title: Margaret Howe Lovatt

text: In smaller tanks, and since the building lacked sunlight and space, Peter quickly deteriorated and eventually ended his life by drowning. Dolphin activist Ric O'Barry explains, "Dolphins are not automatic air-breathers like we [humans] are... Every breath is a conscious effort. If life becomes too unbearable, the dolphins just take a breath and they sink to the bottom. They don't take the next breath."


title: Margaret Howe Lovatt

text: Lovatt stayed on the island and married a photographer who photographed their research. They later moved back into the Dolphinarium and converted it into a family home. Together they had three daughters.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: Marrowbone () is a 2017 English-language Spanish psychological horror mystery drama film written and directed by Sergio G. Sánchez, and starring George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Mia Goth, and Matthew Stagg. The film tells the story of the titular Marrowbone siblings (MacKay, Heaton, Goth, and Stagg), who relocate from England to their mother's ancestral estate in Maine, where they are faced by a sinister presence at home. "Marrowbone" was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and released in Spain on 27 October 2017 by Universal Pictures.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: In 1968, a woman named Rose Marrowbone brings her four children from England to her childhood home, the Marrowbone Residence, in rural Maine. She urges them to leave their past behind and make new memories. Things start off well, and they make friends with a girl named Allie. However, Rose's health worsens and she dies, leaving behind her children Jack (20), Jane (19), Billy (18) and Sam (5). Before dying, Rose instructs Jack to hide news of her death until he turns 21 and legally able to care for his siblings. Six months later, the person who the family was running from finds the place.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: Another six months later, the siblings still live in the house. All the mirrors are hidden or covered to protect them from a "ghost" in the loft, which had apparently been gone for several months. Of all the siblings, only Jack visits the local town to take care of any necessities. He courts Allie, now a library employee, while keeping his past from her. The town lawyer, Tom Porter, is in charge of the Marrowbone estate, and has unrequited affections for Allie.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: Tom informs Jack he will come to collect the $200 fee and Rose's signature to finish the paperwork that transfers ownership of the estate to Jack. Desperate for money, Jack uses the "cursed" money of their father. Billy retrieves the money box at a secluded spot on the beach. Jack gives $200 to Tom, and Jane fakes Rose's signature on the papers, concluding the transfer.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: After several incidents, the siblings believe the "ghost" is back because they used the money. Billy "returns the money" by climbing on the roof and throwing the box with the rest of the money down the chimney into the attic. Sam sneaks into Rose's old room, where all the mirrors are kept, sees the "ghost" inside a mirror, and is traumatized. At this point, it is heavily implied that the "ghost" was their abusive father, who was bricked up in the attic and starved to death. Jane suggests properly burying him, but Jack dismisses the idea.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: After Allie firmly rejects Tom's advances, he gives her a folder containing the investigation on the Marrowbone siblings. The files inside revealed their father, Simon Fairbairn, to be a notorious serial killer who also, it is implied, raped and impregnated his daughter. He was convicted in court, with Jack a key witness, and later broke out of jail. In the house, Jane saw a raccoon being attacked and dragged into the attic and is convinced that Simon is still alive.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: Tom is informed his potential employer is no longer interested in an employee, but a partner. He is offered 10% of their share for $5,000, which he doesn't have. Tom believes that the Marrowbone siblings have $10,000, which was listed as missing from Simon Fairbairn's property, and blackmails his eldest son. Billy climbs down the attic to retrieve the box, and barely escapes Simon's assault. Billy confronts Jack about Simon and urges Jack to deal with him together. Their argument is interrupted when Jack faints and has a seizure. Jane decides they must tell Allie the truth. The siblings send Allie their diary. While Allie reads through it, Tom arrives at the house. Seeing the bricked up attic entrance, he is convinced the money is hidden there and tears down the wall.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: The diary reveals that when Simon found the house six months ago, Jack locked his siblings inside the attic. He tried to give the money box back to Simon at the secluded place on the beach, but was knocked out by his criminally vengeful father. When Jack regained consciousness, he returned to the house, only to realize Simon had entered the attic through the chimney and killed his younger siblings. After bricking up the attic, Jack prepared to commit suicide, but imagined his younger brothers and sister into existence. Mimicking his equally late mother, Jack begins to "make new memories." He hides all the mirrors to avoid reminding himself that he is alone, and avoids going into the attic for the same reason. The "younger siblings" eventually become alternate personalities within his mind.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: After learning the truth, Allie goes to the Marrowbone house and finds Jack's different personalities arguing with each other. She tries to snap him out of it, but he drives her away, unwilling to accept the deaths of his siblings. Noticing Tom's belongings, Allie goes up the attic and finds Jane, Billy and Sam's desiccated corpses, as well as a dying Tom. She confronts a horribly malnourished but still ferocious Simon, while calling out for Jack's alternate personalities for help. Billy cries out to Jack to please let him take care of this. Eventually, Jack lets Billy take over and kills Simon, ending his threat for good.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: Some time later, Allie decides to stay and care for Jack after he is released from a psychiatric hospital after twelve weeks (three months). She disregards the doctor's recommendation to make sure Jack takes his medicine, so he will no longer have his younger siblings' personalities dominant within his fractured psyche. She knows that Jack is happier when he believes his little brothers and sister are alive and well. He can still see them playing in the field.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: In May 2016, it was announced Sergio G. Sánchez would write and direct the film, with J. A. Bayona executive producing, alongside Belen Atienza producing. In July 2016, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia Goth, George MacKay and Charlie Heaton joined the cast of the film.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2017. It was released in Spain on 27 October 2017 by Universal Pictures. "Marrowbone" was also released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2018. It was released digitally on 18 November.


title: Marrowbone (film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 49% based on 75 reviews, and an average rating of 5.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Marrowbone's" effective setting and strong cast can't make up for thinly conceived characters and a story short on genuine scares." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: 24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British biographical comedy-drama film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom. The film was entered into the 2002 Cannes Film Festival to positive reviews.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: It begins with the punk rock era of the late 1970s and moves through the 1980s into the rave and DJ culture and the "Madchester" scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The main character is Tony Wilson (played by Steve Coogan), a news reporter for Granada Television and the head of Factory Records. The narrative largely follows his career, while also covering the careers of the major Factory artists, especially Joy Division and New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and Happy Mondays.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: The film is a dramatisation based on a combination of real events, rumours, urban legends and the imaginings of the scriptwriter, as the film makes clear. In one scene, one-time Buzzcocks member Howard Devoto (played by Martin Hancock) is shown having sex with Wilson's first wife in the toilets of a club; the real Devoto, an extra in the scene, turns to the camera and says, "I definitely don't remember this happening." The fourth wall is frequently broken, with Wilson (who also acts as the narrator) frequently commenting on events directly to camera as they occur, at one point declaring that he is "being postmodern, before it's fashionable". The actors are often intercut with real contemporary concert footage, including the Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: In 1976 television presenter Tony Wilson sees the Sex Pistols perform at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall for the first time. Inspired, Wilson starts a weekly series of punk rock shows at a Manchester club, where the newly formed Joy Division perform, led by the erratic, brooding Ian Curtis.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: Wilson founds a record label, Factory Records, and signs Joy Division as the first band; the contract is written in Wilson's blood and gives the Factory artists full control over their music. He hires irascible producer Martin Hannett to record Joy Division, and soon the band and label have a hit record. In 1980, just before Joy Division is to tour the United States, Curtis hangs himself. Joy Division rename themselves New Order and record a hit single, "Blue Monday".


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: Wilson opens a nightclub, the Haçienda; business is slow at first, but eventually the club is packed each night. Wilson signs another hit band, Happy Mondays, led by Shaun Ryder, and the ecstasy-fuelled rave culture is born.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: Despite the apparent success, Factory Records is losing money. Every copy of "Blue Monday" sold loses five pence, as the intricate packaging by Peter Saville costs more than the single's sale price. Wilson pays for New Order to record a new album in Ibiza, but after two years, they still have not delivered a record. He pays for the Happy Mondays to record their fourth studio album in Barbados, but Ryder spends all the money on drugs. When Wilson finally receives the album, he finds that Ryder has refused to record vocals, and all the tracks are instrumentals. At the Haçienda, ecstasy use is curbing alcohol sales and attracting gang violence.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: The Factory partners try to save the business by selling the label to London Records, but when Wilson reveals that the label does not hold contracts with any of its artists, the deal falls through. While smoking marijuana on the roof of Haçienda after its closing night, Wilson has a vision of God, who assures Wilson he has earned a place in history.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: As usual with anything even remotely related to Factory Records, the film received its own FAC catalogue number – posthumously, in a sense, as Factory had already been bankrupt for nearly a decade. "24 Hour Party People" is known as FAC 401, being first on the hundred that features other video & multimedia releases.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: "24 Hour Party People" holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 86% based on one-hundred reviews. The site's consensus states: "The colorful, chaotic 24 Hour Party People nimbly captures the spirit of the Manchester music scene."


