000958cd230e4671bfc69b41dab2ed2544d60f1bbec21bcccf65986e3b1077d1

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+
+
+Cryptodira
+Pleurodira
+†Meiolaniidae and see text
+
+Turtles are the reptile order Testudines. They have a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield.[3]
+
+The order Testudines includes both living and extinct species. The earliest fossil turtle comes from the early Upper Triassic of China, about 220 million years ago.[4] So turtles are one of the oldest surviving reptile groups and a more ancient group than lizards, snakes and crocodiles.
+
+Molecular evidence shows they are definitely archosauromorphs, the group of diapsid reptiles which also includes the dinosaurs.[4]box 5.1, p123/4
+
+Turtles have been very successful, and have  almost world-wide distribution. But, of the many species alive today, some are highly endangered.[5]
+
+Although the word turtle is widely used to describe all members of the order Testudines, it is also common to see certain members described as terrapins, tortoises or sea turtles, as well. How these names are used, if at all, depends on the type of English.
+
+To avoid confusion, the word "chelonian" is popular among some who work with these animals, as a catch-all name.[7] Unfortunately, Chelonia is also the name of a particular genus of turtles, so this conflicts with its use for the entire order Testudines.
+
+Although many turtles spend much of their lives underwater, all turtles and tortoises breathe air, and must surface at regular intervals to refill their lungs. Some spend their whole lives on dry land.
+
+Aquatic respiration in Australian freshwater turtles is being studied. Some species have large cloacal cavities that are lined with many finger-like projections. These projections, called papillae, have a rich blood supply, and increase the surface area. The turtles can take up dissolved oxygen from the water using these papillae, in much the same way that fish use gills to respire.
+
+Like other reptiles, turtles lay eggs which are slightly soft and leathery. The eggs of the largest species are spherical, while the eggs of the rest are elongated. Sea turtles lay their eggs on dry, sandy beaches. Turtles can take many years to reach breeding age, and in many cases breed every few years rather than annually.
+
+In some species, there is temperature-dependent sex determination. Temperature determines whether an egg develops into a male or a female: a higher temperature causes a female, a lower temperature causes a male. Large numbers of eggs are deposited in holes dug into mud or sand. They are then covered and left to incubate by themselves. When the turtles hatch, they squirm their way to the surface and head toward the water. No turtle mother cares for its young.
+
+Researchers have recently discovered a turtle’s organs do not gradually break down or become less efficient over time, unlike most other animals. It was found that the liver, lungs, and kidneys of a centenarian turtle are almost identical with that of its young counterpart. This has inspired genetic researchers to begin examining the turtle genome for longevity genes.[8]
+
+Turtles are divided into two groups, according to how they evolved a solution to the problem of withdrawing their necks into their shells. The Cryptodira (hidden neck) can draw their necks in while contracting it under their spine. The Pleurodira (side neck), now found only in fresh water environments in the Southern hemisphere, contract their necks to the side. So, the important adaptation of head withdrawing evolved twice from ancestral turtles which did not have this ability.
+
+Turtles have a hard beak. Turtles use their jaws to cut and chew food. Instead of teeth, the upper and lower jaws of the turtle are covered by horny ridges. Carnivorous turtles usually have knife-sharp ridges for slicing through their prey. Herbivorous turtles have serrated-edged ridges that help them cut through tough plants. Turtles use their tongues to swallow food, but they cannot, unlike most reptiles, stick out their tongues to catch food.
+
+The upper shell of the turtle is called the carapace. The lower shell that encases the belly is called the plastron. The carapace and plastron are joined together on the turtle's sides by bony structures called bridges.
+
+The inner layer of a turtle's shell is made up of about 60 bones. It includes parts of the backbone and the ribs, meaning the turtle cannot crawl out of its shell. In most turtles, the outer layer of the shell is covered by horny scales called scutes that are part of its outer skin, or epidermis. Scutes are made up of a fibrous protein called keratin that also makes up the scales of other reptiles. These scutes overlap the seams between the shell bones and add strength to the shell. Some turtles do not have horny scutes. For example, the leatherback sea turtle and the soft-shelled turtles have shells covered with leathery skin instead.
+
+The largest chelonian is a marine turtle, the great leatherback sea turtle, which reaches a shell length of 200 cm (80 inches) and can reach a weight of over 900 kg (2,000 lb, or 1 short ton). Freshwater turtles are generally smaller, but with the largest species, the Asian softshell turtle Pelochelys cantorii, a few individuals have been reported to measure up to 200 cm or 80 in (Das, 1991). This dwarfs even the better-known alligator snapping turtle, the largest chelonian in North America, which attains a shell length of up to 80 cm (31½ in) and a weight of about 60 kg (170 lb).
+
+The lagest fossil turtle, Archelon, was more than twice the length of the leatherback, at up to 4.5 metres.
+
+The first fossil proto-turtles come from Upper Triassic of the Mesozoic era, about 220 million years ago. Their shell evolved from bony extensions of their backbones and broad ribs that expanded and grew together to form a complete shell. It offered protection at every stage of its evolution, even when the bony component of the shell was not complete. This proved a long-lasting adaptation, and the group as a whole has survived many changes in the seas, and several extinction events.
+
+Fossils of the freshwater Odontochelys semitestacea or "half-shelled turtle with teeth", from the later Triassic, have been found in southwest China. Odontochelys displays a complete bony plastron and an incomplete carapace, similar to an early stage of turtle embryonic development.[9] By the Upper Jurassic, turtles had radiated widely, and their fossil history becomes easier to read.
+
+Their exact ancestry has been a puzzle. Early amniotes had no openings in the skull behind the eyes. Openings developed in both Sauropsid and Synapsid skulls. They made the skull lighter, gave attachment points for muscles, and gave room for muscle bulges. But turtles do not have these skull openings. They were called 'anapsids', meaning 'no openings'.
+
+Eventually it was suggested that turtles evolved from sauropsids which had skull openings, but turtles lost them as part of their evolution towards heavy defensive armour.[10] All molecular studies have strongly upheld the placement of turtles within diapsids; some place turtles within Archosauria,[11] or as a sister group to extant archosaurs.[12][13][14][15][16]
+
+The earliest known fully shelled turtles are the late Triassic Odontochelys, Chinlechelys and Proganochelys. The first-named genus was aquatic, but the second was probably terrestrial.[17] They already had many advanced turtle traits, and thus probably had many millions of years of preceding turtle evolution and species in their ancestry. They did lack the ability to pull their heads into their shell (and they had a long neck), and (Odontochelys) had a long, spiked tail ending in a club, a body form similar to that of ankylosaurs, resulting from convergent evolution.
+
+Turtles are divided into two living suborders, the Cryptodira and the Pleurodira. The Cryptodira is the larger of the two groups and includes all the marine turtles, the terrestrial tortoises, and many of the freshwater turtles. The Pleurodira are sometimes known as the side-necked turtles, a reference to the way they withdraw their heads into their shells. This smaller group mostly consists of freshwater turtles.

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+
+
+A tortoise is a reptile of the order Testudines which lives on land.  Like their aquatic cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. Most are quite small, but island tortoises have several times evolved to a large size: those on the Galapagos are famous. Darwin made one of his rare mistakes when he did not note which island each of them came from. Later it became clear that they were slightly different on different islands.
+
+A baby Testudo marginata emerges from its shell
+
+Aldabra Giant Tortoise Geochelone gigantea
+
+Galápagos tortoise on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands
+
+Gigantic galapagos turtle, Chelonoidis nigra on the island of Santa Cruz
+

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+
+
+A tortoise is a reptile of the order Testudines which lives on land.  Like their aquatic cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. Most are quite small, but island tortoises have several times evolved to a large size: those on the Galapagos are famous. Darwin made one of his rare mistakes when he did not note which island each of them came from. Later it became clear that they were slightly different on different islands.
+
+A baby Testudo marginata emerges from its shell
+
+Aldabra Giant Tortoise Geochelone gigantea
+
+Galápagos tortoise on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands
+
+Gigantic galapagos turtle, Chelonoidis nigra on the island of Santa Cruz
+

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+The head is the part of the body where the brain is. It is also where the face is. Different things may be worn on the head, for example a headband or a hat.
+
+Some people get pains in their head occasionally, known as headaches. Also, some people have worse pains in their head called migraines.
+
+A head in English can also mean a person in charge of something, such as the head of a company.
+
+Also, the word head can also mean the front of something. An example of this is the word "Headline", meaning large words on the front page of a newspaper.

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+Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this name.

ensimple/5670.html.txt

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+The head is the part of the body where the brain is. It is also where the face is. Different things may be worn on the head, for example a headband or a hat.
+
+Some people get pains in their head occasionally, known as headaches. Also, some people have worse pains in their head called migraines.
+
+A head in English can also mean a person in charge of something, such as the head of a company.
+
+Also, the word head can also mean the front of something. An example of this is the word "Headline", meaning large words on the front page of a newspaper.

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+Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. About 27 million people live there. In 1845, it became the 28th state in the United States.
+
+Texas has been controlled by Spain, France, the Confederate States of America, and Mexico. It declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. It was its own country, the Republic of Texas, for 9 years (1836-1845).
+
+The largest cities in Texas are Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and Austin. Austin is the capital city of Texas.
+
+There are many tourist attractions in Texas. Fort Worth is known for its stockyards. Amarillo is known for the cattle business and stockyards. In Dallas, industrial technology companies including Texas Instruments and EDS have their home offices.
+
+San Antonio has The Alamo. Houston has the Johnson Space Center. Austin has the University of Texas at Austin. Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Baylor University in Waco and the University of North Texas in Denton are other important universities in the state.
+
+The state's name derives from táyshay, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai (a Native American tribe), which means "allies" or "friends."
+
+Texas was first explored in 1528 by Spanish explorers on accident (they were shipwrecked on the coast).  It did not become a colony until 1685, when France claimed it. In response, Spain started a rival colony in 1691 by setting up a religious outpost in the eastern part of Texas.  Spain did not come back to Texas until 1716 to protect its colonies in the west from French forces.  Two years later, San Antonio was started.
+
+The pressure between the Spaniards and Native Americans in East Texas stopped many settlers from coming to Texas. To stop the violence and the increasing Native American raids, Spain called a truce between many tribes in 1745 and 1789.
+
+Tensions rose in Texas after the United States bought a large amount of nearby land from France in 1803. This land was called the Louisiana Purchase. People began wondering whether Spain or the United States could claim Texas.
+
+Mexico won the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. Mexico, including Texas, was free from the Spanish Empire. Americans and other settlers came into Texas when Mexico allowed non-Spanish settlers to settle here. After many settlers came to Texas, Mexico started taxing non-citizens. This outraged many settlers.
+
+Those from the South were even more outraged because Mexico banned all slavery in 1829.  Many southerners saw slavery as a way of life.  They brought enslaved African Americans to work as field hands in the production of cotton, corn, and sugar.
+
+On March 2, 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico and soon they were at war. Texas won, but Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent. Texas soon asked to become a state of the United States. Years later, in 1845, the US added Texas as a state, and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations. Mexico resisted offers by the U.S. to buy land extending from Texas to the Pacific Ocean. In 1846, a dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico resulted in armed conflict, and the Mexican-American War began. The United States won the war, and by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo won lands that later formed the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming. Mexico received 15 million dollars and gave up its claims to Texas.
+
+After Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, Texas joined the newly formed Confederate States of America in 1861 and fought in the American Civil War in an attempt to become independent from the United States. The Confederates lost to the Union (the United States) in 1865. Texas was restored to full representation in Congress on March 30, 1870.
+
+On January 10, 1901, oil was found in Texas, leading to the founding of a richer economy. During a time when the economy was bad, many people left Texas. Texas did not regain its population it lost until the 1950s and 60s. In recent years, Texas has been exploring technology and computers.
+
+Texas is the second biggest state in the Union (after Alaska) and is bigger than every European country except Russia. It has mountains, forests, deserts, plains, and coasts. The largest river in Texas is the Rio Grande, which forms the border between Mexico and the United States throughout south Texas. The highest mountain in Texas is Guadalupe Peak.
+
+Most of Texas is in Central Time, but El Paso in Western Texas is in Mountain Time.[9]

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+Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. About 27 million people live there. In 1845, it became the 28th state in the United States.
+
+Texas has been controlled by Spain, France, the Confederate States of America, and Mexico. It declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. It was its own country, the Republic of Texas, for 9 years (1836-1845).
+
+The largest cities in Texas are Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and Austin. Austin is the capital city of Texas.
+
+There are many tourist attractions in Texas. Fort Worth is known for its stockyards. Amarillo is known for the cattle business and stockyards. In Dallas, industrial technology companies including Texas Instruments and EDS have their home offices.
+
+San Antonio has The Alamo. Houston has the Johnson Space Center. Austin has the University of Texas at Austin. Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Baylor University in Waco and the University of North Texas in Denton are other important universities in the state.
+
+The state's name derives from táyshay, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai (a Native American tribe), which means "allies" or "friends."
+
+Texas was first explored in 1528 by Spanish explorers on accident (they were shipwrecked on the coast).  It did not become a colony until 1685, when France claimed it. In response, Spain started a rival colony in 1691 by setting up a religious outpost in the eastern part of Texas.  Spain did not come back to Texas until 1716 to protect its colonies in the west from French forces.  Two years later, San Antonio was started.
+
+The pressure between the Spaniards and Native Americans in East Texas stopped many settlers from coming to Texas. To stop the violence and the increasing Native American raids, Spain called a truce between many tribes in 1745 and 1789.
+
+Tensions rose in Texas after the United States bought a large amount of nearby land from France in 1803. This land was called the Louisiana Purchase. People began wondering whether Spain or the United States could claim Texas.
+
+Mexico won the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. Mexico, including Texas, was free from the Spanish Empire. Americans and other settlers came into Texas when Mexico allowed non-Spanish settlers to settle here. After many settlers came to Texas, Mexico started taxing non-citizens. This outraged many settlers.
+
+Those from the South were even more outraged because Mexico banned all slavery in 1829.  Many southerners saw slavery as a way of life.  They brought enslaved African Americans to work as field hands in the production of cotton, corn, and sugar.
+
+On March 2, 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico and soon they were at war. Texas won, but Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent. Texas soon asked to become a state of the United States. Years later, in 1845, the US added Texas as a state, and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations. Mexico resisted offers by the U.S. to buy land extending from Texas to the Pacific Ocean. In 1846, a dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico resulted in armed conflict, and the Mexican-American War began. The United States won the war, and by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo won lands that later formed the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming. Mexico received 15 million dollars and gave up its claims to Texas.
+
+After Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, Texas joined the newly formed Confederate States of America in 1861 and fought in the American Civil War in an attempt to become independent from the United States. The Confederates lost to the Union (the United States) in 1865. Texas was restored to full representation in Congress on March 30, 1870.
+
+On January 10, 1901, oil was found in Texas, leading to the founding of a richer economy. During a time when the economy was bad, many people left Texas. Texas did not regain its population it lost until the 1950s and 60s. In recent years, Texas has been exploring technology and computers.
+
+Texas is the second biggest state in the Union (after Alaska) and is bigger than every European country except Russia. It has mountains, forests, deserts, plains, and coasts. The largest river in Texas is the Rio Grande, which forms the border between Mexico and the United States throughout south Texas. The highest mountain in Texas is Guadalupe Peak.
+
+Most of Texas is in Central Time, but El Paso in Western Texas is in Mountain Time.[9]

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+in ASEAN  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
+
+• Northeastern Thai (Isan) (34.2%)
+ • Central Thai (33.7%)
+ • Southern Thai (13.3%)
+Chinese (14%)
+Khmer (4%)
+Malay (4%)
+Tamil (3%)
+
+Thailand (/ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/ TY-lənd;[8] Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] (listen)), is a country in Southeast Asia.  Its neighbours are Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Its name was Siam until June 1939[9] and between 1945 and May 11 1949. The word Thai (ไทย) comes from the ethnic group in the center of Thailand.
+
+Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. It has a King as a head of state, who is Vajiralongkorn at the moment.
+
+Most people here (95%) follow the philosophy called Buddhism. Smaller number of people (4.4%), mostly to the south, follow Islam. Other religions in Thailand are Christianity, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Some Muslims in the south have begun fighting the government because they want to be more independent.
+
+A Buddhist kingdom named Sukhothai was founded here in 1238.
+
+A century later, a bigger kingdom named Ayuthaya appeared south of Sukhothai. Later Sukhothai became a part of Ayuthaya. Ayuthaya existed for more than 400 years before its fall by the attack of a Burmese kingdom.
+
+A soldier of Chinese origin then founded a new capital city at Thonburi, and became King Tāksin.
+
+The current era, Rattanakosin, started on founding Bangkok as the capital city by King Rama I of Chakri Dynasty.
+
+Before 1932, Thailand was an absolute monarchy. On June 24, 1932, a group of people did a coup and changed Thailand to a constitutional monarchy. It was not until 1973 that Thai people voted for a Prime Minister in an election. There were coups both before and after this year.
+
+In 1951, there was a failed coup - the Manhattan Rebellion.[10]
+On September 19, 2006, the army did a coup d'état and took control from Thaksin Shinawatra's government.
+
+In May 2014, a new military coup d'état removed another government.
+
+In October 2016,  Rama X become the new king.
+
+Between 1932 and 2014, Thailand had 12 coup d'etats.
+
+Thailand is made up of 76 provinces (จังหวัด, changwat), put into 5 groups. There are 2 specially governed districts: the capital Bangkok and Pattaya. The 76 provinces including Bangkok are as follows:
+
+NOTE: In italics [1], that province is about the Greater Bangkok sub-region; in italics [2], that province is about the West sub-region.

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+in ASEAN  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
+
+• Northeastern Thai (Isan) (34.2%)
+ • Central Thai (33.7%)
+ • Southern Thai (13.3%)
+Chinese (14%)
+Khmer (4%)
+Malay (4%)
+Tamil (3%)
+
+Thailand (/ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/ TY-lənd;[8] Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] (listen)), is a country in Southeast Asia.  Its neighbours are Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Its name was Siam until June 1939[9] and between 1945 and May 11 1949. The word Thai (ไทย) comes from the ethnic group in the center of Thailand.
+
+Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. It has a King as a head of state, who is Vajiralongkorn at the moment.
+
+Most people here (95%) follow the philosophy called Buddhism. Smaller number of people (4.4%), mostly to the south, follow Islam. Other religions in Thailand are Christianity, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Some Muslims in the south have begun fighting the government because they want to be more independent.
+
+A Buddhist kingdom named Sukhothai was founded here in 1238.
+
+A century later, a bigger kingdom named Ayuthaya appeared south of Sukhothai. Later Sukhothai became a part of Ayuthaya. Ayuthaya existed for more than 400 years before its fall by the attack of a Burmese kingdom.
+
+A soldier of Chinese origin then founded a new capital city at Thonburi, and became King Tāksin.
+
+The current era, Rattanakosin, started on founding Bangkok as the capital city by King Rama I of Chakri Dynasty.
+
+Before 1932, Thailand was an absolute monarchy. On June 24, 1932, a group of people did a coup and changed Thailand to a constitutional monarchy. It was not until 1973 that Thai people voted for a Prime Minister in an election. There were coups both before and after this year.
+
+In 1951, there was a failed coup - the Manhattan Rebellion.[10]
+On September 19, 2006, the army did a coup d'état and took control from Thaksin Shinawatra's government.
+
+In May 2014, a new military coup d'état removed another government.
+
+In October 2016,  Rama X become the new king.
+
+Between 1932 and 2014, Thailand had 12 coup d'etats.
+
+Thailand is made up of 76 provinces (จังหวัด, changwat), put into 5 groups. There are 2 specially governed districts: the capital Bangkok and Pattaya. The 76 provinces including Bangkok are as follows:
+
+NOTE: In italics [1], that province is about the Greater Bangkok sub-region; in italics [2], that province is about the West sub-region.

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+Thales of Miletus,[1] about 624 BC – 546 BC,[2] was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He was from Miletus in Asia Minor. Many, notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition.[3]
+
+According to Bertrand Russell, "Western philosophy begins with Thales".[4]  Thales attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology and was tremendously influential in this respect. Almost all of the other pre-Socratic philosophers follow him in attempting to provide an explanation of ultimate substance, change, and the existence of the world—without reference to mythology. Those philosophers were also influential, and eventually Thales' rejection of mythological explanations became an essential idea for science.  He was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses. As a result he has been called the "Father of Science", though maybe Democritus is more deserving of this title.[5][6]
+
+In mathematics, Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. He is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. Also, Thales was the first person known to have studied electricity.[7]

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+Thales of Miletus,[1] about 624 BC – 546 BC,[2] was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He was from Miletus in Asia Minor. Many, notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition.[3]
+
+According to Bertrand Russell, "Western philosophy begins with Thales".[4]  Thales attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology and was tremendously influential in this respect. Almost all of the other pre-Socratic philosophers follow him in attempting to provide an explanation of ultimate substance, change, and the existence of the world—without reference to mythology. Those philosophers were also influential, and eventually Thales' rejection of mythological explanations became an essential idea for science.  He was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses. As a result he has been called the "Father of Science", though maybe Democritus is more deserving of this title.[5][6]
+
+In mathematics, Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. He is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. Also, Thales was the first person known to have studied electricity.[7]

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+Theatre (British English and also American English), or Theater (mostly American English), has several meanings.
+
+The word comes originally from the Greek Theatron, meaning roughly, 'a place to behold'. In American English, the word 'theater' can mean either a place where films are shown (this is also called a cinema) or a place where live stage plays are performed.[1] In British English, 'theatre' means a place where live plays are performed.  Some people, both English and American, use the spelling 'theatre' to mean a place where live plays are performed, and the spelling 'theater' to mean a cinema.
+
+'Theatre' can also mean the business of putting on plays. An actor might say "I am in the theatre business", or a writer might say "I write for the theatre", meaning that they write plays, rather than writing for movies or television shows.[2][3]
+
+The first people we know created plays were the Ancient Greeks, about the year 500 B.C. They divided plays into two kinds: tragedy and comedy. This division is still used today. The best known Ancient Greek writers of plays are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Some of their plays survived, and are still performed today.
+
+These ancient Greek plays were performed outdoors in large amphitheatres, so that many people could see them. There were contests among the playwrights (people who write plays are called playwrights) and the winner would get a prize.
+
+The Greeks had many brilliant ideas. They used mechanical devices like trap doors and the machina: a crane for winching gods on and off the stage (hence 'Deus ex machina'). They had a Greek chorus that offered information to help the audience follow the performance. The chorus comments on themes, and shows how an audience might react to the drama. The players wore masks. Illustrations on vases show helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for the mouth, plus a wig. The mask was to ‘melt’ into the face and allow the actor to vanish into the role. Therefore, onlookers did not think about the actor, but thought about the character.
+
+In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church began to use theatre as a way of telling the stories from the Bible to people who did not know how to read.  They wrote Mystery Plays, where each part of the Bible story would be a play put on by a different group of people.  They wrote miracle plays which were about the lives of the saints.  They wrote morality plays which taught the audiences how to live a good Christian life.
+
+In the 1500s, groups of actors toured around Italy performing comic plays to entertain townspeople.  These plays were called Commedia dell'arte, and different stories would be created around the same group of characters.  Often the spoken lines would be made up by the actors for each performance.
+
+Other kinds of plays called Neoclassical Dramas and Neoclassical Comedies were also popular in Italy and in France at this time. These plays were written to copy the style of the plays from Ancient Greece and Rome.
+
+At the end of the sixteenth century (before 1600), the traveling actors began to perform in fixed theatre buildings. This was the period when William Shakespeare wrote. He lived from 1564 to 1616. At that time, in England, women were not allowed to perform, so male actors would play female characters.
+
+His theatre was in London, England. It was called The Globe Theatre.  It was an outdoor theatre and plays were performed in the daytime for large audiences. His plays were very popular and many are still performed today. Many people believe Shakespeare was one of the best playwrights (a writer of plays).
+
+Plays including Shakespeare's were banned during the Protectorate'. After that, many more were written and acted.
+
+After World War II, playwrights in Europe and the United States began doing plays in a new style called "Theatre of the Absurd." After seeing the horrors of war, these playwrights felt that all their old values had been destroyed. Playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Jean Genet wrote plays that are considered to be "Theatre of the Absurd."
+
+The "Theatre of the Absurd" plays have some of the same ideas that are found in the philosophy (a way of thinking) called existentialism. Existentialism is very different from many other philosophies. Most religions and philosopies say that human life has a meaning (or a purpose). The philosophy of existentialism is that human life does not have a meaning (or a purpose). When something has no meaning, it is "absurd". (absurd means means silly and meaningless.)
+
+The plays written in this style make people think about questions like "what is it like to be a person in the world?" and "what does it mean for a person to be free?" They are often filled with sad emotions, such as worry, fear, and thoughts about death.
+
+Theatre breaks are a form of short holiday, based around viewing a theatrical convention show. Theatre breaks tend to include a nights hotel accommodation included in the price.

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+Theatre (British English and also American English), or Theater (mostly American English), has several meanings.
+
+The word comes originally from the Greek Theatron, meaning roughly, 'a place to behold'. In American English, the word 'theater' can mean either a place where films are shown (this is also called a cinema) or a place where live stage plays are performed.[1] In British English, 'theatre' means a place where live plays are performed.  Some people, both English and American, use the spelling 'theatre' to mean a place where live plays are performed, and the spelling 'theater' to mean a cinema.
+
+'Theatre' can also mean the business of putting on plays. An actor might say "I am in the theatre business", or a writer might say "I write for the theatre", meaning that they write plays, rather than writing for movies or television shows.[2][3]
+
+The first people we know created plays were the Ancient Greeks, about the year 500 B.C. They divided plays into two kinds: tragedy and comedy. This division is still used today. The best known Ancient Greek writers of plays are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Some of their plays survived, and are still performed today.
+
+These ancient Greek plays were performed outdoors in large amphitheatres, so that many people could see them. There were contests among the playwrights (people who write plays are called playwrights) and the winner would get a prize.
+
+The Greeks had many brilliant ideas. They used mechanical devices like trap doors and the machina: a crane for winching gods on and off the stage (hence 'Deus ex machina'). They had a Greek chorus that offered information to help the audience follow the performance. The chorus comments on themes, and shows how an audience might react to the drama. The players wore masks. Illustrations on vases show helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for the mouth, plus a wig. The mask was to ‘melt’ into the face and allow the actor to vanish into the role. Therefore, onlookers did not think about the actor, but thought about the character.
+
+In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church began to use theatre as a way of telling the stories from the Bible to people who did not know how to read.  They wrote Mystery Plays, where each part of the Bible story would be a play put on by a different group of people.  They wrote miracle plays which were about the lives of the saints.  They wrote morality plays which taught the audiences how to live a good Christian life.
+
+In the 1500s, groups of actors toured around Italy performing comic plays to entertain townspeople.  These plays were called Commedia dell'arte, and different stories would be created around the same group of characters.  Often the spoken lines would be made up by the actors for each performance.
+
+Other kinds of plays called Neoclassical Dramas and Neoclassical Comedies were also popular in Italy and in France at this time. These plays were written to copy the style of the plays from Ancient Greece and Rome.
+
+At the end of the sixteenth century (before 1600), the traveling actors began to perform in fixed theatre buildings. This was the period when William Shakespeare wrote. He lived from 1564 to 1616. At that time, in England, women were not allowed to perform, so male actors would play female characters.
+
+His theatre was in London, England. It was called The Globe Theatre.  It was an outdoor theatre and plays were performed in the daytime for large audiences. His plays were very popular and many are still performed today. Many people believe Shakespeare was one of the best playwrights (a writer of plays).
+
+Plays including Shakespeare's were banned during the Protectorate'. After that, many more were written and acted.
+
+After World War II, playwrights in Europe and the United States began doing plays in a new style called "Theatre of the Absurd." After seeing the horrors of war, these playwrights felt that all their old values had been destroyed. Playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Jean Genet wrote plays that are considered to be "Theatre of the Absurd."
+
+The "Theatre of the Absurd" plays have some of the same ideas that are found in the philosophy (a way of thinking) called existentialism. Existentialism is very different from many other philosophies. Most religions and philosopies say that human life has a meaning (or a purpose). The philosophy of existentialism is that human life does not have a meaning (or a purpose). When something has no meaning, it is "absurd". (absurd means means silly and meaningless.)
+
+The plays written in this style make people think about questions like "what is it like to be a person in the world?" and "what does it mean for a person to be free?" They are often filled with sad emotions, such as worry, fear, and thoughts about death.
+
+Theatre breaks are a form of short holiday, based around viewing a theatrical convention show. Theatre breaks tend to include a nights hotel accommodation included in the price.

