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The winged victory of “Nice”
“Words cannot express,” our leaders begin their remarks on the horrific attack in Nice, France. The carnage shocks us and saddens us into the disbelief of speechlessness. But just as words fail us, we also turn to them to make sense, some sort of sense, of tragedy. So it is with the word Nice, whose… Read more.
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Of gods and dung: the origins of “ammonia”
Scientists know ammonia as: Ancient Egyptians also knew ammonia with their own, equally complex symbols: Well, in a manner of speaking. Or writing. The story of the word ammonia is one of modern science and ancient history – and of camel dung and supreme deities. Ammonia Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman coined ammonia in 1782 when he identified the substance as… Read more.
