By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/9/2025 10:23 AM
Animal control officers in Massachusetts had a "busy day" when they rescued a baby raccoon found standing on a doorstep and a baby groundhog entangled in a batting cage net. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/9/2025 10:18 AM
A pet zebra that escaped from his owner's home in Tennessee was found near a highway just over a week later and airlifted to a waiting trailer by a helicopter. ... Read full Story
A Syrian contractor made a historic discovery when clearing the rubble of a destroyed home, stumbling upon remains of an underground Byzantine tomb complex. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/6/2025 5:06 PM
A Georgia woman who received a Massachusetts State Lottery scratch-off ticket as a gift from her father ended up winning $2 million. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/6/2025 12:44 PM
A team of physicists from a British university used nanotechnology to create what they dubbed "the world's smallest violin," an instrument that can't be seen without a microscope. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/6/2025 11:58 AM
Drivers and pedestrians in Birmingham, England, were left stunned Friday morning when an escaped bull caused chaos on the city's streets. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/5/2025 4:15 PM
A Wisconsin zoo announced it has called off the search for an otter on the loose since March, explaining the animal "has made the decision to be a wild otter." ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/5/2025 1:55 PM
A wild elephant wandered out of a national park in Thailand to visit a grocery store, where the peckish pachyderm feasted on eggs and sweet treats. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/5/2025 12:59 PM
A team of researchers in Australia published a paper about how the population of sulphur-crested cockatoos in Sydney have learned to operate drinking fountains designed for human use. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/4/2025 2:01 PM
Firefighters in England came to the rescue of a young deer that tried to squeeze between the bars of a metal fence and became stuck. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/4/2025 11:53 AM
A kitten heard calling for help from an underground pipe in New York was coaxed out by a rescuer and will soon be available for adoption. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/3/2025 11:54 AM
A Florida sheriff's office said deputies and a local trapper ended up removing two alligators from residential pools in a single day. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/3/2025 11:39 AM
Authorities in Michigan said an opossum was rescued from the Mackinac Bridge, the 5-mile bridge connecting the state's two peninsulas. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 6/2/2025 4:15 PM
An 11-year-old Michigan girl vacationing with her family in Florida found a message in a bottle that had purportedly been thrown into the ocean 8 years earlier in Hawaii. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 15, 2025 is:
progeny \PRAH-juh-nee\ noun
Progeny refers to the child or descendant of a particular parent or family. Progeny can also refer to the offspring of an animal or plant, or broadly to something that is the product of something else. The plural of progeny is progeny.
// Many Americans are the progeny of immigrants.
// The champion thoroughbred passed on his speed, endurance, and calm temperament to his progeny, many of whom became successful racehorses themselves.
// This landmark study is the progeny of many earlier efforts to explore the phenomenon.
“‘I am (We are) our ancestors’ wildest dreams.’ The phrase originated from New Orleans visual artist, activist, and filmmaker Brandan Odums, and was popularized by influential Black figures like Ava Duvernay, who used the phrase in tribute to the ancestors of First Lady Michelle Obama. Melvinia Shields, who was born a slave in 1844, would be survived by five generations of progeny, ultimately leading to her great-great-great granddaughter—Michelle Obama ...” — Christopher J. Schell, “Hope for the Wild in Afrofuturism,” 2024
Did you know?
Progeny is the progeny of the Latin verb prōgignere, meaning “to beget.” That Latin word is itself an offspring of the prefix prō-, meaning “forth,” and gignere, which can mean “to beget” or “to bring forth.” Gignere has produced a large family of English descendants, including benign, engine, genius, germ, indigenous, and genuine. Gignere even paired up with prō- again to produce a close relative of progeny: the noun progenitor can mean “an ancestor in the direct line,” “a biologically ancestral form,” or “a precursor or originator.”