Ripped from the Headlines: May 2025: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for May 25–May 31, 2025

Cuts to federal education grants threaten to end after-school programs that have proven benefits for students. Among other effects, these programs reduce numbers of absentees. Experts say that students are often so engaged by their after-school activities — and bolstered by access to resources, including food — that they are more likely to attend school. Absentee is from absent, "not present," and the suffix -ee, used for a person in a particular condition.

Public health experts are warning people who use nutrition apps to keep several caveats in mind. People use the apps to scan food labels for nutritional information and to get health ratings and suggestions for healthier choices. Nutritionists caution users to be aware that identical products often earn wildly different scores, and different apps offer conflicting advice. Another caveat is that some apps are based on bad science. In Latin, caveat means "let him beware."

Scientists solved a geological mystery, determining that the deepest river gorge in the U.S. is about two million years old, much younger than previously thought. Hells Canyon is 2,000 feet deeper than the five-million-year-old Grand Canyon, and it's not nearly as well studied. By examining ancient sediment inside barely accessible caves within the steep gorge, geologists were finally able to date its origin to 2.1 million years ago.

Lumpy growths formed on plants by parasitic insects can shelter their larvae from wildfires, according to a new study. Researchers in Brazil found that some of the knobby bumps, which form when Boheman weevils lay their eggs, had survived a massive fire. When they cut the growths open, they discovered many immature weevils still living inside. Larva, "ghost" or "mask" in Latin, is used for juvenile animals that look totally different from, or "mask," their adult forms.

After a 17th-century football pitch was discovered in Scotland, historians are reconsidering their assumptions about soccer's lineage. For 200 years, experts traced the game's roots to "mob football," a chaotic sport that was popular in England during the Middle Ages. Thanks to the discovery of the Scottish field, along with a letter written by a pastor decrying the playing of "Foot-Ball" on Sundays, Scotland is now laying claim to being the birthplace of modern soccer.

New rules in Japan are intended to stop parents from giving their babies quirky names. The Japanese government is cracking down on what's known as kirakira, "shiny or glittery" names, which have become popular in recent years. These idiosyncratic, creative names are often formed by using unconventional pronunciations of kanji, the Chinese-based characters used in Japanese writing. Some resulting quirky names have included "Pikachu," "Kitty," and "Pu," for Winnie-the-Pooh.

A researcher found that some Cooper’s hawks use pedestrian crossings and traffic patterns as part of their hunting strategy. Zoologist Vladimir Dinets studied one raptor in West Orange, New Jersey, for 18 days. He observed the hawk making a strategic plan of action: The bird would wait to emerge from nearby trees until a pedestrian crosswalk began beeping and a line of waiting cars formed. It would then use the stopped vehicles as cover, flying low before diving toward its prey.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) wants to vacate a rule barring medical debt from appearing on credit reports. The rule, set to go into effect this year, would eliminate billions of dollars of medical debt from records, making it easier for people who owe money for medical care and hospital stays to buy cars and homes. CFPB's leadership opposes the rule; a lawsuit will determine if it will be canceled. Vacate, "make void," has a Latin root meaning "be empty."

The European Space Agency will broadcast a live performance of the Blue Danube Waltz into space this week. The orchestral piece by Austrian composer Johann Strauss II was featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's composed of five interconnected themes in ¾ time and is considered to be the most famous waltz ever written. The German source of waltz is Waltzer, from walzen, "to roll or dance."

It took four British hikers less than a week to trek from London to the summit of Mt. Everest and back, a trip that normally takes weeks. The climbers used xenon gas to avoid the usual long period of altitude adjustment. With the help of an anesthesiologist, the four inhaled increasing amounts of the colorless gas for two weeks before the climb. The gas helps people acclimatize to high altitudes, but its use is controversial. Xenon is from the Greek xenos, "strange."