the world's busiest motor-vehicle bridge, was dedicated.
1964 – Charges in a military court against generals Dương Văn Đức and Lâm Văn Phát of leading a coup attempt against South Vietnamese leader Nguyễn Khánh, were dropped..

Marianne North (b. 1830)
Désiré Charnay (d. 1915)
Carlo Abarth (d. 1979)

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Today's featured picture

La Juive (The Jewess) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy with an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe. It was first performed on 23 February 1835 at the Paris Opera. With the premise of an impossible love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, the work has been seen by some as a plea for religious tolerance. This illustration shows the set design for the first act of La Juive for the inaugural production of the opera.

Lithograph credit: Eugène Cicéri and Philippe Benoist; restored by Adam Cuerden

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