Articles written by Mark Pratt
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How the unconventional design of the Titan sub may have destined it for disaster
BOSTON (AP) — The deadly implosion of the Titan submersible raises questions about whether the vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage was destined for disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator's refusal to submit to independent c...
Tagovailoa, Zaporizhzhia make list of most mangled words
BOSTON (AP) — "Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa explained the significance of the Chicxulub impact crater to actor Domhnall Gleeson over a drink of negroni sbagliato in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia," is the kind of sentence that j...
Sailor who died at Pearl Harbor to be buried at Arlington
The remains of a sailor from Massachusetts who died when the USS Oklahoma was struck by multiple torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 are being buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. The interment comes more than 80...
ICYMI, pumpkin spice among new Merriam-Webster entries
Finding out that shrinkflation, adorkable, subvariant and even pumpkin spice are now officially in the dictionary might make you exclaim "Yeet!" ICYMI, those are five of the 370 words and phrases that Merriam-Webster added to its dictionary this mont...
Cat on the lam: Pet caught after weeks on the run at airport
BOSTON (AP) — A family's beloved pet cat that's been dodging airport personnel, airline employees, and animal experts since escaping from a pet carrier at Boston's Logan International Airport about three weeks ago was finally caught Wednesday. "...
Historic American church set to integrate its slavery ties
The great contradiction of Boston's Old North Church is that a site pivotal to the freedom of the nation is the same place where slave owners and traders once worshiped. Now, with a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities...
Officials warn about another post-holiday COVID-19 spike
Rhode Island's top health official urged residents Thursday to be careful if attending Easter and Passover services and gatherings this weekend as the state has experienced spikes in new coronavirus cases soon after other major holidays in the past...
States rapidly expanding vaccine access as supplies surge
Buoyed by a surge in vaccine shipments, states and cities are rapidly expanding eligibility for COVID-19 shots to teachers, Americans 50 and over and others as the U.S. races to beat back the virus and reopen businesses and schools. Indiana and...
Biden's Commerce nominee says she has 'blueprint' for US
President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Commerce Department said Wednesday if confirmed she will take much of what she has learned improving her home state of Rhode Island's economy and apply it at the federal level. "Right before COVID,...
Program that collects devices for COVID-19 patients expands
NORTHFIELD, N.H. (AP) — It's one of the many cruelties of the pandemic: Many people hospitalized with COVID-19 are cut off from loved ones who are not allowed to visit them, for fear of the disease spreading. Kaya Suner came up with a solution. T...
States impose new restrictions on travelers from New York
BOSTON (AP) — States are pulling back the welcome mat for travelers from the New York area, which is the epicenter of the country's coronavirus outbreak, but some say at least one state's measures are unconstitutional. Governors in Texas, Florida, M...
Swole, buzzy, among new words in Merriam-Webster dictionary
BOSTON (AP) — Get swole, prepare a bug-out bag, grab a go-cup and maybe you'll have a better chance of surviving the omnicide. Translation: Hit the gym and bulk up, put a bunch of stuff essential for survival in an easy-to-carry bag, grab a drink f...
For sale to the highest bidder: A 12-pound chunk of the moon
BOSTON (AP) — Anyone who can't make it to the moon to gather a few lunar rocks now has the opportunity to buy one right here on Earth. A 12-pound (5.5 kilogram) lunar meteorite discovered in Northwest Africa last year is up for auction by B...
Boss revenge, self-colonoscopy studies win 2018 Ig Nobels
BOSTON (AP) — Anyone who's ever been so furious with their boss that they feel like exacting revenge really needs to listen to Lindie Liang. Liang and her colleagues found that abusing a virtual voodoo doll instead of your boss will make you feel bet...
Research on big ears, crocodile gambling wins Ig Nobels
BOSTON (AP) — Scientists who discovered that old men really do have big ears, that playing the didgeridoo helps relieve sleep apnea and that handling crocodiles can influence gambling decisions are among this year's recipients of the Ig Nobel, the pr...
Where are the trees? Not Paris, new 'Green View Index' finds
BOSTON (AP) — Where are the trees? More important, where aren't the trees? A lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is helping some of the world's cities answer both questions in an attempt to make them more pleasant places to live and w...
Scholars who studied liars, put pants on rats win Ig Nobels
BOSTON (AP, posted Sept. 23, 2016) — A Swede who wrote a trilogy about collecting bugs, an Egyptian doctor who put pants on rats to study their sex lives and a British researcher who lived like an animal have been named winners of the Ig Nobels, t... Full story