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: The soundtrack to "24 Hour Party People" features songs by artists closely associated with Factory Records who were depicted in the film. These include Happy Mondays, Joy Division (later to become New Order) and The Durutti Column. Manchester band the Buzzcocks are featured, as are The Clash. The album begins with "Anarchy in the U.K." by the Sex Pistols, the band credited in the film with inspiring Factory Records co-founder Tony Wilson to devote himself to promoting music.


title: 24 Hour Party People

text: New tracks recorded for the album include Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades", from a concert performance by New Order with Moby and Billy Corgan.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed in level flight.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Development of what would become the Me 163 can be traced back to 1937 and the work of the German aeronautical engineer Alexander Lippisch and the "Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug" (DFS). Initially an experimental programme that drew upon traditional glider designs while integrating various new innovations such as the rocket engine, the development ran into organisational issues until Lippisch and his team were transferred to Messerschmitt in January 1939. Plans for a propeller-powered intermediary aircraft were quickly dropped in favour of proceeding directly to rocket propulsion. On 1 September 1941, the prototype performed its maiden flight, where upon quickly demonstrated itself to possess unprecedented performance and the qualities of its design. Having been suitably impressed, Nazi officials quickly enacted plans that aimed for the widespread introduction of Me 163 point-defence interceptors across Germany. During December 1941, work on began on the upgraded "Me 163B", which was optimized for large-scale production.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: During early July 1944, German test pilot Heini Dittmar reached , an unofficial flight airspeed record that remained unmatched by turbojet-powered aircraft up until 1953. That same year, the Me 163 begun flying operational missions, being typically used to defend against incoming enemy bombing raids. As part of their alliance with Imperial Japan, Germany provided design schematics and a single Me 163 to the country; this lead to the development of the Mitsubishi J8M. By the end of the conflict, roughly 370 Komets had been completed, most of which being used operationally. However, some of its shortcomings were never addressed and the type was not as effective in combat as had been hoped. Being only capable of a maximum of seven and a half minutes of powered flight, its range fell short of projection and greatly limited its potential. Efforts to improve the aircraft were made, most notably the Messerschmitt Me 263, but many would not see actual combat due to the sustained advancement of the Allied powers into Germany in 1945.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: For a dedicated interceptor aircraft that achieved operational status, the track record of the Me 163 is somewhat underwhelming, having been credited with the destruction of between nine and 18 Allied aircraft against ten losses. Aside from the actual combat losses incurred, numerous Me 163 pilots had been killed during testing and training flights. This high loss rate was, at least partially, a result of the rocket propellant used to power the later models, which was not only highly volatile but also corrosive and hazardous to be around. One such fatality was that of Josef Pöhs, a German fighter ace and "Oberleutnant" in the "Luftwaffe", who was killed in 1943 through exposure to "T-Stoff" in combination with injuries sustained during a failed takeoff that ruptured a fuel line. Besides Nazi Germany, no nation has ever made operational use of either the Me 163 specifically, or rocket planes in general; however, there were a few flights of captured Me 163s conducted for evaluation and research purposes.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: During 1937, work on what would become the Me 163 commenced, the initial work was conducted under the aegis of the "Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug" (DFS)—the German Institute for the study of sailplane flight. Their first design was a conversion of the earlier Lippisch Delta IV known as the DFS 39 and used purely as a glider testbed of the airframe. A larger follow-on version with a small propeller engine started as the DFS 194. This version used wingtip-mounted rudders that Lippisch felt would cause problems at high speed. Lippisch changed the system of vertical stabilization for the DFS 194's airframe from the earlier DFS 39's wingtip rudders, to a conventional vertical stabilizer at the rear of the aircraft. The design included a number of features from its origins as a glider, notably a skid used for landings, which could be retracted into the aircraft's keel in flight. For takeoff, a pair of wheels, each mounted onto the ends of a specially designed cross-axle, were needed due to the weight of the fuel, but the wheels, forming a takeoff dolly under the landing skid, were released shortly after takeoff.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The designers planned to use the forthcoming Walter R-1-203 "cold engine" of thrust, which like the self-contained Walter HWK 109-500 "Starthilfe" RATO booster rocket unit, used a monopropellant consisting of stabilized HTP known by the name T-Stoff. Heinkel had also been working with Hellmuth Walter on his rocket engines, mounting them in the He 112R's tail for testing – this was done in competition with Wernher von Braun's bi-propellant, alcohol/LOX-fed rocket motors, also with the He 112 as a test airframe – and with the Walter catalyzed HTP propulsion format for the first purpose-designed, liquid-fueled rocket aircraft, the He 176. Heinkel had also been selected to produce the fuselage for the DFS 194 when it entered production, as it was felt that the highly volatile monopropellant fuel's reactivity with organic matter would be too dangerous in a wooden fuselage structure. Work continued under the code name "Projekt X".


