Ripped from the Headlines: May 2026: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for May 3–May 9, 2026

A study found that some monkeys eat soil to alleviate the digestive effects caused by eating junk food. Researchers observed macaques in Gibraltar, where tourists often feed them snacks. They found that the monkeys eat dirt and clay there far more often than in less touristy areas, especially when tourists feed them saltier, fattier snacks, which the monkeys love. The team concluded that the macaques are adding bacteria and minerals to their diet to ease junk-food-related stomach upset.

Japanese astronomers think they've detected an atmosphere around a plutino, a small space object in the Kuiper belt on the edge of the solar system. Scientists had thought that such a small object could not maintain a surrounding gas layer. If confirmed, plutino 2002 XV93 would be the smallest object in our solar system known to have its own atmosphere. Scientists say that it may be the result of kicked-up material from an asteroid impact, or the result of ice volcano eruptions.

Researchers using satellite data learned that oak trees may have at least one method of circumventing caterpillar infestation: They delay sprouting their leaves, so newly hatched caterpillars have nothing to eat. German scientists found that one year after oak trees are heavily infested, they sprout leaves about three days later. This short lag in new leaf growth is enough to sharply reduce the caterpillars' survival rate that spring, and it also cuts the trees' leaf damage by 55 percent.

When Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby last weekend, he became the first winner of the prestigious horse race to have been trained by a woman. Cherie DeVaux opened her own stable eight years ago. She had never before trained a horse for the Kentucky Derby, the first of three thoroughbred horse races in the Triple Crown. DeVaux wasn't worried when Golden Tempo started out in last place of the 18 horses in the race. Of his come-from-behind win, she said, "That's how he runs."

British divers discovered the wreck of a World War I U.S. Coast Guard cutter that vanished mysteriously in 1918. The ship's disappearance had remained an enigma for over a century, ever since it left its convoy in the British Channel for supplies and disappeared. A three-year effort by a team of explorers finally located the wreckage of the USCGC Tampa 50 miles from the Cornish coast, about 300 feet deep in the Atlantic. Enigma has a Greek root that means "a puzzle."

The Indian government announced an extra charge of 10,000 rupees for hajj trips due to the high price of gas. Although India no longer offers subsidies for Muslim citizens to take part in the annual pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, it does negotiate set airline prices for pilgrims. This year's hajj will be financially out of reach for many Indian Muslims. In Islam, the journey is a mandatory religious duty. The Arabic hajj means "pilgrimage."

After two metal detectorists found 19 medieval coins in a Norwegian field, archaeologists began digging on the site. Over the next few weeks, they uncovered more than 3,000 silver pieces from the Middle Ages, most dating to the late Viking Age. It's the largest such discovery in Norway's history, and it is likely to grow as excavations continue. The coins were minted between 980 and 1047 CE, and several bear the names of Viking rulers, including Cnut the Great and Aethelred the Unready.

A new CDC report found that over 30 percent of U.S. adults get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep each night. Experts warn that insufficient nighttime rest can lead to daytime somnolence, raising the risk of accidents. As well as causing extreme fatigue, sleep deprivation over time can affect cardiovascular health, the immune system, and mental health. Somnolence derives from the Latin somnus, "sleep."

Nearly a month after an outbreak of hantavirus among its passengers, a cruise ship is still awaiting permission to dock. On May 6, three people were evacuated from the MV Hondius, two of them symptomatic, having acute flu-like symptoms, including fever, headaches, and nausea. Last month, three passengers on the ship died from the virus, which is typically spread by rodents but sometimes can be transmitted person-to-person. More than 100 passengers remained on board as of Thursday.

Washington state's Stillaguamish Tribe is buying hundreds of acres of farmland and removing levees to create wetlands. The tribe plans to allow Puget Sound tidewater to flood the fields, transforming them back into the tidal marshes they were a century ago. It's part of a plan to restore threatened Chinook salmon in the area by providing crucial wetland nurseries for young fish. The salmon species holds an extremely important cultural significance to the Stillaguamish.