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+The Beatles  were an English rock band, started in Liverpool, England in 1960. The members of the band were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Most people say they are the most successful and influential band in the history of popular music.[1] The group were a main part of the creation of 1960s counterculture. They began as a skiffle and beat band and were influenced by 1950s American rock and roll. They later used parts of classical music and Indian music.
+
+Their main songwriters were Lennon and McCartney. Before The Beatles became popular, they played in clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over three years between 1960 and 1963, with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. They went through many drummers, including Pete Best, before finally asking Ringo Starr to join in 1962. Sutcliffe also quit, meaning Paul McCartney started playing the bass instead. Brian Epstein was their manager and George Martin produced most of their music. Their first single was "Love Me Do", in late 1962. It was a hit and they became popular in the United Kingdom. As they became more popular, the press called the popularity "Beatlemania".
+
+By 1964, the Beatles were worldwide stars and led the "British Invasion" of the United States. They brought out some of the best-selling albums of the 1960s, with twelve studio albums. They broke-up in 1970. John Lennon was later murdered in New York City in 1980 and George Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr still make music.
+
+Starting in 1956, John Lennon and several of his friends played in a British band called the Quarrymen. Over the next few years, the members of the band changed, and by 1960, the band was called the Beatles. They did not have their first hit until 1962. In February 1963 their song, "Please Please Me", reached the number 1 position on the British charts. This was the first of a record 15 British number 1 singles. They first came to the United States in 1964. They were met at the airport by thousands of screaming American teenagers. The Beatles were so popular that they were attacked by screaming fans everywhere they went around the world. The effect they had on their fans was known as 'Beatlemania'. The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964. About 74 million viewers — about half of the American population — watched the group perform on the show. Beatles songs soon filled the top 5 places on the American top 40 chart -  a record that has never been matched.
+
+After the Beatles became so popular in the United States, other British bands, such as The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Kinks and Gerry and the Pacemakers had songs become hits there as well. So many British bands became popular after the Beatles' success that this time became known in America as the "British Invasion".
+
+Towards the mid 1960s, The Beatles became bolder with their style of music. This largely started in 1965, with the release of the album "Rubber Soul", and hit a peak in 1967 with the release of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which was named as the greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.[2] They were also named the most influential artists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, because their music, clothing style, and attitudes shaped much of what was popular among young people in the 1960s.
+
+The Beatles became so popular that no regular concert venue was big enough for their concerts. This led to them playing the first ever stadium rock concert at Shea Stadium in America, to around 50,000 people. The Beatles stopped touring and playing live music in 1966 because they were sick of audiences screaming so loudly that their music could not be heard. They were also tired of the pressures of touring. Among other things, they were so popular that thousands of people would gather outside the hotels they stayed in day and night meaning that they could never leave their rooms unless they were playing a concert.
+
+The Beatles broke up in 1970 because of the pressures of fame and each member becoming more independent both in their personal lives and musically. In 1973 the two-disc sets "1962-1966" (the "Red Album") and "1967-1970" "(the "Blue Album") were released. These were both re-released on CD in 1993.
+
+The band was still very popular all over the world after they broke up. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, they are the highest-selling recording artists ever. They have sold more than one billion records, including albums and singles. Their music is still important and still influences many musicians. Musicians today perform cover versions of Beatles songs, and people everywhere still listen to their music. Their song 'Yesterday' has been recorded by more artists than any other song.[3] It is also the song that has been played the most on radio ever.
+
+The Beatles made thirteen albums and twenty-six singles together. They also started their own record label, Apple Records. They made two movies, A Hard Day's Night and Help!, where they appeared as actors. Later they made Magical Mystery Tour, a television special. Yellow Submarine was a cartoon movie based on their music. Let It Be showed them working on a new album.
+
+After the Beatles broke up in 1969, all four members started their own solo careers.
+
+John Lennon became a famous peace activist in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He wrote successful songs including "Give Peace a Chance", "Imagine", and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". John Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980 outside his home in New York. Part of Central Park in New York and an airport in Liverpool are named in his honor.
+
+The other three Beatles got together in the 1990s to make two new records. They used demo recordings of two John Lennon songs and added their own new parts. Producer Jeff Lynne helped them so all four members could appear on the songs. The songs were "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". Both were top 5 hits in the UK in 1995 and 1996.
+
+Paul McCartney started the band "Wings" with his wife Linda. In 1977 his song, "Mull of Kintyre", became the biggest selling single in British history. It sold even more copies than the Beatles' singles. Paul McCartney was knighted in 1997.
+
+George Harrison and Ringo Starr had early success as solo artists but were less successful later on. George formed the group the Traveling Wilburys in the 80s with other rock legends Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. George Harrison died of cancer on November 29, 2001. Ringo still tours the world with his "All Starr Band" and was knighted in 2018.
+
+The Beatles made 13 very successful albums during their active years from 1960-1970. Listed below are the albums made during their career.
+

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+Hagia Sofia is a prestigious buliding in Istanbul. It is located in the European part of Istanbul. It was bulit between 532, and 537, to serve as a Byzanine Church.[1][2] Until 1452 it was used as an Eastern Orthodox church. Between 1204 and 1261 it was converted into a Roman Catholic cathedral.  From 1453 it was used as a mosque.  Mustafa Kemmal Atatürk stopped this and turned the building into a museum.  After an earthquake Trdat the Architect finished rebuilding it again in 994. Ottoman sultan Mehmed the conqueror made it into a mosque in 1453 after conquering istanbul.[1] It became a museum in 1935 after the decision of the Turkish government in 1934. Hagia Sophia is often said to be one of the greatest, and most beautiful buildings in history.
+
+In July 2020, the Turkish government ordered the Hagia Sophia to be turned back into a mosque following a supreme court annulment of a 1934 presidential decree that made it a museum.[3]

ensimple/5680.html.txt

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+Thebes (Θῆβαι, Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt about 800 km south of the Mediterranean Sea, on the east bank of the river Nile (25.7° N 32.645° E). It was the capital of Waset, the fourth Upper Egyptian nome.
+

ensimple/5681.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+The GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is a free software picture maker.
+
+It is often used for making logos, making photographs bigger or smaller, changing colours, making many pictures part of one picture, making pictures nicer to look at, and changing file formats.
+
+GIMP is often used as a free software alternative for the most popular Adobe Photoshop, but it is not made to be an Adobe Photoshop clone. GIMPs mascot is named Wilber.
+
+GIMP was started in 1995 by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis and is now taken care of by a group of volunteers as part of the GNU Project. The newest version of GIMP is v.2.8 and it was available since March 2009. GIMPs license is the GNU General Public License, so GIMP is free software.
+
+GIMP can be used for opening and changing many types of file formats.  GIMPs own file format is XCF, which is the name of the building where GIMP was written.
+
+Some file formats that GIMP can be used with are bitmap, JPEG, PNG, GIF and TIFF. GIMP can also read and write path information from SVG files and GIMP can read Adobe PDF files and the raw image formats used by digital cameras, but cannot write to these formats.

ensimple/5682.html.txt

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+Tea is a drink that is popular all over the world. It is made by soaking the dried leaves or flowers of the plant Camellia sinensis in hot water. Tea can have other herbs, spices, or fruit flavours in it, like lemon. All teas are made from the Camellia sinensis plant.[1]
+
+Sometimes the word "tea" is used for other drinks that have been made by soaking fruit or herbs in hot water, like "rosehip tea" or "camomile tea". These are called "herbal teas".
+
+There are two main types of tea: black tea and green tea.
+
+To make black tea, workers take the leaves and spread them out on shelves where they can dry. Next they are rolled and broken into pieces and put into a room where they absorb oxygen. Chemical reactions change the taste and style of the tea. Finally the leaves are dried with hot air until they turn brown or black. Most black tea comes from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and eastern Africa. When black tea leaves are brewed in boiling water, the tea made from them looks deep dark red, so another name used for black tea, especially in China, is red tea.
+
+Green tea is made by putting freshly picked leaves into a steamer. This keeps them green. Then they are crushed and dried in ovens. India is the biggest maker and user of green tea.[2]
+
+Tea is mainly grown in China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, Australia, Argentina and Kenya.
+
+The word tea can also be used as another word for an afternoon meal (mostly in the Commonwealth countries), as in "I am having tea in a short while."  The word also applies to "afternoon tea", a small snack meal served sometimes, usually featuring sandwiches, cakes and tea.  This small snack meal is also called "tea time".
+
+Green tea must steep for 2–3 minutes in water at 175 °F (79 °C). Black tea must steep for 3–5 minutes in boiling water.
+
+Shizuoka is Japan's top producer of tea. Japan has many kinds of tea.
+
+The Chinese originally called it “Kia”. As far as is known it was during the course of the 6th century AD that the name evolved into "Cha". On its arrival in the West it became Té which is still the name for tea in many countries.

ensimple/5683.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+Tea is a drink that is popular all over the world. It is made by soaking the dried leaves or flowers of the plant Camellia sinensis in hot water. Tea can have other herbs, spices, or fruit flavours in it, like lemon. All teas are made from the Camellia sinensis plant.[1]
+
+Sometimes the word "tea" is used for other drinks that have been made by soaking fruit or herbs in hot water, like "rosehip tea" or "camomile tea". These are called "herbal teas".
+
+There are two main types of tea: black tea and green tea.
+
+To make black tea, workers take the leaves and spread them out on shelves where they can dry. Next they are rolled and broken into pieces and put into a room where they absorb oxygen. Chemical reactions change the taste and style of the tea. Finally the leaves are dried with hot air until they turn brown or black. Most black tea comes from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and eastern Africa. When black tea leaves are brewed in boiling water, the tea made from them looks deep dark red, so another name used for black tea, especially in China, is red tea.
+
+Green tea is made by putting freshly picked leaves into a steamer. This keeps them green. Then they are crushed and dried in ovens. India is the biggest maker and user of green tea.[2]
+
+Tea is mainly grown in China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, Australia, Argentina and Kenya.
+
+The word tea can also be used as another word for an afternoon meal (mostly in the Commonwealth countries), as in "I am having tea in a short while."  The word also applies to "afternoon tea", a small snack meal served sometimes, usually featuring sandwiches, cakes and tea.  This small snack meal is also called "tea time".
+
+Green tea must steep for 2–3 minutes in water at 175 °F (79 °C). Black tea must steep for 3–5 minutes in boiling water.
+
+Shizuoka is Japan's top producer of tea. Japan has many kinds of tea.
+
+The Chinese originally called it “Kia”. As far as is known it was during the course of the 6th century AD that the name evolved into "Cha". On its arrival in the West it became Té which is still the name for tea in many countries.

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+Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, Jr. (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919), was the 26th president of the United States. He was born in New York.
+
+Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City.  He was curious as a child, so he took up studying animals.[2]  He also took up boxing.  He went to college at Harvard.  He married twice, first to Alice Hathaway Lee and later to Edith Kermit Carow.  He had six children: Alice, Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archie and Quentin.
+
+After spending time in North Dakota, Roosevelt was elected into the New York State Legislature, and served, as a Civil Service Commissioner and New York City police commissioner (a non-police officer who is in charge of making the police department run smoothly). In 1897, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, but gave up on that to fight in the Spanish American War.
+
+Roosevelt became Governor of New York, then Vice-President. After William McKinley was shot and killed, he became President of the United States.
+
+Roosevelt joined the US Army in the Spanish-American War. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the 1st U. S. Volunteer Cavalry.  These horsemen were called the "Roughriders".[3]
+
+For his actions during the war, Roosevelt was recommended for the Medal of Honor.[4]
+
+In 2001, Theodore Roosevelt became the first President to receive the Medal of Honor.[4]
+
+Roosevelt's Medal of Honor recognized his conduct in frontline fighting in Cuba in 1898.[4]
+
+The words of Roosevelt's citation explain:
+
+Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt distinguished himself by acts of bravery on 1 July 1898, near Santiago de Cuba, Republic of Cuba, while leading a daring charge up San Juan Hill. Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt, in total disregard for his personal safety, and accompanied by only four or five men, led a desperate and gallant charge up San Juan Hill, encouraging his troops to continue the assault through withering enemy fire over open countryside. Facing the enemy's heavy fire, he displayed extraordinary bravery throughout the charge, and was the first to reach the enemy trenches, where he quickly killed one of the enemy with his pistol, allowing his men to continue the assault. His leadership and valor turned the tide in the Battle for San Juan Hill. Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.[4]
+
+As President, Roosevelt worked to make the U.S. a world power, or one of the most powerful countries in the world.  His foreign policy was described by an African proverb as "Speak softly and carry a big stick".  He increased the size of the United States' navy and sent all of the ships across the world to demonstrate to other countries that the United States is now a world power.
+
+He continued the Monroe Doctrine and used the country's military might to influence Latin American politics.  He had the Panama Canal built (which allowed ships to travel in less time by taking a shortcut).  As president, he was interested in what happened in other countries.  In 1905, he helped end the war between the Russian and Japanese empires.  He won a Nobel Peace Prize for it in 1906.
+
+At home, he fought for all Americans having a "Square Deal", meaning an equal chance for all Americans to become successful.  As part of his Square Deal, he regulated big businesses called trusts, supported labor laws for the working class, required meat and drugs to be inspected, and protected the environment.  These ideas would influence later presidents to expand the government's role in the economy.
+
+Roosevelt did not run for President in 1908, and wanted William Howard Taft to be President instead.  Taft was chosen, and Roosevelt went to Africa to hunt big game.  However, when he came back, he thought Taft was not doing a good job.  He ran against Taft for President in 1912.  While running for President, he was shot, but lived.  Both Roosevelt and Taft lost to Woodrow Wilson.  Roosevelt also thought Wilson was not doing a good job, either, and wanted the U.S. to enter World War I years before they did. Roosevelt died on January 6 1919 of a pulmonary embolism and heart attack.
+
+Besides being president, Roosevelt was an author and historian.  He wrote 35 books about politics, ships, and hunting.  He is thought to be one of America's presidents who read the most.  He owned a large ranch in North Dakota. He also hunted large animals throughout the world and was active with the Boy Scouts of America.
+
+Roosevelt is one of four Presidents to be carved in stone on Mount Rushmore.    Historians consider him one of the best U.S. presidents.
+
+Theodore Roosevelt is the namesake of many American schools.  He  has a national park in North Dakota named after him, a type of elk (big deer), as well as river in Brazil.  The popular stuffed animal doll, the Teddy bear, was named after Roosevelt.[5]
+
+Two US Navy ships are named after him:
+
+Notes
+
+Dunant / Passy (1901) ·
+Ducommun / Gobat (1902) ·
+Cremer (1903) ·
+IDI (1904) ·
+Suttner (1905) ·
+Roosevelt (1906) ·
+Moneta / Renault (1907) ·
+Arnoldson / Bajer (1908) ·
+Beernaert / Estournelles de Constant (1909) ·
+IPB (1910) ·
+Asser / Fried (1911) ·
+Root (1912) ·
+La Fontaine (1913) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross (1917) ·
+Wilson (1919) ·
+Bourgeois (1920) ·
+Branting / Lange (1921) ·
+Nansen (1922) ·
+Chamberlain / Dawes (1925)
+
+Briand / Stresemann (1926) ·
+Buisson / Quidde (1927) ·
+Kellogg (1929) ·
+Söderblom (1930) ·
+Addams / Butler (1931) ·
+Angell (1933) ·
+Henderson (1934) ·
+Ossietzky (1935) ·
+Lamas (1936) ·
+Cecil (1937) ·
+Nansen Office (1938) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross (1944) ·
+Hull (1945) ·
+Balch / Mott (1946) ·
+QPSW / AFSC (1947) ·
+Boyd Orr (1949) ·
+Bunche (1950)
+
+Jouhaux (1951) ·
+Schweitzer (1952) ·
+Marshall (1953) ·
+UNHCR (1954) ·
+Pearson (1957) ·
+Pire (1958) ·
+Noel‑Baker (1959) ·
+Lutuli (1960) ·
+Hammarskjöld (1961) ·
+Pauling (1962) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross / League of Red Cross Societies (1963) ·
+King (1964) ·
+UNICEF (1965) ·
+Cassin (1968) ·
+ILO (1969) ·
+Borlaug (1970) ·
+Brandt (1971) ·
+Kissinger / Le (1973) ·
+MacBride / Sato (1974) ·
+Sakharov (1975)
+
+B.Williams / Corrigan (1976) ·
+AI (1977) ·
+Sadat / Begin (1978) ·
+Mother Teresa (1979) ·
+Esquivel (1980) ·
+UNHCR (1981) ·
+Myrdal / García Robles (1982) ·
+Wałęsa (1983) ·
+Tutu (1984) ·
+IPPNW (1985) ·
+Wiesel (1986) ·
+Arias (1987) ·
+UN Peacekeeping Forces (1988) ·
+Dalai Lama (1989) ·
+Gorbachev (1990) ·
+Suu Kyi (1991) ·
+Menchú (1992) ·
+Mandela / de Klerk (1993) ·
+Arafat / Peres / Rabin (1994) ·
+Pugwash Conferences / Rotblat (1995) ·
+Belo / Ramos-Horta (1996) ·
+ICBL / J.Williams (1997) ·
+Hume / Trimble (1998) ·
+Médecins Sans Frontières (1999) ·
+Kim (2000)
+
+UN / Annan (2001) ·
+Carter (2002) ·
+Ebadi	(2003) ·
+Maathai (2004) ·
+IAEA / ElBaradei (2005) ·
+Yunus / Grameen Bank (2006) ·
+Gore / IPCC (2007) ·
+Ahtisaari (2008) ·
+Obama (2009) ·
+Xiaobo (2010) ·
+Sirleaf / Gbowee / Karman (2011) ·
+EU (2012) ·
+Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2013) ·
+Yousafzai / Satyarthi (2014) ·
+Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (2015) ·
+Juan Manuel Santos (2016) ·
+International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2017) ·
+Mukwege / Murad (2018) ·
+Ahmed (2019)

ensimple/5685.html.txt

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+Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, Jr. (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919), was the 26th president of the United States. He was born in New York.
+
+Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City.  He was curious as a child, so he took up studying animals.[2]  He also took up boxing.  He went to college at Harvard.  He married twice, first to Alice Hathaway Lee and later to Edith Kermit Carow.  He had six children: Alice, Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archie and Quentin.
+
+After spending time in North Dakota, Roosevelt was elected into the New York State Legislature, and served, as a Civil Service Commissioner and New York City police commissioner (a non-police officer who is in charge of making the police department run smoothly). In 1897, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, but gave up on that to fight in the Spanish American War.
+
+Roosevelt became Governor of New York, then Vice-President. After William McKinley was shot and killed, he became President of the United States.
+
+Roosevelt joined the US Army in the Spanish-American War. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the 1st U. S. Volunteer Cavalry.  These horsemen were called the "Roughriders".[3]
+
+For his actions during the war, Roosevelt was recommended for the Medal of Honor.[4]
+
+In 2001, Theodore Roosevelt became the first President to receive the Medal of Honor.[4]
+
+Roosevelt's Medal of Honor recognized his conduct in frontline fighting in Cuba in 1898.[4]
+
+The words of Roosevelt's citation explain:
+
+Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt distinguished himself by acts of bravery on 1 July 1898, near Santiago de Cuba, Republic of Cuba, while leading a daring charge up San Juan Hill. Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt, in total disregard for his personal safety, and accompanied by only four or five men, led a desperate and gallant charge up San Juan Hill, encouraging his troops to continue the assault through withering enemy fire over open countryside. Facing the enemy's heavy fire, he displayed extraordinary bravery throughout the charge, and was the first to reach the enemy trenches, where he quickly killed one of the enemy with his pistol, allowing his men to continue the assault. His leadership and valor turned the tide in the Battle for San Juan Hill. Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.[4]
+
+As President, Roosevelt worked to make the U.S. a world power, or one of the most powerful countries in the world.  His foreign policy was described by an African proverb as "Speak softly and carry a big stick".  He increased the size of the United States' navy and sent all of the ships across the world to demonstrate to other countries that the United States is now a world power.
+
+He continued the Monroe Doctrine and used the country's military might to influence Latin American politics.  He had the Panama Canal built (which allowed ships to travel in less time by taking a shortcut).  As president, he was interested in what happened in other countries.  In 1905, he helped end the war between the Russian and Japanese empires.  He won a Nobel Peace Prize for it in 1906.
+
+At home, he fought for all Americans having a "Square Deal", meaning an equal chance for all Americans to become successful.  As part of his Square Deal, he regulated big businesses called trusts, supported labor laws for the working class, required meat and drugs to be inspected, and protected the environment.  These ideas would influence later presidents to expand the government's role in the economy.
+
+Roosevelt did not run for President in 1908, and wanted William Howard Taft to be President instead.  Taft was chosen, and Roosevelt went to Africa to hunt big game.  However, when he came back, he thought Taft was not doing a good job.  He ran against Taft for President in 1912.  While running for President, he was shot, but lived.  Both Roosevelt and Taft lost to Woodrow Wilson.  Roosevelt also thought Wilson was not doing a good job, either, and wanted the U.S. to enter World War I years before they did. Roosevelt died on January 6 1919 of a pulmonary embolism and heart attack.
+
+Besides being president, Roosevelt was an author and historian.  He wrote 35 books about politics, ships, and hunting.  He is thought to be one of America's presidents who read the most.  He owned a large ranch in North Dakota. He also hunted large animals throughout the world and was active with the Boy Scouts of America.
+
+Roosevelt is one of four Presidents to be carved in stone on Mount Rushmore.    Historians consider him one of the best U.S. presidents.
+
+Theodore Roosevelt is the namesake of many American schools.  He  has a national park in North Dakota named after him, a type of elk (big deer), as well as river in Brazil.  The popular stuffed animal doll, the Teddy bear, was named after Roosevelt.[5]
+
+Two US Navy ships are named after him:
+
+Notes
+
+Dunant / Passy (1901) ·
+Ducommun / Gobat (1902) ·
+Cremer (1903) ·
+IDI (1904) ·
+Suttner (1905) ·
+Roosevelt (1906) ·
+Moneta / Renault (1907) ·
+Arnoldson / Bajer (1908) ·
+Beernaert / Estournelles de Constant (1909) ·
+IPB (1910) ·
+Asser / Fried (1911) ·
+Root (1912) ·
+La Fontaine (1913) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross (1917) ·
+Wilson (1919) ·
+Bourgeois (1920) ·
+Branting / Lange (1921) ·
+Nansen (1922) ·
+Chamberlain / Dawes (1925)
+
+Briand / Stresemann (1926) ·
+Buisson / Quidde (1927) ·
+Kellogg (1929) ·
+Söderblom (1930) ·
+Addams / Butler (1931) ·
+Angell (1933) ·
+Henderson (1934) ·
+Ossietzky (1935) ·
+Lamas (1936) ·
+Cecil (1937) ·
+Nansen Office (1938) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross (1944) ·
+Hull (1945) ·
+Balch / Mott (1946) ·
+QPSW / AFSC (1947) ·
+Boyd Orr (1949) ·
+Bunche (1950)
+
+Jouhaux (1951) ·
+Schweitzer (1952) ·
+Marshall (1953) ·
+UNHCR (1954) ·
+Pearson (1957) ·
+Pire (1958) ·
+Noel‑Baker (1959) ·
+Lutuli (1960) ·
+Hammarskjöld (1961) ·
+Pauling (1962) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross / League of Red Cross Societies (1963) ·
+King (1964) ·
+UNICEF (1965) ·
+Cassin (1968) ·
+ILO (1969) ·
+Borlaug (1970) ·
+Brandt (1971) ·
+Kissinger / Le (1973) ·
+MacBride / Sato (1974) ·
+Sakharov (1975)
+
+B.Williams / Corrigan (1976) ·
+AI (1977) ·
+Sadat / Begin (1978) ·
+Mother Teresa (1979) ·
+Esquivel (1980) ·
+UNHCR (1981) ·
+Myrdal / García Robles (1982) ·
+Wałęsa (1983) ·
+Tutu (1984) ·
+IPPNW (1985) ·
+Wiesel (1986) ·
+Arias (1987) ·
+UN Peacekeeping Forces (1988) ·
+Dalai Lama (1989) ·
+Gorbachev (1990) ·
+Suu Kyi (1991) ·
+Menchú (1992) ·
+Mandela / de Klerk (1993) ·
+Arafat / Peres / Rabin (1994) ·
+Pugwash Conferences / Rotblat (1995) ·
+Belo / Ramos-Horta (1996) ·
+ICBL / J.Williams (1997) ·
+Hume / Trimble (1998) ·
+Médecins Sans Frontières (1999) ·
+Kim (2000)
+
+UN / Annan (2001) ·
+Carter (2002) ·
+Ebadi	(2003) ·
+Maathai (2004) ·
+IAEA / ElBaradei (2005) ·
+Yunus / Grameen Bank (2006) ·
+Gore / IPCC (2007) ·
+Ahtisaari (2008) ·
+Obama (2009) ·
+Xiaobo (2010) ·
+Sirleaf / Gbowee / Karman (2011) ·
+EU (2012) ·
+Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2013) ·
+Yousafzai / Satyarthi (2014) ·
+Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (2015) ·
+Juan Manuel Santos (2016) ·
+International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2017) ·
+Mukwege / Murad (2018) ·
+Ahmed (2019)

ensimple/5686.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,408 @@
+In mathematics, the  Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras's theorem is a statement about the sides of a right triangle.
+
+One of the angles of a right triangle is always equal to 90 degrees. This angle is the right angle. The two sides next to the right angle are called the legs and the other side is called the hypotenuse. The hypotenuse is the side opposite to the right angle, and it is always the longest side. It was discovered by Vasudha Arora.
+
+The Pythagorean theorem says that the area of a square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares on the legs. In this picture, the area of the blue square added to the area of the red square makes the area of the purple square. It was named after the Greek mathematician Pythagoras:
+
+If the lengths of the legs are a and b, and the length of the hypotenuse is c, then, 
+
+
+
+
+a
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+b
+
+2
+
+
+=
+
+c
+
+2
+
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}}
+
+.
+
+There are many different proofs of this theorem. They fall into four categories:
+
+One proof of the Pythagorean theorem was found by a Greek mathematician, Eudoxus of Cnidus.
+
+The proof uses three lemmas:
+
+The proof is:
+
+We can get another proof of the Pythagorean theorem by using similar triangles.
+
+From the image, we know that 
+
+
+
+c
+=
+d
++
+e
+
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle c=d+e\,\!}
+
+. And by replacing equations (1) and (2):
+
+Multiplying by c:
+
+Pythagorean triples or triplets are three whole numbers which fit the equation 
+
+
+
+
+a
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+b
+
+2
+
+
+=
+
+c
+
+2
+
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}}
+
+.
+
+The triangle with sides of 3, 4, and 5 is a well known example. If a=3 and b=4, then 
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+4
+
+2
+
+
+=
+
+5
+
+2
+
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle 3^{2}+4^{2}=5^{2}}
+
+ because 
+
+
+
+9
++
+16
+=
+25
+
+
+{\displaystyle 9+16=25}
+
+. This can also be shown as 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+4
+
+2
+
+
+
+
+=
+5.
+
+
+{\displaystyle {\sqrt {3^{2}+4^{2}}}=5.}
+
+The three-four-five triangle works for all multiples of 3, 4, and 5. In other words, numbers such as 6, 8, 10 or 30, 40 and 50 are also Pythagorean triples. Another example of a triple is the 12-5-13 triangle, because 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+12
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+5
+
+2
+
+
+
+
+=
+13
+
+
+{\displaystyle {\sqrt {12^{2}+5^{2}}}=13}
+
+.
+
+A Pythagorean triple that is not a multiple of other triples is called a primitive Pythagorean triple. Any primitive Pythagorean triple can be found using the expression 
+
+
+
+(
+2
+m
+n
+,
+
+m
+
+2
+
+
+−
+
+n
+
+2
+
+
+,
+
+m
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+n
+
+2
+
+
+)
+
+
+{\displaystyle (2mn,m^{2}-n^{2},m^{2}+n^{2})}
+
+, but the following conditions must be satisfied. They place restrictions on the values of 
+
+
+
+m
+
+
+{\displaystyle m}
+
+ and 
+
+
+
+n
+
+
+{\displaystyle n}
+
+.
+
+If all four conditions are satisfied, then the values of 
+
+
+
+m
+
+
+{\displaystyle m}
+
+ and 
+
+
+
+n
+
+
+{\displaystyle n}
+
+ create a primitive Pythagorean triple.
+
+m
+=
+2
+
+
+{\displaystyle m=2}
+
+ and 
+
+
+
+n
+=
+1
+
+
+{\displaystyle n=1}
+
+ create a primitive Pythagorean triple. The values satisfy all four conditions. 
+
+
+
+2
+m
+n
+=
+2
+×
+2
+×
+1
+=
+4
+
+
+{\displaystyle 2mn=2\times 2\times 1=4}
+
+, 
+
+
+
+
+m
+
+2
+
+
+−
+
+n
+
+2
+
+
+=
+
+2
+
+2
+
+
+−
+
+1
+
+2
+
+
+=
+4
+−
+1
+=
+3
+
+
+{\displaystyle m^{2}-n^{2}=2^{2}-1^{2}=4-1=3}
+
+ and 
+
+
+
+
+m
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+n
+
+2
+
+
+=
+
+2
+
+2
+
+
++
+
+1
+
+2
+
+
+=
+4
++
+1
+=
+5
+
+
+{\displaystyle m^{2}+n^{2}=2^{2}+1^{2}=4+1=5}
+
+, so the triple 
+
+
+
+(
+3
+,
+4
+,
+5
+)
+
+
+{\displaystyle (3,4,5)}
+
+ is created.