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The division of work between DFS and Heinkel led to problems, notably that DFS seemed incapable of building even a prototype fuselage. Lippisch eventually asked to leave DFS and join Messerschmitt instead. On 2 January 1939, Lippisch moved with his team and the partly completed DFS 194 to the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg. The delays caused by this move allowed the engine development to catch up. Once at Messerschmitt, the team decided to abandon the propeller-powered version and move directly to rocket-power. The airframe was completed in Augsburg and in early 1940 was shipped to receive its engine at Peenemünde-West, one of the quartet of "Erprobungsstelle"-designated military aviation test facilities of the Reich. Although the engine proved to be extremely unreliable, the aircraft had excellent performance, reaching a speed of in one test.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: In the Me 163B and -C subtypes, a ram-air turbine was installed on the extreme nose of the fuselage that, along with a backup lead–acid battery inside the fuselage that it charged, provided electrical power for various pieces of onboard equipment. Such apparatus included the radio, reflector gunsight (either Revi16B, -C, or -D), direction finder, compass, firing circuits for the twin cannons, as well as some of the lighting for the cockpit instrumentation. Due to the limited capacity of the battery, the fitting of an electrical generator had been necessary.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The airspeed indicator averaged readings from two sources: the pitot tube on the leading edge of the port wing, and a small pitot inlet in the nose, just above the top edge of the underskid channel. There was a further tapping-off of pressure-ducted air from the pitot tube which also provided the rate of climb indicator with its source.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The resistance group around the Austrian priest Heinrich Maier (later executed) had contacts with the Heinkelwerke in Jenbach in Tyrol, where important components for the Me 163 were also produced. The group supplied location sketches of the production facilities to the Allies, thus greatly aiding Allied bombers in carrying out targeted air strikes against them.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: In early 1941, production of a prototype series, known as the "Me 163", began. Secrecy was such that the RLM's "GL/C" airframe number, "8-163", was actually that of the earlier Messerschmitt Bf 163. Three Bf 163-prototypes (V1 to V3) had been built, and it was thought that foreign intelligence services would conclude any reference to the number "163" was for that earlier design. During May 1941, the first prototype Me 163A, V4, was shipped to Peenemünde to receive the HWK RII-203 engine. By 2 October 1941, Me 163A V4, bearing the radio call sign letters, or "Stammkennzeichen", "KE+SW", set a new world speed record of , piloted by Heini Dittmar, with no apparent damage to the aircraft during the attempt. Some postwar aviation history publications stated that the Me 163A V3 was thought to have set the record. The record figure would not be officially surpassed until after the war, specifically by the American Douglas D-558-1 on 20 August 1947. Ten Me 163As (V4-V13) were built for pilot training and further tests, these were unarmed.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: During testing of the prototype (A-series) aircraft, the jettisonable undercarriage presented a serious problem. The original dollies possessed well-sprung independent suspension for each wheel, and as the aircraft took off, the large springs rebounded and threw the dolly upward, striking the aircraft. In comparison, the production (B-series) aircraft used much simpler, crossbeam-axled dollies, and relied on the landing skid's oleo-pneumatic strut to absorb ground-running impacts during the takeoff run, as well as to absorb the shock of landing. If the hydraulic cylinder was malfunctioning, or the skid mistakenly left during a landing procedure in the "locked and lowered" position (as it had to be for takeoff), the impact of a hard touchdown on the skid could cause back injuries to the pilot.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Once on the ground, the aircraft had to be retrieved by a "Scheuch-Schlepper", a converted small agricultural vehicle, originally based on the concept of the two-wheel tractor, carrying a detachable third swiveling wheel at the extreme rear of its design for stability in normal use—this swiveling third wheel was replaced with a pivoting, special retrieval trailer that rolled on a pair of short, triple-wheeled continuous track setups (one per side) for military service wherever the "Komet" was based. This retrieval trailer usually possessed twin trailing lifting arms, that lifted the stationary aircraft off the ground from under each wing whenever it was not already on its twin-wheel dolly main gear, as when the aircraft had landed on its ventral skid and tailwheel after a mission. Another form of trailer, known also to have been trialled with the later B-series examples, was tried during the "Komet"s test phase, which used a pair of sausage-shaped air bags in place of the lifting arms and could also be towed by the "Scheuch-Schlepper" tractor, inflating the air bags to lift the aircraft. The three-wheeled "Scheuch-Schlepper" tractor used for the task was originally meant for farm use, but such a vehicle with a specialized trailer—which could also lift the Me 163's airframe completely clear of the ground to effect the recovery as a normal part of the Me 163's intended use—was required as the "Komet" was unpowered after exhausting its rocket propellants, and lacked main wheels after landing, from the jettisoning of its "dolly" main gear at takeoff.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: During flight testing, the superior gliding capability of the "Komet" proved detrimental to safe landing. As the now un-powered aircraft completed its final descent, it could rise back into the air with the slightest updraft. Since the approach was unpowered, there was no opportunity to make another landing pass. For production models, a set of landing flaps allowed somewhat more controlled landings. This issue remained a problem throughout the program. Nevertheless, the overall performance was tremendous, and plans were made to put Me 163 squadrons all over Germany in around any potential target. However, while the development of an operational version was encouraged, the Me 163 programme was not assigned the highest priority due to competition from other projects; this lack of focus protracted its development.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: In December 1941, work on an upgraded design began. A simplified construction format for the airframe was deemed necessary, as the Me 163A version was not truly optimized for large-scale production. The result was the Me 163B subtype that had the desired, more mass-producible fuselage, wing panel, retractable landing skid and tailwheel designs with the previously mentioned unsprung dolly takeoff gear, and a generally one-piece conical nose for the forward fuselage which could incorporate a turbine for supplementary electrical power while in flight, as well as a one-piece, perimeter frame-only hinged canopy for ease of production.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Meanwhile, Walter had started work on the newer HWK 109-509 bipropellant "hot engine", which added a true fuel of hydrazine hydrate and methanol, designated "C-Stoff", that burned with the oxygen-rich exhaust from the T-Stoff, used as the oxidizer, for added thrust (see: List of Stoffs). The new powerplant and numerous detail design changes meant to simplify production over the general A-series airframe design resulted in the significantly modified Me 163B of late 1941. Due to the "Reichsluftfahrtministerium" requirement that it should be possible to throttle the engine, the original power plant grew complicated and lost reliability.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The fuel system was particularly troublesome, as leaks incurred during hard landings easily caused fires and explosions. Metal fuel lines and fittings, which failed in unpredictable ways, were used as this was the best technology available. Both fuel and oxidizer were toxic and required extreme care when loading in the aircraft, yet there were occasions when "Komets" exploded on the tarmac from the propellants' hypergolic nature. Both propellants were clear fluids, and different tanker trucks were used for delivering each propellant to a particular "Komet" aircraft, usually the "C-Stoff" hydrazine/methanol-base fuel first. For safety purposes, the truck left the immediate area of the aircraft following its delivery and capping off of the "Komet"s fuel tanks from a rear located dorsal fuselage filling point just ahead of the "Komet"s vertical stabilizer. Then, the other tanker truck carrying the very reactive T-Stoff hydrogen peroxide oxidizer would deliver its load through a different filling point on the "Komet"s dorsal fuselage surface, located not far behind the rear edge of the canopy.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The corrosive nature of the liquids, especially for the T-Stoff oxidizer, required special protective gear for the pilots. To help prevent explosions, the engine and the propellant storage and delivery systems were frequently and thoroughly hosed down and flushed with water run through the propellant tanks and the rocket engine's propellant systems before and after flights, to clean out any remnants. The relative "closeness" to the pilot of some 120 litres (31.7 US gal) of the chemically active T-Stoff oxidizer, split between two auxiliary oxidizer tanks of equal volume to either side within the lower flanks of the cockpit area—besides the main oxidizer tank of some 1,040-litre (275 US gal) volume just behind the cockpit's rear wall, could present a serious or even fatal hazard to a pilot in a fuel-caused mishap.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Two prototypes were followed by 30 Me 163 B-0 pre-production aircraft armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon and some 400 Me 163 B-1 production aircraft armed with two 30 mm (1.18-inch) MK 108 cannons, but which were otherwise similar to the B-0. Early in the war, when German aircraft firms created versions of their aircraft for export purposes, the a was added to export ("ausland") variants (B-1a) or to foreign-built variants (Ba-1) but for the Me 163, there were neither export nor a foreign-built version. Later in the war, the "a" and successive letters were used for aircraft using different engine types: as Me 262 A-1a with Jumo engines, Me 262 A-1b with BMW engines. As the Me 163 was planned with an alternative BMW P3330A rocket engine, it is likely the "a" was used for this purpose on early examples. Only one Me 163, the V10, was tested with the BMW engine, so this designation suffix was soon dropped. The Me 163 B-1a did not have any wingtip "washout" built into it, and as a result, it had a much higher critical Mach number than the Me 163 B-1.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The Me 163B had very docile landing characteristics, mostly due to its integrated leading edge slots, located directly forward of the elevon control surfaces, and just behind and at the same angle as the wing's leading edge. It would neither stall nor spin. One could fly the "Komet" with the stick full back, and have it in a turn and then use the rudder to take it out of the turn, and not fear it snapping into a spin. It would also slip well. Because the Me 163B's airframe design was derived from glider design concepts, it had excellent gliding qualities, and the tendency to continue flying above the ground due to ground effect. On the other hand, making a too close turn from base onto final, the sink rate would increase, and one could quickly lose altitude and come in short. Another main difference from a propeller-driven aircraft is that there was no slipstream over the rudder. On takeoff, one had to attain the speed at which the aerodynamic controls become effective—about —and that was always a critical factor. Pilots accustomed to flying propeller-driven aircraft had to be careful that the control stick was not somewhere in the corner when the control surfaces began working. These, like many other specific Me 163 problems, would be resolved by specific training.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The performance of the Me 163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. At a speed of over the aircraft would take off, in a so-called "scharfer Start" ("sharp start", with "Start" being the German word for "take-off") from the ground, from its two-wheeled dolly. The aircraft would be kept at level flight at low altitude until the best climbing speed of around was reached, at which point it would jettison the dolly, retract its extendable skid using a knob-topped release lever just forward of the throttle (as both levers were located atop the cockpit's portside 120-litre T-Stoff oxidizer tank) that engaged the aforementioned pneumatic cylinder, and then pull up into a 70° angle of climb, to a bomber's altitude. It could go higher if required, reaching in an unheard-of three minutes. Once there, it would level off and quickly accelerate to around or faster, which no Allied fighter could match. The usable Mach number was similar to that of the Me 262, but because of the high thrust-to-drag ratio, it was much easier for the pilot to lose track of the onset of severe compressibility and risk loss of control. A Mach warning system was installed as a result. The aircraft was remarkably agile and docile to fly at high speed. According to Rudolf Opitz, chief test pilot of the Me 163, it could "fly circles around any other fighter of its time".


