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From today's featured article

Roy Marshall (1930–1992) was a Barbadian cricketer who played in four Test matches for the West Indies and had an extensive domestic career with Hampshire in English county cricket. He was born in Saint Thomas, Barbados. Marshall made his debut in first-class cricket at the age of 15 for Barbados in January 1946, and established himself in the side as an attacking opening batter. He was selected in the West Indian team and played Test cricket between 1951 and 1952, making two appearances apiece against Australia and New Zealand. With players surpassing him for Test selection, he decided to end his brief international career and pursue a career in English county cricket. He joined Hampshire in 1953 and established himself as an opening batsman. Marshall became a consistent and attacking batsman; in 1959, he was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He won his first County Championship in 1961, and was appointed Hampshire's first professional captain between 1966 and 1970. (Full article...)

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In the news

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot

In cycling, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
In association football, the Copa América Femenina concludes with Brazil defeating Colombia in the final.
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, triggering tsunami warnings across the Pacific Ocean.
In association football, the UEFA Women's Euro concludes with England defeating Spain in the final.

On this day

August 7: Assyrian Martyrs Day (1933)

U.S. Marines wading ashore on Tulagi Island

1461 – Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines initiated the first American offensive of the Guadalcanal campaign, with landings on Tulagi (pictured), Gavutu–Tanambogo and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
1946 – The Soviet Union informed Turkey that the way in which the latter was handling the Turkish straits no longer represented the security interests of its fellow Black Sea nations, escalating the Turkish Straits crisis.
1970 – Jonathan Jackson kidnapped Harold Haley, a judge in Marin County, California, to coerce the release of the Soledad Brothers, including Jackson's brother George.
1985 – Five members of the Bamber family were found murdered at a farmhouse in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, England.

Jin Shengtan (d. 1661)
Jöns Jacob Berzelius (d. 1848)
Charlize Theron (b. 1975)
Wout Weghorst (b. 1992)

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Today's featured picture

The map (Araschnia levana) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Spain through Europe and east through the Palearctic to Central Asia and the Russian Far East to Korea and Japan. The map exhibits seasonal dimorphism which means it has two different forms, depending on whether its larva grows in the summer or the winter. The summer form (prorsa) has black wings, while the winter form (levana) – adapted for diapause – has red wings. Before the butterfly was fully understood, these were thought to be two different species. The eggs are laid in long strings, one on top of the other, on the underside of stinging nettles, the larval food plant. It is thought that these strings of eggs mimic the flowers of the nettles, thereby evading predators. This map, in the prorsa form, was photographed in the Piatra Craiului Mountains, Romania.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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