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DEFINITION: (verb) To issue a thunderous verbal attack or denunciation. SYNONYMS: rail. USAGE: He fulminated against corruption in governmental institutions.

Chad has charged nine French and seven Spanish nationals with fraud and abduction for attempting to illegally airlift 103 children to Europe. The flight was organized by a French charity called Zoe's Ark, which claims the children are displaced orphans from Darfur and that they were being taken abroad to receive medical treatment. The children were to be placed with European families, and Chad, which does not allow adoption, contends that the group's actions constitute kidnapping and is now investigating whether or not the children involved are actually orphaned.

Automotive airbag inflation occurs only milliseconds after crash sensors detect a collision. The airbag's cushioning effectively prevents direct human impact with dangerous vehicular surfaces and reduces the deceleration passengers experience as they come to a stop. While airbags were initially viewed as an alternative to seatbelts, they are now understood to offer greater protection when used in conjunction with other automotive safety methods. What injuries may result from airbag deployment?

DEFINITION: (noun) The quality of being discerning, sound in judgment, and farsighted; wisdom SYNONYMS: discernment, sagaciousness, judgment. USAGE: Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.

Andre-Jaques Garnerin used his invention, the parachute, when he undertook the first jump from a hot air balloon in 1797. Since then, parachuting, or skydiving, has been utilized in military operations as well as for recreation and sport. Skydiving typically involves jumping from an aircraft at an altitude of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft), free-falling, and then deploying a parachute to slow the landing. Who holds the record for the highest parachute jump in history?

DEFINITION: (verb) To pay (a person) a suitable equivalent in return for goods provided, services rendered, or losses incurred. SYNONYMS: recompense, compensate. USAGE: John carefully weeded his neighbors' gardens, aware that they would remunerate him for a job well done.

These frogs belong to the family Dendrobatidae, a group of small, diurnal, often brightly colored frogs native to Central and South America. These frogs secrete poisonous alkaloids through their skin, which ranges in color from bright orange to black and blue. Most poison frogs are not toxic to humans or animals, but a few secrete a potent neurotoxin that can kill within minutes. Why is it that poison frogs captured from the wild and fed a typical captive diet lose their toxicity?

In the 1950s, Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine using a live but weakened form of the polio virus. While this form of vaccination allows recipients to develop full immunity and can even be transmitted to non-vaccinated individuals, conferring some immunity to them, mutated forms of the vaccine can actually spread the paralytic disease among those who have not been immunized. Recently, the UN's World Health Organization confirmed that a Nigerian outbreak of polio has been traced to such a mutation. Sixty nine children, about 5% of Nigeria's recent polio victims, have been diagnosed with the vaccine-induced viral disease.

DEFINITION: (noun) Bitter, sharp animosity, especially as exhibited in speech or behavior. SYNONYMS: acerbity, bitterness, jaundice. USAGE: Their divorce was marked by bitter acrimony, even though their friends had hoped it would be amicable.

When Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel died in 1896, his will and 31,000,000 kronor bequest established the Nobel Prizes, awarded annually to people or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to society. This year, former US Vice President Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) share the Nobel Peace Prize for their investigations of human-induced climate change and for raising awareness of global warming. The committee's decision to honor an environmental effort, rather than the more traditional attempts to resolve armed conflicts and minimize human suffering, is now the subject of controversy and debate.