ensimple/5687.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+Plate tectonics is a theory of geology. It explains movement of the Earth's lithosphere: this is the earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle. The lithosphere is divided into plates, some of which are very large and can be entire continents.
+
+Heat from the mantle is the source of energy driving plate tectonics. Exactly how this works is still a matter of debate.[1]
+
+The outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers. The lithosphere, above, includes the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle.
+
+Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere is like a solid or a hot viscous liquid. It can flow like a liquid on long time scales. Large convection currents in the asthenosphere transfer heat to the surface, where plumes of less dense magma break apart the plates at the spreading centers. The deeper mantle below the asthenosphere is more rigid again. This is caused by extremely high pressure.
+
+There are two types of tectonic plates: oceanic and continental.
+
+An oceanic plate is a tectonic plate at the bottom of the oceans. It is primarily made of mafic rocks, rich in iron and magnesium. It is thinner than the continental crust (generally less than 10 kilometers thick) and denser. It is also younger than continental crust. When they collide, the oceanic plate moves underneath the continental plate because of its density. As a result, it melts in the mantle and reforms. The oldest oceanic rocks are less than 200 million years old.
+
+Continental plate is the thick part of the earth's crust which forms the large land masses. Continental rock has lower density than oceanic rock. They are mostly made of felsic rocks. These have granite, with its abundant silica, aluminum, sodium and potassium. Continental plates are rarely destroyed. Their oldest rocks seem to be 4 billion years old. Oceanic plates cover about 71 percent of Earth’s surface, while continental plates cover 29 percent.
+
+Ocean lithosphere varies in thickness. Because it is formed at mid-ocean ridges and spreads outwards, it gets thicker as it moves further away from the mid-ocean ridge. Typically, the thickness varies from about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) thick at mid-ocean ridges to greater than 100 kilometres (62 mi) at subduction zones.[1]
+
+Continental lithosphere is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) thick. It varies between basins, mountain ranges, and the stable cratonic interiors of continents. The two types of crust differ in thickness, with continental crust being much thicker than oceanic: 35 kilometres (22 mi) vs. 6 kilometres (3.7 mi).[1]
+
+The lithosphere consists of tectonic plates. There are seven major and many minor plates. The lithospheric plates ride on the asthenosphere (aesthenosphere). The plate boundary is where two plates meet. When movement occurs, the plates may create mountains, earthquakes, volcanoes, mid-oceanic ridges and oceanic trenches, depending on which way the plates are moving.[2][3][4][5][6]
+
+Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries. The lateral movement of the plates varies from:
+
+Depending on how they are defined, seven or eight major plates are usually listed:

ensimple/5688.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,255 @@
+Evolution is a biological process that makes living things change over a long time. The explanation of how this process works and how living beings have come to be the way they are is called the theory of evolution.[1]
+
+Earth is very old.[2][3] By studying the layers of rock that make up Earth's crust, scientists can find out about its past. This kind of research is called historical geology.
+
+It is known that living things have changed over time, because their remains can be seen in the rocks. These remains are called 'fossils'. This proves that the animals and plants of today are different from those of long ago.  The older the fossils, the bigger the differences from modern forms.[4]  This has happened because evolution has taken place. That evolution has taken place is a fact, because it is overwhelmingly supported by many lines of evidence.[5][6][7] At the same time, evolutionary questions are still being actively researched by biologists.
+
+Comparison of DNA sequences allows organisms to be grouped by how similar their sequences are. In 2010 an analysis compared sequences to phylogenetic trees, and supported the idea of common descent. There is now "strong quantitative support, by a formal test",[8] for the unity of life.[9]
+
+The theory of evolution is the basis of modern biology. Theodosius Dobzhansky, a well-known evolutionary biologist, has said: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution".[10]
+
+The evidence for evolution is given in a number of books.[11][12][13][14] Some of this evidence is discussed here.
+
+The realization that some rocks contain fossils was a very important event in natural history. There are three parts to this story:
+
+The most convincing evidence for the occurrence of evolution is the discovery of extinct organisms in older geological strata... The older the strata are...the more different the fossil will be from living representatives... that is to be expected if the fauna and flora of the earlier strata had gradually evolved into their descendants.
+
+The evolution of the horse family (Equidae) is a good example of the way that evolution works. The oldest fossil of a horse is about 52 million years old. It was a small animal with five toes on the front feet and four on the hind feet. At that time, there were more forests in the world than today. This horse lived in woodland, eating leaves, nuts and fruit with its simple teeth. It was only about as big as a fox.[19]
+
+About 30 million years ago the world started to become cooler and drier. Forests shrank; grassland expanded, and horses changed. They ate grass, they grew larger, and they ran faster because they had to escape faster predators. Because grass wears teeth out, horses with longer-lasting teeth had an advantage.
+
+For most of this long period of time, there were a number of horse types (genera). Now, however, only one genus exists: the modern horse, Equus. It has teeth which grow all its life, hooves on single toes, great long legs for running, and the animal is big and strong enough to survive in the open plain.[19] Horses lived in western Canada until 12,000 years ago,[20] but all horses in North America became extinct about 11,000 years ago. The causes of this extinction are not yet clear. Climate change and over-hunting by humans are suggested.
+
+So, scientists can see that changes have happened. They have happened slowly over a long time. How these changes have come about is explained by the theory of evolution.
+
+This is a topic which fascinated both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.[21][22][23] When new species occur, usually by the splitting of older species, this takes place in one place in the world. Once it is established, a new species may spread to some places and not others.
+
+Australasia has been separated from other continents for many millions of years. In the main part of the continent, Australia, 83% of mammals, 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects and 93% of amphibians are endemic.[24] Its native mammals are mostly marsupials like kangaroos, bandicoots, and quolls.[25] By contrast, marsupials are today totally absent from Africa and form a small portion of the mammalian fauna of South America, where opossums, shrew opossums, and the monito del monte occur (see the Great American Interchange).
+
+The only living representatives of primitive egg-laying mammals (monotremes) are the echidnas and the platypus. They are only found in Australasia, which includes Tasmania, New Guinea, and Kangaroo Island. These monotremes are totally absent in the rest of the world.[26] On the other hand, Australia is missing many groups of placental mammals that are common on other continents (carnivora, artiodactyls, shrews, squirrels, lagomorphs), although it does have indigenous bats and rodents, which arrived later.[27]
+
+The evolutionary story is that placental mammals evolved in Eurasia, and wiped out the marsupials and monotremes wherever they spread. They did not reach Australasia until more recently. That is the simple reason why Australia has most of the world's marsupials and all the world's monotremes.
+
+In about 6,500 sq mi (17,000 km2), the Hawaiian Islands have the most diverse collection of Drosophila flies in the world, living from rainforests to mountain meadows. About 800 Hawaiian fruit fly species are known.
+
+Genetic evidence shows that all the native fruit fly species in Hawaiʻi have descended from a single ancestral species that came to the islands, about 20 million years ago. Later adaptive radiation was caused by a lack of competition and a wide variety of vacant niches. Although it would be possible for a single pregnant female to colonise an island, it is more likely to have been a group from the same species.[28][29][30][31]
+
+The combination of continental drift and evolution can explain what is found in the fossil record. Glossopteris is an extinct species of seed fern plants from the Permian period on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.[32]
+
+Glossopteris fossils are found in Permian strata in southeast South America, southeast Africa, all of Madagascar, northern India, all of Australia, all of New Zealand, and scattered on the southern and northern edges of Antarctica.
+
+During the Permian, these continents were connected as Gondwana. This is known from magnetic striping in the rocks, other fossil distributions, and glacial scratches pointing away from the temperate climate of the South Pole during the Permian.[13]p103[33]
+
+When biologists look at living things, they see that animals and plants belong to groups which have something in common. Charles Darwin explained that this followed naturally if "we admit the common parentage of allied forms, together with their modification through variation and natural selection".[21]p402[11]p456
+
+For example, all insects are related. They share a basic body plan, whose development is controlled by master regulatory genes.[34] They have six legs; they have hard parts on the outside of the body (an exoskeleton); they have eyes formed of many separate chambers, and so on. Biologists explain this with evolution. All insects are the descendants of a group of animals who lived a long time ago. They still keep the basic plan (six legs and so on) but the details change. They look different now because they changed in different ways: this is evolution.[35]
+
+It was Darwin who first suggested that all life on Earth had a single origin, and from that beginning "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved".[11]p490[21] Evidence from molecular biology in recent years has supported the idea that all life is related by common descent.[36]
+
+Strong evidence for common descent comes from vestigial structures.[21]p397 The useless wings of flightless beetles are sealed under fused wing covers. This can be simply explained by their descent from ancestral beetles which had wings that worked.[14]p49
+
+Rudimentary body parts, those that are smaller and simpler in structure than corresponding parts in ancestral species, are called vestigial organs. Those organs are functional in the ancestral species but are now either nonfunctional or re-adapted to a new function. Examples are the pelvic girdles of whales, halteres (hind wings) of flies, wings of flightless birds, and the leaves of some xerophytes (e.g. cactus) and parasitic plants (e.g. dodder).
+
+However, vestigial structures may have their original function replaced with another. For example, the halteres in flies help balance the insect while in flight, and the wings of ostriches are used in mating rituals, and in aggressive display. The ear ossicles in mammals are former bones of the lower jaw.
+
+In 1893, Robert Wiedersheim published a book on human anatomy and its relevance to man's evolutionary history. This book contained a list of 86 human organs that he considered vestigial.[37] This list included examples such as the appendix and the 3rd molar teeth (wisdom teeth).
+
+The strong grip of a baby is another example.[38] It is a vestigial reflex, a remnant of the past when pre-human babies clung to their mothers' hair as the mothers swung through the trees. This is borne out by the babies' feet, which curl up when it is sitting down (primate babies grip with the feet as well). All primates except modern man have thick body hair to which an infant can cling, unlike modern humans. The grasp reflex allows the mother to escape danger by climbing a tree using both hands and feet.[13][39]
+
+Vestigial organs often have some selection against them. The original organs took resources, sometimes huge resources. If they no longer have a function, reducing their size improves fitness. And there is direct evidence of selection. Some cave crustacea reproduce more successfully with smaller eyes than do those with larger eyes. This may be because the nervous tissue dealing with sight now becomes available to handle other sensory input.[40]p310
+
+From the eighteenth century it was known that embryos of different species were much more similar than the adults. In particular, some parts of embryos reflect their evolutionary past. For example, the embryos of land vertebrates develop gill slits like fish embryos. Of course, this is only a temporary stage, which gives rise to many structures in the neck of reptiles, birds and mammals. The proto-gill slits are part of a complicated system of development: that is why they persisted.[34]
+
+Another example are the embryonic teeth of baleen whales.[41] They are later lost. The baleen filter is developed from different tissue, called keratin. Early fossil baleen whales did actually have teeth as well as the baleen.[42]
+
+A good example is the barnacle. It took many centuries before natural historians discovered that barnacles were crustacea. Their adults look so unlike other crustacea, but their larvae are very similar to those of other crustacea.[43]
+
+Charles Darwin lived in a world where animal husbandry and domesticated crops were vitally important. In both cases farmers selected for breeding individuals with special properties, and prevented the breeding of individuals with less desirable characteristics. The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw a growth in scientific agriculture, and artificial breeding was part of this.
+
+Darwin discussed artificial selection as a model for natural selection in the 1859 first edition of his work On the Origin of Species, in Chapter IV: Natural selection:
+
+Nikolai Vavilov showed that rye, originally a weed, came to be a crop plant by unintentional selection. Rye is a tougher plant than wheat: it survives in harsher conditions. Having become a crop like the wheat, rye was able to become a crop plant in harsh areas, such as hills and mountains.[45][46]
+
+There is no real difference in the genetic processes underlying artificial and natural selection, and the concept of artificial selection was used by Charles Darwin as an illustration of the wider process of natural selection. There are practical differences. Experimental studies of artificial selection show that "the rate of evolution in selection experiments is at least two orders of magnitude (that is 100 times) greater than any rate seen in nature or the fossil record".[47]p157
+
+Some have thought that artificial selection could not produce new species. It now seems that it can.
+
+New species have been created by domesticated animal husbandry, but the details are not known or not clear. For example, domestic sheep were created by hybridisation, and no longer produce viable offspring with Ovis orientalis, one species from which they are descended.[48] Domestic cattle, on the other hand, can be considered the same species as several varieties of wild ox, gaur, yak, etc., as they readily produce fertile offspring with them.[49]
+
+The best-documented new species came from laboratory experiments in the late 1980s. William Rice and G.W. Salt bred fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, using a maze with three different choices of habitat such as light/dark and wet/dry. Each generation was put into the maze, and the groups of flies that came out of two of the eight exits were set apart to breed with each other in their respective groups.
+
+After thirty-five generations, the two groups and their offspring were isolated reproductively because of their strong habitat preferences: they mated only within the areas they preferred, and so did not mate with flies that preferred the other areas.[50][51]
+
+Diane Dodd was also able to show how reproductive isolation can develop from mating preferences in Drosophila pseudoobscura fruit flies after only eight generations using different food types, starch and maltose.[52]
+
+
+
+Dodd's experiment has been easy for others to repeat. It has also been done with other fruit flies and foods.[53]
+
+Some biologists say that evolution has happened when a trait that is caused by genetics becomes more or less common in a group of organisms.[54] Others call it evolution when new species appear.
+
+Changes can happen quickly in the smaller, simpler organisms. For example, many bacteria that cause disease can no longer be killed with some of the antibiotic medicines. These medicines have only been in use about eighty years, and at first worked extremely well. The bacteria have evolved so that they are no longer affected by antibiotics anymore.[55] The drugs killed off all the bacteria except a few which had some resistance. These few resistant bacteria produced the next generation.
+
+The Colorado beetle is famous for its ability to resist pesticides. Over the last 50 years it has become resistant to 52 chemical compounds used in insecticides, including cyanide.[56] This is natural selection speeded up by the artificial conditions. However, not every population is resistant to every chemical.[57] The populations only become resistant to chemicals used in their area.
+
+Although there were a number of natural historians in the 18th century who had some idea of evolution, the first well-formed ideas came in the 19th century. Three biologists are most important.
+
+Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744–1829), a French biologist, claimed that animals changed according to natural laws. He said that animals could pass on traits they had acquired during their lifetime to their offspring, using inheritance. Today, his theory is known as Lamarckism. Its main purpose is to explain adaptations by natural means.[58] He proposed a tendency for organisms to become more complex, moving up a ladder of progress, plus use and disuse.
+
+Lamarck's idea was that a giraffe's neck grew longer because it tried to reach higher up. This idea failed because it conflicts with heredity (Mendel's work). Mendel made his discoveries about half a century after Lamarck's work.
+
+Charles Darwin (1809–1882) wrote his On the Origin of Species in 1859. In this book, he put forward much evidence that evolution had occurred. He also proposed natural selection as the way evolution had taken place. But Darwin did not understand about genetics and how traits were actually passed on. He could not accurately explain what made children look like their parents.
+
+Nevertheless, Darwin's explanation of evolution was fundamentally correct. In contrast to Lamarck, Darwin's idea was that the giraffe's neck became longer because those with longer necks survived better.[21]p177/9 These survivors passed their genes on, and in time the whole species got longer necks.
+
+An Austrian monk called Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) bred plants. In the mid-19th century, he discovered how traits were passed on from one generation to the next.
+
+He used peas for his experiments: some peas have white flowers and others have red ones. Some peas have green seeds and others have yellow seeds. Mendel used artificial pollination to breed the peas. His results are discussed further in Mendelian inheritance. Darwin thought that the inheritance from both parents blended together. Mendel proved that the genes from the two parents stay separate, and may be passed on unchanged to later generations.
+
+Mendel published his results in a journal that was not well-known, and his discoveries were overlooked. Around 1900, his work was rediscovered.[59][60] Genes are bits of information made of DNA which work like a set of instructions. A set of genes are in every living cell. Together, genes organise the way an egg develops into an adult. With mammals, and many other living things, a copy of each gene comes from the father and another copy from the mother. Some living organisms, including some plants, only have one parent, so get all their genes from them. These genes produce the genetic differences which evolution acts on.
+
+Darwin's On the Origin of Species has two themes: the evidence for evolution, and his ideas on how evolution took place. This section deals with the second issue.
+
+The first two chapters of the Origin deal with variation in domesticated plants and animals, and variation in nature.
+
+All living things show variation. Every population which has been studied shows that animal and plants vary as much as humans do.[61][62]p90 This is a great fact of nature, and without it evolution would not occur. Darwin said that, just as man selects what he wants in his farm animals, so in nature the variations allow natural selection to work.[63]
+
+The features of an individual are influenced by two things, heredity and environment. First, development is controlled by genes inherited from the parents. Second, living brings its own influences. Some things are entirely inherited, others partly, and some not inherited at all.
+
+The colour of eyes is entirely inherited; they are a genetic trait. Height or weight is only partly inherited, and the language is not at all inherited. Just to be clear: the fact that humans can speak is inherited, but what language is spoken depends on where a person lives and what they are taught. Another example: a person inherits a brain of somewhat variable capacity. What happens after birth depends on many things such as home environment, education and other experiences. When a person is adult, their brain is what their inheritance and life experience have made it.
+
+Evolution only concerns the traits which can be inherited, wholly or partly. The hereditary traits are passed on from one generation to the next through the genes. A person's genes contain all the traits which they inherit from their parents. The accidents of life are not passed on. Also, of course, each person lives a somewhat different life: that increases the differences.
+
+Organisms in any population vary in reproductive success.[64]p81 From the point of view of evolution, 'reproductive success' means the total number of offspring which live to breed and leave offspring themselves.
+
+Variation can only affect future generations if it is inherited. Because of the work of Gregor Mendel, we know that much variation is inherited. Mendel's 'factors' are now called genes. Research has shown that almost every individual in a sexually reproducing species is genetically unique.[65]p204
+
+Genetic variation is increased by gene mutations. DNA does not always reproduce exactly. Rare changes occur, and these changes can be inherited. Many changes in DNA cause faults; some are neutral or even advantageous. This gives rise to genetic variation, which is the seed-corn of evolution. Sexual reproduction, by the crossing over of chromosomes during meiosis, spreads variation through the population. Other events, like natural selection and drift, reduce variation. So a population in the wild always has variation, but the details are always changing.[62]p90
+
+Evolution mainly works by natural selection. What does this mean? Animals and plants which are best suited to their environment will, on average, survive better. There is a struggle for existence. Those who survive will produce the next generation. Their genes will be passed on, and the genes of those who did not reproduce will not. This is the basic mechanism which changes a population and causes evolution.
+
+Natural selection explains why living organisms change over time to have the anatomy, the functions and behaviour that they have. It works like this:
+
+There are now many cases where natural selection has been proved to occur in wild populations.[5][67][68] Almost every case investigated of camouflage, mimicry and polymorphism has shown strong effects of selection.[69]
+
+The force of selection can be much stronger than was thought by the early population geneticists. The resistance to pesticides has grown quickly. Resistance to warfarin in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) grew rapidly because those that survived made up more and more of the population. Research showed that, in the absence of warfarin, the resistant homozygote was at a 54% disadvantage to the normal wild type homozygote.[62]p182[70] This great disadvantage was quickly overcome by the selection for warfarin resistance.
+
+Mammals normally cannot drink milk as adults, but humans are an exception. Milk is digested by the enzyme lactase, which switches off as mammals stop taking milk from their mothers. The human ability to drink milk during adult life is supported by a lactase mutation which prevents this switch-off. Human populations have a high proportion of this mutation wherever milk is important in the diet. The spread of this 'milk tolerance' is promoted by natural selection, because it helps people survive where milk is available. Genetic studies suggest that the oldest mutations causing lactase persistence only reached high levels in human populations in the last ten thousand years.[71][72] Therefore, lactase persistence is often cited as an example of recent human evolution.[73][74] As lactase persistence is genetic, but animal husbandry a cultural trait, this is gene–culture coevolution.[75]
+
+Adaptation is one of the basic phenomena of biology.[76] Through the process of adaptation, an organism becomes better suited to its habitat.[77]
+
+Adaptation is one of the two main processes that explain the diverse species we see in biology.  The other is speciation (species-splitting or cladogenesis).[78][79] A favourite example used today to study the interplay of adaptation and speciation is the evolution of cichlid fish in African rivers and lakes.[80][81]
+
+When people speak about adaptation they often mean something which helps an animal or plant survive. One of the most widespread adaptations in animals is the evolution of the eye. Another example is the adaptation of horses' teeth to grinding grass. Camouflage is another adaptation; so is mimicry. The better adapted animals are the most likely to survive, and to reproduce successfully (natural selection).
+
+An internal parasite (such as a fluke) is a good example: it has a very simple bodily structure, but still the organism is highly adapted to its particular environment. From this we see that adaptation is not just a matter of visible traits: in such parasites critical adaptations take place in the life cycle, which is often quite complex.[82]
+
+Not all features of an organism are adaptations.[62]p251 Adaptations tend to reflect the past life of a species. If a species has recently changed its life style, a once valuable adaptation may become useless, and eventually become a dwindling vestige.
+
+Adaptations are never perfect. There are always tradeoffs between the various functions and structures in a body. It is the organism as a whole which lives and reproduces, therefore it is the complete set of adaptations which gets passed on to future generations.
+
+In populations, there are forces which add variation to the population (such as mutation), and forces which remove it. Genetic drift is the name given to random changes which remove variation from a population. Genetic drift gets rid of variation at the rate of 1/(2N) where N = population size.[47]p29 It is therefore "a very weak evolutionary force in large populations".[47]p55
+
+Genetic drift explains how random chance can affect evolution in surprisingly big ways, but only when populations are quite small.  Overall, its action is to make the individuals more similar to each other, and hence more vulnerable to disease or to chance events in their environment.
+
+How species form is a major part of evolutionary biology. Darwin interpreted 'evolution' (a word he did not use at first) as being about speciation. That is why he called his famous book On the Origin of Species.
+
+Darwin thought most species arose directly from pre-existing species. This is called anagenesis: new species by older species changing. Now we think most species arise by previous species splitting: cladogenesis.[87][88]
+
+Two groups that start the same can also become very different if they live in different places. When a species gets split into two geographical regions, a process starts. Each adapts to its own situation. After a while, individuals from one group can no longer reproduce with the other group. Two good species have evolved from one.
+
+A German explorer, Moritz Wagner, during his three years in Algeria in the 1830s, studied flightless beetles. Each species is confined to a stretch of the north coast between rivers which descend from the Atlas mountains to the Mediterranean. As soon as one crosses a river, a different but closely related species appears.[89] He wrote later:
+
+This was an early account of the importance of geographical separation. Another biologist who thought geographical separation was critical was Ernst Mayr.[91]
+
+One example of natural speciation is the three-spined stickleback, a sea fish that, after the last ice age, invaded freshwater, and set up colonies in isolated lakes and streams. Over about 10,000 generations, the sticklebacks show great differences, including variations in fins, changes in the number or size of their bony plates, variable jaw structure, and color differences.[92]
+
+The wombats of Australia fall into two main groups, common wombats and hairy-nosed wombats. The two types look very similar, apart from the hairiness of their noses. However, they are adapted to different environments. Common wombats live in forested areas and eat mostly green food with lots of moisture. They often feed in the daytime. Hairy-nosed wombats live on hot dry plains where they eat dry grass with very little water or nutrition it. Their metabolic rate is slow and they sleep most of the day underground.
+
+When two groups that started the same become different enough, then they become two different species. Part of the theory of evolution is that all living things started the same, but then split into different groups over billions of years.[93]
+
+This was an important movement in evolutionary biology, which started in the 1930s and finished in the 1950s.[94][95] It has been updated regularly ever since.
+The synthesis explains how the ideas of Charles Darwin fit with the discoveries of Gregor Mendel, who found out how we inherit our genes. The modern synthesis brought Darwin's idea up to date. It bridged the gap between different types of biologists: geneticists, naturalists, and palaeontologists.
+
+When the theory of evolution was developed, it was not clear that natural selection and genetics worked together. But Ronald Fisher showed that natural selection would work to change species.[96] Sewall Wright explained genetic drift in 1931.[97]
+
+Co-evolution is where the existence of one species is tightly bound up with the life of one or more other species.
+
+New or 'improved' adaptations which occur in one species are often followed by the appearance and spread of related features in the other species. The life and death of living things is intimately connected, not just with the physical environment, but with the life of other species.
+
+These relationships may continue for millions of years, as it has in the pollination of flowering plants by insects.[102][103] The gut contents, wing structures, and mouthparts of fossilized beetles and flies suggest that they acted as early pollinators. The association between beetles and angiosperms during the Lower Cretaceous period led to parallel radiations of angiosperms and insects into the late Cretaceous. The evolution of nectaries in Upper Cretaceous flowers signals the beginning of the mutualism between hymenoptera and angiosperms.[104]
+
+Charles Darwin was the first to use this metaphor in biology. The evolutionary tree shows the relationships among various biological groups. It includes data from DNA, RNA and protein analysis. Tree of life work is a product of traditional comparative anatomy, and modern molecular evolution and molecular clock research.
+
+The major figure in this work is Carl Woese, who defined the Archaea, the third domain (or kingdom) of life.[105] Below is a simplified version of present-day understanding.[106]
+
+Macroevolution: the study of changes above the species level, and how they take place. The basic data for such a study are fossils (palaeontology) and the reconstruction of ancient environments. Some subjects whose study falls within the realm of macroevolution:
+
+It is a term of convenience: for most biologists it does not suggest any change in the process of evolution.[5][107][108]p87 For some palaeontologists, what they see in the fossil record cannot be explained just by the gradualist evolutionary synthesis.[109] They are in the minority.
+
+Altruism – the willingness of some to sacrifice themselves for others – is widespread in social animals. As explained above, the next generation can only come from those who survive and reproduce. Some biologists have thought that this meant altruism could not evolve by the normal process of selection. Instead a process called "group selection" was proposed.[110][111] Group selection refers to the idea that alleles can become fixed or spread in a population because of the benefits they bestow on groups, regardless of the alleles' effect on the fitness of individuals within that group.
+
+For several decades, critiques cast serious doubt on group selection as a major mechanism of evolution.[112][113][114][115]
+
+In simple cases it can be seen at once that traditional selection suffices. For example, if one sibling sacrifices itself for three siblings, the genetic disposition for the act will be increased. This is because siblings share on average 50% of their genetic inheritance, and the sacrificial act has led to greater representation of the genes in the next generation.
+
+Altruism is now generally seen as emerging from standard selection.[116][117][118][119][120] The warning note from Ernst Mayr, and the work of William Hamilton are both important to this discussion.[121][122]
+
+Hamilton's equation describes whether or not a gene for altruistic behaviour will spread in a population. The gene will spread if rxb is greater than c:
+
+where:
+
+At first, sexual reproduction might seem to be at a disadvantage compared with asexual reproduction. In order to be advantageous, sexual reproduction (cross-fertilisation) has to overcome a two-fold disadvantage (takes two to reproduce) plus the difficulty of finding a mate. Why, then, is sex so nearly universal among eukaryotes? This is one of the oldest questions in biology.[123]
+
+The answer has been given since Darwin's time: because the sexual populations adapt better to changing circumstances. A recent laboratory experiment suggests this is indeed the correct explanation.[124][125]
+
+In the main experiment, nematode worms were divided into two groups. One group was entirely outcrossing, the other was entirely selfing. The groups were subjected to a rugged terrain and repeatedly subjected to a mutagen.[128] After 50 generations, the selfing population showed a substantial decline in fitness (= survival), whereas the outcrossing population showed no decline. This is one of a number of studies that show sexuality to have real advantages over non-sexual types of reproduction.[129]
+
+An important activity is artificial selection for domestication. This is when people choose which animals to breed from, based on their traits. Humans have used this for thousands of years to domesticate plants and animals.[130]
+
+More recently, it has become possible to use genetic engineering. New techniques such as 'gene targeting' are now available. The purpose of this is to insert new genes or knock out old genes from the genome of a plant or animal. A number of Nobel Prizes have already been awarded for this work.
+
+However, the real purpose of studying evolution is to explain and help our understanding of biology. After all, it is the first good explanation of how living things came to be the way they are. That is a big achievement. The practical things come mostly from genetics, the science started by Gregor Mendel, and from molecular and cell biology.
+
+In 2010 the journal Nature selected 15 topics as 'Evolution gems'. These were:
+
+The idea that all life evolved had been proposed before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of species. Even today, some people still discuss the concept of evolution and what it means to them, their philosophy, and their religion. Evolution does explain some things about our human nature.[133] People also talk about the social implications of evolution, for example in sociobiology.
+
+Some people have the religious belief that life on Earth was created by a god. In order to fit in the idea of evolution with that belief, people have used ideas like guided evolution or theistic evolution. They say that evolution is real, but is being guided in some way.[17][134][135][136]
+
+There are many different concepts of theistic evolution. Many creationists believe that the creation myth found in their religion goes against the idea of evolution.[137] As Darwin realised, the most controversial part of the evolutionary thought is what it means for human origins.
+
+In some countries, especially in the United States, there is tension between people who accept the idea of evolution and those who do not accept it. The debate is mostly about whether evolution should be taught in schools, and in what way this should be done.[138]
+
+Other fields, like cosmology[139] and earth science[140] also do not match with the original writings of many religious texts. These ideas were once also fiercely opposed. Death for heresy was threatened to those who wrote against the idea that Earth was the center of the universe.
+
+Evolutionary biology is a more recent idea. Certain religious groups oppose the idea of evolution more than other religious groups do. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church now has the following position on evolution: Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani Generis published in the 1950s:
+
+Pope John Paul II updated this position in 1996. He said that Evolution was "more than a hypothesis":
+
+The Anglican Communion also does not oppose the scientific account of evolution.
+
+Many of those who accepted evolution were not much interested in biology. They were interested in using the theory to support their own ideas on society.
+
+Some people have tried to use evolution to support racism. People wanting to justify racism claimed that certain groups, such as black people, were inferior. In nature, some animals do survive better than others, and it does lead to animals better adapted to their circumstances. With humans groups from different parts of the world, all evolution can say is that each group is probably well suited to its original situation. Evolution makes no judgements about better or worse. It does not say that any human group is superior to any other.[143]
+
+This amazing idea of eugenics was rather different. Two things had been noticed as far back as the 18th century. One was the great success of farmers in breeding cattle and crop plants. They did this by selecting which animals or plants would produce the next generation (artificial selection). The other observation was that lower class people had more children than upper-class people. If (and it's a big if) the higher classes were there on merit, then their lack of children was the exact reverse of what should be happening. Faster breeding in the lower classes would lead to the society getting worse.
+
+The idea to improve the human species by selective breeding is called eugenics. The name was proposed by Francis Galton, a bright scientist who meant to do good.[144]  He said that the human stock (gene pool) should be improved by selective breeding policies. This would mean that those who were considered "good stock" would receive a reward if they reproduced. However, other people suggested that those considered "bad stock" would need to undergo compulsory sterilization, prenatal testing and birth control. The German Nazi government (1933–1945) used eugenics as a cover for their extreme racial policies, with dreadful results.[145]
+
+The problem with Galton's idea is how to decide which features to select. There are so many different skills people could have, you could not agree who was "good stock" and who was "bad stock". There was rather more agreement on who should not be breeding. Several countries passed laws for the compulsory sterilisation of unwelcome groups.[146] Most of these laws were passed between 1900 and 1940. After World War II, disgust at what the Nazis had done squashed any more attempts at eugenics.
+
+Some equations can be solved using algorithms that simulate evolution. Evolutionary algorithms work like that.
+
+Another example of using ideas about evolution to support social action is Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a term given to the ideas of the 19th century social philosopher Herbert Spencer. Spencer believed the survival of the fittest could and should be applied to commerce and human societies as a whole.
+
+Again, some people used these ideas to claim that racism, and ruthless economic policies were justified.[147] Today, most biologists and philosophers say that the theory of evolution should not be applied to social policy.[148][149]
+
+Some people disagree with the idea of evolution. They disagree with it for a number of reasons. Most often these reasons are influenced by or based on their religious beliefs. People who do not agree with evolution usually believe in creationism or intelligent design.
+
+Despite this, evolution is one of the most successful theories in science. People have discovered it to be useful for different kinds of research. None of the other suggestions explain things, such as fossil records, as well. So, for almost all scientists, evolution is not in doubt.[150][151][152][153]
+
+These books are mostly about the evidence for evolution.
+
+These books cover most evolutionary topics.
+