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: By this point, Messerschmitt was completely overloaded with production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and attempts to bring the Me 210 into service. Production in a dispersed network was handed over to Klemm, but quality control problems were such that the work was later given to Junkers, who were, at that time, underworked. As with many German designs of World War II's later years, parts of the airframe (especially the wings) were made of wood by furniture manufacturers. The older Me 163A and first Me 163B prototypes were used for training. It was planned to introduce the Me 163S, which removed the rocket engine and tank capacity and placed a second seat for the instructor above and behind the pilot, with his own canopy. The Me 163S would be used for glider landing training, which as explained above, was essential to operate the Me 163. It appears that the Me 163S was produced via the conversion of the earlier Me 163B series prototypes.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: In service, the Me 163 turned out to be difficult to use against enemy aircraft. Its tremendous speed and climb rate meant a target was reached and passed in a matter of seconds. Although the Me 163 was a stable gun platform, it required excellent marksmanship to bring down an enemy bomber. The "Komet" was equipped with two 30 mm (1.18 inch) MK 108 cannons that had a relatively low muzzle velocity of 540 meters per second (1,772 feet/sec), and were accurate only at short range, making it almost impossible to hit a slow moving bomber. Four or five hits were typically needed to take down a B-17.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Innovative methods were employed to help pilots achieve kills. The most promising was a weapon called the "Sondergerät 500 Jägerfaust". This included 10 single-shot, short-barreled 50 mm (2-inch) guns pointing upwards, similar to "Schräge Musik". Five were mounted in the wing roots on each side of the aircraft. A photocell in the upper surface of the "Komet" triggered the weapons by detecting the change in brightness when the aircraft flew under a bomber. As each shell shot upwards, the disposable gun barrel that fired it was ejected downwards, thus making the weapon recoilless. It appears that this weapon was used in combat only once, resulting in the destruction of a Lancaster bomber on 10 April 1945.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The biggest concern about the design was the short flight time, which never met the projections made by Walter. Being capable of a maximum of seven and a half minutes of powered flight - which was only roughly 25% of the 30-minute combat time that the "light-class" Heinkel He 162A "Spatz" single-BMW 003 jet fighter possessed, when the it entered combat in April 1945; the solely rocket-powered Me 163B fighter truly was a dedicated point defense interceptor. To improve this, the Walter firm began developing two more advanced versions of the 509A rocket engine, the 509B and C, each with two separate combustion chambers of differing sizes, one above the other, for greater efficiency. The B-version possessed a main combustion chamber—usually termed in German as a "Hauptofen" on these dual-chamber subtypes—with an exterior shape much like that on the single chamber 509A version, with the C-version having a forward chamber shape of a more cylindrical nature, designed for a higher top thrust level of some 2,000 kg (4,410 lb) of thrust, while simultaneously dropping the use of the cubic-shape frame for the forward engine propellant flow/turbopump mechanisms as used by the earlier -A and -B versions. The 509B and 509C rocket motors' main combustion chambers were supported by the thrust tube exactly as the 509A motor's single chamber had been. They were tuned for high power for takeoff and climb. The added, smaller volume lower chamber on the two later models, nicknamed the "Marschofen" with approximately of thrust at its top performance level, was intended for more efficient, lower power cruise flight. These HWK 109–509B and C motors would improve endurance by as much as 50%. Two 163 Bs, models V6 and V18, were experimentally fitted with the lower-thrust B-version of the new twin-chamber engine (mandating twin combustion chamber pressure gauges on the instrument panel of any "Komet" equipped with them), a retractable tailwheel, and tested in spring 1944.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The main "Hauptofen" combustion chamber of the 509B engine used for the B V6 and V18 occupied the same location as the A-series' engine did, with the lower "Marschofen" cruise chamber housed within the retractable tailwheel's appropriately widened ventral tail fairing. On 6 July 1944, the Me 163B V18 (VA+SP), like the B V6 basically a standard production Me 163B airframe outfitted with the new, twin-chamber "cruiser" rocket motor with the aforementioned airframe modifications beneath the original rocket motor orifice to accept the extra combustion chamber, set a new unofficial world speed record of , piloted by Heini Dittmar, and landed with almost all of the vertical rudder surface broken away from flutter. This record was not broken in terms of absolute speed until 6 November 1947 by Chuck Yeager in flight number 58 that was part of the Bell X-1 test program, with a , or Mach 1.35 supersonic speed, recorded at an altitude of nearly . However, it is unclear if Dittmar's flight achieved sufficient altitude for its speed to be considered supersonic, as the X-1 did.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The X-1 never exceeded Dittmar's speed from a normal runway "scharfer Start" liftoff. Heini Dittmar had reached the performance, after a normal "hot start" ground takeoff, without an air drop from a mother ship. Neville Duke exceeded Heini Dittmar's record mark roughly years after Yeager's achievement (and some 263 km/h short of it) on 31 August 1953 with the Hawker Hunter F Mk3 at a speed of , after a normal ground start. Postwar experimental aircraft of the aerodynamic configuration that the Me 163 used, were found to have serious stability problems when entering transonic flight, like the similarly configured, and turbojet powered, Northrop X-4 Bantam and de Havilland DH 108, which made the V18's record with the Walter 509B "cruiser" rocket motor more remarkable.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Waldemar Voigt of Messerschmitt's "Oberammergau" project and development offices started a redesign of the 163 to incorporate the new twin-chamber Walter rocket engine, as well as fix other problems. The resulting Me 163C design featured a larger wing through the addition of an insert at the wing root, an extended fuselage with extra tank capacity through the addition of a plug insert behind the wing, a ventral fairing whose aft section possessed a retractable tailwheel design closely resembling that pioneered on the Me 163B V6, and a new pressurized cockpit topped with a bubble canopy for improved visibility, on a fuselage that had dispensed with the earlier B-version's dorsal fairing. The additional tank capacity and cockpit pressurization allowed the maximum altitude to increase to , as well as improving powered time to about 12 minutes, almost doubling combat time (from about five minutes to nine). Three Me 163 C-1a prototypes were planned, but it appears only one was flown, but without its intended engine.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: By this time the project was moved to Junkers. There, a new design effort under the direction of Heinrich Hertel at Dessau attempted to improve the "Komet". The Hertel team had to compete with the Lippisch team and their Me 163C. Hertel investigated the Me 163 and found it was not well suited for mass production and not optimized as a fighter aircraft, with the most glaring deficiency being the lack of retractable landing gear. To accommodate this, what would eventually become the Me 263 V1 prototype would be fitted with the desired tricycle gear, also accommodating the twin-chamber Walter rocket from the start—later it was assigned to the Ju 248 program.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The resulting "Junkers Ju 248" used a three-section fuselage to ease construction. The V1 prototype was completed for testing in August 1944, and was glider-tested behind a Junkers Ju 188. Some sources state that the Walter 109–509C engine was fitted in September, but it was probably never tested under power. At this point the RLM reassigned the project to Messerschmitt, where it became the Messerschmitt Me 263. This appears to have been a formality only, with Junkers continuing the work and planning production. By the time the design was ready to go into production, the plant where it was to be built was overrun by Soviet forces. While it did not reach operational status, the work was briefly continued by the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) design bureau as the Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The initial test deployment of the Me 163A, to acquaint prospective pilots with the world's first rocket-powered fighter, occurred with "Erprobungskommando 16" (Service Test Unit 16, EK 16), led by "Major" Wolfgang Späte and first established in late 1942, receiving their eight A-model service test aircraft by July 1943. Their initial base was as the "Erprobungsstelle" (test facility) at the Peenemünde-West field. They departed permanently the day after an RAF bombing raid on the area on 17 August 1943, moving southwards, to the base at Anklam, near the Baltic coast. Their stay was brief, as a few weeks later they were placed in northwest Germany, based at the military airfield at Bad Zwischenahn from August 1943 to August 1944. EK 16 received their first B-series armed Komets in January 1944, and was ready for action by May while at Bad Zwischenahn. "Major" Späte flew the first-ever Me 163B combat sortie on 13 May 1944 from the Bad Zwischenahn base, with the Me 163B armed prototype (V41), bearing the "Stammkennzeichen" PK+QL.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: As EK 16 commenced small-scale combat operations with the Me 163B in May 1944, the Me 163B's unsurpassed velocity was something Allied fighter pilots were at a loss to counter. The "Komets" attacked singly or in pairs, often even faster than the intercepting fighters could dive. A typical Me 163 tactic was to fly vertically upward through the bombers at , climb to , then dive through the formation again, firing as they went. This approach afforded the pilot two brief chances to fire a few rounds from his cannons before gliding back to his airfield. The pilots reported it was possible to make four passes on a bomber, but only if it was flying alone. According to the historian Mano Ziegler, Nazi officials were allegedly considering using the Me 163 to directly ram into enemy aircraft in suicide attacks; this desperate tactic was never actually used. During early 1944, routine aerial reconnaissance flights over German aerodromes had made the Allies aware of the existence of the Me 163.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Glider pilots were the preferred trainees, using the "Stummelhabicht", with a wingspan, to mimic the handling characteristics of the Me 163. Training included gunnery practice with a machine pistol mounted in the glider nose. As the cockpit was unpressurized, the operational ceiling was limited by what the pilot could endure for several minutes while breathing oxygen from a mask, without losing consciousness. Pilots underwent altitude chamber training to harden them against the rigors of operating in the thin air of the stratosphere without a pressure suit. Special low fiber diets were prepared for pilots, as gas in the gastrointestinal tract would expand rapidly during ascent.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Following the initial combat trial missions of the Me 163B with EK 16, during the winter and spring of 1944 "Major" Späte formed the Luftwaffe's first dedicated Me 163 fighter wing, "Jagdgeschwader" 400 (JG 400), in Brandis, near Leipzig. JG 400's purpose was to provide additional protection for the Leuna synthetic gasoline works which were raided frequently during almost all of 1944. A further group was stationed at Stargard near Stettin to protect the large synthetic fuel plant at Pölitz (today Police, Poland). Further defensive units of rocket fighters were planned for Berlin, the Ruhr, and the German Bight.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The first actions involving the Me 163B in regular Luftwaffe active service occurred on 28 July 1944, from I./JG 400's base at Brandis, when two USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress were attacked without confirmed kills. Combat operations continued from May 1944 to spring 1945. During this time, there were nine confirmed kills with ten Me 163s lost. "Feldwebel" Siegfried Schubert was the most successful pilot, with three bombers to his credit. Each engagement would see as many as a dozen Me 163s at a time launched to challenge the B-17s.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Allied fighter pilots quickly observed the short duration of the Me 163's powered flight, and adapted their tactics to take advantage of this. The fighters would delay engaging until after the engine had exhausted its propellant before pouncing on the unpowered "Komet". Even with this handicap, the aircraft was extremely manoeuvrable in gliding flight and thus was not a straightforward target to down. Another Allied method of engagement was attack the airfields from which the Komets operated, performing strafing runs upon them after the Me 163s had landed. Due to the skid-based landing gear system, the Komet was immobile until the "Scheuch-Schlepper" tractor could back the trailer up to the nose of the aircraft, place its two rear arms under the wing panels, and jack up the trailer's arms to hoist the aircraft off the ground or place it back on its take-off dolly to tow it back to its maintenance area.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: At the end of 1944, 91 aircraft had been delivered to JG 400, but a persistent lack of fuel had kept most of them grounded. It was clear that the original plan for a huge network of Me 163 bases would never be realized. Up to that point, JG 400 had lost only six aircraft due to enemy action. Nine Me 163s had been lost to other causes, remarkably few for such a revolutionary and technologically advanced aircraft. Into early 1945, the type continued to be flown to defend high priority targets, such as the Daimler Benz tank factory in Berlin. In the final days of Nazi Germany, the Me 163 was given up in favor of the more successful Me 262. At the beginning of May 1945, Me 163 operations were stopped, the JG 400 disbanded, and many of its pilots sent to fly Me 262s.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: In any operational sense, the "Komet" was a failure. Although it shot down sixteen aircraft, mainly four-engined bombers, it did not warrant the effort put into the project. Due to fuel shortages late in the war, few went into combat, and it took an experienced pilot with excellent shooting skills to achieve kills. The "Komet" also spawned later weapons like the vertical-launch, similarly rocket-powered Bachem Ba 349 Natter, and the postwar, American turbojet-powered Convair XF-92 delta wing interceptor. Ultimately, the point defense role that the Me 163 played would be taken over by the surface-to-air missile (SAM), Messerschmitt's own example being the Enzian.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Captain Eric Brown RN, Chief Naval Test Pilot and commanding officer of the Captured Enemy Aircraft Flight, who tested the Me 163 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough, said, "The Me 163 was an aeroplane that you could not afford to just step into the aircraft and say 'You know, I'm going to fly it to the limit.' You had very much to familiarise yourself with it because it was state-of-the-art and the technology used." Acting unofficially, after a spate of accidents involving Allied personnel flying captured German aircraft resulted in official disapproval of such flights, Brown was determined to fly a powered Komet. On around 17 May 1945, he flew an Me 163B at Husum with the help of a cooperative German ground crew, after initial towed flights in an Me 163A to familiarise himself with the handling.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The day before the flight, Brown and his ground crew had performed an engine run on the chosen Me 163B to ensure that everything was running correctly, the German crew being apprehensive should an accident befall Brown, until being given a disclaimer signed by him to the effect that they were acting under his orders. On the rocket-powered "scharfer-start" takeoff the next day, after dropping the takeoff dolly and retracting the skid, Brown later described the resultant climb as "like being in charge of a runaway train", the aircraft reaching 32,000 ft (9.76 km) altitude in 2 minutes, 45 seconds. During the flight, while practicing attacking passes at an American B-17 bomber, he was surprised at how well the Komet accelerated in the dive with the engine shut down. When the flight was over Brown had no problems on the approach to the airfield; apart from the rather restricted view from the cockpit due to the flat angle of glide, the aircraft touching down at . Once down safely, Brown and his much-relieved ground crew celebrated with a drink.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Beyond Brown's unauthorised flight, the British never tested the Me 163 under power themselves; due to the danger of its hypergolic propellants it was only flown unpowered. Brown himself piloted RAE's Komet "VF241" on a number of occasions, the rocket motor being replaced with test instrumentation. When interviewed for a 1990s television programme, Brown said he had flown five tailless aircraft in his career (including the British de Havilland DH 108). Referring to the Komet, he said "this is the only one that had good flight characteristics"; he called the other four "killers".


