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From today's featured article

Robin Williams

Dementia with Lewy bodies is a common dementia characterized by changes in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and autonomic nervous system function. Symptoms worsen over time until cognitive decline interferes with normal daily functioning. The core features are REM sleep behavior disorder (in which people act out their dreams), visual hallucinations, marked fluctuations in attention or alertness, and parkinsonism. The exact cause is unknown, but involves deposits of abnormal clumps of protein in the brain, known as Lewy bodies. Gastrointestinal and heart function can be affected. Definitive diagnosis usually requires an autopsy, and a probable diagnosis—based on symptoms and tests—is often missed. Management of the many symptoms is challenging and involves multiple specialties. There is no cure or medication to stop the disease progression. After the suicide of Robin Williams (pictured) in 2014, his autopsy found that diffuse Lewy bodies explained his symptoms. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Denise Biellmann performing an upright spin

... that the Biellmann spin, a difficult variation of the upright spin in figure skating, was created by world champion skater Denise Biellmann (pictured)?
... that nurse and Jordanian senator Sawsan Al Majali followed in the footsteps of both her mother (who was a nurse) and her father (who was prime minister of Jordan)?
... that a British company is developing plastics that are vulnerable to sunlight, air and water?
... that the Uganda Volunteer Reserve helped intern German nationals at the start of the First World War?
... that during the 2021 food crisis in southern Madagascar, people have resorted to eating things such as raw red cactus fruits, wild leaves, locusts, ashes mixed with tamarind, and shoe leather?
... that Lindy Cameron, who leads the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, says that ransomware is the major cyber threat?
... that although Vivaldi composed cello sonatas for private international customers, six of them were published in Paris in 1740 without his permission?
... that the American Pre-Raphaelite painters had an obsession with depicting birds' nest still lifes?

In the news

Giannis Antetokounmpo

In basketball, the Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Phoenix Suns to win the NBA Finals (MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo pictured).
Pedro Castillo wins the Peruvian presidential election.
In cycling, Tadej Pogačar wins the Tour de France.
Floods across western Europe leave more than 200 people dead.
In South Africa, protests and subsequent unrest over the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma result in 276 deaths and more than 3,400 arrests.

On this day

July 21: Belgian National Day (1831)

Depiction of the Ciompi Revolt by Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri

365 – A large earthquake occurred near Crete and triggered a subsequent tsunami that caused widespread destruction around the eastern Mediterranean region.
1378 – Unrepresented labourers in Florence revolted and violently took over the city's government (depicted) to grant them political office.
1877 – Much of central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was burned and looted during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
1977 – Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day war with Egypt.
2013 – Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an Iranian diplomat in Yemen, was kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants and held hostage for the next two years.

Simion Bărnuțiu (b. 1808)
Sophie Bledsoe Aberle (b. 1896)
Louis Vauxcelles (d. 1943)

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Today's featured picture

The Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville, Spain, built for the Christian king Peter of Castile in 1364–1366. It was built by Castilian Christians on the site of an Abbadid Muslim alcázar, or residential fortress, destroyed after the Christian reconquest of Seville. The palace is a prime example of Mudéjar architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, but also features elements of Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque architecture from previous stages of construction. This photograph depicts the domed ceiling of the Hall of Ambassadors in the Alcázar of Seville.

Photograph credit: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

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