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+Evolution is a biological process that makes living things change over a long time. The explanation of how this process works and how living beings have come to be the way they are is called the theory of evolution.[1]
+
+Earth is very old.[2][3] By studying the layers of rock that make up Earth's crust, scientists can find out about its past. This kind of research is called historical geology.
+
+It is known that living things have changed over time, because their remains can be seen in the rocks. These remains are called 'fossils'. This proves that the animals and plants of today are different from those of long ago.  The older the fossils, the bigger the differences from modern forms.[4]  This has happened because evolution has taken place. That evolution has taken place is a fact, because it is overwhelmingly supported by many lines of evidence.[5][6][7] At the same time, evolutionary questions are still being actively researched by biologists.
+
+Comparison of DNA sequences allows organisms to be grouped by how similar their sequences are. In 2010 an analysis compared sequences to phylogenetic trees, and supported the idea of common descent. There is now "strong quantitative support, by a formal test",[8] for the unity of life.[9]
+
+The theory of evolution is the basis of modern biology. Theodosius Dobzhansky, a well-known evolutionary biologist, has said: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution".[10]
+
+The evidence for evolution is given in a number of books.[11][12][13][14] Some of this evidence is discussed here.
+
+The realization that some rocks contain fossils was a very important event in natural history. There are three parts to this story:
+
+The most convincing evidence for the occurrence of evolution is the discovery of extinct organisms in older geological strata... The older the strata are...the more different the fossil will be from living representatives... that is to be expected if the fauna and flora of the earlier strata had gradually evolved into their descendants.
+
+The evolution of the horse family (Equidae) is a good example of the way that evolution works. The oldest fossil of a horse is about 52 million years old. It was a small animal with five toes on the front feet and four on the hind feet. At that time, there were more forests in the world than today. This horse lived in woodland, eating leaves, nuts and fruit with its simple teeth. It was only about as big as a fox.[19]
+
+About 30 million years ago the world started to become cooler and drier. Forests shrank; grassland expanded, and horses changed. They ate grass, they grew larger, and they ran faster because they had to escape faster predators. Because grass wears teeth out, horses with longer-lasting teeth had an advantage.
+
+For most of this long period of time, there were a number of horse types (genera). Now, however, only one genus exists: the modern horse, Equus. It has teeth which grow all its life, hooves on single toes, great long legs for running, and the animal is big and strong enough to survive in the open plain.[19] Horses lived in western Canada until 12,000 years ago,[20] but all horses in North America became extinct about 11,000 years ago. The causes of this extinction are not yet clear. Climate change and over-hunting by humans are suggested.
+
+So, scientists can see that changes have happened. They have happened slowly over a long time. How these changes have come about is explained by the theory of evolution.
+
+This is a topic which fascinated both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.[21][22][23] When new species occur, usually by the splitting of older species, this takes place in one place in the world. Once it is established, a new species may spread to some places and not others.
+
+Australasia has been separated from other continents for many millions of years. In the main part of the continent, Australia, 83% of mammals, 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects and 93% of amphibians are endemic.[24] Its native mammals are mostly marsupials like kangaroos, bandicoots, and quolls.[25] By contrast, marsupials are today totally absent from Africa and form a small portion of the mammalian fauna of South America, where opossums, shrew opossums, and the monito del monte occur (see the Great American Interchange).
+
+The only living representatives of primitive egg-laying mammals (monotremes) are the echidnas and the platypus. They are only found in Australasia, which includes Tasmania, New Guinea, and Kangaroo Island. These monotremes are totally absent in the rest of the world.[26] On the other hand, Australia is missing many groups of placental mammals that are common on other continents (carnivora, artiodactyls, shrews, squirrels, lagomorphs), although it does have indigenous bats and rodents, which arrived later.[27]
+
+The evolutionary story is that placental mammals evolved in Eurasia, and wiped out the marsupials and monotremes wherever they spread. They did not reach Australasia until more recently. That is the simple reason why Australia has most of the world's marsupials and all the world's monotremes.
+
+In about 6,500 sq mi (17,000 km2), the Hawaiian Islands have the most diverse collection of Drosophila flies in the world, living from rainforests to mountain meadows. About 800 Hawaiian fruit fly species are known.
+
+Genetic evidence shows that all the native fruit fly species in Hawaiʻi have descended from a single ancestral species that came to the islands, about 20 million years ago. Later adaptive radiation was caused by a lack of competition and a wide variety of vacant niches. Although it would be possible for a single pregnant female to colonise an island, it is more likely to have been a group from the same species.[28][29][30][31]
+
+The combination of continental drift and evolution can explain what is found in the fossil record. Glossopteris is an extinct species of seed fern plants from the Permian period on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.[32]
+
+Glossopteris fossils are found in Permian strata in southeast South America, southeast Africa, all of Madagascar, northern India, all of Australia, all of New Zealand, and scattered on the southern and northern edges of Antarctica.
+
+During the Permian, these continents were connected as Gondwana. This is known from magnetic striping in the rocks, other fossil distributions, and glacial scratches pointing away from the temperate climate of the South Pole during the Permian.[13]p103[33]
+
+When biologists look at living things, they see that animals and plants belong to groups which have something in common. Charles Darwin explained that this followed naturally if "we admit the common parentage of allied forms, together with their modification through variation and natural selection".[21]p402[11]p456
+
+For example, all insects are related. They share a basic body plan, whose development is controlled by master regulatory genes.[34] They have six legs; they have hard parts on the outside of the body (an exoskeleton); they have eyes formed of many separate chambers, and so on. Biologists explain this with evolution. All insects are the descendants of a group of animals who lived a long time ago. They still keep the basic plan (six legs and so on) but the details change. They look different now because they changed in different ways: this is evolution.[35]
+
+It was Darwin who first suggested that all life on Earth had a single origin, and from that beginning "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved".[11]p490[21] Evidence from molecular biology in recent years has supported the idea that all life is related by common descent.[36]
+
+Strong evidence for common descent comes from vestigial structures.[21]p397 The useless wings of flightless beetles are sealed under fused wing covers. This can be simply explained by their descent from ancestral beetles which had wings that worked.[14]p49
+
+Rudimentary body parts, those that are smaller and simpler in structure than corresponding parts in ancestral species, are called vestigial organs. Those organs are functional in the ancestral species but are now either nonfunctional or re-adapted to a new function. Examples are the pelvic girdles of whales, halteres (hind wings) of flies, wings of flightless birds, and the leaves of some xerophytes (e.g. cactus) and parasitic plants (e.g. dodder).
+
+However, vestigial structures may have their original function replaced with another. For example, the halteres in flies help balance the insect while in flight, and the wings of ostriches are used in mating rituals, and in aggressive display. The ear ossicles in mammals are former bones of the lower jaw.
+
+In 1893, Robert Wiedersheim published a book on human anatomy and its relevance to man's evolutionary history. This book contained a list of 86 human organs that he considered vestigial.[37] This list included examples such as the appendix and the 3rd molar teeth (wisdom teeth).
+
+The strong grip of a baby is another example.[38] It is a vestigial reflex, a remnant of the past when pre-human babies clung to their mothers' hair as the mothers swung through the trees. This is borne out by the babies' feet, which curl up when it is sitting down (primate babies grip with the feet as well). All primates except modern man have thick body hair to which an infant can cling, unlike modern humans. The grasp reflex allows the mother to escape danger by climbing a tree using both hands and feet.[13][39]
+
+Vestigial organs often have some selection against them. The original organs took resources, sometimes huge resources. If they no longer have a function, reducing their size improves fitness. And there is direct evidence of selection. Some cave crustacea reproduce more successfully with smaller eyes than do those with larger eyes. This may be because the nervous tissue dealing with sight now becomes available to handle other sensory input.[40]p310
+
+From the eighteenth century it was known that embryos of different species were much more similar than the adults. In particular, some parts of embryos reflect their evolutionary past. For example, the embryos of land vertebrates develop gill slits like fish embryos. Of course, this is only a temporary stage, which gives rise to many structures in the neck of reptiles, birds and mammals. The proto-gill slits are part of a complicated system of development: that is why they persisted.[34]
+
+Another example are the embryonic teeth of baleen whales.[41] They are later lost. The baleen filter is developed from different tissue, called keratin. Early fossil baleen whales did actually have teeth as well as the baleen.[42]
+
+A good example is the barnacle. It took many centuries before natural historians discovered that barnacles were crustacea. Their adults look so unlike other crustacea, but their larvae are very similar to those of other crustacea.[43]
+
+Charles Darwin lived in a world where animal husbandry and domesticated crops were vitally important. In both cases farmers selected for breeding individuals with special properties, and prevented the breeding of individuals with less desirable characteristics. The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw a growth in scientific agriculture, and artificial breeding was part of this.
+
+Darwin discussed artificial selection as a model for natural selection in the 1859 first edition of his work On the Origin of Species, in Chapter IV: Natural selection:
+
+Nikolai Vavilov showed that rye, originally a weed, came to be a crop plant by unintentional selection. Rye is a tougher plant than wheat: it survives in harsher conditions. Having become a crop like the wheat, rye was able to become a crop plant in harsh areas, such as hills and mountains.[45][46]
+
+There is no real difference in the genetic processes underlying artificial and natural selection, and the concept of artificial selection was used by Charles Darwin as an illustration of the wider process of natural selection. There are practical differences. Experimental studies of artificial selection show that "the rate of evolution in selection experiments is at least two orders of magnitude (that is 100 times) greater than any rate seen in nature or the fossil record".[47]p157
+
+Some have thought that artificial selection could not produce new species. It now seems that it can.
+
+New species have been created by domesticated animal husbandry, but the details are not known or not clear. For example, domestic sheep were created by hybridisation, and no longer produce viable offspring with Ovis orientalis, one species from which they are descended.[48] Domestic cattle, on the other hand, can be considered the same species as several varieties of wild ox, gaur, yak, etc., as they readily produce fertile offspring with them.[49]
+
+The best-documented new species came from laboratory experiments in the late 1980s. William Rice and G.W. Salt bred fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, using a maze with three different choices of habitat such as light/dark and wet/dry. Each generation was put into the maze, and the groups of flies that came out of two of the eight exits were set apart to breed with each other in their respective groups.
+
+After thirty-five generations, the two groups and their offspring were isolated reproductively because of their strong habitat preferences: they mated only within the areas they preferred, and so did not mate with flies that preferred the other areas.[50][51]
+
+Diane Dodd was also able to show how reproductive isolation can develop from mating preferences in Drosophila pseudoobscura fruit flies after only eight generations using different food types, starch and maltose.[52]
+
+
+
+Dodd's experiment has been easy for others to repeat. It has also been done with other fruit flies and foods.[53]
+
+Some biologists say that evolution has happened when a trait that is caused by genetics becomes more or less common in a group of organisms.[54] Others call it evolution when new species appear.
+
+Changes can happen quickly in the smaller, simpler organisms. For example, many bacteria that cause disease can no longer be killed with some of the antibiotic medicines. These medicines have only been in use about eighty years, and at first worked extremely well. The bacteria have evolved so that they are no longer affected by antibiotics anymore.[55] The drugs killed off all the bacteria except a few which had some resistance. These few resistant bacteria produced the next generation.
+
+The Colorado beetle is famous for its ability to resist pesticides. Over the last 50 years it has become resistant to 52 chemical compounds used in insecticides, including cyanide.[56] This is natural selection speeded up by the artificial conditions. However, not every population is resistant to every chemical.[57] The populations only become resistant to chemicals used in their area.
+
+Although there were a number of natural historians in the 18th century who had some idea of evolution, the first well-formed ideas came in the 19th century. Three biologists are most important.
+
+Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744–1829), a French biologist, claimed that animals changed according to natural laws. He said that animals could pass on traits they had acquired during their lifetime to their offspring, using inheritance. Today, his theory is known as Lamarckism. Its main purpose is to explain adaptations by natural means.[58] He proposed a tendency for organisms to become more complex, moving up a ladder of progress, plus use and disuse.
+
+Lamarck's idea was that a giraffe's neck grew longer because it tried to reach higher up. This idea failed because it conflicts with heredity (Mendel's work). Mendel made his discoveries about half a century after Lamarck's work.
+
+Charles Darwin (1809–1882) wrote his On the Origin of Species in 1859. In this book, he put forward much evidence that evolution had occurred. He also proposed natural selection as the way evolution had taken place. But Darwin did not understand about genetics and how traits were actually passed on. He could not accurately explain what made children look like their parents.
+
+Nevertheless, Darwin's explanation of evolution was fundamentally correct. In contrast to Lamarck, Darwin's idea was that the giraffe's neck became longer because those with longer necks survived better.[21]p177/9 These survivors passed their genes on, and in time the whole species got longer necks.
+
+An Austrian monk called Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) bred plants. In the mid-19th century, he discovered how traits were passed on from one generation to the next.
+
+He used peas for his experiments: some peas have white flowers and others have red ones. Some peas have green seeds and others have yellow seeds. Mendel used artificial pollination to breed the peas. His results are discussed further in Mendelian inheritance. Darwin thought that the inheritance from both parents blended together. Mendel proved that the genes from the two parents stay separate, and may be passed on unchanged to later generations.
+
+Mendel published his results in a journal that was not well-known, and his discoveries were overlooked. Around 1900, his work was rediscovered.[59][60] Genes are bits of information made of DNA which work like a set of instructions. A set of genes are in every living cell. Together, genes organise the way an egg develops into an adult. With mammals, and many other living things, a copy of each gene comes from the father and another copy from the mother. Some living organisms, including some plants, only have one parent, so get all their genes from them. These genes produce the genetic differences which evolution acts on.
+
+Darwin's On the Origin of Species has two themes: the evidence for evolution, and his ideas on how evolution took place. This section deals with the second issue.
+
+The first two chapters of the Origin deal with variation in domesticated plants and animals, and variation in nature.
+
+All living things show variation. Every population which has been studied shows that animal and plants vary as much as humans do.[61][62]p90 This is a great fact of nature, and without it evolution would not occur. Darwin said that, just as man selects what he wants in his farm animals, so in nature the variations allow natural selection to work.[63]
+
+The features of an individual are influenced by two things, heredity and environment. First, development is controlled by genes inherited from the parents. Second, living brings its own influences. Some things are entirely inherited, others partly, and some not inherited at all.
+
+The colour of eyes is entirely inherited; they are a genetic trait. Height or weight is only partly inherited, and the language is not at all inherited. Just to be clear: the fact that humans can speak is inherited, but what language is spoken depends on where a person lives and what they are taught. Another example: a person inherits a brain of somewhat variable capacity. What happens after birth depends on many things such as home environment, education and other experiences. When a person is adult, their brain is what their inheritance and life experience have made it.
+
+Evolution only concerns the traits which can be inherited, wholly or partly. The hereditary traits are passed on from one generation to the next through the genes. A person's genes contain all the traits which they inherit from their parents. The accidents of life are not passed on. Also, of course, each person lives a somewhat different life: that increases the differences.
+
+Organisms in any population vary in reproductive success.[64]p81 From the point of view of evolution, 'reproductive success' means the total number of offspring which live to breed and leave offspring themselves.
+
+Variation can only affect future generations if it is inherited. Because of the work of Gregor Mendel, we know that much variation is inherited. Mendel's 'factors' are now called genes. Research has shown that almost every individual in a sexually reproducing species is genetically unique.[65]p204
+
+Genetic variation is increased by gene mutations. DNA does not always reproduce exactly. Rare changes occur, and these changes can be inherited. Many changes in DNA cause faults; some are neutral or even advantageous. This gives rise to genetic variation, which is the seed-corn of evolution. Sexual reproduction, by the crossing over of chromosomes during meiosis, spreads variation through the population. Other events, like natural selection and drift, reduce variation. So a population in the wild always has variation, but the details are always changing.[62]p90
+
+Evolution mainly works by natural selection. What does this mean? Animals and plants which are best suited to their environment will, on average, survive better. There is a struggle for existence. Those who survive will produce the next generation. Their genes will be passed on, and the genes of those who did not reproduce will not. This is the basic mechanism which changes a population and causes evolution.
+
+Natural selection explains why living organisms change over time to have the anatomy, the functions and behaviour that they have. It works like this:
+
+There are now many cases where natural selection has been proved to occur in wild populations.[5][67][68] Almost every case investigated of camouflage, mimicry and polymorphism has shown strong effects of selection.[69]
+
+The force of selection can be much stronger than was thought by the early population geneticists. The resistance to pesticides has grown quickly. Resistance to warfarin in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) grew rapidly because those that survived made up more and more of the population. Research showed that, in the absence of warfarin, the resistant homozygote was at a 54% disadvantage to the normal wild type homozygote.[62]p182[70] This great disadvantage was quickly overcome by the selection for warfarin resistance.
+
+Mammals normally cannot drink milk as adults, but humans are an exception. Milk is digested by the enzyme lactase, which switches off as mammals stop taking milk from their mothers. The human ability to drink milk during adult life is supported by a lactase mutation which prevents this switch-off. Human populations have a high proportion of this mutation wherever milk is important in the diet. The spread of this 'milk tolerance' is promoted by natural selection, because it helps people survive where milk is available. Genetic studies suggest that the oldest mutations causing lactase persistence only reached high levels in human populations in the last ten thousand years.[71][72] Therefore, lactase persistence is often cited as an example of recent human evolution.[73][74] As lactase persistence is genetic, but animal husbandry a cultural trait, this is gene–culture coevolution.[75]
+
+Adaptation is one of the basic phenomena of biology.[76] Through the process of adaptation, an organism becomes better suited to its habitat.[77]
+
+Adaptation is one of the two main processes that explain the diverse species we see in biology.  The other is speciation (species-splitting or cladogenesis).[78][79] A favourite example used today to study the interplay of adaptation and speciation is the evolution of cichlid fish in African rivers and lakes.[80][81]
+
+When people speak about adaptation they often mean something which helps an animal or plant survive. One of the most widespread adaptations in animals is the evolution of the eye. Another example is the adaptation of horses' teeth to grinding grass. Camouflage is another adaptation; so is mimicry. The better adapted animals are the most likely to survive, and to reproduce successfully (natural selection).
+
+An internal parasite (such as a fluke) is a good example: it has a very simple bodily structure, but still the organism is highly adapted to its particular environment. From this we see that adaptation is not just a matter of visible traits: in such parasites critical adaptations take place in the life cycle, which is often quite complex.[82]
+
+Not all features of an organism are adaptations.[62]p251 Adaptations tend to reflect the past life of a species. If a species has recently changed its life style, a once valuable adaptation may become useless, and eventually become a dwindling vestige.
+
+Adaptations are never perfect. There are always tradeoffs between the various functions and structures in a body. It is the organism as a whole which lives and reproduces, therefore it is the complete set of adaptations which gets passed on to future generations.
+
+In populations, there are forces which add variation to the population (such as mutation), and forces which remove it. Genetic drift is the name given to random changes which remove variation from a population. Genetic drift gets rid of variation at the rate of 1/(2N) where N = population size.[47]p29 It is therefore "a very weak evolutionary force in large populations".[47]p55
+
+Genetic drift explains how random chance can affect evolution in surprisingly big ways, but only when populations are quite small.  Overall, its action is to make the individuals more similar to each other, and hence more vulnerable to disease or to chance events in their environment.
+
+How species form is a major part of evolutionary biology. Darwin interpreted 'evolution' (a word he did not use at first) as being about speciation. That is why he called his famous book On the Origin of Species.
+
+Darwin thought most species arose directly from pre-existing species. This is called anagenesis: new species by older species changing. Now we think most species arise by previous species splitting: cladogenesis.[87][88]
+
+Two groups that start the same can also become very different if they live in different places. When a species gets split into two geographical regions, a process starts. Each adapts to its own situation. After a while, individuals from one group can no longer reproduce with the other group. Two good species have evolved from one.
+
+A German explorer, Moritz Wagner, during his three years in Algeria in the 1830s, studied flightless beetles. Each species is confined to a stretch of the north coast between rivers which descend from the Atlas mountains to the Mediterranean. As soon as one crosses a river, a different but closely related species appears.[89] He wrote later:
+
+This was an early account of the importance of geographical separation. Another biologist who thought geographical separation was critical was Ernst Mayr.[91]
+
+One example of natural speciation is the three-spined stickleback, a sea fish that, after the last ice age, invaded freshwater, and set up colonies in isolated lakes and streams. Over about 10,000 generations, the sticklebacks show great differences, including variations in fins, changes in the number or size of their bony plates, variable jaw structure, and color differences.[92]
+
+The wombats of Australia fall into two main groups, common wombats and hairy-nosed wombats. The two types look very similar, apart from the hairiness of their noses. However, they are adapted to different environments. Common wombats live in forested areas and eat mostly green food with lots of moisture. They often feed in the daytime. Hairy-nosed wombats live on hot dry plains where they eat dry grass with very little water or nutrition it. Their metabolic rate is slow and they sleep most of the day underground.
+
+When two groups that started the same become different enough, then they become two different species. Part of the theory of evolution is that all living things started the same, but then split into different groups over billions of years.[93]
+
+This was an important movement in evolutionary biology, which started in the 1930s and finished in the 1950s.[94][95] It has been updated regularly ever since.
+The synthesis explains how the ideas of Charles Darwin fit with the discoveries of Gregor Mendel, who found out how we inherit our genes. The modern synthesis brought Darwin's idea up to date. It bridged the gap between different types of biologists: geneticists, naturalists, and palaeontologists.
+
+When the theory of evolution was developed, it was not clear that natural selection and genetics worked together. But Ronald Fisher showed that natural selection would work to change species.[96] Sewall Wright explained genetic drift in 1931.[97]
+
+Co-evolution is where the existence of one species is tightly bound up with the life of one or more other species.
+
+New or 'improved' adaptations which occur in one species are often followed by the appearance and spread of related features in the other species. The life and death of living things is intimately connected, not just with the physical environment, but with the life of other species.
+
+These relationships may continue for millions of years, as it has in the pollination of flowering plants by insects.[102][103] The gut contents, wing structures, and mouthparts of fossilized beetles and flies suggest that they acted as early pollinators. The association between beetles and angiosperms during the Lower Cretaceous period led to parallel radiations of angiosperms and insects into the late Cretaceous. The evolution of nectaries in Upper Cretaceous flowers signals the beginning of the mutualism between hymenoptera and angiosperms.[104]
+
+Charles Darwin was the first to use this metaphor in biology. The evolutionary tree shows the relationships among various biological groups. It includes data from DNA, RNA and protein analysis. Tree of life work is a product of traditional comparative anatomy, and modern molecular evolution and molecular clock research.
+
+The major figure in this work is Carl Woese, who defined the Archaea, the third domain (or kingdom) of life.[105] Below is a simplified version of present-day understanding.[106]
+
+Macroevolution: the study of changes above the species level, and how they take place. The basic data for such a study are fossils (palaeontology) and the reconstruction of ancient environments. Some subjects whose study falls within the realm of macroevolution:
+
+It is a term of convenience: for most biologists it does not suggest any change in the process of evolution.[5][107][108]p87 For some palaeontologists, what they see in the fossil record cannot be explained just by the gradualist evolutionary synthesis.[109] They are in the minority.
+
+Altruism – the willingness of some to sacrifice themselves for others – is widespread in social animals. As explained above, the next generation can only come from those who survive and reproduce. Some biologists have thought that this meant altruism could not evolve by the normal process of selection. Instead a process called "group selection" was proposed.[110][111] Group selection refers to the idea that alleles can become fixed or spread in a population because of the benefits they bestow on groups, regardless of the alleles' effect on the fitness of individuals within that group.
+
+For several decades, critiques cast serious doubt on group selection as a major mechanism of evolution.[112][113][114][115]
+
+In simple cases it can be seen at once that traditional selection suffices. For example, if one sibling sacrifices itself for three siblings, the genetic disposition for the act will be increased. This is because siblings share on average 50% of their genetic inheritance, and the sacrificial act has led to greater representation of the genes in the next generation.
+
+Altruism is now generally seen as emerging from standard selection.[116][117][118][119][120] The warning note from Ernst Mayr, and the work of William Hamilton are both important to this discussion.[121][122]
+
+Hamilton's equation describes whether or not a gene for altruistic behaviour will spread in a population. The gene will spread if rxb is greater than c:
+
+where:
+
+At first, sexual reproduction might seem to be at a disadvantage compared with asexual reproduction. In order to be advantageous, sexual reproduction (cross-fertilisation) has to overcome a two-fold disadvantage (takes two to reproduce) plus the difficulty of finding a mate. Why, then, is sex so nearly universal among eukaryotes? This is one of the oldest questions in biology.[123]
+
+The answer has been given since Darwin's time: because the sexual populations adapt better to changing circumstances. A recent laboratory experiment suggests this is indeed the correct explanation.[124][125]
+
+In the main experiment, nematode worms were divided into two groups. One group was entirely outcrossing, the other was entirely selfing. The groups were subjected to a rugged terrain and repeatedly subjected to a mutagen.[128] After 50 generations, the selfing population showed a substantial decline in fitness (= survival), whereas the outcrossing population showed no decline. This is one of a number of studies that show sexuality to have real advantages over non-sexual types of reproduction.[129]
+
+An important activity is artificial selection for domestication. This is when people choose which animals to breed from, based on their traits. Humans have used this for thousands of years to domesticate plants and animals.[130]
+
+More recently, it has become possible to use genetic engineering. New techniques such as 'gene targeting' are now available. The purpose of this is to insert new genes or knock out old genes from the genome of a plant or animal. A number of Nobel Prizes have already been awarded for this work.
+
+However, the real purpose of studying evolution is to explain and help our understanding of biology. After all, it is the first good explanation of how living things came to be the way they are. That is a big achievement. The practical things come mostly from genetics, the science started by Gregor Mendel, and from molecular and cell biology.
+
+In 2010 the journal Nature selected 15 topics as 'Evolution gems'. These were:
+
+The idea that all life evolved had been proposed before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of species. Even today, some people still discuss the concept of evolution and what it means to them, their philosophy, and their religion. Evolution does explain some things about our human nature.[133] People also talk about the social implications of evolution, for example in sociobiology.
+
+Some people have the religious belief that life on Earth was created by a god. In order to fit in the idea of evolution with that belief, people have used ideas like guided evolution or theistic evolution. They say that evolution is real, but is being guided in some way.[17][134][135][136]
+
+There are many different concepts of theistic evolution. Many creationists believe that the creation myth found in their religion goes against the idea of evolution.[137] As Darwin realised, the most controversial part of the evolutionary thought is what it means for human origins.
+
+In some countries, especially in the United States, there is tension between people who accept the idea of evolution and those who do not accept it. The debate is mostly about whether evolution should be taught in schools, and in what way this should be done.[138]
+
+Other fields, like cosmology[139] and earth science[140] also do not match with the original writings of many religious texts. These ideas were once also fiercely opposed. Death for heresy was threatened to those who wrote against the idea that Earth was the center of the universe.
+
+Evolutionary biology is a more recent idea. Certain religious groups oppose the idea of evolution more than other religious groups do. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church now has the following position on evolution: Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani Generis published in the 1950s:
+
+Pope John Paul II updated this position in 1996. He said that Evolution was "more than a hypothesis":
+
+The Anglican Communion also does not oppose the scientific account of evolution.
+
+Many of those who accepted evolution were not much interested in biology. They were interested in using the theory to support their own ideas on society.
+
+Some people have tried to use evolution to support racism. People wanting to justify racism claimed that certain groups, such as black people, were inferior. In nature, some animals do survive better than others, and it does lead to animals better adapted to their circumstances. With humans groups from different parts of the world, all evolution can say is that each group is probably well suited to its original situation. Evolution makes no judgements about better or worse. It does not say that any human group is superior to any other.[143]
+
+This amazing idea of eugenics was rather different. Two things had been noticed as far back as the 18th century. One was the great success of farmers in breeding cattle and crop plants. They did this by selecting which animals or plants would produce the next generation (artificial selection). The other observation was that lower class people had more children than upper-class people. If (and it's a big if) the higher classes were there on merit, then their lack of children was the exact reverse of what should be happening. Faster breeding in the lower classes would lead to the society getting worse.
+
+The idea to improve the human species by selective breeding is called eugenics. The name was proposed by Francis Galton, a bright scientist who meant to do good.[144]  He said that the human stock (gene pool) should be improved by selective breeding policies. This would mean that those who were considered "good stock" would receive a reward if they reproduced. However, other people suggested that those considered "bad stock" would need to undergo compulsory sterilization, prenatal testing and birth control. The German Nazi government (1933–1945) used eugenics as a cover for their extreme racial policies, with dreadful results.[145]
+
+The problem with Galton's idea is how to decide which features to select. There are so many different skills people could have, you could not agree who was "good stock" and who was "bad stock". There was rather more agreement on who should not be breeding. Several countries passed laws for the compulsory sterilisation of unwelcome groups.[146] Most of these laws were passed between 1900 and 1940. After World War II, disgust at what the Nazis had done squashed any more attempts at eugenics.
+
+Some equations can be solved using algorithms that simulate evolution. Evolutionary algorithms work like that.
+
+Another example of using ideas about evolution to support social action is Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a term given to the ideas of the 19th century social philosopher Herbert Spencer. Spencer believed the survival of the fittest could and should be applied to commerce and human societies as a whole.
+
+Again, some people used these ideas to claim that racism, and ruthless economic policies were justified.[147] Today, most biologists and philosophers say that the theory of evolution should not be applied to social policy.[148][149]
+
+Some people disagree with the idea of evolution. They disagree with it for a number of reasons. Most often these reasons are influenced by or based on their religious beliefs. People who do not agree with evolution usually believe in creationism or intelligent design.
+
+Despite this, evolution is one of the most successful theories in science. People have discovered it to be useful for different kinds of research. None of the other suggestions explain things, such as fossil records, as well. So, for almost all scientists, evolution is not in doubt.[150][151][152][153]
+
+These books are mostly about the evidence for evolution.
+
+These books cover most evolutionary topics.
+

ensimple/569.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Hagia Sofia is a prestigious buliding in Istanbul. It is located in the European part of Istanbul. It was bulit between 532, and 537, to serve as a Byzanine Church.[1][2] Until 1452 it was used as an Eastern Orthodox church. Between 1204 and 1261 it was converted into a Roman Catholic cathedral.  From 1453 it was used as a mosque.  Mustafa Kemmal Atatürk stopped this and turned the building into a museum.  After an earthquake Trdat the Architect finished rebuilding it again in 994. Ottoman sultan Mehmed the conqueror made it into a mosque in 1453 after conquering istanbul.[1] It became a museum in 1935 after the decision of the Turkish government in 1934. Hagia Sophia is often said to be one of the greatest, and most beautiful buildings in history.
+
+In July 2020, the Turkish government ordered the Hagia Sophia to be turned back into a mosque following a supreme court annulment of a 1934 presidential decree that made it a museum.[3]

