The design and working principle of a windmill or a wind powered machine haven’t changed much since they first appeared in Persia some 1,200 years ago. All windmills contain vanes or sails exposed to the wind, which causes them to turn. The rotary motion is then used to do work, such as grind grains into flour or pump water.
In 1868, French engineer Ernest Sylvain Bollée came up with a new…
Crowd might be a bit of a stretch for less than a hundred contributors but George Bellas Greenough (1778 – 1855), one of the founders of the Geological Society of London produced the first geological map of India which was posthumously published in 1855. Greenough was the first president of the Geological Society of London and was reportedly best known for his ability to compile and synthesize…
A passenger at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, US, scans their ticket at a biometric station to board a flight. Image by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Photography, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
_Written…
At the end of May, the UK’s first Wiki Science Competition (WSC) since 2019 drew to a close. After a rewarding 6 months of volunteering,...
On October 19, 1906, a modest 70-foot sailing vessel slipped into San Francisco Bay. Compared with the large steamships and ocean-going vessels that crowded the harbour, she appeared unremarkable. Yet the small ship had attracted a small crowd that day, for she had just accomplished one of the greatest feats in the history of exploration.
The vessel was _Gjøa_ , and aboard her were the Norwegian…
Chair Ken Martin’s handling of the report is under scrutiny.
Jahr für Jahr beteiligen sich Menschen auf der ganzen Welt an den „Wiki Loves“-Fotowettbewerben. Ob beeindruckende Architektur, schützenswerte Naturräume oder gelebte Traditionen – die eingereichten Aufnahmen dokumentieren die Vielfalt unseres kulturellen und Naturerbes. Das Engagement der Teilnehmenden leistet somit…
In the middle of a parking lot in front of a supermarket in Schloßberg, in the district of Leibnitz in the Austrian state of Styria, stands a giant wooden structure that looks like a windmill. Known as a klopotec, this 19-meter tall structure with its imposing blades is a bird scarer, and is a cultural symbol of the wine growing regions of Slovenia and Styria.
_The klopotec in_ _Schloßberg.…
Versão em português
English version
In the frigid waters of the Canadian Arctic, nearly 100 meters beneath the surface, lies a ship seemingly untouched by time. Despite the passage of more than a century, she is more or less intact, except for a gaping hole in her starboard side. Two of her masts still rise from the seabed.
The ship is _Breadalbane_ , the world’s northernmost known shipwreck, and also one of the best-preserved…
Chelva refuerza la difusión digital de su patrimonio histórico y cultural con la incorporación de más de 600 imágenes libres en Wikimedia Commons. La iniciativa se llevó a cabo el […]
La entrada Chelva incorpora más de 600 imágenes libres de su patrimonio cultural en Wikimedia Commons se publicó primero en WIKIMEDIA ESPAÑA.
_Fringilla coelebs_ male · Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Info
Common name: Common Chaffinch
Scientific name: _Fringilla coelebs_
The common chaffinch is one of the most abundant and widespread birds in Europe. The breeding male is striking: a slate-blue cap and nape, brick-pink face and breast, olive-green rump, and two bold white wing bars that flash conspicuously in flight. The female is…
_Sylvia atricapilla_ male · Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Info
Common name: Eurasian Blackcap
Scientific name: _Sylvia atricapilla_
The Eurasian blackcap — _Sylvia atricapilla_ — is one of Europe’s finest songsters, sometimes called the “northern nightingale” for the quality and richness of its song. The male is unmistakable: plain grey-brown above, pale grey below, crowned with a jet-black cap.…
When Britain entered the Second World War in September 1939, military planners understood that thousands of Allied servicemen would inevitably fall into enemy hands. Traditionally, prisoners of war were expected simply to endure captivity until the conflict ended. But this time, the British military establishment began to develop a very different philosophy.
