today's Featured List/May 2014

May 2

The Grotto in the Church of the Nativity

The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through the World Heritage Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention, which was established in 1972 to designate and manage World Heritage Sites. Entries in the list are threatened World Heritage Sites whose conservation requires major operations. The list is intended to increase the international awareness to the threat and to encourage counteractive measures. The Church of the Nativity (Grotto pictured), traditionally considered the birthplace of Jesus, is one of several sites to have been designated as World Heritage Sites and World Heritage in Danger in the same year. Many of the listed sites are located in the developing world with 17 in Africa, 9 in Asia, 8 in the Americas and 4 in Europe. In some cases, danger listing has sparked conservation efforts and prompted the release of funds, resulting in a positive development of such sites as the Galápagos Islands and Yellowstone National Park, both of which have subsequently been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger. (Full list...)

May 5

The earliest illustration of tuberous sclerosis

The history of tuberous sclerosis (TSC) research spans less than 200 years. Originally regarded as a rare pathological curiosity, TSC is now an important focus of research into tumour formation and suppression. The history of TSC research is commonly divided into four periods. In the late 19th century, notable physicians working in European teaching hospitals first described the cortical and dermatological manifestations (example pictured). At the start of the 20th century, these symptoms were recognised as belonging to a single medical condition. Further organ involvement was discovered, along with a realisation that the condition was highly variable in its severity. The late 20th century saw great improvements in cranial imaging techniques and the discovery of the two genes that cause TSC when mutations form on them: TSC1 and TSC2, which encode for the proteins hamartin and tuberin respectively. Finally, the start of the 21st century saw the beginning of a molecular understanding of the illness, along with possible non-surgical therapeutic treatments. (Full list...)

May 9

Sula Sgeir

Description of the Western Isles of Scotland is the oldest known account of the Hebrides and the Islands of the Clyde, two chains of islands off the west coast of Scotland. The author was Donald Monro, a clergyman who used the title of "Dean of the Isles" and who lived through the Scottish Reformation. Monro wrote the original manuscript in 1549, although it was not published in any form until 1582 and was not widely available to the public in its original form until 1774. A more complete version, based on a late 17th-century manuscript written by Sir Robert Sibbald, was first published as late as 1961. Monro wrote in Scots and some of the descriptions are difficult for modern readers to render into English. Although Monro was criticised for publishing folklore and for omitting detail about the affairs of the churches in his diocese, Monro's Description is a valuable historical account and has reappeared in part or in whole in numerous publications, remaining one of the most widely quoted publications about the western islands of Scotland (Sula Sgeir pictured). (Full list...)

May 12

Modern calligraphic depiction of Ali

The Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam. According to the theology of Twelvers, the Twelve Imams are infallible human individuals who not only ruled over the community with justice, but also were able to keep and interpret sharia. It is believed by Twelver Shia Muslims that the Twelve Imams were foretold in the Hadith of the Twelve Successors. The Imams were guided by secret texts in their possession, such as al-Jafr and al-Jamia. Ali (calligraphy pictured) was the first of the Twelve Imams, and, in the Twelvers' view, the rightful successor to Muhammad, followed by male descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah. Each Imam was the son of the previous Imam, with the exception of Husayn ibn Ali, who was the brother of Hasan ibn Ali. The twelfth and final Imam is Muhammad al-Mahdi, who is believed by the Twelvers to be currently alive, and hidden in the Major Occultation until he returns to bring justice to the world. All of the Imams met unnatural deaths, with the exception of the last Imam. (Full list...)

May 16

The Calcutta High Court

There are 24 High Courts at the state and union territory level of India which, together with the Supreme Court of India at the national level, comprise the country's judicial system. Each High Court has jurisdiction over a state, a union territory or a group of states and union territories. Below the High Courts is a hierarchy of subordinate courts such as the civil courts, family courts, criminal courts and various other District Courts. High Courts are instituted as constitutional courts under Part VI, Chapter V, Article 214 of the Indian Constitution, and are the principal civil courts of original jurisdiction in each state and union territory. The precise territorial jurisdiction of each High Court varies. The judges are appointed by the President of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the governor of the state. The Calcutta High Court (pictured) is the oldest in the country, established on 2 July 1862. (Full list...)

May 19

Lone star tick

A variety of parasites have been recorded from the marsh rice rat, a semiaquatic rodent found in the eastern and southern United States. Some of these parasites are endoparasites, internal parasites, while others are ectoparasites, external parasites. In a 1988 study, parasitologist John Kinsella found a total of 45 endoparasites in marsh rice rats, a number unequaled in rodents. This may be related to the diverse habitats the rice rat uses and to its omnivorous diet; it eats a variety of animals which may serve as intermediate hosts of various parasites. While the marsh rice rat harbors a number of host-specific species, such as the nematode Aonchotheca forresteri, other parasite species, such as the lone star tick (pictured), are shared with other mammals. Four tapeworms are known from the marsh rice rat. Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, has been identified in some ticks that infect the marsh rice rat and it has been identified as a possible natural reservoir for Borrelia. (Full list...)

May 23

Monster House lead voice cast Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, and Mitchel Musso at the 2006 Annie Awards red carpet at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California

The Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game is awarded annually by ASIFA-Hollywood, a non-profit organization that honors contributions to animation, to one animated video game each year. The award was created in 2005, and has been awarded yearly since. To be eligible for the award, the game must have been released in the year before the next Annie Awards ceremony, and the developers of the game must send a five-minute DVD that shows the gameplay and graphics of the game to a committee appointed by the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood. The now-defunct video game development company THQ had six of its games nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game, and one of them, Ratatouille, won the award. Among the nominees, three video games are adaptations of animated television series. Seven nominees are adaptations of a feature film. The cast and crew of the film Monster House appeared at the 34th Annie Awards both for the film's Best Animated Feature nomination as well as for the video game adaptation's award nomination, the voice actors (pictured) having reprised their roles in the game. (Full list...)

May 26

In total, 43 individuals in the military of allies of Nazi Germany were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military of Nazi Germany during World War II. Eight of these men were also honoured with the next higher grade, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, and one senior naval officer, Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (pictured), was additionally awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Among the recipients were eighteen Romanians, nine Italians, eight Hungarians, two Slovaks, two Japanese people, two Spanish people, two Finns, and one Belgian. Léon Degrelle, the sole Belgian, received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross while subordinated to the Wehrmacht. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht kept an alphabetical list of recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, but foreign recipients were never integrated into this list. The Wehrmacht also refrained from assigning a numbering scheme to the different lists of foreign recipients. Colonel General Dezső László of Hungary became the last foreign recipient of the award on 3 March 1945. (Full list...)

May 30

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard

The main Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members were announced on May 15, 1987. The initial press release highlighted the casting of LeVar Burton, known for appearing in the miniseries Roots, as Geordi La Forge. The only other two members of the cast mentioned were Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard (pictured) and Jonathan Frakes as William Riker. Michael Dorn was cast as Worf and was intended to appear in seven of the first thirteen episodes, but after Dorn's performance in the pilot "Encounter at Farpoint", this role was expanded to a series regular. During casting, the role of Deanna Troi was originally assigned to Denise Crosby, with Marina Sirtis cast as Security Chief Macha Hernandez. Executive producer Gene Roddenberry believed that Sirtis would be better in the role of Troi and switched the two actresses; Crosby was cast as an earlier version of the security chief, called Tasha Yar. Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher was dropped after season one, but returned in season three. (Full list...)