ensimple/5690.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,360 @@
+A set is an idea from mathematics. A set has members (also called elements). A set is fixed by its members. It is the only set which has the same members (if set X and set Y have the same members, then X = Y). A set cannot have the same member more than once. Membership is the only thing that means anything. For example, there is no order or other distinction among the members. One particular set is the "empty set" (also called the null set). The empty set has no members. Anything can be a member of a set. A set can be a member of a set. (If a set is a member of itself, beware of Russell's paradox.)
+
+Most mathematicians use uppercase italic (usually Roman) letters to write about sets. The things that are seen as elements of sets are usually written with lowercase Roman letters.
+
+One way of showing a set is by a list of its members, separated by commas, included in braces.
+For example,
+
+Another way is by a statement of what is true of the members of the set, like this:
+
+In spoken English, that is: "the set of all x such that x is a natural number and x is less than four".
+
+The empty set is written in a special way:
+
+When object a is the member of set A it is written as:
+
+In spoken English, that is: "a is a member of A"
+
+Various things can be put into a bag. Later on, a valid question would be if a certain thing is in the bag. Mathematicians call this element of. Something is an element of a set, if that thing can be found in the respective bag. The symbol used for this is 
+
+
+
+∈
+
+
+{\displaystyle \in }
+
+a
+∈
+
+A
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle a\in \mathbf {A} }
+
+means that 
+
+
+
+a
+
+
+{\displaystyle a}
+
+ is in the bag 
+
+
+
+
+A
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle \mathbf {A} }
+
+Like a bag, a set can also be empty. The empty set is like an empty bag: it has no things in it.
+
+Two sets can be compared. This is like looking at two different bags. If they contain the same things, they are equal.
+
+When mathematicians talk about a set, they sometimes want to know how big a set is. They do this by counting how many elements are in the set (how many items are in the bag). The cardinality can be a simple number. The empty set has a cardinality of 0.  The set 
+
+
+
+{
+a
+p
+p
+l
+e
+,
+o
+r
+a
+n
+g
+e
+}
+
+
+{\displaystyle \{apple,orange\}}
+
+ has a cardinality of 2.
+
+Two sets have the same cardinality if we can pair up their elements—if we can join two elements, one from each set.  The set 
+
+
+
+{
+a
+p
+p
+l
+e
+,
+o
+r
+a
+n
+g
+e
+}
+
+
+{\displaystyle \{apple,orange\}}
+
+ and the set 
+
+
+
+{
+s
+u
+n
+,
+m
+o
+o
+n
+}
+
+
+{\displaystyle \{sun,moon\}}
+
+ have the same cardinality.  We can pair apple with sun, and orange with moon.  The order does not matter.  It is possible to pair the elements, and none is left out.  But the set 
+
+
+
+{
+d
+o
+g
+,
+c
+a
+t
+,
+b
+i
+r
+d
+}
+
+
+{\displaystyle \{dog,cat,bird\}}
+
+ and the set 
+
+
+
+{
+5
+,
+6
+}
+
+
+{\displaystyle \{5,6\}}
+
+ have different cardinality.  
+If we try to pair them up, we always leave out one animal.
+
+At times cardinality is not a number.  Sometimes a set has infinite cardinality.  The set of integers is a set with infinite cardinality.  Some sets with infinite cardinality are bigger (have a bigger cardinality) than others. There are more real numbers than there are natural numbers, for example.  That means we cannot pair up the set of integers and the set of real numbers, even if we worked forever.  If a set has the same cardinality as the set of integers, it is called a countable set.  But if a set has the same cardinality as the real numbers, it is called an uncountable set.
+
+If you look at the set {a,b} and the set {a,b,c,d}, you can see that all elements in the first set are also in the second set. We say: {a,b} is a subset of {a,b,c,d}
+As a formula it looks like this:
+
+
+
+
+{
+a
+,
+b
+}
+⊆
+{
+a
+,
+b
+,
+c
+,
+d
+}
+
+
+{\displaystyle \{a,b\}\subseteq \{a,b,c,d\}}
+
+When all elements of A are also elements of B, we call A a subset of B:
+
+
+
+
+A
+⊆
+B
+
+
+{\displaystyle A\subseteq B}
+
+
+It is usually read "A is contained in B"
+
+Example:
+Every Chevrolet is an American car. So the set of all Chevrolets is contained in the set of all American cars.
+
+There are different ways to combine sets.
+
+The intersection 
+
+
+
+A
+∩
+B
+
+
+{\displaystyle A\cap B}
+
+ of two sets A and B is a set that contains all the elements, that are both in set A and in set B.
+When A is the set of all cheap cars, and B is the set of all American cars, then 
+
+
+
+A
+∩
+B
+
+
+{\displaystyle A\cap B}
+
+ is the set of all cheap American cars.
+
+The union 
+
+
+
+A
+∪
+B
+
+
+{\displaystyle A\cup B}
+
+ of two sets A and B is a set that contains all the elements, that are in set A or in set B.
+
+When A is the set of all cheap cars, and B is the set of all American cars, then 
+
+
+
+A
+∪
+B
+
+
+{\displaystyle A\cup B}
+
+ is the set of all cars, without all expensive cars that are not from America.
+
+Complement can mean two different things:
+
+A
+
+
+C
+
+
+
+=
+U
+∖
+A
+
+
+{\displaystyle A^{\rm {C}}=U\setminus A}
+
+ 
+The universe U is the set of all things you speak about.
+When U is the set of all cars, and A is the set of all cheap cars, then AC is the set of all expensive cars.
+
+B
+∖
+A
+
+
+{\displaystyle B\setminus A}
+
+
+It is often called the set difference.
+When A is the set of all cheap cars, and B is the set of all American cars, then 
+
+
+
+B
+∖
+A
+
+
+{\displaystyle B\setminus A}
+
+ is the set of all expensive American cars.
+
+If you exchange the sets in the set difference, the result is different:In the example with the cars, the difference 
+
+
+
+A
+∖
+B
+
+
+{\displaystyle A\setminus B}
+
+ is the set of all cheap cars, that are not made in America.
+
+Some sets are very important to mathematics. They are used very often. One of these is the empty set. 
+Many of these sets are written using blackboard bold typeface, as shown below. Special sets include:
+
+Each of these sets of numbers has an infinite number of elements, and 
+
+
+
+
+P
+
+⊂
+
+N
+
+⊂
+
+Z
+
+⊂
+
+Q
+
+⊂
+
+R
+
+⊂
+
+C
+
+
+
+{\displaystyle \mathbb {P} \subset \mathbb {N} \subset \mathbb {Z} \subset \mathbb {Q} \subset \mathbb {R} \subset \mathbb {C} }
+
+. The primes are used less frequently than the others outside of number theory and related fields.
+
+The mathematician Bertrand Russell found that there are problems with this theory of sets. He stated this in a paradox called Russell's paradox. An easier to understand version, closer to real life, is called the Barber paradox:
+
+There is a small town somewhere. In that town, there is a barber. All the men in the town do not like beards, so they either shave themselves, or they go to the barber shop to be shaved by the barber.
+
+We can therefore make a statement about the barber himself: The barber shaves all men that do not shave themselves. He only shaves those men (since the others shave themselves and do not need a barber to give them a shave).
+
+This of course raises the question: What does the barber do each morning to look clean-shaven? This is the paradox.
+
+The following are books about sets. They may not be easy to read though:

ensimple/5691.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+A theory is a group of linked ideas intended to explain something. A theory provides a framework for explaining observations. The explanations are based on assumptions. From the assumptions  follows a number of possible hypotheses. They can be tested to provide support for, or challenge, the theory.
+
+The word 'theory' has several meanings:
+
+These meanings can "shade into each other".[1] Another source offers: [2]
+
+A theory in science (in contrast to a theory in layman's terms) is "a logical, systematic set of principles or explanation that has been verified—has stood up against attempts to prove it false".[3] For example, Darwin's theory of Evolution is a system of ideas that points to humans and apes having evolved from a common ancestor. This conclusion is based on evidence that supports it.
+
+One basic thing needed by a theory is not to defeat itself. If someone argued that every action a human being takes in life is predetermined before that person is even born, and also argued that a human being will determine his or her future according to the acts that he or she freely wills, there is a contradiction.
+
+This idea is called "the principle of non-contradiction", not saying the opposite of what you just said. If we consider any statement, A (perhaps A stands for "The Apple has a worm in it."), then A and the contradiction of A is always false. (In logical symbolism, the single statement "A ∧ ¬A" has a truth value of 0 or false.)
+
+A theory that can produce a statement that is not true, a theory that can predict something that does not in fact happen, or that predicts that something will happen but it does not happen, is not a correct theory. This idea has a big hole to fall into. Scientists can look at experiment after experiment, and they may always find that what theory says is true. Years may pass, and then somebody looks at one more experiment. That experiment shows that the theory is false, and every time they do that experiment it shows that the first time was not some kind of accident. The philosopher Karl Popper gave the example of people in Europe before 1492 who wanted to give scientific descriptions of birds. One bird they worked on was the swan. Somebody proposed the idea, "All swans are white." All of the swans that were checked in their century were white. When Europeans first sailed to Australia, the first swan that they saw was black. Suddenly the old scientific description of swans had to be changed.
+
+So it is never possible to prove conclusively that some theory is correct. A "black swan" may come with the next experiment. It is possible to prove some theories are incorrect. Science makes progress by using one theory until it fails, trying to understand why that theory failed, and then making a better theory. Some theories are very well confirmed, that means that they have been tried over and over again and have never yet failed. When a theory is well confirmed people trust its predictions.
+
+It is possible to prove conclusively that some theory is incorrect. Proving a theory is incorrect makes it possible to find a better theory and thus to make progress.

ensimple/5692.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,255 @@
+Evolution is a biological process that makes living things change over a long time. The explanation of how this process works and how living beings have come to be the way they are is called the theory of evolution.[1]
+
+Earth is very old.[2][3] By studying the layers of rock that make up Earth's crust, scientists can find out about its past. This kind of research is called historical geology.
+
+It is known that living things have changed over time, because their remains can be seen in the rocks. These remains are called 'fossils'. This proves that the animals and plants of today are different from those of long ago.  The older the fossils, the bigger the differences from modern forms.[4]  This has happened because evolution has taken place. That evolution has taken place is a fact, because it is overwhelmingly supported by many lines of evidence.[5][6][7] At the same time, evolutionary questions are still being actively researched by biologists.
+
+Comparison of DNA sequences allows organisms to be grouped by how similar their sequences are. In 2010 an analysis compared sequences to phylogenetic trees, and supported the idea of common descent. There is now "strong quantitative support, by a formal test",[8] for the unity of life.[9]
+
+The theory of evolution is the basis of modern biology. Theodosius Dobzhansky, a well-known evolutionary biologist, has said: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution".[10]
+
+The evidence for evolution is given in a number of books.[11][12][13][14] Some of this evidence is discussed here.
+
+The realization that some rocks contain fossils was a very important event in natural history. There are three parts to this story:
+
+The most convincing evidence for the occurrence of evolution is the discovery of extinct organisms in older geological strata... The older the strata are...the more different the fossil will be from living representatives... that is to be expected if the fauna and flora of the earlier strata had gradually evolved into their descendants.
+
+The evolution of the horse family (Equidae) is a good example of the way that evolution works. The oldest fossil of a horse is about 52 million years old. It was a small animal with five toes on the front feet and four on the hind feet. At that time, there were more forests in the world than today. This horse lived in woodland, eating leaves, nuts and fruit with its simple teeth. It was only about as big as a fox.[19]
+
+About 30 million years ago the world started to become cooler and drier. Forests shrank; grassland expanded, and horses changed. They ate grass, they grew larger, and they ran faster because they had to escape faster predators. Because grass wears teeth out, horses with longer-lasting teeth had an advantage.
+
+For most of this long period of time, there were a number of horse types (genera). Now, however, only one genus exists: the modern horse, Equus. It has teeth which grow all its life, hooves on single toes, great long legs for running, and the animal is big and strong enough to survive in the open plain.[19] Horses lived in western Canada until 12,000 years ago,[20] but all horses in North America became extinct about 11,000 years ago. The causes of this extinction are not yet clear. Climate change and over-hunting by humans are suggested.
+
+So, scientists can see that changes have happened. They have happened slowly over a long time. How these changes have come about is explained by the theory of evolution.
+
+This is a topic which fascinated both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.[21][22][23] When new species occur, usually by the splitting of older species, this takes place in one place in the world. Once it is established, a new species may spread to some places and not others.
+
+Australasia has been separated from other continents for many millions of years. In the main part of the continent, Australia, 83% of mammals, 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects and 93% of amphibians are endemic.[24] Its native mammals are mostly marsupials like kangaroos, bandicoots, and quolls.[25] By contrast, marsupials are today totally absent from Africa and form a small portion of the mammalian fauna of South America, where opossums, shrew opossums, and the monito del monte occur (see the Great American Interchange).
+
+The only living representatives of primitive egg-laying mammals (monotremes) are the echidnas and the platypus. They are only found in Australasia, which includes Tasmania, New Guinea, and Kangaroo Island. These monotremes are totally absent in the rest of the world.[26] On the other hand, Australia is missing many groups of placental mammals that are common on other continents (carnivora, artiodactyls, shrews, squirrels, lagomorphs), although it does have indigenous bats and rodents, which arrived later.[27]
+
+The evolutionary story is that placental mammals evolved in Eurasia, and wiped out the marsupials and monotremes wherever they spread. They did not reach Australasia until more recently. That is the simple reason why Australia has most of the world's marsupials and all the world's monotremes.
+
+In about 6,500 sq mi (17,000 km2), the Hawaiian Islands have the most diverse collection of Drosophila flies in the world, living from rainforests to mountain meadows. About 800 Hawaiian fruit fly species are known.
+
+Genetic evidence shows that all the native fruit fly species in Hawaiʻi have descended from a single ancestral species that came to the islands, about 20 million years ago. Later adaptive radiation was caused by a lack of competition and a wide variety of vacant niches. Although it would be possible for a single pregnant female to colonise an island, it is more likely to have been a group from the same species.[28][29][30][31]
+
+The combination of continental drift and evolution can explain what is found in the fossil record. Glossopteris is an extinct species of seed fern plants from the Permian period on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.[32]
+
+Glossopteris fossils are found in Permian strata in southeast South America, southeast Africa, all of Madagascar, northern India, all of Australia, all of New Zealand, and scattered on the southern and northern edges of Antarctica.
+
+During the Permian, these continents were connected as Gondwana. This is known from magnetic striping in the rocks, other fossil distributions, and glacial scratches pointing away from the temperate climate of the South Pole during the Permian.[13]p103[33]
+
+When biologists look at living things, they see that animals and plants belong to groups which have something in common. Charles Darwin explained that this followed naturally if "we admit the common parentage of allied forms, together with their modification through variation and natural selection".[21]p402[11]p456
+
+For example, all insects are related. They share a basic body plan, whose development is controlled by master regulatory genes.[34] They have six legs; they have hard parts on the outside of the body (an exoskeleton); they have eyes formed of many separate chambers, and so on. Biologists explain this with evolution. All insects are the descendants of a group of animals who lived a long time ago. They still keep the basic plan (six legs and so on) but the details change. They look different now because they changed in different ways: this is evolution.[35]
+
+It was Darwin who first suggested that all life on Earth had a single origin, and from that beginning "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved".[11]p490[21] Evidence from molecular biology in recent years has supported the idea that all life is related by common descent.[36]
+
+Strong evidence for common descent comes from vestigial structures.[21]p397 The useless wings of flightless beetles are sealed under fused wing covers. This can be simply explained by their descent from ancestral beetles which had wings that worked.[14]p49
+
+Rudimentary body parts, those that are smaller and simpler in structure than corresponding parts in ancestral species, are called vestigial organs. Those organs are functional in the ancestral species but are now either nonfunctional or re-adapted to a new function. Examples are the pelvic girdles of whales, halteres (hind wings) of flies, wings of flightless birds, and the leaves of some xerophytes (e.g. cactus) and parasitic plants (e.g. dodder).
+
+However, vestigial structures may have their original function replaced with another. For example, the halteres in flies help balance the insect while in flight, and the wings of ostriches are used in mating rituals, and in aggressive display. The ear ossicles in mammals are former bones of the lower jaw.
+
+In 1893, Robert Wiedersheim published a book on human anatomy and its relevance to man's evolutionary history. This book contained a list of 86 human organs that he considered vestigial.[37] This list included examples such as the appendix and the 3rd molar teeth (wisdom teeth).
+
+The strong grip of a baby is another example.[38] It is a vestigial reflex, a remnant of the past when pre-human babies clung to their mothers' hair as the mothers swung through the trees. This is borne out by the babies' feet, which curl up when it is sitting down (primate babies grip with the feet as well). All primates except modern man have thick body hair to which an infant can cling, unlike modern humans. The grasp reflex allows the mother to escape danger by climbing a tree using both hands and feet.[13][39]
+
+Vestigial organs often have some selection against them. The original organs took resources, sometimes huge resources. If they no longer have a function, reducing their size improves fitness. And there is direct evidence of selection. Some cave crustacea reproduce more successfully with smaller eyes than do those with larger eyes. This may be because the nervous tissue dealing with sight now becomes available to handle other sensory input.[40]p310
+
+From the eighteenth century it was known that embryos of different species were much more similar than the adults. In particular, some parts of embryos reflect their evolutionary past. For example, the embryos of land vertebrates develop gill slits like fish embryos. Of course, this is only a temporary stage, which gives rise to many structures in the neck of reptiles, birds and mammals. The proto-gill slits are part of a complicated system of development: that is why they persisted.[34]
+
+Another example are the embryonic teeth of baleen whales.[41] They are later lost. The baleen filter is developed from different tissue, called keratin. Early fossil baleen whales did actually have teeth as well as the baleen.[42]
+
+A good example is the barnacle. It took many centuries before natural historians discovered that barnacles were crustacea. Their adults look so unlike other crustacea, but their larvae are very similar to those of other crustacea.[43]
+
+Charles Darwin lived in a world where animal husbandry and domesticated crops were vitally important. In both cases farmers selected for breeding individuals with special properties, and prevented the breeding of individuals with less desirable characteristics. The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw a growth in scientific agriculture, and artificial breeding was part of this.
+
+Darwin discussed artificial selection as a model for natural selection in the 1859 first edition of his work On the Origin of Species, in Chapter IV: Natural selection:
+
+Nikolai Vavilov showed that rye, originally a weed, came to be a crop plant by unintentional selection. Rye is a tougher plant than wheat: it survives in harsher conditions. Having become a crop like the wheat, rye was able to become a crop plant in harsh areas, such as hills and mountains.[45][46]
+
+There is no real difference in the genetic processes underlying artificial and natural selection, and the concept of artificial selection was used by Charles Darwin as an illustration of the wider process of natural selection. There are practical differences. Experimental studies of artificial selection show that "the rate of evolution in selection experiments is at least two orders of magnitude (that is 100 times) greater than any rate seen in nature or the fossil record".[47]p157
+
+Some have thought that artificial selection could not produce new species. It now seems that it can.
+
+New species have been created by domesticated animal husbandry, but the details are not known or not clear. For example, domestic sheep were created by hybridisation, and no longer produce viable offspring with Ovis orientalis, one species from which they are descended.[48] Domestic cattle, on the other hand, can be considered the same species as several varieties of wild ox, gaur, yak, etc., as they readily produce fertile offspring with them.[49]
+
+The best-documented new species came from laboratory experiments in the late 1980s. William Rice and G.W. Salt bred fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, using a maze with three different choices of habitat such as light/dark and wet/dry. Each generation was put into the maze, and the groups of flies that came out of two of the eight exits were set apart to breed with each other in their respective groups.
+
+After thirty-five generations, the two groups and their offspring were isolated reproductively because of their strong habitat preferences: they mated only within the areas they preferred, and so did not mate with flies that preferred the other areas.[50][51]
+
+Diane Dodd was also able to show how reproductive isolation can develop from mating preferences in Drosophila pseudoobscura fruit flies after only eight generations using different food types, starch and maltose.[52]
+
+
+
+Dodd's experiment has been easy for others to repeat. It has also been done with other fruit flies and foods.[53]
+
+Some biologists say that evolution has happened when a trait that is caused by genetics becomes more or less common in a group of organisms.[54] Others call it evolution when new species appear.
+
+Changes can happen quickly in the smaller, simpler organisms. For example, many bacteria that cause disease can no longer be killed with some of the antibiotic medicines. These medicines have only been in use about eighty years, and at first worked extremely well. The bacteria have evolved so that they are no longer affected by antibiotics anymore.[55] The drugs killed off all the bacteria except a few which had some resistance. These few resistant bacteria produced the next generation.
+
+The Colorado beetle is famous for its ability to resist pesticides. Over the last 50 years it has become resistant to 52 chemical compounds used in insecticides, including cyanide.[56] This is natural selection speeded up by the artificial conditions. However, not every population is resistant to every chemical.[57] The populations only become resistant to chemicals used in their area.
+
+Although there were a number of natural historians in the 18th century who had some idea of evolution, the first well-formed ideas came in the 19th century. Three biologists are most important.
+
+Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744–1829), a French biologist, claimed that animals changed according to natural laws. He said that animals could pass on traits they had acquired during their lifetime to their offspring, using inheritance. Today, his theory is known as Lamarckism. Its main purpose is to explain adaptations by natural means.[58] He proposed a tendency for organisms to become more complex, moving up a ladder of progress, plus use and disuse.
+
+Lamarck's idea was that a giraffe's neck grew longer because it tried to reach higher up. This idea failed because it conflicts with heredity (Mendel's work). Mendel made his discoveries about half a century after Lamarck's work.
+
+Charles Darwin (1809–1882) wrote his On the Origin of Species in 1859. In this book, he put forward much evidence that evolution had occurred. He also proposed natural selection as the way evolution had taken place. But Darwin did not understand about genetics and how traits were actually passed on. He could not accurately explain what made children look like their parents.
+
+Nevertheless, Darwin's explanation of evolution was fundamentally correct. In contrast to Lamarck, Darwin's idea was that the giraffe's neck became longer because those with longer necks survived better.[21]p177/9 These survivors passed their genes on, and in time the whole species got longer necks.
+
+An Austrian monk called Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) bred plants. In the mid-19th century, he discovered how traits were passed on from one generation to the next.
+
+He used peas for his experiments: some peas have white flowers and others have red ones. Some peas have green seeds and others have yellow seeds. Mendel used artificial pollination to breed the peas. His results are discussed further in Mendelian inheritance. Darwin thought that the inheritance from both parents blended together. Mendel proved that the genes from the two parents stay separate, and may be passed on unchanged to later generations.
+
+Mendel published his results in a journal that was not well-known, and his discoveries were overlooked. Around 1900, his work was rediscovered.[59][60] Genes are bits of information made of DNA which work like a set of instructions. A set of genes are in every living cell. Together, genes organise the way an egg develops into an adult. With mammals, and many other living things, a copy of each gene comes from the father and another copy from the mother. Some living organisms, including some plants, only have one parent, so get all their genes from them. These genes produce the genetic differences which evolution acts on.
+
+Darwin's On the Origin of Species has two themes: the evidence for evolution, and his ideas on how evolution took place. This section deals with the second issue.
+
+The first two chapters of the Origin deal with variation in domesticated plants and animals, and variation in nature.
+
+All living things show variation. Every population which has been studied shows that animal and plants vary as much as humans do.[61][62]p90 This is a great fact of nature, and without it evolution would not occur. Darwin said that, just as man selects what he wants in his farm animals, so in nature the variations allow natural selection to work.[63]
+
+The features of an individual are influenced by two things, heredity and environment. First, development is controlled by genes inherited from the parents. Second, living brings its own influences. Some things are entirely inherited, others partly, and some not inherited at all.
+
+The colour of eyes is entirely inherited; they are a genetic trait. Height or weight is only partly inherited, and the language is not at all inherited. Just to be clear: the fact that humans can speak is inherited, but what language is spoken depends on where a person lives and what they are taught. Another example: a person inherits a brain of somewhat variable capacity. What happens after birth depends on many things such as home environment, education and other experiences. When a person is adult, their brain is what their inheritance and life experience have made it.
+
+Evolution only concerns the traits which can be inherited, wholly or partly. The hereditary traits are passed on from one generation to the next through the genes. A person's genes contain all the traits which they inherit from their parents. The accidents of life are not passed on. Also, of course, each person lives a somewhat different life: that increases the differences.
+
+Organisms in any population vary in reproductive success.[64]p81 From the point of view of evolution, 'reproductive success' means the total number of offspring which live to breed and leave offspring themselves.
+
+Variation can only affect future generations if it is inherited. Because of the work of Gregor Mendel, we know that much variation is inherited. Mendel's 'factors' are now called genes. Research has shown that almost every individual in a sexually reproducing species is genetically unique.[65]p204
+
+Genetic variation is increased by gene mutations. DNA does not always reproduce exactly. Rare changes occur, and these changes can be inherited. Many changes in DNA cause faults; some are neutral or even advantageous. This gives rise to genetic variation, which is the seed-corn of evolution. Sexual reproduction, by the crossing over of chromosomes during meiosis, spreads variation through the population. Other events, like natural selection and drift, reduce variation. So a population in the wild always has variation, but the details are always changing.[62]p90
+
+Evolution mainly works by natural selection. What does this mean? Animals and plants which are best suited to their environment will, on average, survive better. There is a struggle for existence. Those who survive will produce the next generation. Their genes will be passed on, and the genes of those who did not reproduce will not. This is the basic mechanism which changes a population and causes evolution.
+
+Natural selection explains why living organisms change over time to have the anatomy, the functions and behaviour that they have. It works like this:
+
+There are now many cases where natural selection has been proved to occur in wild populations.[5][67][68] Almost every case investigated of camouflage, mimicry and polymorphism has shown strong effects of selection.[69]
+
+The force of selection can be much stronger than was thought by the early population geneticists. The resistance to pesticides has grown quickly. Resistance to warfarin in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) grew rapidly because those that survived made up more and more of the population. Research showed that, in the absence of warfarin, the resistant homozygote was at a 54% disadvantage to the normal wild type homozygote.[62]p182[70] This great disadvantage was quickly overcome by the selection for warfarin resistance.
+
+Mammals normally cannot drink milk as adults, but humans are an exception. Milk is digested by the enzyme lactase, which switches off as mammals stop taking milk from their mothers. The human ability to drink milk during adult life is supported by a lactase mutation which prevents this switch-off. Human populations have a high proportion of this mutation wherever milk is important in the diet. The spread of this 'milk tolerance' is promoted by natural selection, because it helps people survive where milk is available. Genetic studies suggest that the oldest mutations causing lactase persistence only reached high levels in human populations in the last ten thousand years.[71][72] Therefore, lactase persistence is often cited as an example of recent human evolution.[73][74] As lactase persistence is genetic, but animal husbandry a cultural trait, this is gene–culture coevolution.[75]
+
+Adaptation is one of the basic phenomena of biology.[76] Through the process of adaptation, an organism becomes better suited to its habitat.[77]
+
+Adaptation is one of the two main processes that explain the diverse species we see in biology.  The other is speciation (species-splitting or cladogenesis).[78][79] A favourite example used today to study the interplay of adaptation and speciation is the evolution of cichlid fish in African rivers and lakes.[80][81]
+
+When people speak about adaptation they often mean something which helps an animal or plant survive. One of the most widespread adaptations in animals is the evolution of the eye. Another example is the adaptation of horses' teeth to grinding grass. Camouflage is another adaptation; so is mimicry. The better adapted animals are the most likely to survive, and to reproduce successfully (natural selection).
+
+An internal parasite (such as a fluke) is a good example: it has a very simple bodily structure, but still the organism is highly adapted to its particular environment. From this we see that adaptation is not just a matter of visible traits: in such parasites critical adaptations take place in the life cycle, which is often quite complex.[82]
+
+Not all features of an organism are adaptations.[62]p251 Adaptations tend to reflect the past life of a species. If a species has recently changed its life style, a once valuable adaptation may become useless, and eventually become a dwindling vestige.
+
+Adaptations are never perfect. There are always tradeoffs between the various functions and structures in a body. It is the organism as a whole which lives and reproduces, therefore it is the complete set of adaptations which gets passed on to future generations.
+
+In populations, there are forces which add variation to the population (such as mutation), and forces which remove it. Genetic drift is the name given to random changes which remove variation from a population. Genetic drift gets rid of variation at the rate of 1/(2N) where N = population size.[47]p29 It is therefore "a very weak evolutionary force in large populations".[47]p55
+
+Genetic drift explains how random chance can affect evolution in surprisingly big ways, but only when populations are quite small.  Overall, its action is to make the individuals more similar to each other, and hence more vulnerable to disease or to chance events in their environment.
+
+How species form is a major part of evolutionary biology. Darwin interpreted 'evolution' (a word he did not use at first) as being about speciation. That is why he called his famous book On the Origin of Species.
+
+Darwin thought most species arose directly from pre-existing species. This is called anagenesis: new species by older species changing. Now we think most species arise by previous species splitting: cladogenesis.[87][88]
+
+Two groups that start the same can also become very different if they live in different places. When a species gets split into two geographical regions, a process starts. Each adapts to its own situation. After a while, individuals from one group can no longer reproduce with the other group. Two good species have evolved from one.
+
+A German explorer, Moritz Wagner, during his three years in Algeria in the 1830s, studied flightless beetles. Each species is confined to a stretch of the north coast between rivers which descend from the Atlas mountains to the Mediterranean. As soon as one crosses a river, a different but closely related species appears.[89] He wrote later:
+
+This was an early account of the importance of geographical separation. Another biologist who thought geographical separation was critical was Ernst Mayr.[91]
+
+One example of natural speciation is the three-spined stickleback, a sea fish that, after the last ice age, invaded freshwater, and set up colonies in isolated lakes and streams. Over about 10,000 generations, the sticklebacks show great differences, including variations in fins, changes in the number or size of their bony plates, variable jaw structure, and color differences.[92]
+
+The wombats of Australia fall into two main groups, common wombats and hairy-nosed wombats. The two types look very similar, apart from the hairiness of their noses. However, they are adapted to different environments. Common wombats live in forested areas and eat mostly green food with lots of moisture. They often feed in the daytime. Hairy-nosed wombats live on hot dry plains where they eat dry grass with very little water or nutrition it. Their metabolic rate is slow and they sleep most of the day underground.
+
+When two groups that started the same become different enough, then they become two different species. Part of the theory of evolution is that all living things started the same, but then split into different groups over billions of years.[93]
+
+This was an important movement in evolutionary biology, which started in the 1930s and finished in the 1950s.[94][95] It has been updated regularly ever since.
+The synthesis explains how the ideas of Charles Darwin fit with the discoveries of Gregor Mendel, who found out how we inherit our genes. The modern synthesis brought Darwin's idea up to date. It bridged the gap between different types of biologists: geneticists, naturalists, and palaeontologists.
+
+When the theory of evolution was developed, it was not clear that natural selection and genetics worked together. But Ronald Fisher showed that natural selection would work to change species.[96] Sewall Wright explained genetic drift in 1931.[97]
+
+Co-evolution is where the existence of one species is tightly bound up with the life of one or more other species.
+
+New or 'improved' adaptations which occur in one species are often followed by the appearance and spread of related features in the other species. The life and death of living things is intimately connected, not just with the physical environment, but with the life of other species.
+
+These relationships may continue for millions of years, as it has in the pollination of flowering plants by insects.[102][103] The gut contents, wing structures, and mouthparts of fossilized beetles and flies suggest that they acted as early pollinators. The association between beetles and angiosperms during the Lower Cretaceous period led to parallel radiations of angiosperms and insects into the late Cretaceous. The evolution of nectaries in Upper Cretaceous flowers signals the beginning of the mutualism between hymenoptera and angiosperms.[104]
+
+Charles Darwin was the first to use this metaphor in biology. The evolutionary tree shows the relationships among various biological groups. It includes data from DNA, RNA and protein analysis. Tree of life work is a product of traditional comparative anatomy, and modern molecular evolution and molecular clock research.
+
+The major figure in this work is Carl Woese, who defined the Archaea, the third domain (or kingdom) of life.[105] Below is a simplified version of present-day understanding.[106]
+
+Macroevolution: the study of changes above the species level, and how they take place. The basic data for such a study are fossils (palaeontology) and the reconstruction of ancient environments. Some subjects whose study falls within the realm of macroevolution:
+
+It is a term of convenience: for most biologists it does not suggest any change in the process of evolution.[5][107][108]p87 For some palaeontologists, what they see in the fossil record cannot be explained just by the gradualist evolutionary synthesis.[109] They are in the minority.
+
+Altruism – the willingness of some to sacrifice themselves for others – is widespread in social animals. As explained above, the next generation can only come from those who survive and reproduce. Some biologists have thought that this meant altruism could not evolve by the normal process of selection. Instead a process called "group selection" was proposed.[110][111] Group selection refers to the idea that alleles can become fixed or spread in a population because of the benefits they bestow on groups, regardless of the alleles' effect on the fitness of individuals within that group.
+
+For several decades, critiques cast serious doubt on group selection as a major mechanism of evolution.[112][113][114][115]
+
+In simple cases it can be seen at once that traditional selection suffices. For example, if one sibling sacrifices itself for three siblings, the genetic disposition for the act will be increased. This is because siblings share on average 50% of their genetic inheritance, and the sacrificial act has led to greater representation of the genes in the next generation.
+
+Altruism is now generally seen as emerging from standard selection.[116][117][118][119][120] The warning note from Ernst Mayr, and the work of William Hamilton are both important to this discussion.[121][122]
+
+Hamilton's equation describes whether or not a gene for altruistic behaviour will spread in a population. The gene will spread if rxb is greater than c:
+
+where:
+
+At first, sexual reproduction might seem to be at a disadvantage compared with asexual reproduction. In order to be advantageous, sexual reproduction (cross-fertilisation) has to overcome a two-fold disadvantage (takes two to reproduce) plus the difficulty of finding a mate. Why, then, is sex so nearly universal among eukaryotes? This is one of the oldest questions in biology.[123]
+
+The answer has been given since Darwin's time: because the sexual populations adapt better to changing circumstances. A recent laboratory experiment suggests this is indeed the correct explanation.[124][125]
+
+In the main experiment, nematode worms were divided into two groups. One group was entirely outcrossing, the other was entirely selfing. The groups were subjected to a rugged terrain and repeatedly subjected to a mutagen.[128] After 50 generations, the selfing population showed a substantial decline in fitness (= survival), whereas the outcrossing population showed no decline. This is one of a number of studies that show sexuality to have real advantages over non-sexual types of reproduction.[129]
+
+An important activity is artificial selection for domestication. This is when people choose which animals to breed from, based on their traits. Humans have used this for thousands of years to domesticate plants and animals.[130]
+
+More recently, it has become possible to use genetic engineering. New techniques such as 'gene targeting' are now available. The purpose of this is to insert new genes or knock out old genes from the genome of a plant or animal. A number of Nobel Prizes have already been awarded for this work.
+
+However, the real purpose of studying evolution is to explain and help our understanding of biology. After all, it is the first good explanation of how living things came to be the way they are. That is a big achievement. The practical things come mostly from genetics, the science started by Gregor Mendel, and from molecular and cell biology.
+
+In 2010 the journal Nature selected 15 topics as 'Evolution gems'. These were:
+
+The idea that all life evolved had been proposed before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of species. Even today, some people still discuss the concept of evolution and what it means to them, their philosophy, and their religion. Evolution does explain some things about our human nature.[133] People also talk about the social implications of evolution, for example in sociobiology.
+
+Some people have the religious belief that life on Earth was created by a god. In order to fit in the idea of evolution with that belief, people have used ideas like guided evolution or theistic evolution. They say that evolution is real, but is being guided in some way.[17][134][135][136]
+
+There are many different concepts of theistic evolution. Many creationists believe that the creation myth found in their religion goes against the idea of evolution.[137] As Darwin realised, the most controversial part of the evolutionary thought is what it means for human origins.
+
+In some countries, especially in the United States, there is tension between people who accept the idea of evolution and those who do not accept it. The debate is mostly about whether evolution should be taught in schools, and in what way this should be done.[138]
+
+Other fields, like cosmology[139] and earth science[140] also do not match with the original writings of many religious texts. These ideas were once also fiercely opposed. Death for heresy was threatened to those who wrote against the idea that Earth was the center of the universe.
+
+Evolutionary biology is a more recent idea. Certain religious groups oppose the idea of evolution more than other religious groups do. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church now has the following position on evolution: Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani Generis published in the 1950s:
+
+Pope John Paul II updated this position in 1996. He said that Evolution was "more than a hypothesis":
+
+The Anglican Communion also does not oppose the scientific account of evolution.
+
+Many of those who accepted evolution were not much interested in biology. They were interested in using the theory to support their own ideas on society.
+
+Some people have tried to use evolution to support racism. People wanting to justify racism claimed that certain groups, such as black people, were inferior. In nature, some animals do survive better than others, and it does lead to animals better adapted to their circumstances. With humans groups from different parts of the world, all evolution can say is that each group is probably well suited to its original situation. Evolution makes no judgements about better or worse. It does not say that any human group is superior to any other.[143]
+
+This amazing idea of eugenics was rather different. Two things had been noticed as far back as the 18th century. One was the great success of farmers in breeding cattle and crop plants. They did this by selecting which animals or plants would produce the next generation (artificial selection). The other observation was that lower class people had more children than upper-class people. If (and it's a big if) the higher classes were there on merit, then their lack of children was the exact reverse of what should be happening. Faster breeding in the lower classes would lead to the society getting worse.
+
+The idea to improve the human species by selective breeding is called eugenics. The name was proposed by Francis Galton, a bright scientist who meant to do good.[144]  He said that the human stock (gene pool) should be improved by selective breeding policies. This would mean that those who were considered "good stock" would receive a reward if they reproduced. However, other people suggested that those considered "bad stock" would need to undergo compulsory sterilization, prenatal testing and birth control. The German Nazi government (1933–1945) used eugenics as a cover for their extreme racial policies, with dreadful results.[145]
+
+The problem with Galton's idea is how to decide which features to select. There are so many different skills people could have, you could not agree who was "good stock" and who was "bad stock". There was rather more agreement on who should not be breeding. Several countries passed laws for the compulsory sterilisation of unwelcome groups.[146] Most of these laws were passed between 1900 and 1940. After World War II, disgust at what the Nazis had done squashed any more attempts at eugenics.
+
+Some equations can be solved using algorithms that simulate evolution. Evolutionary algorithms work like that.
+
+Another example of using ideas about evolution to support social action is Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a term given to the ideas of the 19th century social philosopher Herbert Spencer. Spencer believed the survival of the fittest could and should be applied to commerce and human societies as a whole.
+
+Again, some people used these ideas to claim that racism, and ruthless economic policies were justified.[147] Today, most biologists and philosophers say that the theory of evolution should not be applied to social policy.[148][149]
+
+Some people disagree with the idea of evolution. They disagree with it for a number of reasons. Most often these reasons are influenced by or based on their religious beliefs. People who do not agree with evolution usually believe in creationism or intelligent design.
+
+Despite this, evolution is one of the most successful theories in science. People have discovered it to be useful for different kinds of research. None of the other suggestions explain things, such as fossil records, as well. So, for almost all scientists, evolution is not in doubt.[150][151][152][153]
+
+These books are mostly about the evidence for evolution.
+
+These books cover most evolutionary topics.
+

