Politics & World
Democrats Win Control of House and Senate
Democrats were projected to take majorities in both the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections, flipping Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Maine.
Wednesday, November 4, 2026 · 4-minute read
Democratic Sweep, Israel Aid Cut, and a Sausage Dog Show
Democrats sweep both chambers of Congress, Voyager 1 nears a full light-day from Earth, and the sausage dog gets its own art show.
Need to know
Politics & World
Trump Announces End to $4 Billion Israel Aid
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will end nearly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel…
Sources: AP News, Stars and Stripes, DW
Science & Tech
New York Child Dies in Record Measles Outbreak
A child in New York died of measles Monday, the state’s first death from the disease in more than 30…
Sources: Scientific American, Ars Technica
109feet
The height of Mexico City’s ‘La Catrina’ Day of the Dead skeleton — roughly an 11-story building — built from steel, fiberglass, papier-mâché, and 70,000 marigolds. It broke the previous record for the world’s tallest Day of the Dead skeleton, set in Puerto Vallarta.
Source: Smithsonian
In the know
Worth a longer read
When humans disappear, biodiversity takes a surprising turn
What happens to ecosystems when humans disappear — and why biodiversity takes a surprising turn.
Nature · Emma Marris
How hackers are turning grocery store freezers into heaters
How hackers are turning internet-connected grocery store freezers into heaters.
Scientific American · Peter Hall
The nuclear waste repository in Finland designed to outlast modern civilisation
Inside the nuclear waste repository in Finland designed to outlast modern civilisation.
New Scientist · George BassSubscription
- Tuesday, Nov. 10
The College Football Playoff selection committee releases its second top 25 rankings of the season.
- Dec. 1
MLB and the players’ union face a Dec. 1 deadline in labor talks, with a possible lockout looming if no deal is reached.
Etcetera
- Collins Dictionary’s word of the year is ‘mogging’ — playfully outshining someone
- Lever machines and literacy tests: what voting looked like 100 years ago
- How NASA astronauts cast their midterm ballots from 250 miles up
- The world’s first art exhibition devoted entirely to the sausage dog
- Ten years on, ‘Pokémon Go to the polls’ still haunts the internet
- Eight gargoyles and grotesques hiding in plain sight on famous buildings
- Mapped: the states losing the most daylight before winter
Today’s clickbait, so you don’t have to‘Duck Bills’ Were on the Ballot in D.C. and Denver — and the Quacks Won
On this day · November 4
The Historybook- 1869The first issue of the scientific journal Nature is published in London
- 1922Howard Carter discovers the entrance to King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings
- 1979Iranian students storm the US Embassy in Tehran, beginning a 444-day hostage crisis
- 1995Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv
- 2008Barack Obama is elected the first Black president of the United States
Compiled by the Desk, not linked to a source · Report an error
Quote of the day
“Yes, wonderful things.”
— Howard Carter, archaeologist, when asked if he could see anything upon first peering into Tutankhamun’s tomb
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