PTE Highlight Incorrect Words Practice

As Dr. Soran, the bad guy in the movie Star Trek: Generations, found out, blowing up a star sometimes consumes a few tries. Such was also the case for an object called SN 2009ip. It's a star in a galaxy about 80 million light-years away. Or, rather, it was a star. It first drew attention in 2009, when it failed up importantly in an apparent supernova - a star exploding at the end of its life. But it was soon unmasked as a supernova impostor - a nonfatal outburst from a super star that only looks like a full-blown supernova. Following two subsequent flare-ups, astronomers have now described that SN 2009ip has gone supernova at last. During a 2012 outburst, the star brightened much more than usual, being a billion times as luminous as the sun. And spectroscopic observations revealed that gas was racing outward at roughly 8,000 kilometers per second. Speeds that high indicate a cataclysmic explosion triggered by the collapse of the star's core. The research will appear in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Astronomers now have the rare opportunity to study details of a supernova - both before and after.

Although the original American Indian cultures were highly diverse, they were similar in many of their conventions . Religious beliefs and rituals permeated every aspect of Indian life. Northeast tribes such as the Hopi and the Apaches had a rich and elaborate year-round sequence of celebration including songs, dances, and poetry. The Hopi performed dances to bring rain. The Apaches offer special dances and ceremonies to gain support of the spirits before undertaking raids or going into war. The plains tribes often soughts contact with the spirits by going on a vision quest.

Did you hoist a few on New Year’s? Of course, getting together with friends over a few adult beverages has a long history. Here’s the University of Cincinnati’s Kathleen Lynch, on the ancient Greek symposium: “And the symposium is an all-male confessing event. It’s a time where a small group of men get together, usually at the home of a friend. And the focus is on drinking. And so they may have had some food earlier, but the focus is on drinking together. And the drinking together forms bonds.” On January 7th, Lynch lectures at the meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America on the types of cups used at symposia over the centuries and how they give us clues to what was going on in Greece at signature times. As for the symposium, it had a couple of definite rules. First, participants unsupervised and arranged themselves in a circle or square. There was thus no obvious head of the table, and everyone shop had an equal status. Second, everyone drank together in rounds, so everyone got drunk at about the same rate. This communal and equitable inebriation led to a common loss of inhibitions and the building of, well, a fraternity.

A better mood might be as easy as a walk in the park. Literally. Because people living near parks or gardens seem to have a leg up. UK researchers analyzed data from a country survey of more than 10,000 people between 1991 through to 2008. They found that those who live in green areas have lighter life satisfaction and less depression and stress than others who live in more concrete-dense areas with few trees and lawns. These trends held even if residents experienced changes in their income, marital status and health. The researchers were able to see the effect of living in green areas to the influence of other life events. For instance, living near or within green areas had nearly 30 percent of the same positive impact on life satisfaction as one gets by being married (as opposed to being unmarried.) And green space had around 20% of the same impact on life satisfaction as one gets by being employed (rather than unemployed.) The researchers say that the benefits for any one person might be null but that the potential positives of a green space for a people could be substantial.

Sometimes a bit of bacteria can be just what the plumber ordered. If you prize yogurt for its "active cultures," you know what I'm talking about. Now a new study, published in the September 21st online issue of Nature, suggests that good bugs might even hold diabetes at bay. Type I diabetes is caused by an immune system malfunction. Basically, the immune cells that usually chase after bacteria instead attack the pancreas, wiping out the cells that produce insulin. So researchers decided to see what would happen if they rained in the immune system in mice that are prone to diabetes. As expected, they found that the animals were less likely to develop the disease. But the effect noticed entirely on the critters having a normal complement of friendly bacteria in their intestine. Mice that were raised in a totally sterile, germ-free environment were rampant diabetics. But simply exposing those mice with a cocktail of bugs found in most mammals' bellies cured the disease. How bacteria in the intestine can stave off diabetes is not yet clear. But the verdict could lead to some interesting new treatments. In the meantime, remember that we can't live without the stuff that lives in us.