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The Teloschistaceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi with a cosmopolitan distribution, generally in temperate regions. Most either live on rock or on bark, and many are orange to yellow from anthraquinone which protects them from ultraviolet light, enabling expansion into arid and sunny ecosystems. They have a thallus that is leafy, bushy, or crusty, and partner with photosynthetic Trebouxia algae. A 2013 revision recognised three subfamilies and created or resurrected 31 more genera. Since then, many new genera have been added and DNA studies are giving insights into relationships within this family's more than 800 species and around 120 genera. It remains underexplored in vast regions like South America and China. Several rock-dwelling species are known to damage marble surfaces, and others are used in some traditional medicines. One member, Rusavskia elegans, is used in research as a model organism to investigate resilience against the harsh conditions of outer space. (Full article...)

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February 19: Family Day in Canada (2024)

A depiction of the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903
A depiction of the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903
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Eiji Tsuburaya
Eiji Tsuburaya

Japanese special-effects director and filmmaker Eiji Tsuburaya worked on roughly 250 films during his five-decade career. Having pioneered and popularized the special-effects sector of the Japanese film industry, he is popularly known as the "Father of Tokusatsu". Tsuburaya started his career in the Japanese film industry as a cinematographer for several successful dramas and jidaigeki (Japanese historical drama) films in the early 1920s. Following the completion of photography on this film, he worked as the cinematographer and had his debut as the special-effects director for Princess Kaguya (1935), one of Japan's first major productions to feature special effects. In 1954, Tsuburaya directed the special effects for Hiroshi Inagaki's jidaigeki epic Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto and the Ishirō Honda kaiju film Godzilla. For the latter film, he achieved his first Japan Technical Award for Special Skill and attained international recognition. (Full list...)

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Presidents' Day

Presidents' Day, officially known as Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday in February. It is often celebrated to honor all those who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879, has been the federal holiday honoring Founding Father George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was the first United States president. The portrait of Washington shown here was one of 130 copies that the American painter Gilbert Stuart made of his unfinished Athenaeum Portrait, which is Stuart's most notable work and the basis for the engraving of Washington on the United States one-dollar bill. This copy is in the collection of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Painting credit: Gilbert Stuart

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