Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 March 27

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From today's featured article

Illustration of a SARS-CoV-2 virion

A virus is an infectious agent that reproduces inside the cells of living hosts. Unlike most living things, viruses do not have cells that divide; instead they force infected host cells to produce thousands of identical copies of the original virus, at an extraordinary rate. A virus consists of two or three parts: genes, made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry the genetic information; a protein coat that protects the genes; and in some, an envelope of fat that surrounds and protects them when they are not contained within a host cell (and makes them vulnerable to soap). Viruses spread in different ways; some through the air by people when they cough or sneeze, others by the faecal–oral route, and some by direct contact or during sex. Over 4,800 species have been discovered, many of which cause disease in plants and animals, including common human diseases such as the common cold, chickenpox and cold sores, and serious epidemics and pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, influenza, SARS and COVID-19. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Megan Rosenbloom

... that librarian Megan Rosenbloom (pictured), an expert in anthropodermic bibliopegy, can determine if a book is bound in human skin?
... that during the 1981 Benson & Hedges Cup Final, a domestic cricket match in England, two West Indian players set new batting and bowling records?
... that Richard J. Daronco was a United States federal judge for just over a year before he was assassinated by the father of a disgruntled plaintiff?
... that academic Paul Tempan said of the Twelve Bens mountain range in Connemara, Ireland, that "nobody seems to know exactly which are the twelve peaks in question"?
... that political scientist Elizabeth Theiss-Morse has written a book on the flexibility of the American national identity?
... that due to its similarity to the coronavirus pandemic, Warner Bros.' second most successful film of 2020 so far is 2011's Contagion?
... that while studying dance, Anca Giurchescu joined the Romanian national shooting team and won individual and team medals at the 1955 European Shooting Championships?
... that the "Cracked Bell of Trinity Church" in Ryde, England, died of a broken heart and wrote to a newspaper about it?

In the news

Coronavirus pandemic

Igor Matovič

Igor Matovič (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Slovakia following elections in February.
Edwin Catmull and Pat Hanrahan receive the Turing Award for their work on computer-generated imagery.
Paleontologists announce the discovery of Asteriornis maastrichtensis, the oldest definitive species of modern bird, which lived at the end of the Mesozoic era.

On this day

March 27

Nikita Khrushchev

1884 – Outraged by a jury's decision to convict a man of manslaughter instead of murder, a mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, began three days of rioting.
1945 – World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began Operation Starvation, laying naval mines in many of Japan's vital water routes and ports to disrupt enemy shipping.
1958 – Nikita Khrushchev (pictured), First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, assumed the office of premier.
1980 – Brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt failed in their attempt to corner the world silver market, causing panic in commodity and futures exchanges.
2009 – A suicide bomber killed at least 48 people during Friday prayer at a mosque in Jamrud, Pakistan.

Sigismund Báthory (d. 1613) · Virginia Minor (b. 1824) · Michael Joseph Savage (d. 1940)

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From today's featured list

Skyline of Toronto

Ontario's 444 municipalities cover only 17 per cent of its land mass, yet are home to 99 per cent of its population. The province is the most populous in Canada, with 13,448,494 residents as of the 2016 census, and is third-largest in land area. According to Ontario's Municipal Act, 2001, a municipality is "a geographic area whose inhabitants are incorporated". They provide local or regional municipal government services within either a single-tier or shared two-tier municipal structure. The three municipality types include upper and lower-tier municipalities within the two-tier structure, and single-tier municipalities (unitary authorities) that are exempt from the two-tier structure. Ontario's largest municipality by population is the City of Toronto (skyline pictured), with 2,731,571 residents, while the largest by land area is the City of Greater Sudbury, at 3,228.35 km² (1,246.47 sq mi). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Manhood is the third in a series of allegorical oil-on-canvas paintings by American artist Thomas Cole, entitled The Voyage of Life, which represent man's journey through life. In the painting, a now mature man has moved on from the innocence of infancy (Childhood) and the flush of juvenile overconfidence (Youth), to the trials and tribulations of middle age. He glides in his boat among dark, towering crags and gnarled trees, towards turbulent water with projecting rocks. The day is stormy and an angel watches through a rent in the clouds as he prays, his vessel moving ever closer to destruction. This painting, along with the other three in the series, was painted in 1842 and is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Painting credit: Thomas Cole

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