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: It has been claimed that at least 29 "Komets" were shipped out of Germany after the war and that of those at least 10 have been known to survive the war to be put on display in museums around the world. Most of the 10 surviving Me 163s were part of JG 400, and were captured by the British at Husum, the squadron's base at the time of Germany's surrender in 1945. According to the RAF museum, 48 aircraft were captured intact and 24 were shipped to the United Kingdom for evaluation, although only one, "VF241", was test flown (unpowered).


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Eventually an elderly German woman came forward with Me 163 instruments that her late husband had collected after the war, and the engine was reproduced by a machine shop owned by Me 163 enthusiast Reinhold Opitz. The factory closed in the early 1990s and "Yellow 25" was moved to a small museum created on the site. The museum contained aircraft that had once served as gate guards, monuments and other damaged aircraft previously located on the air base. In 1997 "Yellow 25" was moved to the official "Luftwaffe" Museum located at the former RAF base at Berlin-Gatow, where it is displayed today alongside a restored Walter HWK 109–509 rocket engine. This particular Me 163B is one of the very few World War II–era German military aircraft, restored and preserved in a German aviation museum, to have a swastika marking, in a "low visibility" white outline form, currently displayed on the tailfin.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: Of the 21 aircraft that were captured by the British, at least three have survived. They were assigned the British serial numbers AM200 to AM220.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: As part of their alliance, Germany provided the Japanese Empire with plans and an example of the Me 163. One of the two submarines carrying Me 163 parts did not arrive in Japan, so at the time, the Japanese lacked all of the major parts and construction blueprints, including the turbopump, which they could not make themselves, forcing them to reverse-engineer their own design from information obtained in the Me 163 Erection & Maintenance manual obtained from Germany. The prototype J8M crashed on its first powered flight and was completely destroyed, but several variants were built and flown, including: trainers, fighters, and interceptors, with only minor differences between the versions.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: The Navy version, the Mitsubishi J8M1 "Shūsui", replaced the Ho 155 cannon with the Navy's 30 mm (1.18 in) Type 5. Mitsubishi also planned on producing a version of the 163C for the Navy, known as the J8M2 "Shūsui" Model 21. A version of the 163 D/263 was known as the J8M3 "Shusui" for the Navy with the Type 5 cannon, and a Ki-202 with the Ho 155-II for the Army. Trainers were planned, roughly the equivalent of the Me 163 A-0/S; these were known as the Kugisho/Yokosuka MXY8 (Yokoi Ki-13) (an unpowered glider trainer) and Kugisho/Yokosuka MXY9 (a Tsu-11-powered motorjet trainer).


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: One complete example of the Japanese aircraft survives at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in California. The fuselage of a second aircraft is displayed at the Mitsubishi company's Komaki Plant Museum, at Komaki, Aichi in Japan.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: A flying replica Me 163 was constructed between 1994 and 1996 by Joseph Kurtz, a former "Luftwaffe" pilot who trained to fly Me 163s, but who never flew in combat. He subsequently sold the aircraft to EADS. The replica is an unpowered glider whose shape matches that of an Me 163, although its construction is completely different: the glider is built of wood with an empty weight of , a fraction of the weight of a wartime aircraft. Reportedly, it has excellent flying characteristics. The glider is painted red to represent the Me 163 flown by Wolfgang Späte. As of 2011, it was still flying with the civil registration D-1636.


title: Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

text: In the early 2000s, a rocket-powered airworthy replica, the "Komet II", was proposed by XCOR Aerospace, a former aerospace company that had previously built the XCOR EZ-Rocket rocket-plane. Although outwardly the same as a wartime aircraft, the "Komet II"s design would have differed considerably for safety reasons. It would have been partially constructed with composite materials, powered by one of XCOR's own simpler and safer, pressure fed, liquid oxygen/alcohol engines, and retractable undercarriage would have been used instead of a takeoff dolly and landing skid.


title: Loon

text: Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes .


title: Loon

text: Loons, which are the size of large ducks or small geese, resemble these birds in shape when swimming. Like ducks and geese, but unlike coots (which are Rallidae) and grebes (Podicipedidae), the loon's toes are connected by webbing. The loons may be confused with the cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), but can be distinguished from them by their distinct call. Cormorants are not-too-distant relatives of loons, and like them are heavy-set birds whose bellies, unlike those of ducks and geese, are submerged when swimming. Loons in flight resemble plump geese with seagulls' wings that are relatively small in proportion to their bulky bodies. The bird points its head slightly upwards while swimming, but less so than cormorants. In flight, the head droops more than in similar aquatic birds.


title: Loon

text: Male and female loons have identical plumage, which is largely patterned black-and-white in summer, with grey on the head and neck in some species. All have a white belly. This resembles many sea-ducks (Merginae) – notably the smaller goldeneyes ("Bucephala") – but is distinct from most cormorants, which rarely have white feathers, and if so, usually as large rounded patches rather than delicate patterns. All species of loons have a spear-shaped bill.


title: Loon

text: Males are larger on average, but relative size is only apparent when the male and female are together. In winter, plumage is dark grey above, with some indistinct lighter mottling on the wings, and a white chin, throat and underside. The specific species can then be distinguished by certain features, such as the size and colour of the head, neck, back and bill. But reliable identification of loons in winter is often difficult even for experts – particularly as the smaller immature birds look similar to winter-plumage adults, making size an unreliable means of identification.


