Ripped from the Headlines: June 2024: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for June 1–June 7, 2024

A recent series of killer whale attacks on yachts have been seen as vengeful, but scientists say it's probably just a playful fad among bored orca teenagers. More than 600 incidents of boat-ramming off the Iberian Peninsula by a group of juvenile killer whales have sunk several ships and damaged dozens. Experts suspect the adolescent orcas are treating the vessels' rudders as toys. The Latin root of adolescent is adolescere, "to grow up."

Two weeks after Google added answers generated by artificial intelligence to its search results, the company scaled back those answers. Mistakes in the AI results included a pizza recipe using glue as an ingredient and recommendations to eat one rock per day. The technology uses computers to quickly read thousands of websites and then summarize all the information. Jokes on sites like Reddit and The Onion were taken literally by the bots and included in search results.

The Biden administration released a draft of its Gaza cease-fire plan. The three-phase plan would start with a six-week period during which Israel would withdraw troops from most of Gaza and fighting would pause. Then a negotiation phase would extend the cease-fire after Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were released. The Israeli government appears to be divided on the plan. Cease-fire is from cease, or "stop," and fire, "shoot a weapon."

Scientists studying a 4,600-year-old cranium with cuts in it say it suggests that ancient Egyptians may have tried to treat brain cancer using surgery. The cuts were apparently made with a metal tool, and they surrounded lesions in the skull that were earlier found to be evidence of metastasized cancer. Experts believe the deliberate incisions demonstrate either an attempt to study brain cancer, or to treat it. The Greek root of cranium is kranion, "skull."

Former president Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts by a New York court. Trump was tried on charges that he falsified business records in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. He's the first U.S. president to be convicted of a serious crime. As his campaign for the November 2024 presidential election continues, Trump's attorneys have requested an end to the gag order imposed by the judge during his trial.

Simone Biles won her ninth national all-around gymnastics title on June 2, with gold medals on vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor events. Biles is now poised to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, which will compete in Paris this summer. She withdrew from most events in the 2021 Olympics and took a mental health break — her latest performances are evidence of Biles's triumphant return to the sport. Gymnastics is from the Greek gymnazein, "to exercise."

A group of hackers stole private data from millions of Ticketmaster customers. Live Nation, the company that owns Ticketmaster, said it was investigating the possible hack and confirmed there was "unauthorized activity" involving customer data. The group of cyber criminals known as ShinyHunters claimed to have 560 million people's names, addresses, credit card details, and other data, which it plans to sell for $500,000 on the dark web.

For the second time, a Chinese spacecraft has landed on the "dark" side of the moon. No other country has touched down in this unexplored lunar region, and China hopes to be the first to collect samples from the side of the moon that's never seen from Earth. The Chang’e 6 lunar probe, which touched down on June 2, is named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology. Lunar has a Latin root, luna, which means "moon" and "moon goddess."

A silky shark named Genie swam more than 17,000 miles, the longest recorded shark migration. After being fitted with a tracker by marine scientists, she spent a year and a half traveling from the Galapagos Islands to the open waters of the Pacific Ocean and back. Sharks migrate to find food, mate, and give birth; researchers say studying where they swim will help protect these vulnerable species. The Latin root of migration means "move from one place to another."

Advocates for gender parity in politics applauded the election of Mexico's first female president. Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of the left-wing Morena party, won in a landslide. Women couldn't vote in Mexico until 1953, and there were no female state governors there just nine years ago. In the last decade, there's been a push toward equity in government, and today women hold half the legislature's seats. Parity is from the Latin par, "equal."

Scientists say a commonly-used map of the tongue that often appears in textbooks is inaccurate. The illustrated diagram divides the tongue into separate areas that taste sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. In reality, experts say, flavors are tasted over the entire tongue, and also throughout the body — in the brain, gut, and many other organs. A new review in The New England Journal of Medicine continues scientists' efforts to debunk the faulty map.

A study of U.S. school voucher programs found that most of them are used to pay tuition at religious schools. The programs, which vary widely from state to state, provide certificates for government education funds that allow students to attend private schools. Recent court decisions have expanded school choice to include religious schools, and today they make up the majority of school voucher use. Critics say using tax dollars this way erodes the separation of church and state.