Ripped from the Headlines: May 2024: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for May 18–May 24, 2024

Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate, finally traveled in space at the age of 90. Dwight was an Air Force captain who was selected for space training in the 1960s. He was passed over in favor of other candidates despite his success in flight training school. It wasn't until 1983 that a Black astronaut made it to space. Dwight said the 10-minute flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket was worth the wait. The Greek roots of astronaut mean "star sailor."

As part of the country's lead-up to this summer's Olympic Games, France issued a scratch-and-sniff baguette postage stamp. The French postal service announced the new stamp on the feast day of Saint Honoré, the patron saint of bakers. It features a drawing of the iconic long bread that emits "bakery fragrances" when scratched. The baguette is a beloved symbol of France, where an estimated six billion loaves are baked annually.

Red Lobster, the 56-year-old U.S. seafood chain, filed for bankruptcy. The company's financial difficulties have been blamed on the pandemic as well as an all-you-can-eat shrimp special that reportedly drained its coffers of millions. Unable to pay back its lenders, Red Lobster has agreed to sell itself to them. Dozens of locations have already closed, but the chain hopes the infusion of cash will allow most to stay open. For now, its $25 endless shrimp deal will continue on Mondays only.

A comet fragment exploded over Spain and Portugal overnight on May 18. The rocky projectile was traveling about 100,000 miles per hour, creating a brilliant light show of red, green, and white as it streaked through the dark sky. Its speed and colors revealed that instead of an asteroid, it was a piece of a comet, those icy satellites that orbit the sun trailing bright tails behind them. Comet is from the Greek aster komētēs, literally "long-haired star."

Venezuela has lost its last glacier. The country's La Corona glacier, a mass of ice that once covered 1,100 acres, was downgraded to an "ice field" smaller than five acres. Venezuela is the first country in the Andes mountain range to lose its glaciers because of warming temperatures. Climate experts predict there will be no large ice masses left in Colombia or Ecuador by 2050. The Latin root of glacier is glacies, "ice."

During a graduation ceremony for nursing students at Thomas Jefferson University, a presenter mispronounced many common names, including the name Thomas, which she pronounced "Ta-mul-may." Officials later stated that the garbled names, such as "Mah-lee-nuh Zo-beth" instead of "Molly Elizabeth," were caused by mistaken phonetic spellings of the graduates' names on cue cards. Mispronounce is from mis-, "wrong," and a Latin root meaning "to utter."

A new study suggests that music evolved in our ancient ancestors. A group of researchers that included musicologists, evolutionary biologists, and linguists recorded traditional songs in 55 different languages. Every single culture they studied had musical features in common that aren't present in speech, including higher pitch and slower tempo — evidence, they believe, of music's evolutionary nature.

Many major U.S. cities whose populations declined sharply during the pandemic have begun to recover, according to census data. While a few cities, including Los Angeles and New Orleans, continue to lose residents, those declines are slowing. Other urban centers that shrank in 2020 and 2021 have rebounded to population levels higher than they were pre-pandemic, such as Raleigh and Minneapolis. Population is from the Latin populus, "a people."

Argentine president Javier Milei snubbed Spanish officials during an official visit to the country. Milei spent three days in Madrid, shunning any meetings with Spain's prime minister, king, or any other member of the government. Instead, the libertarian leader attended a summit held by the far-right Vox party members, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's main political opponents. Snub, which is related to snip, originally meant "cut off" or "cut short."

New rules set by the Roman Catholic Church say only the Vatican can decide if unexplained religious phenomena are supernatural. The guidelines are meant to protect people from fraud in an age of digital technology. Millions of Catholics regularly travel to the sites of alleged mystical experiences, and claims of miracles spread fast online. Events such as sightings of the Virgin Mary will now be evaluated by the Vatican. In Latin, supernatural means "above nature."

Swarms of mosquitoes inundated Houston after severe rainstorms. A day after powerful storms swept across Texas and flooded regions including Montgomery County, dense clouds of the biting insects appeared. Residents said it was the largest mass of mosquitoes they'd ever seen. Houston's flat landscape and many ditches make the area an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, and scientists say warmer temperatures and wetter conditions will make the situation grow worse.

Disneyland characters voted to unionize on May 18. About 1,700 employees who work as costumed performers at the Anaheim, California theme park were eligible to vote. By a huge majority, workers who embody characters that include Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse chose to join the Actors' Equity Association, a group that will give them more power to negotiate with their employer, the Walt Disney Company. Unionize is from union and its Latin root, which means "one."