title: Loon

text: Gaviiformes are among the few groups of birds in which the young moult into a second coat of down feathers after shedding the first one, rather than growing juvenile feathers with downy tips that wear off, as is typical in many birds. This trait is also found in tubenoses (Procellariiformes) and penguins (Sphenisciformes), both relatives of the loons.


title: Loon

text: Loons are excellent swimmers, using their feet to propel themselves above and under water. However, since their feet are located far back on the body, loons have difficulty walking on land, though they can effectively run short distances to reach water when frightened. Thus, loons avoid coming to land, except for mating and nesting.


title: Loon

text: Loons fly strongly, though they have high wing loading (mass to wing area ratio), which complicates takeoff. Indeed, most species must run upwind across the water's surface with wings flapping to generate sufficient lift to take flight. Only the red-throated loon ("G. stellata") can take off from land. Once airborne, loons are capable of long flights during migration. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, who have implanted satellite transmitters in some individuals, have recorded daily flights of up to 1078 km in a 24-hour period, which probably resulted from single movements. North European loons migrate primarily via the South Baltic and directly over land to the Black Sea or Mediterranean. Loons can live as long as 30 years and can hold their breath for as long as 90 seconds while underwater.


title: Loon

text: Loons are migratory birds, and in the winter months they move from their northern freshwater lake nesting habitats to southern marine coastlines. They are well-adapted to this change in salinity, however, because they have special salt glands located directly above their eyes. These glands filter out salts in their blood and flushes this salty solution out through their nasal passages, which allows them to immediately consume fish from oceans and drink saltwater after their long migration.


title: Loon

text: Loons find their prey by sight. They eat mainly fish, supplemented with amphibians, crustaceans and similar mid-sized aquatic fauna. Specifically, they have been noted to feed on crayfish, frogs, snails, salamanders and leeches. They prefer clear lakes because they can more easily see their prey through the water. The loon uses its pointy bill to stab or grasp prey. They eat vertebrate prey headfirst to facilitate swallowing, and swallow all their prey whole.


title: Loon

text: To help digestion, loons swallow small pebbles from the bottoms of lakes. Similar to grit eaten by chickens, these gastroliths may assist the loon's gizzard in crushing the hard parts of the loon's food such as the exoskeletons of crustaceans and the bones of frogs and salamanders. The gastroliths may also be involved in stomach cleaning as an aid to regurgitation of indigestible food parts.


title: Loon

text: Loons may inadvertently ingest small lead pellets, released by anglers and hunters, that will contribute to lead poisoning and the loon's eventual death. Jurisdictions that have banned the use of lead shot and sinkers include but are not limited to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, some areas of Massachusetts, Yellowstone National Park, Great Britain, Canada, Michigan, and Denmark.


title: Loon

text: Loons nest during the summer on freshwater lakes and/or large ponds. Smaller bodies of water (up to 0.5 km) will usually only have one pair. Larger lakes may have more than one pair, with each pair occupying a bay or section of the lake. The red-throated loon, however, may nest colonially, several pairs close together, in small Arctic tarns and feed at sea or in larger lakes, ferrying the food in for the young.


title: Loon

text: Loons mate on land, often on the future nest site, and build their nests close to the water, preferring sites that are completely surrounded by water such as islands or emergent vegetation. Loons use a variety of materials to build their nests including aquatic vegetation, pine needles, leaves, grass, moss and mud. Sometimes, nest material is almost lacking. Both male and female build the nest and incubate jointly for 28 days. If the eggs are lost, the pair may re-nest, usually in a different location. Since the nest is very close to the water, rising water may induce the birds to slowly move the nest upwards, over a metre.


title: Loon

text: Despite the roughly equal participation of the sexes in nest building and incubation, analysis has shown clearly that males alone select the location of the nest. This pattern has the important consequence that male loons, but not females, establish significant site-familiarity with their territories that allows them to produce more chicks there over time. Sex-biased site-familiarity might explain, in part, why resident males fight so hard to defend their territories.


title: Loon

text: Most clutches consist of two eggs, which are laid in May or June, depending upon latitude. Loon chicks are precocial, able to swim and dive right away, but will often ride on their parents' back during their first two weeks to rest, conserve heat, and avoid predators. Chicks are fed mainly by their parents for about six weeks but gradually begin to feed themselves over time. By 11 or 12 weeks, chicks gather almost all of their own food and have begun to fly. In 2019, a necropsy of a bald eagle found floating on a Maine lake (beside the floating body of a loon chick) found that the eagle had been stabbed through the heart by an adult loon's beak.


title: Loon

text: Biologists, especially from Chapman University, have extensively studied the mating behaviour of the common loon ("G. immer"). Contrary to popular belief, pairs seldom mate for life. Indeed, a typical adult loon is likely to have several mates during its lifetime because of territorial takeover. Each breeding pair must frequently defend its territory against "floaters" (territory-less adults) trying to evict at least one owner and seize the breeding site. Territories that have produced chicks in the past year are especially prone to takeovers, because nonbreeding loons use chicks as cues to indicate high-quality territories. One-third of all territorial evictions among males result in the death of the owner; in contrast, female loons usually survive. Birds that are displaced from a territory but survive usually try to re-mate and (re)claim a breeding territory later in life.


title: Loon

text: In 2020, a loon hatched for the first time in over a century in Southeastern Massachusetts at Fall River, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and Biodiversity Research Institute. The chicks were relocated in 2015 with the hopes of re-establishing breeding and nesting patterns.


title: Loon

text: The European Anglophone name "diver" comes from the bird's habit of catching fish by swimming calmly along the surface and then abruptly plunging into the water. The North American name "loon" likely comes from either the Old English word "lumme", meaning lummox or awkward person, or the Scandinavian word "lum" meaning lame or clumsy. Either way, the name refers to the loon's poor ability to walk on land.


title: Loon

text: Another possible derivation is from the Norwegian word "lom" for these birds, which comes from Old Norse " lómr", possibly cognate with English "lament", referring to the characteristic plaintive sound of the loon. The scientific name "Gavia" refers to seabirds in general.


title: Loon

text: The scientific name "Gavia" was the Latin term for the smew ("Mergellus albellus"). This small sea-duck is quite unrelated to loons and just happens to be another black-and-white seabird which swims and dives for fish. It is not likely that the ancient Romans had much knowledge of loons, as these are limited to more northern latitudes and since the end of the last glacial period seem to have occurred only as rare winter migrants in the Mediterranean region.


title: Loon

text: The term "gavia" was transferred from the ducks to the loons only in the 18th century. Earlier naturalists referred to the loons as "mergus" (the Latin term for diving seabirds of all sorts) or "colymbus", which became the genus name used in the first modern scientific description of a "Gavia" species (by Carl Linnaeus) in 1758. Unfortunately, confusion about whether Linnaeus' "wastebin genus" "Colymbus" referred to loons or grebes abounded. North American ornithologists used the genus name to refer to grebes, while Europeans used it for loons, following Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Richard Bowdler Sharpe.


title: Loon

text: The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature tried to settle this issue in 1956 by declaring "Colymbus" a suppressed name unfit for further use and establishing "Gavia", created by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1788, as the valid genus name for the loons. However, the situation was not completely resolved even then, and the following year the ICZN had to act again to prevent Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot's 1818 almost-forgotten family name Urinatoridae from overruling the much younger Gaviidae. Some eminent ornithologists such as Pierce Brodkorb tried to keep the debate alive, but the ICZN's solution has been satisfactory.


title: Loon

text: All living species are placed in the genus "Gavia". The evolutionary of the genus "Gavia" has been suggested to have originated from Europe during the Paleogene. The earliest species, "G. egeriana", was found early Miocene deposits from Dolnice in the Czech Republic. During the remainder of the Miocene "Gavia" managed to dispersed into North America via the Atlantic coastlines eventually making their way to the continent's Pacific coastlines by the Late Miocene. The interrelationships of the extant species has found the red-throated loons being the most basal of the five species.


title: Loon

text: Nearly ten prehistoric species have been named to date in the genus "Gavia", and about as many undescribed ones await further study. The genus is known from the Early Miocene onwards, and the oldest members them are rather small (some are smaller than the red-throated loon). Throughout the late Neogene, the genus by and large follows Cope's Rule.


title: Loon

text: ""Gavia" portisi" from the Late Pliocene of Orciano Pisano, Italy, is known from a cervical vertebra that may or may not have been from a loon. If so, it was from a bird slightly smaller than the common loon. Older authors were quite sure the bone was indeed from a "Gavia" and even considered "G. concinna" a possibly junior synonym of it. This is now regarded as rather unlikely due to the quite distinct range and age. The Early Pliocene "Gavia" skull from Empoli (Italy) was referred to "G. concinna", and thus could conceivably have been of ""G." portisi" if that was indeed a loon. The holotype vertebra may now be lost, which would make ""G." portisi" a "nomen dubium".


