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United States
Storms Rip Across Central U.S.
A storm system driven by unusually warm weather for December brought hurricane-force winds and tornadoes across a broad swath of the central United States, stretching from New Mexico to Michigan. The National Weather Service (NWS) out of Des Moines, Iowa, recorded one line of storms moving northeast at a shocking 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), and the NWS officially set a new single-day record of over 55 hurricane-force wind gusts across the country. The only casualty attributed to the storm was a truck driver who was killed on U.S. highway 151 in eastern Iowa as winds grabbed and rolled his semi-truck trailer, but property damage and power outages are widespread.
This map depicts a squall line travelling through Iowa on December 15 as part of a massive storm system that impacted the central United States. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: JustInWeather
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Australia
Bouncy Castle Accident
Five children died and four others were critically injured after falling 32ft (10m) from a bouncy castle at Hillcrest Primary School in Tasmania, Australia on Thursday. Police reported the accident was caused by a wind gust that blew the bouncy castle up into the air. The victims were 5th and 6th graders enjoying a “fun day” at their primary school. Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke on the tragic accident, describing it as “unthinkably heartbreaking.”
This map depicts the location of where five children were killed after falling 10m (32ft) from a bouncy castle. Click on the map to learn more.
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Space
The Geology of Mars
NASA’s Mars Rover Perseverance made impactful geologic discoveries this week when sampling rocks from an ancient crater. The rover drilled samples from the base of an apparent delta that scientists believed was formed from wind or water sediment deposition. Scientists assumed these samples would contain sedimentary rocks but were shocked when instruments detected high amounts of olivine and pyroxene. These mineral combinations indicate a specific type of volcanic rocks that forms from magma cooling. Further mineral sampling also indicated at one point water was flowing in the area. These discoveries help scientists uncover the geologic history of Mars and the wider solar system. These rock samples will be returned to Earth in the near future for radioactive dating and further study.
These maps depict the position of the rover, Perseverance, within the study area. The right frame is colorized to illustrate the appearance of important minerals. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Indo-European languages are the most commonly spoken language family in India. Which language family, spoken by around 222 million Indians, or almost 20% of the population, is the second-most common?
A: The Dravidian language family
With no known lingual relations outside of their native region in south Asia, the Dravidian language family, consisting of 73 languages and many more dialects, is spoken mainly in the southern states of India and Sri Lanka. The most commonly spoken Dravidian languages are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam and are among the 22 official languages of India. The lingering presence of Brahui in Pakistan and Afghanistan and influence on place names in northern India lead linguists to believe that Dravidian languages were the dominant languages of the Indian subcontinent, possibly even for the Indus Valley Civilization, until migrations from the Caucasus starting around 2000 BCE brought the Indo-Aryan languages, from the Indo-European family, which became dominant throughout northern and central India.
Source
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Q: Geography uses maps to visualize spatial relationships. What is a person called who makes maps?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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