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+Santorini is a Greek island. The capital is Thira. Santorini is 63 miles from the island of Crete. The total population is 13,600.
+
+Santorini is considered an active volcano.[1]
+
+Human presences on the island seem to have existed since the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C. The excavations at Akrotiri have confirmed that human activity on the island continued until the eruption of the volcano around 1500 B.C, which entirely buried the island beneath very thick layers of pozzuolona. At that point, all traces of human activity vanished from the island until the end of the 13th century B.C.
+
+According to Herodotus, the island was initially called Strongyle (the Round One). Then later, because of its beauty, it was named Kalliste (the Fairest One). The Phoenicians settled in Kalliste, and after the Phoenicians, the Lacedaemonians arrived and renamed the island after their leader, Theras. In the 9th century B.C. Thera, became an important stopping point of that era in the travel routes between the East and the West. The Phoenician alphabet was adopted at this time for writing in the Greek language. Interestingly though, the conservative Therans, did not follow the cultural development of their counterparts in the other Cycladic islands. At about 630 B.C the Therans reached the north coast of the African continent where they founded Cyrene, the only Theran colony. From as early on as the 6th century B.C. Thera had its own coinage. During the Classical period in Greece [5th and 4th century B.C.] Thera did not play any significant role in the events of that Hellenic time. During the Peloponesian War Thera sided with Sparta, as expected. In Hellenistic times the island's strategic position made Thera an important base for the war campaigns in the Aegean of the successors to Alexander the Great.
+
+During the Roman Empire, Thera was little more than a small, insignificant island. However, when Christianity reached the island early, an organized church was established by the 4th century A.D. The island had neither political nor military significance in Byzantine times, although Alexius I Comnenus [1081 - 1118] founded the church of the Panagia Episkopi at Gonia. After the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade [1204], the Duchy of Naxos was founded and Thera became the seat of one of the four Catholic Bishops of the Duchy. The name Santorini was given at that time by the Crusaders, named after a small chapel of Agia Irini [Santa Irene] which some say was at Perissa and others say it was at Riva on Therasia.
+
+In the years under Frankish rule [1207 - 1579], Santorini experienced the development of a thriving cotton cultivation and viticulture, but the island suffered as much from piratical raids as it did from the rivalries between the local Latin rulers as well as the Duke and the Sultan.
+
+The Turkish dominion [1579 - 1821] resulted in the abolition of piracy and the development of international trade. The Santorinians created close contacts with the great harbours of the Eastern Mediterranean (Alexandria, Constantinople, Odessa) where they founded important communities.
+
+In 1821, Santorini with its shipping power, took part in the fight for independence from the Turks, and in 1830, the island became part of the independent Greek state. Up until the beginning of the 20th century shipping, textiles, tomato production and viticulture were all flourishing markets, but the change from sail to steam-driven ships and the relocation of the island's factories to mainland Greece had a negative effect on the island's economy. After the 1956 earthquake there was a huge decrease in the population resulting in an economic catastrophe. Towards the end of the 1970s however, tourism began to develop, bringing economic relief to the island. 
+The present-day crescent shape of the island is a consequence of the activity of the volcano in prehistoric times. The island itself owes its very existence to the volcano.
+
+The last huge eruption of the volcano dates back 3,600 years, to the late Bronze Age. Thirty million cubic meters of lava in the form of pumice and ash were blown to a height of up to 36 kilometers above the island. Pumice deposits, dozens of meters thick, buried one of the most prosperous pre-historic settlements of that period, feeding the myth of the lost Atlantis.
+
+The mild activity of the volcano after this major eruption continues into the present (the most recent eruption occurred in 1950) building up two small islands within the caldera, Palea and Nea Kameni. These islands represent the volcano's most recent activity.
+
+The marvelous dry climate and continuous sunshine create year around conditions which are perfect for observation, photographs and videos under an extraordinary variety of natural lights and colours that give the visitor the exceptional advantage of reaching the interior of the volcano by boat.
+
+Since the 1st of January 2002, the Euro (EUR) is the currency of Greece. Notes in circulation are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euro while coins are in denominations of 1 euro, 2 euro, 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents and 20 cents. A currency converter is available here.
+
+The banks on Santorini are open 8.00 am-2.30 pm Monday to Thursday and 8.00 am-2.00 pm on Friday. ATMs are available in almost all villages on Santorini. Most accept Visa and MasterCards as well as debit cards of internationally recognised networks.
+
+The electricity supply in Greece is alternating current, 220-250 volts, 50 cycles. Appliances for 110 or 120 volts may be operated by using step down transformers of 220 - 250/110 volts connected to each outlet.
+
+Bottled water is recommended for drinking. Tap water can be used for washing, bathing and cleaning your teeth. In the area of Oia the tap water that comes from the local desalination plant is drinkable.
+
+There is a taxi stand in the square of Fira. Taxi fares are based on a catalogue issued by the Ministry of Transport, and not based on the taxi's meter. KTEL buses carry out daily bus routes to almost all destinations. The KTEL terminal is also in the square of Fira next to the taxis.
+
+ELTA is the official name of the postal service and their colours are blue and yellow. The main postal offices on Santorini are in Fira, Emporio and Oia. Postal agencies are in Pyrgos, Kamari and Perissa. Mailboxes are available in all the villages of Santorini. A standard letter or postcard less than 20 grams sent anywhere in Europe or abroad costs €0.65 (as per April 2007). Courier services are also available.
+
+Most hotels provide internet access for their guests. Internet cafés are available mostly in Fira.
+
+Santorini National Airport,an airport that serves as both military and civil airport, is north of the village of Kamari.  The airlines that run here include Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines.  To get to and from the airport you can use buses, taxis, hotel car-pickups and rental cars.
+
+Media related to Santorini at Wikimedia Commons

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+A thermometer is an instrument for measuring or showing temperature (how hot or cold something is). One type of thermometer is a narrow, concealed glass tube containing mercury or alcohol which extends along the tube as it expands. Another type is a digital thermometer, which uses electronics to measure temperature.
+
+Early thermometers from the time of Galileo measured the expansion and contraction of air. After the middle 17th century many used alcohol or mercury. In the 19th century a mechanical thermometer was in invented that used a bimetallic strip to move a pointer. This kind is still popular where people like to read temperature from a distance.
+
+A laboratory thermometer is a tool used in laboratories to measure temperature with high accuracy.  It can be partially or fully immersed in the substance being measured.  A laboratory thermometer is recognizable by its long stem with a silver bulb at the end. The silver color in the bulb normally indicates the presence of mercury.  Mercury expands as the temperature increases, thus raising the reading, while decreasing temperatures contract the mercury, lowering the reading.  Mercury-in-glass thermometers are less used in the 21st century as preference is shifted to other types of thermometers, such as digital, alcohol-filled and organic-based thermometers.
+
+In the 20th century, the traditional clinical thermometer was a mercury-in-glass thermometer. People put the end of this in their mouth (oral temperature), under their arm, or in their rectum (rectal temperature).
+
+It is only possible to find oral temperatures on patients who can hold the thermometer correctly in their mouth. So small children cannot use this method. It is also a problem for people with a cough or people who are vomiting. In the past it was a big problem because mercury thermometers needed a long time to measure the temperature. Today's digital thermometers are faster. If a person drinks something hot or cold, one still needs to wait before testing their oral temperature.
+
+When measuring a person's rectal temperature, it helps to use a cream on the thermometer. Rectal thermometers are usually more reliable since they aren't as much influenced by other factors.[1] In some countries people think it is embarrassing to use them for people older than two or three. In other countries, it is considered normal for children and adults to use rectal thermometers.
+
+In the 1990s, people in many countries thought mercury thermometers were too risky, as mercury is dangerous if it leaks out. Today we use electronic thermometers. Sometimes thermometers with liquids are used, but not with mercury.
+
+There are other kinds of medical thermometers: tympanic thermometers test the temperature of the tympanic membrane (the eardrum) with infrared; band thermometers test a person's temperature on the front of their head.

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+The Rolling Stones are an English rock band that formed in London, England in 1962. The band members were: Mick Jagger (rhythm guitar and vocals), Keith Richards (lead and rhythm guitar and vocals), Brian Jones (lead guitar), Bill Wyman (bass guitar), and Charlie Watts (drums). The band were influenced by American blues and rock musicians like Howlin' Wolf,  Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. In the beginning they had their first hits with covers versions of songs of those artists. Along with the Beatles and the Kinks, they helped to lead the British Invasion of the early to mid 1960s.
+
+Their fame rose quickly in 1965 with the song "The Last Time." The song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" became a world-wide hit for the band. It was followed up by songs like "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Paint It Black". In the 1967 they experimented with a psychedelic music style. But in 1968 they went back to a harder rock style with songs like "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women."
+
+In 1969, Brian Jones was fired from the band due to his growing drug addictions. A few weeks later Jones was found dead in his swimming pool. A highly respected young blues guitarist named Mick Taylor was named as his replacement. Taylor played on some of the band's most successful songs of the late 1960s and early 1970s including the hits "Brown Sugar", "Tumbling Dice", and "It's Only Rock n' Roll." Taylor left the band in 1974. Ronnie Wood was hired as Taylor's replacement and he has been with the band ever since. Long time bassist Bill Wyman retired from the band in 1992.
+
+The band remained active as a consistently successful recording and touring act throughout the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s. In total they have released 25 studio albums, 10 live albums and 92 singles.
+
+In 1989 The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And in 2004 they were ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
+
+In 2013 the group performed on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival for the first time.[1]

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+"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. Francis Scott Key wrote the words to it in 1814 after seeing British ships attacking Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland during the War of 1812.
+
+The words are set to the music of a British drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven". The song has 4 stanzas but only the first one is usually sung.
+
+O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, 
+What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, 
+Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 
+O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? 
+And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
+Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; 
+O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
+O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 
+
+On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep, 
+Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
+What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, 
+As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
+Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, 
+In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream 
+’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave 
+O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 
+
+And where is that band who so vauntingly swore 
+That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion 
+A home and a country should leave us no more? 
+Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s pollution. 
+No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
+From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,  
+And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
+O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 
+
+Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 
+Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation, 
+Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land 
+Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation! 
+Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
+And this be our motto—“In God is our trust.” 
+And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
+O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

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+The Walt Disney Company, commonly nicknamed Disney, is one of the largest entertainment and media companies in the world. This studio is famous for their family movies. It was started in 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Oliver Disney, as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.[1] It had the name of Walt Disney Productions from 1937 to 1985.
+
+Disney Enterprises Inc. is a subsidiary of the company; the name is found in many of its franchises.
+
+The current chairman and CEO is Bob Chapek since 2020.
+
+The company's main units are Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, Media Networks and Consumer Products.
+
+This unit, also called the Walt Disney Studios, is headed by Chairman Dick Cook. It consists of:
+
+One of the Studios' largest assets lies in Walt Disney Feature Animation, which has made a successful string of animated movies for almost seven decades. Because of failures with most of their recent additions, it has changed its focus from traditional hand-drawn to CGI movies. Pixar, also owned by Disney, is one of the first studios to create CGI movies. Recently, Disney has acquired 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Blue Sky Studios, a big movie production studio, as well as other assets of 21st Century Fox, for $52 billion USD.[2]
+
+Worldwide, Disney has eleven theme parks (as of July 2020):
+
+Disney once owned the sports teams, the Angels (baseball) and the Mighty Ducks (ice hockey), both based in Anaheim, California. They are now the property of other people.
+
+The ABC television network, which Disney bought in 1996, serves as the centre of this unit. Cable television channels within it include Disney Channel, Toon Disney, ABC Family, ESPN and SOAPnet.It also partly owns Lifetime, A&E and E!.
+
+Buena Vista Television, responsible for the syndication of many Disney series, produces some of its own as well: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Ebert & Roeper.
+
+Merchandising and licensing within the company are overseen in this division. Disney Publishing Worldwide, part of this unit, has Disney Press, Disney Editions and Hyperion Books as its brands.
+
+It once owned the Disney Store shopping chain until 2004. Jim Henson's Muppets have taken its place since then.

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+Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 –  July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States.[1] He wrote the Declaration of Independence while others signed it and wrote the Statute of Religious Freedom.
+
+He was also a planter with many slaves, though he often fought for their freedom.[2]
+
+Jefferson, the third of ten children, was born on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia into a planter family. His parents were Peter and Jane Jefferson. He had six sisters and three brothers. At 9 years old, Thomas Jefferson began studying Latin, Greek, and French; he also learned to ride horses, with highest honors. He went on to become a lawyer.
+
+In January 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton, with whom he had 6 children.
+
+Jefferson wanted the Thirteen Colonies to be free from Great Britain. Jefferson quickly assumed a leadership rule among like-minded men of his generation. He was a member of the Second Continental Congress.  He was chosen to be in the group of officials that wrote the Declaration of Independence and was its main writer.
+
+He was minister to France from 1785–1789.
+
+He was selected by George Washington as the first Secretary of State.  Jefferson thought that the federal government should be small.  He had the opposite view of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton about the federal government. Together with James Madison in 1792, he founded a party to oppose Hamilton and the Federalist Party. This party was the Democratic-Republican Party. One fraction of the party became the modern-day Democratic Party.
+
+Jefferson ran for president against John Adams.  He got the second highest number of votes and, as was the law at the time, became vice-president.
+
+Jefferson ran again as the Democratic-Republican candidate in 1800 and got a victory.  He was elected again in 1804.  Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States.
+
+He sent the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the land the United States got by the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson had to deal with the threat of war during his second term. Great Britain and France were at war for almost all of his time as president.  Each side did things that could have made the United States enter the war.  Jefferson worked hard to keep the United States out of the war and not be a part of it.
+
+Jefferson passed the Embargo Act of 1807, which made it illegal for the United States to trade with other countries. This upheld his isolationist policy, or separation from the rest of the world.
+
+Jefferson started the University of Virginia.[3]
+
+The British burned Washington D.C. (or the Capitol building, as it was known,) during the War of 1812. When they did, many books in the Library of Congress were burned. Jefferson sold his own personal library to replace the lost books.
+
+He died on July 4, 1826 from pneumonia complicated by uremia, on the 50th anniversary of the day the Declaration of Independence became valid. John Adams died on the same day. Jefferson is considered one of the greatest U.S. presidents.[by whom?]
+
+There is a Thomas Jefferson Memorial near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Jefferson is one of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  Also, visitors can visit his home at the Monticello near Charlottesville, Virginia.

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+Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the President of the United States between 1913 and 1921.[1] He was born in Virginia and grew up in Georgia.[2][1] In 1917, after the U.S. had been neutral, it got involved with the First World War. Because of Wilson, the League of Nations was founded.[3] Therefore, he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1919.[2] Between 1890 and 1902, Wilson worked as professor for law at the Princeton University.[4][5]
+
+He was one of the initiators of the League of Nations, the creation of which he strongly supported.[6]
+
+Woodrow Wilson, son of Joseph Ruggles Wilson and Janet "Jessie" Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Virginia, United States. Wilson's father was a Presbyterian minister. Wilson had one brother and two sisters.[7] He studied from 1875 to 1879 at the University of Princeton in New Jersey. Between 1879 and 1883, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia.[5] In 1885, he did a doctorate at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His dissertation was about the "Congressional Government". In the same year, Wilson was married to Ellen Louise Axson.[5]
+
+Wilson started to teach political science at Princeton University in 1886.[1][8] He became the director of Princeton University in 1902. Wilson kept in this position until 1910. Wilson's goal was to change the pedagogical system, the social system and the style of the campus.[2]
+
+He was elected to be the Governor of New Jersey for the Democratic Party in 1911.[4] On November 4, 1912, Wilson became the 28th President of the United States.[5] He won with 42% against the incumbent president William Howard Taft. His time being president started in March 1913.
+
+Wilson mostly handled domestic matters during his first term. He passed laws to prevent monopolies from forming, started a few business regulations, passed laws protecting workers, and created the Federal Reserve. During his second term, he also helped women gain the right to vote.
+
+In 1914, his wife Ellen died of Bright's Disease.[9] His doctor, Cary Grayson, introduced him to a girl named Edith Galt, whose husband was also dead. After two months they fell in love and got married. For a long time he focused on her instead of his job as President. But soon, he got back to work.
+
+In 1917, Wilson entered the country in World War One. America was previously neutral, but German submarines kept sinking American ships sailing in British waters and even tried to encourage Mexico to invade the United States, which was the final straw for Wilson. World War One was a war against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire) and the Allied Powers (England, France, and Italy). America was on the Allies' side. The Allies won the war a year later.
+
+Wilson took a ship to Europe to talk with the leaders of the other Allies about what to do with Germany. They came up with the Treaty of Versailles. A part of the Treaty of Versailles said that there will be a group of countries called the League of Nations. A lot of people in America did not like the League of Nations because they thought that it was none of America's business to mess with other countries' problems.
+
+Wilson's political enemy, Senator Henry Lodge from Massachusetts, made a different version of the Treaty of Versailles. Even though Wilson was very sick, he traveled around the country asking people to like the Treaty and the League. Wilson ended up having a stroke. It was the first time he had one. It was very bad and Wilson was not able to run the country as best he could. His thinking also was not great because of the stroke. But, he stayed President and told Congress not to vote for Henry Lodge's new treaty. Congress listened but also said no to Wilson's treaty.
+
+Wilson received criticism for many of his decisions.  Theodore Roosevelt criticized him for entering the war too late.
+
+Wilson nationalized private industries such as the telegraph, telephone, railroad, and prices rose exponentially. As prices began to rise, a recession set in and racial riots began leading to 150 deaths. His inability to subside racial struggles and the creation of the federal reserve make him one of the most consequential presidents of all time.
+
+Quotations related to Woodrow Wilson at Wikiquote
+ Media related to Woodrow Wilson at Wikimedia Commons
+
+
+
+Dunant / Passy (1901) ·
+Ducommun / Gobat (1902) ·
+Cremer (1903) ·
+IDI (1904) ·
+Suttner (1905) ·
+Roosevelt (1906) ·
+Moneta / Renault (1907) ·
+Arnoldson / Bajer (1908) ·
+Beernaert / Estournelles de Constant (1909) ·
+IPB (1910) ·
+Asser / Fried (1911) ·
+Root (1912) ·
+La Fontaine (1913) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross (1917) ·
+Wilson (1919) ·
+Bourgeois (1920) ·
+Branting / Lange (1921) ·
+Nansen (1922) ·
+Chamberlain / Dawes (1925)
+
+Briand / Stresemann (1926) ·
+Buisson / Quidde (1927) ·
+Kellogg (1929) ·
+Söderblom (1930) ·
+Addams / Butler (1931) ·
+Angell (1933) ·
+Henderson (1934) ·
+Ossietzky (1935) ·
+Lamas (1936) ·
+Cecil (1937) ·
+Nansen Office (1938) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross (1944) ·
+Hull (1945) ·
+Balch / Mott (1946) ·
+QPSW / AFSC (1947) ·
+Boyd Orr (1949) ·
+Bunche (1950)
+
+Jouhaux (1951) ·
+Schweitzer (1952) ·
+Marshall (1953) ·
+UNHCR (1954) ·
+Pearson (1957) ·
+Pire (1958) ·
+Noel‑Baker (1959) ·
+Lutuli (1960) ·
+Hammarskjöld (1961) ·
+Pauling (1962) ·
+International Committee of the Red Cross / League of Red Cross Societies (1963) ·
+King (1964) ·
+UNICEF (1965) ·
+Cassin (1968) ·
+ILO (1969) ·
+Borlaug (1970) ·
+Brandt (1971) ·
+Kissinger / Le (1973) ·
+MacBride / Sato (1974) ·
+Sakharov (1975)
+
+B.Williams / Corrigan (1976) ·
+AI (1977) ·
+Sadat / Begin (1978) ·
+Mother Teresa (1979) ·
+Esquivel (1980) ·
+UNHCR (1981) ·
+Myrdal / García Robles (1982) ·
+Wałęsa (1983) ·
+Tutu (1984) ·
+IPPNW (1985) ·
+Wiesel (1986) ·
+Arias (1987) ·
+UN Peacekeeping Forces (1988) ·
+Dalai Lama (1989) ·
+Gorbachev (1990) ·
+Suu Kyi (1991) ·
+Menchú (1992) ·
+Mandela / de Klerk (1993) ·
+Arafat / Peres / Rabin (1994) ·
+Pugwash Conferences / Rotblat (1995) ·
+Belo / Ramos-Horta (1996) ·
+ICBL / J.Williams (1997) ·
+Hume / Trimble (1998) ·
+Médecins Sans Frontières (1999) ·
+Kim (2000)
+
+UN / Annan (2001) ·
+Carter (2002) ·
+Ebadi	(2003) ·
+Maathai (2004) ·
+IAEA / ElBaradei (2005) ·
+Yunus / Grameen Bank (2006) ·
+Gore / IPCC (2007) ·
+Ahtisaari (2008) ·
+Obama (2009) ·
+Xiaobo (2010) ·
+Sirleaf / Gbowee / Karman (2011) ·
+EU (2012) ·
+Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2013) ·
+Yousafzai / Satyarthi (2014) ·
+Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (2015) ·
+Juan Manuel Santos (2016) ·
+International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2017) ·
+Mukwege / Murad (2018) ·
+Ahmed (2019)

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+Adventure Time is an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. Finn and Jake live in the Land of Ooo, a land that has been destroyed by the "Great Mushroom War."[2]

