This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for November 10–November 16, 2024

Over the past few years, an increasing number of New York City buildings have become home to apiaries. Thousands of honeybees currently have hives atop iconic landmarks including the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden. After a busy season making honey, the worker bees spend the winter in the rooftop beehives. Corporations have installed the apiaries as part of sustainability initiatives. The Latin root of apiary is apis, "bee."

As Notre-Dame de Paris prepares to reopen after extensive repairs, the medieval cathedral welcomed three new bells this week. Notre Dame's 200-year-old spire collapsed in a devastating 2019 fire, damaging the bells that had rung from the church tower for centuries. The cathedral's rector blessed the new bells with holy water during a ceremony before their installation. The Late Latin source of cathedral means "church of a bishop's seat."

A study suggests that when light disrupts people's circadian rhythm, they are at risk of dying earlier. Researchers tracked 90,000 people around the clock to see when in their daily cycles they were exposed to bright light and then compared the data with deaths within eight years. They found that people who spent daytime hours in bright light and slept in dark rooms had the lowest risk of mortality. Circadian is from Latin roots circa, "about," and diem, "day."

What began as a social media stunt ended with thousands of cyclists bringing traffic between two central Chinese cities to a standstill. Four college students publicized their quest to bicycle 30 miles, from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng, in search of the soup dumpling called guantangbao. Interest grew online, and hordes of people joined the quest for the tasty bite-sized steamed buns, which are filled with hot soup. The first definition of dumpling was "mass of boiled paste."

A Massachusetts court ruled that if a wedding is canceled, an engagement ring belongs to the person who purchased it. Bruce Johnson had sued Caroline Settino, his former fiancée, arguing that she should return a $70,000 ring he gave her in 2017 when they were engaged to be married. The couple broke up before the wedding. The Supreme Judicial Court found in Johnson's favor, deciding that a ring belongs to its buyer in the event of a breakup, no matter who ended the engagement.

The Biden administration is rushing to finalize environmental regulations and disbursement of climate funds to states before Donald Trump's January inauguration. By tying up loose ends on the U.S. transition to clean energy, officials hope to ensure that emissions will continue to fall during the next administration. Trump has said that he will repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which supports solar power and electric car battery production.

Drought conditions combined with unusually dry fall foliage fueled brushfires in New York's Hudson Valley and Brooklyn's 526-acre Prospect Park. Even after the rare urban conflagrations were extinguished, smoke from wildfires on the New York-New Jersey border blew south and pushed smoke into the city. The northeast region is at high risk of fire, with the large quantities of dry autumn leaves adding to the danger. Foliage is from the Old French feuille, "leaf."

There will be a record number of women serving as governors in 2025. Republican Kelly Ayotte's victory in New Hampshire's gubernatorial election brought the total number of women in the highest position of state government to 13. This beats the 2022 record of 12 female governors — previously, the largest number of women in the position was just nine in 2004. Governor, "one who governs," comes from the Latin gubernare, "to direct, rule, or guide."

On November 13, Republicans clinched the majority in Congress, having already gained control of the Senate with 53 seats out of 100 total. As in 2016 when President Trump, a Republican, was elected to his first term in office, Republicans again will have majorities in both the House and the Senate. Majority is derived from the Latin maior, "greater or larger."

A new study shows that elephants can use tools and manipulate objects in sophisticated ways. Research published in Current Biology focused on an Asian elephant named Mary and the way she turned a simple object — a garden hose — into a shower, holding it in different positions to reach various parts of her body. Researchers say it's a surprisingly complex process for an elephant, and that Mary may have had an intuitive understanding of the hose because "it's similar to the trunk."

Anticipating tariffs promised by the incoming Trump administration, some businesses that rely on imports are stockpiling goods made in China and elsewhere. Companies that sell items such as shoes, clothing, and toys reported filling their warehouses with Chinese-made products, while others are planning to move production to factories in India, Mexico, and Vietnam, among other countries. Experts predict that at least initially, the tariffs will cost consumers $2,000 to $4,000 annually.

A council fired Haiti's interim prime minister amid continuing turmoil in the country's attempt to transition back to democracy. Rising gang violence has put democratic elections on hold for years in Haiti. Garry Conille, who served as acting prime minister since May, was replaced by businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé on November 10. The transitional council, in charge of establishing a democratically elected government, has faced infighting and accusations of corruption in recent months.