Russian Media Falls for Satirical Article about Oxford University
Quote of the Week:
“Not all those who wander are lost.” –Bilbo Baggins, Lord of the Rings
Fact of the Week:
Everyone remembers the feeling of being in the car with their parents and having to pee. You ask how long until you reach a bathroom and one of them replies, “Ten minutes.” To you, ten minutes seems like an eternity. Well, count yourself lucky you’re not a wood frog, because these little amphibians hold their urine for up to eight months.
Wood frogs live throughout the U.S. and Canada, some even inhabiting the Arctic Circle. During the winter the frogs freeze nearly solid, staying alive by actually utilizing their urea, the main waste in urine. They transfer the urea into nitrogen, which, rather than warming the body, protects their cells and tissues even as their heart, brain, and blood stream stop. When they finally thaw and wake for the season, they surely take a most relieving pee.
Phys.org contributed to this article.
News Update: Russian Media Falls for Satirical Article about Oxford University
Oxford University. Via Encyclopedia Britannica
On Sunday, misinformation swept across Russia like a new bout of Covid. Social media users and even one of Russia’s biggest television channels, Rossiya 1, shared the news that Oxford University was rescinding the degrees of up to 10,000 students linked to the Kremlin. The British police were supposedly in the process of destroying certificates and students would not be refunded tuition money--yet none of this was true.
The story’s origins came from a satirical website called Panorama, which includes the following statement with every piece it produces: "All texts on this site are grotesque parodies of reality and not real news."
According to Euronews, “The Panorama article even contained a falsified quote from the supposed University Vice-Chancellor, who they named Sir Louis Lawrence: ‘We are a democratic country, and we cannot issue diplomas to representatives of barbaric and totalitarian regimes.’
“Not only was the statement fabricated by the satirical site, but also the name. In reality, it is Professor Louise Richardson who has been Vice-Chancellor since 2016.”
Many were quick to jump at the news and slow to do their research, resulting in plenty of Russians sharing their opinion on the internet. In fact, Oxford University will not be revoking any degrees. However, there is a rumor that Oxford employees eat babies in the basements…
Euronews contributed to this article.
Sports Update:
Lia Thomas. Via The Washington Times (Credit: AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, was not selected as the Ivy League Woman of the Year. Instead, that honor went to Sylvie Binder, a fencer from Columbia University.
Thomas has been in and out of the news over the past year as the debate rages on about trans women competing in women’s sports. She won the 500m title at the NCAA Championships and recently was selected as UPenn’s Woman of the Year. Each school selects one winner, followed by the conference selecting one candidate, and eventually the NCAA choosing one winner from across the nation.
Though Thomas’ NCAA career has finished, she does not planning on leaving the water. "I intend to keep swimming," Thomas told ABC News' Juju Chang in an interview. "It's been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through."
ABC News contributed to this article.
Want to win 50% off Last Cup Scaries’ new Fire Island t-shirt? DM the correct answer of this riddle to lastcupclothing on Instagram, and if you’re the first person to respond correctly, we’ll send you a code! Previous winners are excluded.
What can you put between a seven and an eight so that the result is greater than a seven but less than an eight?