title: Labia stretching

text: Labia stretching, also referred to as labia elongation or labia pulling, is the act of lengthening the "labia minora" (the inner lips of the female genitals) through manual manipulation (pulling) or physical equipment (such as weights). It is a familial cultural practice in parts of Eastern and Southern Africa, and a body modification practice elsewhere. It is performed for sexual enhancement for the benefit of both partners, aesthetics, symmetry and gratification.


title: Labia stretching

text: The labia and the whole vulva differ in size, shape, and colour from one person to another. In that labia stretching is attempting to change this body part to fit an ideal, and that it is often done by older women to girls, it has been compared to female genital mutilation (FGM) and child abuse.


title: Labia stretching

text: Elongated labia are perceived to facilitate orgasm and female ejaculation, and are considered to enhance sexual pleasure for both partners. Women who have unequally long labia may increase the size of the shorter to achieve symmetry. They also swell inwards, partially blocking the entrance to the vagina.


title: Labia stretching

text: The practice of labia stretching itself does not cause sexually transmitted infections (including HIV). Such infections generally occur later in life through sexual activity. Some writers have asserted that there is a causal link between labia stretching and rates of infection.


title: Labia stretching

text: The opposite of labia stretching is labia reduction or labiaplasty, which is performed as a surgical procedure for women whose genitals cause them discomfort or pain, or for aesthetic reasons.


title: Labia stretching

text: Although the World Health Organization previously included labial stretching within the context of "mutilation" (see Genital modification and mutilation), the negative context of that was not supported by the research of Marian Koster MSc and Dr. Lisa Price of Wageningen University, Netherlands. This led the WHO to schedule amending their treatment of it, perhaps as "modification" instead, in February 2008.


title: Labia stretching

text: The practice of labial stretching does not violate women's rights, in that it does not involve physical violence, unless the woman is misled as to the benefits of the practice. However, it may be contrary to African customary law and rights of women if it is in conflict with public policy.


title: Labia stretching

text: Girls usually start to stretch their labia from ages 8 to 14, before menarche. Children in the African diaspora practise this too, so it occurs within immigrant communities in, for example, Britain, where a BBC report labelled it a hidden form of child abuse. The girls are subject to familial and social pressure to conform.


title: Labia stretching

text: The early recordings of the results of the practice are perhaps among the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa, where the inner labia were seen to be several centimeters longer than the outer labia. When Captain James Cook reached Cape Town in 1771, towards the end of his first voyage, he acknowledged being "very desirous to determine the great question among natural historians, whether the women of this country have or have not that fleshy flap or apron which has been called the "Sinus pudoris""; eventually a physician described treating patients with labia ranging from half an inch to three or four inches.


title: Labia stretching

text: In Eastern Africa Monica Wilson recorded the custom through her fieldwork with the Nyakyusa people in the 1930s, and in Southern Africa Isaac Schapera worked with the Nama people, the largest group amongst the Khoikhoi, early in the 20th century, publishing "The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa" in 1930, in which he documents labia stretching.


title: Labia stretching

text: In Rwandan culture, female family members teach girls at puberty how to pull their labia to lengthen them ("gukuna", "pull", "imishino" "labia" in Kinyarwanda language), using local medicinal flora to ease the process. Women continue the practice into adulthood and through marriage. The most important aspect of "gukuna imishino", which may begin about the age of 10, is to assist the couple to perform the sexual practice of "kunyaza", in which the sexual satisfaction of the woman comes before that of the man.


title: Labia stretching

text: Some human rights activists in the country, including feminist scholar Sylvia Tamale, support labia stretching.


title: Labia stretching

text: According to a report in the "Global Press Journal", labia stretching is common in Zambia, but such a social taboo that it is rarely discussed. It is defended by traditional marriage counsellors and challenged by feminist activists.


title: Labia stretching

text: Labia modification is documented as having existed in cultures outside Africa, particularly in the South Pacific. Robert Carl Suggs wrote about it in 1966 regarding the culture of the Marquesas Islands.


title: Labia stretching

text: Scholars link labial elongation with genital tattooing. Elsdon Best wrote about the Maori (published in 1924, but apparently referring to a historical custom he had not witnessed himself): "Women were occasionally tattooed on the private parts, and this was a custom among Fijian women. It was alluded to as a "tara whakairo"." Belgian missionary Gustaaf Hulstaert wrote about genital tattooing in 1938 in "Le mariage des Nkundó", about the Mongo people of the Congo: "Both women and men wear tattoos, but it is more common among women. For women, it is considered more sexual and often located near the sex organs." Bronisław Malinowski wrote about the Trobriand Islands in "The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia":


title: Divide and rule

text: Divide and rule policy (), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their territories. However, it has been hard to distinguish between the exploitation of pre-existing divisions by opponents, and the deliberate creation or strengthening of these divisions implied by "divide and rule".


title: Divide and rule

text: The strategy, but not the phrase, applies in many ancient cases: the example of Aulus Gabinius exists, parting the Jewish nation into five conventions, reported by Flavius Josephus in Book I, 169–170 of "The Jewish War" ("De bello Judaico"). Strabo also reports in "Geographica", 8.7.3 that the Achaean League was gradually dissolved when it became part of the Roman province of Macedonia, as the Romans treated the various states differently, wishing to preserve some and to destroy others.


title: Divide and rule

text: The use of this technique is meant to empower the sovereign to control subjects, populations, or factions of different interests, who collectively might be able to oppose its rule. Niccolò Machiavelli identifies a similar application to military strategy, advising in Book VI of "The Art of War" (1521). ("L'arte della guerra"): a Captain should endeavor with every act to divide the forces of the enemy. Machiavelli advises that this act should be achieved either by making him suspicious of his men in whom he trusted, or by giving him cause that he has to separate his forces, and, because of this, become weaker.


title: Divide and rule

text: The maxim divide et impera has been attributed to Philip II of Macedon. It was utilised by the Roman ruler Julius Caesar and the French emperor Napoleon (together with the maxim "divide ut regnes)".


title: Divide and rule

text: The strategy of division and rule has been attributed to sovereigns, ranging from Louis XI of France to the House of Habsburg. Edward Coke denounces it in Chapter I of the Fourth Part of the "Institutes of the Lawes of England", reporting that when it was demanded by the Lords and Commons what might be a principal motive for them to have good success in Parliament, it was answered: ""Eritis insuperabiles, si fueritis inseparabiles. Explosum est illud diverbium: Divide, & impera, cum radix & vertex imperii in obedientium consensu rata sunt."" [You would be invincible if you were inseparable. This proverb, Divide and rule, has been rejected, since the root and the summit of authority are confirmed by the consent of the subjects.] In a minor variation, Sir Francis Bacon wrote the phrase "separa et impera" in a letter to James I of 15 February 1615. James Madison made this recommendation in a letter to Thomas Jefferson of 24 October 1787, which summarized the thesis of "The Federalist#10": "Divide et impera, the reprobated axiom of tyranny, is under certain (some) qualifications, the only policy, by which a republic can be administered on just principles." In "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch"


title: Divide and rule

text: by Immanuel Kant (1795), Appendix one, "Divide et impera" is the third of three political maxims, the others being "Fac et excusa" (Act now, and make excuses later) and "Si fecisti, nega" (If you commit a crime, deny it).


title: Divide and rule

text: Immanuel Kant refers this tactic in the Appendix I of his when describing the traits of a "political moralist."


title: Divide and rule

text: In economics, the concept is also mentioned as a strategy for market segmentation to get the most out of the players in a competitive market.


title: Divide and rule

text: Divide and rule can be used by states to weaken enemy military alliances. This usually happens when propaganda is disseminated within the enemy states in an attempt to raise doubts about the alliance. Once the alliance weakens or dissolves, a vacuum will allow the state to achieve military dominance.


title: Divide and rule

text: In politics, the concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures, and especially prevents smaller power groups from linking up, causing rivalries and fomenting discord among the people to prevent a rebellion against the elites or the people implementing the strategy. The goal is either to pit the lower classes against themselves to prevent a revolution, or to provide a desired solution to the growing discord that strengthens the power of the elites.


title: Divide and rule

text: The principle ""divide et impera"" is cited as a common in politics by Traiano Boccalini in "La bilancia politica".


title: Divide and rule

text: Clive R. Boddy found that "divide and conquer" was a common strategy by corporate psychopaths used as a smokescreen to help consolidate and advance their grip on power in the corporate hierarchy.


title: Divide and rule

text: While the Mongols imported Central Asian Muslims to serve as administrators in China, the Mongols also sent Han Chinese and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, using foreigners to curtail the power of the local peoples of both lands.


