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From today's featured article

Hydnum repandum, the hedgehog mushroom, is a fungus of the family Hydnaceae. First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it is the type species of its genus. The cap is dry, colored yellow to light orange to brown, and often develops an irregular shape, especially when crowded. The mushrooms are characterized by spore-bearing structures—in the form of spines rather than gills—which hang down from the underside of the cap. The mushroom tissue is white with a pleasant odor and a spicy or bitter taste. All parts of the mushroom stain orange with age or when bruised. A mycorrhizal fungus, H. repandum is broadly distributed in Europe, Asia and western North America, where it fruits singly or in close groups in coniferous or deciduous woodland. This is a choice edible species, although mature specimens can develop a bitter taste. The mushrooms are sold in local markets of Europe and Canada. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Circuit of the Americas pit lane

... that the 2019 IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas (pictured) will be the first time that American open-wheel cars and Formula One have raced at the same track during their respective seasons since 2006?
... that actor Jude Akuwudike originated the part of "the Queen" in the first British production of Not About Nightingales?
... that the fiery-browed starling, found only on Sulawesi in Indonesia, forms mixed flocks with the Sulawesi myna and grosbeak starling?
... that while on hiatus from her beach volleyball career, Sanne Keizer completed a master's degree in criminal investigation and worked as a police detective?
... that the "Weird Al" parody song "Chicken Pot Pie" was not released at the request of vegetarian Paul McCartney, who felt it endorsed eating meat?
... that Walter Wasservogel was the first full-time general secretary of the International Ice Hockey Federation?
... that in 1980, a ribbon worm was implicated in the collapse of the Dungeness crab fishery in central California?
... that an award for women journalists in India is named after a Jain freedom fighter?
... that teacher by day, bandleader at night, those who knew Bob Bachelder in one role likely were unaware of the other?

In the news

SDF fighter in Al-Baghuz Fawqani

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant loses all of its territory in Syria following its defeat by the Syrian Democratic Forces (pictured) and the US-led coalition.
An explosion at a chemical plant in Xiangshui, Jiangsu, China, kills at least 64 people and injures more than 90 others.
Nursultan Nazarbayev resigns as President of Kazakhstan after a 29-year tenure, appointing Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as interim president.
Karen Uhlenbeck becomes the first woman to be awarded the Abel Prize in mathematics.

On this day

March 24: World Tuberculosis Day

M. tuberculosis cells

1882 – German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (pictured), a bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
1922 – Irish War of Independence: In Belfast, two men wearing police uniforms broke into a house and murdered a Catholic family in what was believed to be a reprisal for the deaths of two policemen the day before.
1976 – Military leaders in Argentina led by Jorge Rafael Videla deposed President Isabel Perón in a coup d'état, established a military junta known as the National Reorganization Process, and began state-sponsored violence against dissidents known as the Dirty War.
1989 – The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million US gallons (260,000 bbl; 41,000 m³) of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing one of the most devastating man-made maritime environmental disasters.

Elizabeth Ridgeway (d. 1684) · Lorna Hodgkinson (d. 1951) · Jessica Chastain (b. 1977)

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Today's featured picture

Katie Swan (born 24 March 1999) is a British tennis player. Born in Bristol, she discovered the sport at the age of seven, during a family holiday in Portugal. She then took lessons and received support and funding from the Lawn Tennis Association from the age of eight. She achieved her first victories on the tour in 2015, coming through the qualifying draw to win an International Tennis Federation tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. In 2018 she recorded her first win in a Grand Slam tournament with victory over world number 36 Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round of Wimbledon.

Photograph: David Iliff

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