BACKUP ORIGINAL TWIW May 10–May 16, 2026

The NCAA will augment next year's March Madness by increasing the number of teams in the men's and women's basketball tournaments. While past competitions included 68 teams, there will now be 76, an expansion that will be funded by increased commercial sponsorship opportunities. The eight additional teams will mean an initial round of 12 games played by 24 teams in the first days of the tournament. Augment derives from the Latin augere, "to increase or enlarge."

Dozens of high-profile artists boycotted the Venice Biennale, officially withdrawing their names from award consideration in protest of ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Over 250 curators, workers, and artists signed two letters demanding the exclusion of Israel, Russia, and the United States from the event. The statements followed the resignation of the Biennale's five-member jury; later, 27 pavilions at the exhibition shut down for one day in solidarity with the boycotters.

Google issued a report stating that hackers tried to launch a major cyberattack after using AI to detect an unknown software flaw. Security experts say it's the first known attempted cybercrime carried out primarily through code written by AI. The unrecognized bug allowed criminals to bypass two-factor authentication in one of the company's system administration tools.

San Antonio Spurs player Victor Wembanyama was ejected from a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves after an uncharacteristic flagrant foul. Early in the second quarter, Wembanyama hit Timberwolves forward Naz Reid in the throat with his elbow, an obvious foul that referees upgraded to flagrant 2 for "unnecessary and excessive contact above the neck." Spurs coach Mitch Johnson defended his player, citing unrelenting physicality by the other team against Wembanyama.

Oregon's most unusual gubernatorial candidate is an anthropomorphic pencil. The unlikely aspiring governor wears a yellow pencil costume — and goes by the name Pencil. Running as a write-in candidate to publicize the state's education crisis, Pencil is especially concerned with Oregon's low fourth-grade literacy rate. Gubernatorial is an 18th-century American coinage, from a Latin root meaning "a governor."

Researchers developed a virtual reality system that allows farmers and meat processors to see the world through the perspective of livestock. A helmet fitted with a 360-degree camera and virtual reality goggles enables users to perceive their surroundings with a cow's peripheral vision and reduced color perception. The system is intended to help workers manage cows, pigs, and other farmed animals more efficiently and humanely.

David Attenborough, one of the world's most famous and beloved naturalists, turned 100. For over 70 years, he has examined and documented the natural world, filming plants and animals around the globe and presenting them enthusiastically to television viewers. Attenborough's best-known work is the BBC documentary Life on Earth, which includes the first-ever footage of birds of paradise engaging in their bizarre mating rituals, and in which he socializes with Rwandan gorillas.

The Defense Department released decades of formerly classified UFO documents, including photographs and sketches of "unidentified phenomena." More than 150 records spanning nearly eighty years were made publicly available, including an unexplained "fairly bright light source" seen by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Other unusual reports included a description of a fast-moving object "making 90-degree turns" and "doing corkscrews" that was seen by passengers in a jet over Kazakhstan.

A South Dakota mining company canceled an exploratory drilling project after weeks of protests. Nine Native American tribes and local residents objected to the project's proximity to Pe’Sla, a sacred site in the Black Hills. The meadow, traditionally used for ceremonies, prayer, and buffalo grazing, is located just a half mile north of the proposed graphite mining site. The Latin root of proximity is proximitatem, "nearness."

The American Academy of Pediatrics updated their policy on school recess, stating it is too important to be withheld for academic or punitive reasons. It's the group's first update to the policy in 13 years, citing recent research showing that recess benefits students academically, mentally, and physically. The policy emphasized that breaks in the school day should not be taken away as a form of punishment. The Latin root of punitive is punire, "to punish."

A new study shows that regulations helped dramatically reduce the level of forever chemicals in Canadian seabird eggs. Researchers analyzed 55 years of data, comparing Pfas levels in northern gannet eggs before and after government rules pushed companies to stop using these dangerous ingredients. By 2024, Pfas in the eggs had dropped 74 percent from a peak high. Regulation is derived from a Latin root meaning "to control by rule."

An Indian billionaire offered to adopt dozens of Colombia's rogue hippos, which have become a threat to residents and their environment. The enormous non-native animals, descendents of hippos brought into the country in the 1980s, have no natural predators. As their population has grown from four to over 200, they have caused widespread destruction of the local food chain and shown unpredictable aggressive behavior toward humans.

A petroleum byproduct used to make colorful ink is in short supply in Japan, as oil shortages caused by the war in Iran mean the ingredient is harder to come by. The country's largest snack maker, Calbee, will transition from cheerful, multicolored chip packages to somber black and white ones. The new, monochromatic bags are also missing the bright yellow potato character that normally decorates them. Somber is from Late Latin subumbrare, "to shadow."

For the third time in two years, a Canadian hospital had to close its operating room after it was infested with ants. The bugs appeared at Carman Memorial Hospital in Manitoba, vexing staff there, most of whom remember 2024 and 2025 infestations that disrupted scheduling for medical procedures. The hospital was forced to delay elective surgeries while exterminators searched for the source of the latest irritating insects. The Latin root of vex means "toss violently."

A German court vindicated an angry tourist who sued a tour company for allowing hotel guests to reserve poolside chairs with their towels, awarding him $1,200. The man and his family spent a week at a resort on the Greek island of Kos. Every morning they found rows of unoccupied lounge chairs, each of which had been claimed at dawn. Furious about the injustice of having to sit on the ground beside the pool, he filed the lawsuit and won 15 percent of the trip's total cost in compensation.