Word: rare
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Like many other spectacular discoveries, Anders' finding was serendipitous. He and his co-workers had simply hoped to elaborate on the Alvarez hypothesis by detecting trace amounts of rare noble gases, like neon and xenon, in the layer of Cretaceous clay deposited during roughly the same period that the dinosaurs became extinct. They were seeking to identify the nature of the object responsible for the impact. Because noble gases collect in carbon particles, the scientists isolated the carbon in Cretaceous sediment taken from Denmark, Spain and New Zealand. To their surprise, all three samples contained carbon that had been deposited...
Beal, who will teach again this year, cited the unique cultural mix of the students as a rare opportunity to learn about other countries. In one class last year, she recalled, she asked her students to act out the word "helicopter," and they responded by ducking...
...people," says Hartman. The white-haired Cassidy, already hard at the second volume and, despite his years, determined to see the heroic work through to the end, puts himself among the nuts. "I'm mad about words," he says, pleased as a basketful of possum-heads (1906, northwest Arkansas . . . Rare...
Most people use stamps to mail letters. Marc Rousso trades them for expensive houses, yachts and cars. A Miami Beach philatelic broker, Rousso, 35, says that official catalogs value the rare stamps that he has traded since 1984 at $45 million. Now he is taking the art of stamp trading into the computer age. Starting this week, collectors worldwide will be able to buy and sell rare stamps via telex through Rousso's Miami-based International Stamp Exchange Corp. In a month, stamp buffs will also be able to trade through personal computers...
While American lawyers often represent other nations in U.S. or foreign courts, it is rare for them to do so in an international dispute in which the U.S. is the defendant. "One does not become involved in a suit against one's own country lightly," says Reichler. "If my situation is unique, so are the circumstances in this case." American policy toward Nicaragua, he maintains, "is a violation of the most sacred principles that the U.S. stands for: respect for law and the peaceful resolution of disputes...