Ripped from the Headlines: February 2024: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 3–February 9, 2024

California was battered by a powerful storm which brought widespread flooding and mudslides to the Los Angeles area. In Northern California, high winds caused power outages and at least four deaths. The historic storm resulted from an atmospheric river effect, when water evaporates into the air and enormous amounts of vapor flow overhead in currents. When this water falls back to earth, it brings torrential rain. Atmospheric has Greek roots that mean "vapor" and "sphere."

On February 4, El Salvadorans voted to reelect their authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele. Since his election in 2019, Bukele has cracked down on gang activity, and the country's murder rate has dropped dramatically. However, civil rights have been stripped from many, and El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The president has tightened his hold on power and eliminated most political opposition, and his second term is forbidden by the country's constitution.

Scientists say the moon's circumference is slowly decreasing, a phenomenon that's causing small quakes which may make it harder for humans to visit. The shrinking of the moon is a process that started hundreds of millions of years ago, but researchers now realize the most powerful moonquakes it causes are occurring near NASA's preferred landing site. Circumference, "line around a circle," is from the Latin circumferre, "carry around."

Buckingham Palace announced on February 5 that Britain's King Charles had been diagnosed with cancer and would take a break from his royal duties during treatment. The diagnosis came less than 18 months after Charles ascended to the throne. The palace statement said cancer was detected during an unrelated medical procedure, but it didn't specify what form of cancer doctors had found. The Greek roots of diagnosis are gignōskein, "to know," and dia, "between."

Archaeologists excavating at the site of a former medieval town in Switzerland discovered a 600-year-old gauntlet. The armored glove, which would have been worn on the right hand, was remarkably well-preserved, and excavators also found pieces of its left-handed mate. It's one of the oldest gauntlets ever found, dating from the 14th century. Gauntlet is a diminutive form of the Old French gant, "glove."

On February 4, a group of street artists tagged multiple floors of an abandoned Los Angeles skyscraper development. At least 12 people entered the 40-story complex and painted colorful graffiti on dozens of its windows. The group later stated that they wanted to draw attention to the unfinished buildings and their Chinese developer, Oceanwide Holdings. Graffiti is the plural of the Italian graffito, "a scribble," from a Greek root meaning "to scratch, draw, or write."

Senate Republicans voted to block a bipartisan immigration bill. The plan resulted from months of negotiation, during which Republicans pressed Democrats to link funding for border security with aid to Ukraine. The proposed bill included $20 million to tighten restrictions for immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. In addition, about $100 million would have gone to national security and foreign military aid. The Latin migrare, "to move," is the root of immigration.

Invasive ants in Kenya are changing the way lions hunt. Big-headed ants first entered the country 20 years ago, and they have spread widely. The non-native ants eat acacia ants, which protect trees by annoying and biting herbivores. Their dwindling numbers mean elephants are toppling trees that once hid lions from their prey. The result of one tiny, invasive insect is that 25 percent fewer zebras were killed in the last two decades, and lions are hunting far more African buffalo.

A longitudinal study of 600 children found that having a dog is linked with a major increase in physical activity. Researchers observed the kids for three years. About a third of their families had a dog from the start, and 58 got a dog during the ongoing study. Girls who had dogs were especially influenced by their pets, spending an average of an hour a day walking and playing with them. During the study, 31 dogs died, and the activity of those kids decreased by about an hour daily.

The U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a January 28 drone attack in Jordan that killed three American troops. Dozens of Iran-linked militia fighters were killed in the strikes, as well as several civilians. A second strike on February 7 killed a senior militia commander in Baghdad. Defense Secretary LLoyd Austin said the U.S. "will not tolerate attacks on American forces." Retaliation is from the Late Latin retaliare, "to pay back in kind."

A year after an owl named Flaco escaped from the Central Park Zoo, he continues to thrive in the wild. The Eurasian eagle-owl had lived in the zoo for 13 years when an unknown intruder cut a hole in his cage, allowing him to fly away. Because he'd spent his life in captivity, zoo officials worried about his hunting instincts, but Flaco has proved to be an excellent hunter of small mammals, including rats. When he's spied in Central Park or on a window ledge, he looks extremely healthy.

Taylor Swift won an unprecedented fourth album of the year at the Grammy Awards on February 4. Swift's win, for her album Midnights, made her the first recording artist ever to win best album four times. Her earlier wins were for Fearless, 1989, and Folklore. Unprecedented comes from un-, "not" and the Latin praecedere, "go before."