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+St. Peter's Basilica, which is called "Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano" in Italian, is a large church in the Vatican City, in Rome, Italy. It is often called "the greatest church in Christendom".[2][3] In Catholic tradition, St. Peter's Basilica is believed to be the burial place of Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. It is believed that Saint Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.
+
+Although the Bible does not say that the apostle Peter went to Rome, other Roman Christians who were alive in the 1st century AD have written about him.[4] Catholics believe that after Peter was killed, his body was buried in a cemetery where the basilica now stands. A tomb has been found below the altar of the basilica, and there were some bones, but no-one can say for certain if they are the bones of St. Peter.
+
+A church was built here in the 4th century AD. The building that stands here now was begun on April 18, 1506 and was finished in 1626.[5] Many Popes have been buried there. Although many people think St. Peter's is a cathedral, it is not, because it does not have a bishop. The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and although he usually uses St. Peter's as his main church, because he lives in the Vatican, his bishop's throne is in a different church, the cathedral of Saint John Lateran. Large important churches like St. Peter's are often called basilicas. There are four ancient basilicas in Rome that were begun by the Emperor Constantine soon after he made Christianity the legal religion of the Roman Empire in the early 4th century AD (300s). The basilicas are St. Peter's Basilica, St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul outside the Walls.
+
+St. Peter's is famous for many reasons:
+
+One of the books of the Bible, called the Acts of the Apostles, tells what happened to the disciples of Jesus after he was put to death by crucifixion in the 1st century AD. One of his twelve disciples became the leader. His name was Simon Peter and he was a fisherman from Galilee. Peter became one of the most important people in starting the Christian Church. Another important disciple was Paul of Tarsus, who travelled to many places and wrote lots of letters to teach and to encourage people in the new Christian groups that began to spring up in many different parts of the Roman Empire. St. Paul travelled to Rome. It is believed that St. Peter also travelled to Rome and that both Paul and Peter were put to death there as Christian martyrs. St. Paul was beheaded with a sword. Peter was crucified up-side-down. It is believed that the body of St. Peter was buried in a cemetery near the Via Cornelia, a road leading out of the city, on the hill called Vaticanus. Peter's grave was marked, by a red rock, the symbol of his name. The place where Peter died was marked, in the 1400s, by a little round temple called the "Tempietto" designed by Bramante.
+
+St. Peter is very important in Roman Catholic tradition because Peter is believed to have been the head of the Christian Church in Rome, and so he was the first bishop. The Gospel of Matthew (chapter 16, verse 18) tells that Jesus said these words to Peter:
+
+The name Peter means a "rock". The Roman Catholic Church believes that Jesus made Peter the head of the Christian Church, and so all the Bishops of Rome (the Popes) must be the leaders of the Christian Church throughout the whole world. The Protestant and Orthodox churches believe that Jesus was speaking about the important words Peter had just said: "You are the Christ and the Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16:16), and that this Confession of Faith is the rock that the Christian Church is built on.
+
+On December 23, 1950, while making his Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced that Saint Peter's tomb had been discovered.[8] Archaeologists had been searching for ten years in a place under the basilica that had been covered up for about a thousand years. They had found part of a small building dating from soon after St. Peter's death, and some bones, but no-one could be sure if they were the bones of St. Peter.
+
+St. Peter's Basilica, as it stand today, was begun in 1506. The first basilica, which is now called "Old St. Peter's Basilica" was begun by the Emperor Constantine between 326 and 333 AD. This was a big wide church in the shape of a Latin Cross, over 103.6 metres (350 feet) long. The central part called the "nave" had two aisles on either side, separated by rows of talls Roman columns. In front of the main entrance was large courtyard with a covered walkway all around. This church had been built over a small "shrine" (little chapel) believed to mark the burial place of St. Peter. The old basilica contained a very large number of tombs and memorials, including those of most of the popes from St. Peter to the 15th century.[9]
+
+By the end of the 15th century (1400s), the old basilica was falling to pieces. Pope Nicholas V, (1447–55), was worried about it and got two architects, Leone Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, to make plans to restore it or build a new one. But Pope Nicholas had so many political problems that when he died, very little of the work had been done.[10]
+In 1505, Pope Julius II decided to demolish (pull down) the old St. Peter's and build a basilica that would be the grandest church in the world and make Rome (and himself) famous.[6] He held a competition and invited lots of artists and architects to draw designs. A plan was selected and the build was begun, but Pope Julius did not get his new basilica. In fact, it was not finished for 120 years. The planning and construction (or "building work") lasted through the reigns of 21 popes and 8 architects.
+
+The changing plans for St. Peter's. The architectural terms are explained in the article.
+
+The Old Saint Peter's Basilica drawn by H. W. Brewer, 1891. He used very old drawings and writings to work out how it must have looked.
+
+Bramante's plan is for a Greek Cross with a dome on four big piers. There is a tower at each corner.
+
+Raphael's plan is simpler and is for a Latin Cross like the old basilica.
+
+The finished basilica shows Michelangelo's plan, with four huge piers. It also shows Maderna's nave, portico and facade.
+
+When Pope Julius decided to build the "grandest church in Christendom"[6] the design by Donato Bramante was chosen, and Pope Julius laid the foundation stone in 1506. Bramante's plan was in the shape of an enormous Greek Cross, which means that it had four arms all of equal length, and a large dome at the middle. For the next hundred years, the groundplan got changed backwards and forwards between a "Greek Cross" like Bramante's plan and a "Latin Cross" like the old basilica, but one thing never changed, and that was the idea of having an enormous dome at the place where the two arms crossed.
+
+At that time, there were only three very large domes in the whole world. One was far away in Constantinople on the church of Hagia Sophia and not many people in Italy had seen it. The other two domes were both very well known. One was the dome on the temple to the Ancient Roman gods, called the Pantheon. The other dome was built in the early 15th century (1400s) on Florence Cathedral by Filippo Brunelleschi. The dome of the Pantheon is 43.3 metres (142.06 ft) across and the dome of Florence Cathedral is about 42.1 metres (138 ft), but is much taller. Bramante's plan for the dome of St. Peter's was for it to be about as wide as the dome of Florence, and even taller.
+
+No architect with any sense would try to design a dome without first checking out how these other two domes were made. Bramante checked them out. He discovered that the dome of the Pantheon, which had been standing for nearly 1500 years, was made of concrete. So that the concrete wouldn't be too heavy, it was mixed with pumice stone which comes out of a volcano and is full of gas holes so it is very light weight. Bramante learned how to make concrete like the Ancient Romans.
+
+Bramante's dome was to be like the one on the Pantheon. But there was one very big difference between the Pantheon dome and Bramante's design. The Pantheon's dome stands on a round wall like a drum, with only one doorway in it, but Bramante's dome was designed to stand on a drum, which was standing high up on four wide arches. The aches rested on four enormous piers (pillars of stone). He had got this idea from Florence Cathedral which had an enormous dome resting on eight big piers. Another idea that Bramante got from Florence Cathedral was the design for the little stone tower which sits on top of the dome and is called the lantern.
+
+When Pope Julius died in 1513, the next pope, Leo X, called in three architects, Giuliano da Sangallo, Fra Giocondo and Raphael. Sangallo and Fr Giocondo both died in 1515. Raphael made a big change to the plan. Instead of having a Greek Cross, he decided to change the plan to a Latin Cross, which had a long nave and aisles like the old basilica.[11]
+
+Raphael also died, in his mid-30s, in 1520, before any important changes could be made to the building. The next architect was Peruzzi who like some of the ideas that Raphael had, but did not like the Latin Cross plan. Peruzzi went back to Bramante's Greek Cross plan.[12] But there were so many arguments in the church that the building stopped completely. Then in 1527 Rome was invaded by Emperor Charles V. Peruzzi died in 1536 without his plan being built.[6] The only main parts of the building which had been constructed were Bramante's four big piers to hold the dome.
+
+Antonio da Sangallo (known as "Sangallo the Younger") looked at all the different plans by Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante. He put some of their ideas together in a design that had a very short nave, (not a long one like Raphael's design) and had a big porch at the front. He changed Bramante's dome to be much stronger and also much more decorated. The main new idea that he added were 16 stone ribs to strengthen the dome. This idea came from Florence Cathedral which had eight stone ribs.[13] But Sangallo's plan never got built, either. The main job that he did was to strengthen Bramante's piers which had begun to crack.[14]
+
+On January 1st, 1547 in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, who was already over 70, became the architect of St. Peter's.[15] He is the main designer of the building as it stands today. Michelangelo died before the job was finished, but by that time, he had got the construction up to a point where other people could get it finished. Michelangelo had already done a lot of work for the popes, carving figures for the tomb of Pope Julius II, painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which took five years, and the enormous fresco the "Last Judgement" on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo found the popes and the cardinals very difficult to work with. When Pope Paul asked him to be the new architect for St. Peter's, Michelangelo did not want the job. In fact, Pope Paul did not really want Michelangelo. But his first choice, Giulio Romano, died suddenly. Michelangelo told the pope that he would only do the job, if he could do it in whatever way he thought was best.[14]
+
+Michelangelo wrote:
+
+When Michelangelo took over a building site in 1547, the nave of the old basilica was still standing and in use. There were four of the most enormous piers in the world standing where the western part of the old basilica had been. The building work had stopped for so long that weeds and bushes were growing out between the stones of the unfinished building as if it was a cliff. Michelangelo looked at all the plans that had been drawn by some of the greatest architects and engineers of the 16th century. He knew he could do whatever he liked but he had respect for the other designers, especially Bramante. He knew that he was expected to make a design that would be the symbol of the city of Rome, in the same way as Brunelleschi's dome was the symbol of Florence where Michelangelo had lived as a young man. He went back to the Greek Cross idea and re-drew Bramante's plan, making every part of it much stronger and simpler.[16] It had to be strong enough to support the tallest dome in the world.
+
+Michelangelo was a sculptor. When he was going to carve something, he would start by making a clay model. Michelangelo could imagine the building like a lump of clay. What if the building could be pushed and pulled and squeezed? If you could squeeze the corners in, then other bits would bulge out. If you could put your hands around the whole building and squeeze it, then the dome would bulge upwards. The idea of imagining buildings as bendy and bulgy was a completely new one. But other artists like Gianlorenzo Bernini looked at what Michelangelo did at St. Peter's and used this clever new idea in their own work. This is called the Baroque style.
+
+As it stands today, the Greek Cross part of the basilica is Michelangelo's design and the nave, which was added later, is by Carlo Maderna.[17] Comparing Michelangelo's plan with Raphael's plan shows that while the outside-line of Raphael's plan has clear square and round shapes, the outside-line in Michelangelo's plan has lots of changes of direction. That is the way it was built. All around the outside of the building are enormous "pilasters" (which are like giant columns stuck on the building). Almost every pilaster is set at a different angle to the next one as if the flat walls had been folded up. Right around the top of the building is a band called the "cornice". A "cornice" is usually quite flat, but because of all the changes of direction, this cornice ripples like a giant piece of ribbon, tied around the outside of the building.[18] The art historian Helen Gardner wrote that it looked as of the whole building was being held together from top to bottom.[16]
+
+Michelangelo designed the dome again, using ideas from Bramante and Sangallo the Younger. Three important ideas came from the dome that Brunelleschi had built in Florence more than 100 years earlier.
+
+When Michelangelo died in 1564, the walls were being built, the piers had been strengthened and everything was ready for the building of the dome. The Pope wanted Michelangelo's assistant Vignola to finish it, but he was not able to. After twenty years Pope Sixtus V gave the job to the architect Giacomo della Porta and the engineer Domenico Fontana.[6][14] Giacomo Della Porta successfully built the dome. He made some changes to the design, like adding some lions' heads to the decoration because they were the symbol of Pope Sixtus' family. The main way that the dome is different from the wooden model is that it is much more pointy.[14]
+
+Some writers believe that Michelangelo had changed his mind from his first plan, and did not want the pointy dome. They believe he wanted a round dome which would look more "restful". Other writers believe that Michelangelo wanted the pointed dome, not just because it was safer to build, but also because it looked more exciting, as if the building was pushing upwards.[16][18] Pope Sixtus V lived just long enough to see the dome finished in 1590. His name is written in gold letters around the inside, just below the lantern.
+
+Pope Clement III, had a cross raised into place on top of the lantern. It took a whole day and everyone in Rome was given a holiday, and all the church-bells of the city were rung. In the arms of the cross are set two lead boxes, one containing a fragment of the True Cross and a bone of Saint Andrew and the other containing medals of the "Holy Lamb".[14][19]
+
+The dome of St. Peter's rises to a height of 136.57 m (448.06 ft) from the floor of the basilica. It is the tallest dome in the world.[20] Its inside diameter is 41.47 metres (136.06 ft), just slightly smaller than those of the Pantheon and the Florence Cathedral.
+
+Around the inside of the dome is written in letters 2 metres (6.5 ft) high:
+
+In 1602 Pope Paul V put Carlo Maderna in charge of the building. On February 18 1606, workmen began to pull down the rest of the old basilica. Some people were very upset. The building committee felt guilty. They decided that the church was the wrong shape, and that they wanted a Latin Cross plan because it was the symbol of the death of Jesus.[14] They wanted a nave which would cover all the Holy Ground where the old building had been. In 1607 Maderna's plans for the nave and the facade (the front) were accepted. For the inside, he used very large piers with pilasters like Michelangelo's, but he made a clear join between the two parts of the building. The building work began on May 7 1607 and 700 men were employed to do the work. In 1608, the facade was begun. In December 1614 the building was all finished except for the decorations on the ceiling. Early in 1615 the temporary wall between Michelangelo's building and the new nave was pulled down. All the mess was carted away, and the nave was ready for use by Palm Sunday.[14]
+
+The façade was designed by Maderna. It is 114.69 metres (376.28 ft) wide and 45.55 metres (149.44 ft) high and is built of pale grey travertine stone, with a giant Corinthian columns and a central triangular pediment. Along the roof-line are statues of Christ, John the Baptist, and eleven of the apostles.
+
+Inside the main doors is a portico (a long hall) which runs across the front of the building and has five doors leading into the basilica. Its has a long curving roof decorated with gold. The light that comes through the doors shines on the beautifully patterned marble floor. At each end of the portico, set between columns, is a statue of a figure on horseback. They are Charlemagne sculpted by Cornacchini (18th century) to the south and Emperor Constantine by Bernini (1670) to the north. Maderna's last work at St. Peter's was to design a sunken crypt called the "Confessio" under the dome, where people can go to be nearer the burial place of the apostle. All around its marble handrail are 95 bronze lamps.
+
+As a young boy Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) visited St. Peter's and said that one day he wanted to build "a mighty throne for the apostle". His wish came true. As a young man, in 1626, Pope Urban VIII asked him to work as architect for the basilica. Bernini spent the next fifty years thinking of new and beautiful things to design. He is thought of as the greatest architect and sculptor of the Baroque period.[14][16]
+
+Bernini's first work at St. Peter's was to design the "baldacchino" which is like a tent or "pavilion" above the High Altar. This amazing thing is 30 metres (98 ft) tall and is probably the largest piece of bronze in the world. It stands underneath the dome and has four huge bronze twisted columns decorated with olive leaves and bees, because bees were the symbol of Pope Urban. Pope Urban had a niece that he loved very much and he got Bernini to put her face and the face of her new-born baby boy on the columns as well.[14][16]
+
+Bernini had a great idea for Bramante's great big piers. He had four hollow "niches" carved into them where four huge statues could stand. The basilica owns some precious relics: a piece of the True Cross of Jesus, a veil that a woman wiped the face of Jesus with, while he was carrying the cross, the spear that was used to pierce Jesus side, and the bones of St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter. No-one knows for sure whether these things are real or not, but for hundreds of years they have been precious. Bernini's plan was the make four marble statues of the four Holy people: St. Helena who found the cross, St. Longinus who was the soldier with the spear, St Veronica who wiped Jesus' face and St. Andrew.[14] (See below)
+
+Bernini's next job was to make a special throne out of bronze, to hold an ancient wood and ivory throne that had been at the basilica for more than 500 years. It is called the Cattedra Petri or "throne of St. Peter". The bronze throne, with the old wooden throne inside it, is held up high at the end of the basilica, by four important saints who are called "Doctors of the Church" because they were all great writers and teachers.[21] The statues are made of bronze. They are Saints Ambrose and Augustine for the Church of Rome and Saints Athanasius and John Chrysostum for the Orthodox Church. Above the chair is a window which is made not from glass but thin translucent stone called alabaster. The Dove of the Holy Spirit is in the middle of the window with rays of light spreading out into the basilica through a sculpture of golden clouds and angels. Bernini designed this to look like a window into Heaven. There was a great celebration when the chair was put in place on January 16, 1666.[14][16]
+
+Bernini's last work for St. Peter's, 1676, was to decorate of the Chapel of the Sacrament. He designed a miniature version of Bramante's Tempietto, and made it in gilt bronze. On either side is an angel, one gazing in adoration and the other looking towards the viewer in welcome. Bernini died in 1680 in his 82nd year.[14]
+
+To the east of the basilica is the Piazza di San Pietro (St. Peter's Place).[22] The piazza was designed by Bernini and built between 1656 and 1667. It was not an easy job because the designer had lots of things to think about. Firstly, many people complained that Maderna's facade on St. Peter's looked too wide, so Bernini wanted to make it look narrower, not wider. Secondly, in the old square left over from the Old St. Peter's, Pope Sixtus V had a monument set up. This monument was a precious Ancient Egyptian obelisk (which is like a tall column, but with four flat sides). From its base to the top of the cross (that the pope had put on top) it was 40 metres (131 ft) high, and had been brought to Rome in ancient times. The obelisk really should be at the center of the new square, but it was not in quite the right place, and was very difficult to move without breaking. The third problem was that Maderna had built a fountain to one side of the obelisk, and Bernini needed to make another fountain to match it, otherwise the design would look unbalanced.[14]
+
+Bernini solved the problem by making two areas, instead of one huge one. The first area is an almost-square area right in front of the facade. It is cleverly designed with sloping sides that make the building look taller and not so wide. The second part of the piazza is oval. It has the obelisk at the center with two fountains on either side at the widest part. The two parts of the piazza are surrounded by a colonnade (covered walk-way) which is carried on tall columns. All around are large statues of saints which seem to look down on the thousands of visitors that come to the square every day. The colonnade is in two great arcs that seem to stretch out like loving arms, welcoming people to the Basilica.[16] In recent times some buildings were demolished, making another square, to match the one near the piazza.
+
+The famous architectural historian, Sir Banister Fletcher, said that no other city in the world had given such a wonderful view to people visiting their main church. He said that no other architect except Bernini could have imagined such a noble design. He said it is the greatest entrance to the greatest Christian church in the whole world.[23]
+
+St. Peter's Basilica has many treasures. These include Christian relics, the tombs of popes and many other important people, famous artworks which are mostly sculpture and other interesting things.
+
+The Egyptian obelisk stands in the centre of the piazza.
+
+The fountains of Maderna and Bernini are lit up at night.
+
+Outside the basilica stand two statues. This is St. Paul.
+
+There are many statues on the colonnade and roof.
+
+The Holy Door is opened only for great celebrations.
+
+No-one knows how old the statue of St. Peter is. Its feet are worn down from people kissing them.
+
+The Pietà by Michelangelo is the most famous artwork in St. Peter's. It shows the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus.
+
+The body of The Blessed Pope John XXIII can be seen inside his tomb.
+
+There are many sculptured decorations like this angel.
+
+The window of the Holy Spirit designed by Bernini
+
+Many parts of the basilica are decorated with mosaics. This is St. John the Gospel Writer.
+
+The mosaic decoration of this small dome shows the Blessed Virgin Mary in Heaven.
+
+The Dove of Peace showing the different coloured marbles used to decorate the piers.
+
+The tomb of Queen Christina of Sweden, who gave up her throne and became a nun.
+
+The tomb of Pope Innocent XII has the figures of Caring and Justice.
+
+This carved altarpiece shows Attila the Hun being driven out of Rome.
+
+Four large statues are in the piers near the High Altar. Saint Helena holds the True Cross which she found in Jerusalem.
+
+Saint Longinus carries the spear that pierced the side of Jesus.
+
+Saint Andrew carries the cross on which he was crucified. His bones are at St. Peter's
+
+Saint Veronica carries the veil that she used to wipe the face of Jesus, when he was carrying his cross.
+

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+Gladiators (Latin: gladiatōrēs, "swordsmen" or "one who uses a sword," from gladius, "sword") were professional fighters in ancient Rome, who fought against each other, wild animals  and sentenced criminals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of the public. These fights took place in arenas in many cities from the Roman Republic period through the Roman Empire.
+
+The word comes from gladius, the Latin word for a short sword used by legionaries and some gladiators.
+
+Gladiators often are slaves and people from other countries that fought ancient Rome and lost and got captured. Some are normal people from the Roman Republic and wants to be a gladiator and give up their freedom.
+
+There were different types of gladiators in the world, such as Thracians, Mirmillones, Retiarii, and the Secutores.The gladiators were the footballers of their time.You would have been very famous and rich.
+
+The Emperor would have the final say about who would live and who would die. He would put his thumbs down to die or thumbs up to live.
+
+Gladiators fought to the death. Gladiators would have different types of weapons. Some might have a sword whereas others would use axes.
+

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+Thrace [1] (Ancient Greek: Θρᾴκη: Thráke; Bulgarian: Тракия; Trakiya, Turkish: Trakya) is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. It was bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east. Thrace included areas which are now southeastern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and the European part of Turkey. The Thracians were an ancient Indo-European people. They lived in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
+
+The indigenous population of Thrace was a people called the Thracians. They were divided into many tribal groups. Thracian troops were known to be used in the Persian army. Many of them went with neighbouring ruler Alexander the Great when he crossed the Hellespont (which is next to Thrace) during his invasion of the Persian Empire.
+
+The Thracians were divided into separate tribes. They did not form a lasting political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the 4th century BC. Like Illyrians, Thracian tribes of the mountainous regions had a warrior tradition. The tribes based in the plains were more peaceable. Recent funeral mounds in Bulgaria suggest that Thracian kings did rule regions of Thrace with distinct Thracian national identity.
+
+Thrace was conquered by Alexander. It later regained its freedom. It was conquered after several attempts by the Romans in 46 AD, in the reign of Claudius. They became a province, and later four provinces, of the Roman Empire. Finally, as the Empire crumbled, Thrace suffered more than a thousand years of conflict and conquest by stronger forces. It never regained its independence.
+
+The Thracians did not describe themselves as such and Thrace and Thracians are simply the names  given them by the Greeks.[2]

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+
+
+Thyme (Thymus) (pronounced "time") is a genus of perennial plants. There are about 350 different species of thyme. They are herbaceous plants and sub-shrubs. They can grow to about 40 cm tall. They are the family Lamiaceae and native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.
+
+The stems are usually narrow, sometimes even wiry. The leaves are evergreen in most species. They are arranged in opposite pairs, oval, entire, and small, 4–20 mm long. The flowers are in dense terminal heads, with an uneven calyx, with the upper lip three-lobed, and the lower cleft; the corolla is tubular, 4–10 mm long, and white, pink or purple.
+
+Thymus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Chionodes distinctella and Coleophora species.
+
+Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples. They believed that thyme was a source of courage. It was thought that the spread of thyme throughout Europe was thanks to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms. In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed under pillows. This was done to help sleep and ward off nightmares. (Huxley 1992). In this period, women would also often give knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves. People believed it would bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life.[1]
+
+Thyme is widely grown as a herb. Usually it is grown for its strong flavour, which is due to its content of thymol.[2]
+
+Thyme likes a hot sunny location with good-draining soil. It is planted in the spring and later grows as a perennial. It can be propagated by seed, cuttings, or by dividing rooted sections of the plant. It tolerates drought well.[3]
+
+Thyme keeps its flavour on drying better than many other herbs.
+
+Thyme is widely used for cooking. Thyme is a basic ingredient in French and Italian cuisines, and in those derived from them. It is also widely used in Caribbean cuisine.
+
+Thyme is often used to flavour meats, soups and stews. It has a particular affinity to and is often used as a primary flavour with lamb, tomatoes and eggs.
+
+Thyme, while flavourful, does not overpower and blends well with other herbs and spices. In French cuisine, along with bay and parsley it is a common component of the bouquet garni, and of herbes de Provence. In some Middle Eastern countries, the condiment za'atar contains thyme as a vital ingredient.
+
+Thyme is sold both fresh and dried. The fresh form is more flavourful but also less convenient; storage life is rarely more than a week. While summer-seasonal, fresh thyme is often available year-round. Fresh thyme is commonly sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant. It is composed of a woody stem with paired leaf or flower clusters ("leaves") spaced ½ to 1" apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the bunch (or fraction thereof), or by the sprig, or by the tablespoon or teaspoon. If the recipe does not specify fresh or dried, assume that it means fresh.
+
+Thyme retains its flavour on drying better than many other herbs. Dried, and especially powdered thyme occupies less space than fresh, so less of it is required when substituted in a recipe. As with bay, thyme is slow to release its flavours so it is usually added early in the cooking process.
+
+The essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is made up of 20-55% thymol.[4] Thymol, an antiseptic, is the main active ingredient in Listerine mouthwash.[5] Before the advent of modern antibiotics, it was used to medicate bandages.[6] It has also been shown to be effective against the fungus that commonly infects toenails.[7]
+
+A tea made by infusing the herb in water can be used for cough and bronchitis.[4] Medicinally thyme is used for respiratory infections.[8]  Because it is antiseptic, thyme boiled in water and cooled is very effective against inflammation of the throat.[8] The inflammation will normally disappear in 2 – 5 days. Other infections and wounds can be dripped with thyme.[8]
+
+In traditional Jamaican childbirth practice, thyme tea is given to the mother after delivery of the baby. Its oxytocin-like effect causes uterine contractions and more rapid delivery of the placenta but this was said by Sheila Kitzinger to cause an increased prevalence of retained placenta.
+
+Thymus vulgaris (common thyme or garden thyme) is a commonly used culinary herb. It also has medicinal uses. Common thyme is a Mediterranean perennial which is best suited to well-drained soils and enjoys full sun.
+
+Thymus herba-barona (caraway thyme) is used both as a culinary herb and a groundcover, and has a strong caraway scent due to the chemical carvone.
+
+Thymus × citriodorus (citrus thyme; hybrid T. pulegioides × T. vulgaris) is also a popular culinary herb, with cultivars selected with flavours of various Citrus fruit (lemon thyme, etc.)
+
+Thymus pseudolanuginosus (woolly thyme) is not a culinary herb, but is grown as a ground cover.
+
+Thymus serpyllum (wild thyme) is an important nectar source plant for honeybees. All thyme species are nectar sources, but wild thyme covers large areas of droughty, rocky soils in southern Europe (Greece is especially famous for wild thyme honey) and North Africa, as well as in similar landscapes in the Berkshire Mountains and Catskill Mountains of the northeastern US.
+
+There are a number of different cultivars of thyme with established or growing popularity, including:

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+Tianjin(Chinese: 天津), is a city in Northern China. It has a population of 11,760,000. It has an area of 11,917.3 square kilometers. Built in 1403, Tianjin has been named by Yongle Emperor in memory of his success in occupying Ming capital Beijing through the harbor of Tianjin. It locates on the banks of the Hai River, west of Bohai Sea, south of Yanshan Mountains, east of Beijing. The distance between Tianjin and Beijing is 137 kilometers and it’ll take you only half an hour to go from Tianjin to Beijing by the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway.
+
+Tianjin is the birthplace of China’s modern mechanical industry and textile industry. Since the beginning of the Open Door Policy, Tianjin has been built more than a dozen industrial zones, creating a lot Chinese famous brand like Flying Pigeon bicycles, Seagull brand watches. Now Tianjin gradually forms 6 industries of electronic information, automobile, metallurgical, chemical, biotechnology and modern medicine, new energy and environmental protection. Among Fortune 500 companies, more than 106 have invested in Tianjin. From 1994 to 2008, Tianjin's GDP rate increased 12.5% on average, entered the ranks of China's rapid development area.
+
+Tianjin is the birthplace of the first university in China. In 1895, some officials established the first modern university in China – Peiyang University, the predecessor of Tianjin University. Nankai University in Tianjin is a famous university in China. The first Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai graduates from Nankai University. Tianjin has 37 universities and has nearly 20 million students. Tianjin is one of the first nine-year compulsory education regions. The quality of workers is high. Tianjin has nearly one thousand scientific and technological research institutions, together with more than 600 thousand professionals in different fields. It has a large number of famous experts and scholars.
+
+Tianjin is not far away from sea, so a lot of Tianjin cuisine is seafood. One of the most famous cuisine in Tianjin is The Four Great Stews, which refers actually to a very large number of stews, including chicken, duck, seafood, beef, and mutton. Tianjin also has several famous snack items. Goubuli is a traditional brand of Baozi (steamed buns with filling) that is famous throughout China. Guifaxiang is a traditional brand of mahua(twisted dough sticks). Erduoyan is a traditional brand of fried rice cakes.