To coordinate rescue and escape…
**Měsíc žen na Wikipedii 2026 skončil 8. dubna. O tom, že se do něj zapojilo 61 účastníků a účastnic, kteří upravili 453 hesel a vytvořili 328 zbrusu nových článků, už informoval náš předchozí
článek. Za těmito čísly se ale skrývají konkrétní lidé, stovky hodin rešerší a pečlivá práce se zdroji. Porota mezitím dokončila hodnocení. Tento text představuje její výběr, dává prostor i samotným…
On November 9, 1963, two investigators from France’s Central Office for Counterfeit Currency Control (OCRFM) arrived at the post office on Rue Turgot in Paris’s 9th arrondissement. Five days earlier, a customer had purchased 1,000 francs’ worth of Treasury bonds there using a stack of crisp 100-franc notes bearing the portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual. The…
Township council fast-tracks bike lanes and speed humps on Walnut Grove Drive, Langley City asks residents to pick the first Resilient Neighbourhood Networks pilot site, the farmers' market expands to Douglas Park, and NDP leader Avi Lewis calls for a halt on BC's new AI data centres.
Three deaths and nine confirmed cases are linked to the cruise ship incident so far.
submitted by Trying2KnowMyself to science
3 points | 0 comments
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/africas-amphibians-are-overlooked-in-conservation-planning-experts-warn/
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/8484458
Banner image: The golden mantella, an endangered frog species found only in Madagascar. Image by Frank Vassen via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
#…
_Mike Pascoe is the President of the Lafayette History Museum in Lafayette, Colorado and associate professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus._
When I enrolled in one of Wiki Education’s
250 by 2026 Wiki
Scholars
courses, I expected to learn how to edit Wikipedia more effectively. What I did not expect was how quickly the work would evolve into something that felt much closer to…
On the borderlands between modern-day Slovakia and Hungary stands one of the strangest waterfalls in Europe. The formation at Šomoška Stone Waterfall appears frozen in motion, as though a cascade of dark basalt had suddenly solidified while tumbling down a hillside. Unlike ordinary waterfalls shaped by flowing water, this “stone waterfall” was created by volcanic fire millions of years…
The Portuguese version of Wikipedia has existed since May 2001 and contains more than 1.7 million articles. But what, over these 25 years, has driven Wikipedia and its sister projects in Brazil? “Wikimedia in Brazil: the power and challenges of free knowledge” , launched in February by EDUFBA in partnership with Wikimedia Brasil, brings together chapters that help tell the story of the…
Plus, what's included in the new ban on senators trading on prediction markets?
El Informe Anual 2025 Wikimedia España muestra un año de crecimiento sostenido, en el que la comunidad, las alianzas y la capacidad organizativa se han reforzado para seguir ampliando el acceso […]
La entrada Informe Anual 2025 Wikimedia España: más comunidad, más diversidad y crecimiento se publicó primero en WIKIMEDIA ESPAÑA.
The Dagbani Wikimedians User Group undertook a purposeful photo walk to the Choggu Naa’s Palace in Tamale, Northern Region of Ghana on 19th April 2026...
Now on its 16th edition, Wiki Loves Monuments still retains its crown as the world’s largest photo contest. Each year since 2010, photographers from around the globe have come together to celebrate cultural heritage through their camera lens—and donate it all to benefit Wikimedia’s freely shared knowledge.
Despite Wiki Loves Monuments’ size and scope, it is primarily run by local organizers. For…
On 6 December 1917, in the harbour of Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada, two ships collided. One of them was a munitions ship loaded with explosives bound for the battlefields of the First World War. The result was one of the largest human-made explosions prior to the detonation of the first atomic bombs in 1945. Nearly 2,000 people died, another 9,000 were maimed, and more than 25,000 were left…
This is the Tangle Sunday Edition, a brief roundup of our independent politics coverage plus some extra features for your Sunday morning reading.
WHAT THE LEFT IS DOODLING.
WHAT THE RIGHT IS DOODLING.
SUSPENSION OF THE RULES
On this week’s episode, Isaac, Ari, and Kmele discuss the Virginia redistricting vote — and the gerrymandering war that surrounds it. Plus, is Trump pivoting for the…
Jedes Jahr halten Profi- und Hobbyfotograf*innen weltweit Wissen in Bildern fest und reichen ihre Aufnahmen bei den „Wiki Loves“-Wettbewerbe ein. Diese zeigen eindrucksvoll, wie vielfältig und wertvoll das Engagement für freies Wissen ist. Die Fotos machen Geschichte, Natur und Kultur sichtbar und bewahren, was oft vom Verschwinden…