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From today's featured article

Robin Williams

Dementia with Lewy bodies is a common dementia characterized by changes in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and automatic bodily functions. Symptoms worsen over time until cognitive decline interferes with normal daily functioning. The core features are REM sleep behavior disorder (in which people act out their dreams), visual hallucinations, marked fluctuations in attention or alertness, and parkinsonism. The exact cause is unknown, but involves deposits of abnormal clumps of protein in the brain, known as Lewy bodies. Gastrointestinal and heart function can be affected. Definitive diagnosis usually requires an autopsy, and a probable diagnosis—based on symptoms and tests—is often missed. Management of the many symptoms is challenging and involves multiple specialties. There is no cure or medication to stop the disease progression. After the suicide of Robin Williams (pictured) in 2014, his autopsy found that diffuse Lewy bodies explained his symptoms. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Callanish Stones of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland

... that some stone circles (example pictured) such as Stonehenge were perhaps great graveyards of honoured spiritual leaders in prehistoric religion?
... that Jennifers' Law expands the definition of domestic violence in Connecticut to include coercive control?
... that during the 1940 Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz, all the male inhabitants of the occupied Polish town, Jews and non-Jews alike, were subjected to hours of abuse by German soldiers?
... that Ben Purse was a leader of the 1920 blind march, which helped bring about the world's first disability-specific legislation?
... that protesters against the Line 3 oil pipeline handcuffed themselves together at an Enbridge pump station?
... that when Cordula Wöhler was expelled from a Lutheran pastor's household for converting to Catholicism, she wrote a poem that became one of the most popular hymns to Mary in German?
... that barrister and arbitrator Mahnaz Malik worked with the Law Society of England and Wales to set up a programme to assist imprisoned children in Pakistan?
... that Derby County F.C. chairman Sam Longson gave impromptu press conferences in his pyjamas in the aftermath of Brian Clough's resignation as manager?

In the news

Giannis Antetokounmpo

In basketball, the Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Phoenix Suns to win the NBA Finals (MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo pictured).
Pedro Castillo becomes president-elect of Peru following the official declaration of the results of April's election.
In cycling, Tadej Pogačar wins the Tour de France.
Floods across western Europe leave more than 200 people dead.
In South Africa, protests and subsequent unrest over the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma result in 212 deaths and more than 2,500 arrests.

On this day

July 21: Belgian National Day (1831)

Depiction of the Ciompi Revolt by Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri

365 – A large earthquake occurred near Crete and triggered a subsequent tsunami that caused widespread destruction around the eastern Mediterranean region.
1378 – Unrepresented labourers in Florence revolted and violently took over the city's government (depicted) to grant them political office.
1877 – Much of central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was burned and looted during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
1977 – Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day war with Egypt.
2013 – Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an Iranian diplomat in Yemen, was kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants and held hostage for the next two years.

Simion Bărnuțiu (b. 1808)
Sophie Bledsoe Aberle (b. 1896)
Louis Vauxcelles (d. 1943)

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Today's featured picture

The Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville, Spain, built for the Christian king Peter of Castile in 1364–1366. It was built by Castilian Christians on the site of an Abbadid Muslim alcázar, or residential fortress, destroyed after the Christian reconquest of Seville. The palace is a prime example of Mudéjar architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, but also features elements of Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque architecture from previous stages of construction. This photograph depicts the domed ceiling of the Hall of Ambassadors in the Alcázar of Seville.

Photograph credit: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

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