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+Xizang Autonomous Region, also called the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR),[1] is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Its capital is Lhasa.  English speakers often call this region Tibet, but Tibet can also mean any place where the Tibetan culture is local to.
+
+Tibet's main religion is Buddhism.  Their traditions make it a place of interest to many people. The local monks are sometimes said to have special, superhuman abilities.[2]  The writings of Tibetan monks are sometimes shared with outsiders, and are known for their insight. The Tibetan Book of the Dead contains rituals for the dead and dying, somewhat similar to the Catholic last rites.[3][4] Some Tibetans practice a religion called Bon. People who study Bon disagree where Bon came from, how old it is, and if it can be called a kind of Buddhism. The religious leader of Tibet's Buddhists is called the Dalai Lama. He was forced to leave the country when the Chinese Army took over. The Dalai Lama presently lives in exile in India, but often visits other countries. Many monks and other religious people also were forced to leave the country, and many of them started Buddhist and Bon centers in cities around the world.
+
+Tibet formed from communities living along the Yarlung Tsangpo, the longest river in Tibet. Namri Songtsen united these communities under one king around 600 CE, with the city of Lhasa becoming capital. His son Songtsen Gampo took control of land beyond Lhasa and the Yarlung Tsangpo and started the Tibetan Empire. Tibetan writers say that Buddhists came to Tibet for the first time while Songtsen Gampo was king. Trisong Detsen, king from 755-794 CE, gave a lot of support to Buddhism. He helped build a monastery at Samye, which became very important. During Trisong Detsen's time as king, the Tibetan Empire had control over large areas of land. Tibet's borders touched Central Asia and Afghanistan at the west, Bangladesh at the south, and China at the east. After the king Langdarma was killed in 842, the Tibetan Empire collapsed, and Tibet was no longer united under one king.
+
+In the late 900s and 1000s, people started new Buddhist and Bon traditions. Three of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism were started during this time, as well as the first Bon monasteries. People who study Tibet's history call this time the Tibetan Renaissance. In 1042, the Indian Buddhist master Atisha came to Tibet. Atisha inspired a reform of Tibet's monasteries and wrote an important guidebook for people to gain enlightenment. These kinds of guidebooks are called lamrim, and all of the lamrim books in Tibet are based on Atisha's book. The largest school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelug school, was started by people inspired by Atisha, particularly the monk Tsongkhapa (1357-1419). Tsongkhapa's writings on philosophy became the new norm in Tibet.
+
+The Mongol Empire sent armies to Tibet in 1240, and took control over the country over the next nine years. The Mongols left the running of the country to leaders from the Sakya school of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism spread to Mongolia, and today most people in Mongolia are Buddhists as a result. In the mid-1300s, Tibet became independent again, but the Mongols still had some power and influence. In 1577, the Mongol leader Altan Khan gave the leader of the Gelug school the title Dalai Lama. The fifth Dalai Lama was able to gain control of all of Tibet, and the Dalai Lama became not just the leader of the Gelug school but the leader of Tibet as well. During the 1700s, the Qing Empire, based in China, sent armies to Tibet and took official control of Tibet, but the Qing emperors mostly let the Dalai Lama run the country. The Qing emperor Qianlong gave his support to Tibetan Buddhism, allowing new translations of Buddhist books to be made and building new temples. In the late 1800s, the British Empire and Russian Empire began to be interested in having control of Tibet, as it was in the middle of Russian colonies in Central Asia and British colonies in India. Britain sent armies to Tibet in 1903-4. They forced Tibet to agree not to be friendly with Russia. A revolution ended the Qing Empire in 1911, and Tibet became independent again, and was independent for the next thirty-six years.
+
+In 1949, Mao Zedong became the leader of China. Mao and the Chinese leaders thought that China should regain control of Tibet, and in 1950, Chinese troops entered the east of Tibet. Mao Zedong was a communist, and thought that many things about the way Tibetans lived their lives should be different. The Chinese communists did not like how much power the Dalai Lama, the Gelug school, and Buddhist groups in general had over Tibetan society, and they wished to reform how land was owned in Tibet. The changes the Chinese Communist Party made in Tibet were enforced with violence, and Tibetans began to rebel against the Chinese government. The Chinese responded by sending many troops in 1959, forcing the Dalai Lama and thousands of other Tibetans to flee to other countries. The Dalai Lama started a government in exile in India. Between 1959 and 1961, most of Tibet's monasteries were destroyed, and the Chinese Communist Party gained control over Tibetans' lives. China created an administrative division from part of Tibet called the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965, although ethnic Tibetans have not had much say in the running of this region. The Chinese government has encouraged large numbers of Han Chinese people to settle in Tibet. Groups outside of China such as the Human Rights Watch argue that the Chinese government is oppressing Tibetans and causing them to lose their culture.[5]
+
+Tibet is divided into 2 municipalities (地级市) and five autonomous prefectures (自治州).
+
+Tibetan culture also influences other regions nearby, such as Nepal, Bhutan, parts of eastern Kashmir and some regions in northern most Republic of India, most notably Sikkim, Uttaranchal and Tawang. China claims part of the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet.
+
+There has been some protests in Tibet since China took control in the 1950s.[6] Most of them have been because of social or economic problems. Some of them have been because there are people who believe Tibet should not be a part of China. To show their resistance, many Tibetans set themselves on fire to put the Chinese government under pressure to become independent again. In 2011, 19 people killed themselves.[7] A railway line, the Qingzang railway, has been built, linking China to Lhasa. Also, rising prices of food, and difficult access to higher education have angered many people.[8] The railway line also raised fears about more migration.[9] This situation has led to some violence against people from outside Tibet. Some of this violence occurs outside Tibet.[10] When it comes to assigning government posts in Tibet, more other nationalities of Chinese seem to be assigned, rather than Tibetans.[11] The Chinese Government claims that if Tibet became independent again, its economy would suffer.

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+
+
+The Bengal tiger  (Panthera tigris tigris) is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent. It lives in Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and northern India. It is the National animal of both India and Bangladesh.
+
+The tiger's habitat includes  tropical moist evergreen forests, tropical dry forests, tropical and subtropical moist deciduous forests, mangroves, subtropical and temperate upland forests, and alluvial grasslands.
+
+In 2010 it became endangered by IUCN. There are less than 2,500 of these tigers.[1] There are about 1,520–1,909 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 124–229 in Nepal and 67–81 in Bhutan.[2][3][4][5] New tiger census 2014 showed the population of tiger in India approximately 2,226 which is 30% more from 1706, counted in the year 2010.[6]Bengal tigers are carnivores. Bengal tigers are apex predators. They eat deer, buffalo, wild boar, snakes, fish, rabbits, rodents, birds, monkeys and even sloth bears and jackals.
+
+The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange.  Its stripes go from dark brown to black. The belly and the inside parts of the limbs are white. The tail is orange with black rings.
+
+They are the second largest tiger, after the Siberian tiger also known as the Amur Tiger. Male Bengal tigers have a total length, including the tail, from 270 to 310 cm (110 to 120 in). Females go from 240 to 265 cm (94 to 104 in).[7] The average weight of males is 204.5 kg (451 lb). Females are 139.7 kg (308 lb).[8]

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+
+
+The Bengal tiger  (Panthera tigris tigris) is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent. It lives in Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and northern India. It is the National animal of both India and Bangladesh.
+
+The tiger's habitat includes  tropical moist evergreen forests, tropical dry forests, tropical and subtropical moist deciduous forests, mangroves, subtropical and temperate upland forests, and alluvial grasslands.
+
+In 2010 it became endangered by IUCN. There are less than 2,500 of these tigers.[1] There are about 1,520–1,909 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 124–229 in Nepal and 67–81 in Bhutan.[2][3][4][5] New tiger census 2014 showed the population of tiger in India approximately 2,226 which is 30% more from 1706, counted in the year 2010.[6]Bengal tigers are carnivores. Bengal tigers are apex predators. They eat deer, buffalo, wild boar, snakes, fish, rabbits, rodents, birds, monkeys and even sloth bears and jackals.
+
+The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange.  Its stripes go from dark brown to black. The belly and the inside parts of the limbs are white. The tail is orange with black rings.
+
+They are the second largest tiger, after the Siberian tiger also known as the Amur Tiger. Male Bengal tigers have a total length, including the tail, from 270 to 310 cm (110 to 120 in). Females go from 240 to 265 cm (94 to 104 in).[7] The average weight of males is 204.5 kg (451 lb). Females are 139.7 kg (308 lb).[8]

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+The Tigris is a river in the Middle East. It is one of two rivers that define Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia literally means (the land) between the rivers. The other river is called Euphrates. The source of the river is in the Taurus mountains in Turkey. From there, it flows through various countries, most notably Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The river is 1,900 kilometres (1,181 miles) long. It comes together with the Euphrates in the Shatt-al-Arab(which is called Arvand Rud in Persian). The Shatt-al-Arab flows into the Persian Gulf. The river had an important role in the development of civilization, as early farmers used water from the river to water their crops and produce more food.
+
+
+

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+
+
+Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858
+
+The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living member of the cat family, the Felidae. It feeds by hunting. It lives in Asia, mainly India, Bhutan, China, Korea and Siberian Russia.[4] Tigers are solitary animals.
+
+Tigers have orange fur with black stripes, and a white belly. The black stripes usually extend to the white underside. The stripes are used to keep them camouflaged while hunting. No two tigers have the same pattern of stripes.[5]
+
+Sometimes there are tigers with different colors. There are white tigers that have white fur with black stripes, or that even have pure white fur. They have blue or green eyes. Most Bengal tigers have orange fur. The white coat only appears once in every 10,000 births. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India.
+
+Tigers vary in size depending on their subspecies. Siberian tigers are the largest. Males can grow to at least 6 feet (1.8 metres) long (body length) and weigh about 500 lb (230 kg). Females are a bit smaller. Record weight for males is claimed as 700 lbs (318 kg), but this cannot be confirmed.
+
+Tigers can live in a variety of habitats. Mostly they need to hide, be near to a water source, and have enough prey to eat. Bengal tigers in particular live in many types of forests. These include the wet, evergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the swampy mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal, and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats.
+
+As previously thought, the tiger had five living subspecies. In this context, 'recently' means in the last two centuries. Three tiger subspecies are extinct (†).
+
+However, in 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognized the tiger populations in continental Asia as P. t. tigris, and those in the Sunda Islands as P. t. sondaica.[6]
+
+Tigers are becoming rare, because people hunt them for their skin and destroy the habitats they live in. The Bengal tiger has the largest population with 3,500 left in the wild. To help keep the tiger population, tigers are often placed in zoos.
+
+Tigers eat many types of prey, mostly other large mammals. Some examples are deer, monkeys, wild rabbits, wild pigs, tapirs, buffalo and other animals found in Asia.[7] All tigers are carnivores (meat eaters). Some tigers may eat up to 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of meat a day. Tigers kill their prey by clamping down on the prey's throat and suffocating it.[8]

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+
+
+Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858
+
+The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living member of the cat family, the Felidae. It feeds by hunting. It lives in Asia, mainly India, Bhutan, China, Korea and Siberian Russia.[4] Tigers are solitary animals.
+
+Tigers have orange fur with black stripes, and a white belly. The black stripes usually extend to the white underside. The stripes are used to keep them camouflaged while hunting. No two tigers have the same pattern of stripes.[5]
+
+Sometimes there are tigers with different colors. There are white tigers that have white fur with black stripes, or that even have pure white fur. They have blue or green eyes. Most Bengal tigers have orange fur. The white coat only appears once in every 10,000 births. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India.
+
+Tigers vary in size depending on their subspecies. Siberian tigers are the largest. Males can grow to at least 6 feet (1.8 metres) long (body length) and weigh about 500 lb (230 kg). Females are a bit smaller. Record weight for males is claimed as 700 lbs (318 kg), but this cannot be confirmed.
+
+Tigers can live in a variety of habitats. Mostly they need to hide, be near to a water source, and have enough prey to eat. Bengal tigers in particular live in many types of forests. These include the wet, evergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the swampy mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal, and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats.
+
+As previously thought, the tiger had five living subspecies. In this context, 'recently' means in the last two centuries. Three tiger subspecies are extinct (†).
+
+However, in 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognized the tiger populations in continental Asia as P. t. tigris, and those in the Sunda Islands as P. t. sondaica.[6]
+
+Tigers are becoming rare, because people hunt them for their skin and destroy the habitats they live in. The Bengal tiger has the largest population with 3,500 left in the wild. To help keep the tiger population, tigers are often placed in zoos.
+
+Tigers eat many types of prey, mostly other large mammals. Some examples are deer, monkeys, wild rabbits, wild pigs, tapirs, buffalo and other animals found in Asia.[7] All tigers are carnivores (meat eaters). Some tigers may eat up to 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of meat a day. Tigers kill their prey by clamping down on the prey's throat and suffocating it.[8]

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+St. Peter's Basilica, which is called "Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano" in Italian, is a large church in the Vatican City, in Rome, Italy. It is often called "the greatest church in Christendom".[2][3] In Catholic tradition, St. Peter's Basilica is believed to be the burial place of Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. It is believed that Saint Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.
+
+Although the Bible does not say that the apostle Peter went to Rome, other Roman Christians who were alive in the 1st century AD have written about him.[4] Catholics believe that after Peter was killed, his body was buried in a cemetery where the basilica now stands. A tomb has been found below the altar of the basilica, and there were some bones, but no-one can say for certain if they are the bones of St. Peter.
+
+A church was built here in the 4th century AD. The building that stands here now was begun on April 18, 1506 and was finished in 1626.[5] Many Popes have been buried there. Although many people think St. Peter's is a cathedral, it is not, because it does not have a bishop. The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and although he usually uses St. Peter's as his main church, because he lives in the Vatican, his bishop's throne is in a different church, the cathedral of Saint John Lateran. Large important churches like St. Peter's are often called basilicas. There are four ancient basilicas in Rome that were begun by the Emperor Constantine soon after he made Christianity the legal religion of the Roman Empire in the early 4th century AD (300s). The basilicas are St. Peter's Basilica, St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul outside the Walls.
+
+St. Peter's is famous for many reasons:
+
+One of the books of the Bible, called the Acts of the Apostles, tells what happened to the disciples of Jesus after he was put to death by crucifixion in the 1st century AD. One of his twelve disciples became the leader. His name was Simon Peter and he was a fisherman from Galilee. Peter became one of the most important people in starting the Christian Church. Another important disciple was Paul of Tarsus, who travelled to many places and wrote lots of letters to teach and to encourage people in the new Christian groups that began to spring up in many different parts of the Roman Empire. St. Paul travelled to Rome. It is believed that St. Peter also travelled to Rome and that both Paul and Peter were put to death there as Christian martyrs. St. Paul was beheaded with a sword. Peter was crucified up-side-down. It is believed that the body of St. Peter was buried in a cemetery near the Via Cornelia, a road leading out of the city, on the hill called Vaticanus. Peter's grave was marked, by a red rock, the symbol of his name. The place where Peter died was marked, in the 1400s, by a little round temple called the "Tempietto" designed by Bramante.
+
+St. Peter is very important in Roman Catholic tradition because Peter is believed to have been the head of the Christian Church in Rome, and so he was the first bishop. The Gospel of Matthew (chapter 16, verse 18) tells that Jesus said these words to Peter:
+
+The name Peter means a "rock". The Roman Catholic Church believes that Jesus made Peter the head of the Christian Church, and so all the Bishops of Rome (the Popes) must be the leaders of the Christian Church throughout the whole world. The Protestant and Orthodox churches believe that Jesus was speaking about the important words Peter had just said: "You are the Christ and the Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16:16), and that this Confession of Faith is the rock that the Christian Church is built on.
+
+On December 23, 1950, while making his Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced that Saint Peter's tomb had been discovered.[8] Archaeologists had been searching for ten years in a place under the basilica that had been covered up for about a thousand years. They had found part of a small building dating from soon after St. Peter's death, and some bones, but no-one could be sure if they were the bones of St. Peter.
+
+St. Peter's Basilica, as it stand today, was begun in 1506. The first basilica, which is now called "Old St. Peter's Basilica" was begun by the Emperor Constantine between 326 and 333 AD. This was a big wide church in the shape of a Latin Cross, over 103.6 metres (350 feet) long. The central part called the "nave" had two aisles on either side, separated by rows of talls Roman columns. In front of the main entrance was large courtyard with a covered walkway all around. This church had been built over a small "shrine" (little chapel) believed to mark the burial place of St. Peter. The old basilica contained a very large number of tombs and memorials, including those of most of the popes from St. Peter to the 15th century.[9]
+
+By the end of the 15th century (1400s), the old basilica was falling to pieces. Pope Nicholas V, (1447–55), was worried about it and got two architects, Leone Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, to make plans to restore it or build a new one. But Pope Nicholas had so many political problems that when he died, very little of the work had been done.[10]
+In 1505, Pope Julius II decided to demolish (pull down) the old St. Peter's and build a basilica that would be the grandest church in the world and make Rome (and himself) famous.[6] He held a competition and invited lots of artists and architects to draw designs. A plan was selected and the build was begun, but Pope Julius did not get his new basilica. In fact, it was not finished for 120 years. The planning and construction (or "building work") lasted through the reigns of 21 popes and 8 architects.
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+The changing plans for St. Peter's. The architectural terms are explained in the article.
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+The Old Saint Peter's Basilica drawn by H. W. Brewer, 1891. He used very old drawings and writings to work out how it must have looked.
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+Bramante's plan is for a Greek Cross with a dome on four big piers. There is a tower at each corner.
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+Raphael's plan is simpler and is for a Latin Cross like the old basilica.
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+The finished basilica shows Michelangelo's plan, with four huge piers. It also shows Maderna's nave, portico and facade.
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+When Pope Julius decided to build the "grandest church in Christendom"[6] the design by Donato Bramante was chosen, and Pope Julius laid the foundation stone in 1506. Bramante's plan was in the shape of an enormous Greek Cross, which means that it had four arms all of equal length, and a large dome at the middle. For the next hundred years, the groundplan got changed backwards and forwards between a "Greek Cross" like Bramante's plan and a "Latin Cross" like the old basilica, but one thing never changed, and that was the idea of having an enormous dome at the place where the two arms crossed.
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+At that time, there were only three very large domes in the whole world. One was far away in Constantinople on the church of Hagia Sophia and not many people in Italy had seen it. The other two domes were both very well known. One was the dome on the temple to the Ancient Roman gods, called the Pantheon. The other dome was built in the early 15th century (1400s) on Florence Cathedral by Filippo Brunelleschi. The dome of the Pantheon is 43.3 metres (142.06 ft) across and the dome of Florence Cathedral is about 42.1 metres (138 ft), but is much taller. Bramante's plan for the dome of St. Peter's was for it to be about as wide as the dome of Florence, and even taller.
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+No architect with any sense would try to design a dome without first checking out how these other two domes were made. Bramante checked them out. He discovered that the dome of the Pantheon, which had been standing for nearly 1500 years, was made of concrete. So that the concrete wouldn't be too heavy, it was mixed with pumice stone which comes out of a volcano and is full of gas holes so it is very light weight. Bramante learned how to make concrete like the Ancient Romans.
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+Bramante's dome was to be like the one on the Pantheon. But there was one very big difference between the Pantheon dome and Bramante's design. The Pantheon's dome stands on a round wall like a drum, with only one doorway in it, but Bramante's dome was designed to stand on a drum, which was standing high up on four wide arches. The aches rested on four enormous piers (pillars of stone). He had got this idea from Florence Cathedral which had an enormous dome resting on eight big piers. Another idea that Bramante got from Florence Cathedral was the design for the little stone tower which sits on top of the dome and is called the lantern.
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+When Pope Julius died in 1513, the next pope, Leo X, called in three architects, Giuliano da Sangallo, Fra Giocondo and Raphael. Sangallo and Fr Giocondo both died in 1515. Raphael made a big change to the plan. Instead of having a Greek Cross, he decided to change the plan to a Latin Cross, which had a long nave and aisles like the old basilica.[11]
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+Raphael also died, in his mid-30s, in 1520, before any important changes could be made to the building. The next architect was Peruzzi who like some of the ideas that Raphael had, but did not like the Latin Cross plan. Peruzzi went back to Bramante's Greek Cross plan.[12] But there were so many arguments in the church that the building stopped completely. Then in 1527 Rome was invaded by Emperor Charles V. Peruzzi died in 1536 without his plan being built.[6] The only main parts of the building which had been constructed were Bramante's four big piers to hold the dome.
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+Antonio da Sangallo (known as "Sangallo the Younger") looked at all the different plans by Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante. He put some of their ideas together in a design that had a very short nave, (not a long one like Raphael's design) and had a big porch at the front. He changed Bramante's dome to be much stronger and also much more decorated. The main new idea that he added were 16 stone ribs to strengthen the dome. This idea came from Florence Cathedral which had eight stone ribs.[13] But Sangallo's plan never got built, either. The main job that he did was to strengthen Bramante's piers which had begun to crack.[14]
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+On January 1st, 1547 in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, who was already over 70, became the architect of St. Peter's.[15] He is the main designer of the building as it stands today. Michelangelo died before the job was finished, but by that time, he had got the construction up to a point where other people could get it finished. Michelangelo had already done a lot of work for the popes, carving figures for the tomb of Pope Julius II, painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which took five years, and the enormous fresco the "Last Judgement" on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo found the popes and the cardinals very difficult to work with. When Pope Paul asked him to be the new architect for St. Peter's, Michelangelo did not want the job. In fact, Pope Paul did not really want Michelangelo. But his first choice, Giulio Romano, died suddenly. Michelangelo told the pope that he would only do the job, if he could do it in whatever way he thought was best.[14]
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+Michelangelo wrote:
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+When Michelangelo took over a building site in 1547, the nave of the old basilica was still standing and in use. There were four of the most enormous piers in the world standing where the western part of the old basilica had been. The building work had stopped for so long that weeds and bushes were growing out between the stones of the unfinished building as if it was a cliff. Michelangelo looked at all the plans that had been drawn by some of the greatest architects and engineers of the 16th century. He knew he could do whatever he liked but he had respect for the other designers, especially Bramante. He knew that he was expected to make a design that would be the symbol of the city of Rome, in the same way as Brunelleschi's dome was the symbol of Florence where Michelangelo had lived as a young man. He went back to the Greek Cross idea and re-drew Bramante's plan, making every part of it much stronger and simpler.[16] It had to be strong enough to support the tallest dome in the world.
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+Michelangelo was a sculptor. When he was going to carve something, he would start by making a clay model. Michelangelo could imagine the building like a lump of clay. What if the building could be pushed and pulled and squeezed? If you could squeeze the corners in, then other bits would bulge out. If you could put your hands around the whole building and squeeze it, then the dome would bulge upwards. The idea of imagining buildings as bendy and bulgy was a completely new one. But other artists like Gianlorenzo Bernini looked at what Michelangelo did at St. Peter's and used this clever new idea in their own work. This is called the Baroque style.
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+As it stands today, the Greek Cross part of the basilica is Michelangelo's design and the nave, which was added later, is by Carlo Maderna.[17] Comparing Michelangelo's plan with Raphael's plan shows that while the outside-line of Raphael's plan has clear square and round shapes, the outside-line in Michelangelo's plan has lots of changes of direction. That is the way it was built. All around the outside of the building are enormous "pilasters" (which are like giant columns stuck on the building). Almost every pilaster is set at a different angle to the next one as if the flat walls had been folded up. Right around the top of the building is a band called the "cornice". A "cornice" is usually quite flat, but because of all the changes of direction, this cornice ripples like a giant piece of ribbon, tied around the outside of the building.[18] The art historian Helen Gardner wrote that it looked as of the whole building was being held together from top to bottom.[16]
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+Michelangelo designed the dome again, using ideas from Bramante and Sangallo the Younger. Three important ideas came from the dome that Brunelleschi had built in Florence more than 100 years earlier.
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+When Michelangelo died in 1564, the walls were being built, the piers had been strengthened and everything was ready for the building of the dome. The Pope wanted Michelangelo's assistant Vignola to finish it, but he was not able to. After twenty years Pope Sixtus V gave the job to the architect Giacomo della Porta and the engineer Domenico Fontana.[6][14] Giacomo Della Porta successfully built the dome. He made some changes to the design, like adding some lions' heads to the decoration because they were the symbol of Pope Sixtus' family. The main way that the dome is different from the wooden model is that it is much more pointy.[14]
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+Some writers believe that Michelangelo had changed his mind from his first plan, and did not want the pointy dome. They believe he wanted a round dome which would look more "restful". Other writers believe that Michelangelo wanted the pointed dome, not just because it was safer to build, but also because it looked more exciting, as if the building was pushing upwards.[16][18] Pope Sixtus V lived just long enough to see the dome finished in 1590. His name is written in gold letters around the inside, just below the lantern.
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+Pope Clement III, had a cross raised into place on top of the lantern. It took a whole day and everyone in Rome was given a holiday, and all the church-bells of the city were rung. In the arms of the cross are set two lead boxes, one containing a fragment of the True Cross and a bone of Saint Andrew and the other containing medals of the "Holy Lamb".[14][19]
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+The dome of St. Peter's rises to a height of 136.57 m (448.06 ft) from the floor of the basilica. It is the tallest dome in the world.[20] Its inside diameter is 41.47 metres (136.06 ft), just slightly smaller than those of the Pantheon and the Florence Cathedral.
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+Around the inside of the dome is written in letters 2 metres (6.5 ft) high:
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+In 1602 Pope Paul V put Carlo Maderna in charge of the building. On February 18 1606, workmen began to pull down the rest of the old basilica. Some people were very upset. The building committee felt guilty. They decided that the church was the wrong shape, and that they wanted a Latin Cross plan because it was the symbol of the death of Jesus.[14] They wanted a nave which would cover all the Holy Ground where the old building had been. In 1607 Maderna's plans for the nave and the facade (the front) were accepted. For the inside, he used very large piers with pilasters like Michelangelo's, but he made a clear join between the two parts of the building. The building work began on May 7 1607 and 700 men were employed to do the work. In 1608, the facade was begun. In December 1614 the building was all finished except for the decorations on the ceiling. Early in 1615 the temporary wall between Michelangelo's building and the new nave was pulled down. All the mess was carted away, and the nave was ready for use by Palm Sunday.[14]
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+The façade was designed by Maderna. It is 114.69 metres (376.28 ft) wide and 45.55 metres (149.44 ft) high and is built of pale grey travertine stone, with a giant Corinthian columns and a central triangular pediment. Along the roof-line are statues of Christ, John the Baptist, and eleven of the apostles.
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+Inside the main doors is a portico (a long hall) which runs across the front of the building and has five doors leading into the basilica. Its has a long curving roof decorated with gold. The light that comes through the doors shines on the beautifully patterned marble floor. At each end of the portico, set between columns, is a statue of a figure on horseback. They are Charlemagne sculpted by Cornacchini (18th century) to the south and Emperor Constantine by Bernini (1670) to the north. Maderna's last work at St. Peter's was to design a sunken crypt called the "Confessio" under the dome, where people can go to be nearer the burial place of the apostle. All around its marble handrail are 95 bronze lamps.
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+As a young boy Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) visited St. Peter's and said that one day he wanted to build "a mighty throne for the apostle". His wish came true. As a young man, in 1626, Pope Urban VIII asked him to work as architect for the basilica. Bernini spent the next fifty years thinking of new and beautiful things to design. He is thought of as the greatest architect and sculptor of the Baroque period.[14][16]
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+Bernini's first work at St. Peter's was to design the "baldacchino" which is like a tent or "pavilion" above the High Altar. This amazing thing is 30 metres (98 ft) tall and is probably the largest piece of bronze in the world. It stands underneath the dome and has four huge bronze twisted columns decorated with olive leaves and bees, because bees were the symbol of Pope Urban. Pope Urban had a niece that he loved very much and he got Bernini to put her face and the face of her new-born baby boy on the columns as well.[14][16]
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+Bernini had a great idea for Bramante's great big piers. He had four hollow "niches" carved into them where four huge statues could stand. The basilica owns some precious relics: a piece of the True Cross of Jesus, a veil that a woman wiped the face of Jesus with, while he was carrying the cross, the spear that was used to pierce Jesus side, and the bones of St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter. No-one knows for sure whether these things are real or not, but for hundreds of years they have been precious. Bernini's plan was the make four marble statues of the four Holy people: St. Helena who found the cross, St. Longinus who was the soldier with the spear, St Veronica who wiped Jesus' face and St. Andrew.[14] (See below)
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+Bernini's next job was to make a special throne out of bronze, to hold an ancient wood and ivory throne that had been at the basilica for more than 500 years. It is called the Cattedra Petri or "throne of St. Peter". The bronze throne, with the old wooden throne inside it, is held up high at the end of the basilica, by four important saints who are called "Doctors of the Church" because they were all great writers and teachers.[21] The statues are made of bronze. They are Saints Ambrose and Augustine for the Church of Rome and Saints Athanasius and John Chrysostum for the Orthodox Church. Above the chair is a window which is made not from glass but thin translucent stone called alabaster. The Dove of the Holy Spirit is in the middle of the window with rays of light spreading out into the basilica through a sculpture of golden clouds and angels. Bernini designed this to look like a window into Heaven. There was a great celebration when the chair was put in place on January 16, 1666.[14][16]
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+Bernini's last work for St. Peter's, 1676, was to decorate of the Chapel of the Sacrament. He designed a miniature version of Bramante's Tempietto, and made it in gilt bronze. On either side is an angel, one gazing in adoration and the other looking towards the viewer in welcome. Bernini died in 1680 in his 82nd year.[14]
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+To the east of the basilica is the Piazza di San Pietro (St. Peter's Place).[22] The piazza was designed by Bernini and built between 1656 and 1667. It was not an easy job because the designer had lots of things to think about. Firstly, many people complained that Maderna's facade on St. Peter's looked too wide, so Bernini wanted to make it look narrower, not wider. Secondly, in the old square left over from the Old St. Peter's, Pope Sixtus V had a monument set up. This monument was a precious Ancient Egyptian obelisk (which is like a tall column, but with four flat sides). From its base to the top of the cross (that the pope had put on top) it was 40 metres (131 ft) high, and had been brought to Rome in ancient times. The obelisk really should be at the center of the new square, but it was not in quite the right place, and was very difficult to move without breaking. The third problem was that Maderna had built a fountain to one side of the obelisk, and Bernini needed to make another fountain to match it, otherwise the design would look unbalanced.[14]
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+Bernini solved the problem by making two areas, instead of one huge one. The first area is an almost-square area right in front of the facade. It is cleverly designed with sloping sides that make the building look taller and not so wide. The second part of the piazza is oval. It has the obelisk at the center with two fountains on either side at the widest part. The two parts of the piazza are surrounded by a colonnade (covered walk-way) which is carried on tall columns. All around are large statues of saints which seem to look down on the thousands of visitors that come to the square every day. The colonnade is in two great arcs that seem to stretch out like loving arms, welcoming people to the Basilica.[16] In recent times some buildings were demolished, making another square, to match the one near the piazza.
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+The famous architectural historian, Sir Banister Fletcher, said that no other city in the world had given such a wonderful view to people visiting their main church. He said that no other architect except Bernini could have imagined such a noble design. He said it is the greatest entrance to the greatest Christian church in the whole world.[23]
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+St. Peter's Basilica has many treasures. These include Christian relics, the tombs of popes and many other important people, famous artworks which are mostly sculpture and other interesting things.
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+The Egyptian obelisk stands in the centre of the piazza.
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+The fountains of Maderna and Bernini are lit up at night.
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+Outside the basilica stand two statues. This is St. Paul.
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+There are many statues on the colonnade and roof.
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+The Holy Door is opened only for great celebrations.
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+No-one knows how old the statue of St. Peter is. Its feet are worn down from people kissing them.
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+The Pietà by Michelangelo is the most famous artwork in St. Peter's. It shows the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus.
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+The body of The Blessed Pope John XXIII can be seen inside his tomb.
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+There are many sculptured decorations like this angel.
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+The window of the Holy Spirit designed by Bernini
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+Many parts of the basilica are decorated with mosaics. This is St. John the Gospel Writer.
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+The mosaic decoration of this small dome shows the Blessed Virgin Mary in Heaven.
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+The Dove of Peace showing the different coloured marbles used to decorate the piers.
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+The tomb of Queen Christina of Sweden, who gave up her throne and became a nun.
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+The tomb of Pope Innocent XII has the figures of Caring and Justice.
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+This carved altarpiece shows Attila the Hun being driven out of Rome.
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+Four large statues are in the piers near the High Altar. Saint Helena holds the True Cross which she found in Jerusalem.
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+Saint Longinus carries the spear that pierced the side of Jesus.
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+Saint Andrew carries the cross on which he was crucified. His bones are at St. Peter's
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+Saint Veronica carries the veil that she used to wipe the face of Jesus, when he was carrying his cross.
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