title: Divide and rule

text: Some Indian historians, such as politician Shashi Tharoor, assert that the British Raj frequently used this tactic to consolidate their rule and prevent the emergence of the Indian independence movement. A "Times Literary Supplement" review by British historian Jon Wilson suggests that although this was broadly the case a more nuanced approach might be closer to the facts. The classic nationalist position was expressed by the Indian jurist and supporter of Indian reunification Markandey Katju, who wrote in the Pakistani paper "The Nation" in 2013:


title: Divide and rule

text: On the other hand the Hindutva movement, allied to recent Indian governments, stresses strongly Hindu-Muslim conflict going back centuries before the arrival of the British.


title: Divide and rule

text: Similarly, General S.K. Sinha, former Vice-Chief of Army Staff, writes that contrary to what the notion of divide and rule would predict, the Indian Army was effectively integrated:


title: Divide and rule

text: Some analysts assert that the United States is practicing the strategy in the 21st-century Middle East through their supposed escalation of the Sunni–Shia conflict. British journalist Nafeez Ahmed cited a 2008 RAND Corporation study for the U.S Armed Forces which recommended "divide and rule" as a possible strategy against the Muslim world in "the Long War". British historian Christopher Davidson argues that the current crisis in Yemen is being "egged on" by the United States government, and could be part of a wider covert strategy to "spur fragmentation in Iran allies and allow Israel to be surrounded by weak states”.


title: Divide and rule

text: The Ottoman Empire often used a divide-and-rule strategy, pitting Armenians and Kurds against each other.


title: Divide and rule

text: Harry G. Broadman opined in "Forbes" regarding President Donald Trump: "[a]s in his campaign, the President has been successfully—at least to date—pursuing a divide and conquer strategy domestically and internationally to try to achieve his goals. The result is an absence of a robust set of checks and balances to ensure that the best economic interests of the U.S. and the world will be served."


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: On October 12, 2012, Ryan Carter Poston, an American attorney from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, was shot to death by his on-again off-again girlfriend Shayna Michelle Hubers. After a trial in the Campbell County circuit court, Hubers was convicted of murder on April 23, 2015. She was sentenced to 40 years in the Kentucky Department of Corrections on August 14, 2015, with parole eligibility after 34 years. On August 25, 2016, Hubers’s conviction was overturned on appeal when one of the jurors in her murder trial was revealed to be a convicted felon. Hubers was convicted of murder during her second trial on August 28, 2018. On October 18, 2018 she was sentenced to life imprisonment with parole eligibility after 20 years.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Ryan Carter Poston was born on December 30, 1982, in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, to Lisa Carter and Jay Poston. He had three younger sisters: Alison, Katherine, and Elizabeth Carter. Poston attended Blessed Sacrament School (Fort Mitchell), the International School Manila (Philippines), and the International School of Geneva (Switzerland) during high school. He later attended Indiana University, where he triple-majored in history, geography, and political science, then went to law school at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights. After completing his Juris Doctor degree, Poston began working as an attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: In 2011, Poston, who was 28 years old at the time, met 19-year-old Shayna Hubers on Facebook. Hubers was friends with Poston's step-cousin, Carissa Carlisle. Poston and Hubers began dating soon after. At the time they began dating, Hubers was a psychology student at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, approximately 80 miles from Highland Heights. She graduated "cum laude" and was pursuing a master's degree in school counseling. The couple reportedly had a volatile relationship, and broke up several times over an 18-month period. On the night of his murder, Poston had a date with Miss Ohio USA 2012 Audrey Bolte.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: On October 12, 2012, Hubers called 9-1-1 to report that she killed Poston in his Highland Heights condominium. Hubers shot Poston six times, but she continually maintained that the killing was in self-defense. That night, during her interrogation, she alleged that her relationship with Poston had been abusive. Although she was read her "Miranda" rights, Hubers voluntarily spoke to police. When explaining the details of their relationship, she described Poston as "very vain" and that she "gave him the nose job he always wanted." She made statements that could be considered inappropriate under the circumstances, such as, "I don't know if anyone will ever want to marry me if they know that I killed a boyfriend in self-defense." After being left alone in the interrogation room for several hours, Hubers began pacing, dancing around the room, and singing "Amazing Grace". She also said aloud, "I did it. Yes, I did it. I can't believe I did that" and, "I'm so good at acting." Hubers was arrested for murder and was held on a $5 million bond.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Hubers was indicted for Poston's murder on December 20, 2012. On January 16, 2013, she entered a plea of not guilty to the murder charges. Two-and-a-half years after the incident, Hubers' murder trial began on April 13, 2015. She had remained in the Campbell County jail since her arrest, unable to meet her bail.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Prosecutors argued that the motive for the murder was that Poston wanted to permanently end the couple's relationship. Defense attorneys continued with their contention that the shooting was in self-defense and that Hubers was a victim of domestic abuse. As part of their case, the prosecution, led by Michelle Snodgrass, put on text message evidence that showed Hubers' obsession with Poston. Several witnesses, including Poston's family members, Audrey Bolte, and Hubers' former cellmate, testified for the prosecution.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Carissa Carlisle, through whom Poston met Hubers, testified that her cousin was trying to avoid conflict with Hubers, and she read a series of text messages she had exchanged with Poston prior to his death. Poston's stepfather Peter Carter testified that, the day before his son's death, Poston confided in Carter about an upcoming date with Bolte, and was afraid to tell Hubers about it. The date was for the following night, on which Poston was killed. Bolte stated that, on the night of the murder, she and Poston planned to meet at a Milford, Ohio, bar for drinks at 9:30 and that she had been looking forward to it, but that Poston had failed to show up. Hubers' former cellmate, Cecily Miller, also testified, where she said that Hubers bragged about killing her boyfriend, saying that she laughed "about shooting [Poston] in the face and giving him the nose job he always wanted." Miller also said that Hubers discussed legal strategy with her, saying she "was going to plead insanity, but she was too smart because she has the IQ of Einstein. So she was going to plead battered wife syndrome."


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Hubers did not take the stand in her own defense, but relied on her police interrogation tape in which she maintained the killing was in self-defense.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: On April 23, 2015, after five hours of jury deliberation, Hubers was found guilty of Poston's murder. Following the verdict, the jury recommended a 40-year prison sentence. Hubers' attorneys argued for a new trial, stating that they were not allowed to present evidence and witnesses that would have shown Hubers killed Poston in self-defense. Her attorneys also asked the judge to recognize Hubers as a victim of domestic violence, which would reduce the amount of time she would be required to serve before becoming eligible for parole. Under state law, Hubers would be required to serve 85 percent, or 34 years, of her term before becoming eligible for parole, but her attorneys' motion would require her to only serve 20 percent of her sentence before she could be released.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Four months after being convicted, Hubers was sentenced to 40 years in prison with parole eligibility after 34 years as per the jury's recommendation. The presiding judge also declared that he did not believe that Hubers was a victim of domestic violence and that he had considered a sentence greater than 40 years.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Following her sentencing, Hubers appealed her conviction. Her appeal was granted on August 25, 2016, overturning her conviction on the basis that one of her jurors concealed a felony conviction; Kentucky law prohibits convicted felons from serving on juries. Hubers' new trial was set to begin on September 18, 2017, but was delayed for four months to January 16, 2018. Hubers' new out-of-state attorney asked for, and was granted, a six-month delay to allow him time to prepare for the re-trial. Hubers' second trial began on August 8, 2018.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: In Hubers' second trial, she gave lurid details of her sexual relationship with Poston. The defense built its case around the assertion that Poston was an abusive boyfriend. After five hours of deliberation, a jury again found Hubers guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Hubers will have to serve 17 years before she can be considered for parole in 2032; she is incarcerated at Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in Pewee Valley, Kentucky.


title: Murder of Ryan Poston

text: Poston's murder has been featured on several television programs, including ABC's "20/20",<ref name="20/20"></ref> CBS's "48 Hours", and Oxygen's "Snapped" and "It Takes a Killer".


title: Scar

text: A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound (e.g., after accident, disease, or surgery) results in some degree of scarring. An exception to this are animals with complete regeneration, which regrow tissue without scar formation.


title: Scar

text: Scar tissue is composed of the same protein (collagen) as the tissue that it replaces, but the fiber composition of the protein is different; instead of a random basketweave formation of the collagen fibers found in normal tissue, in fibrosis the collagen cross-links and forms a pronounced alignment in a single direction. This collagen scar tissue alignment is usually of inferior functional quality to the normal collagen randomised alignment. For example, scars in the skin are less resistant to ultraviolet radiation, and sweat glands and hair follicles do not grow back within scar tissues. A myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, causes scar formation in the heart muscle, which leads to loss of muscular power and possibly heart failure. However, there are some tissues (e.g. bone) that can heal without any structural or functional deterioration.


title: Scar

text: All scarring is composed of the same collagen as the tissue it has replaced, but the composition of the scar tissue, compared to the normal tissue, is different. Scar tissue also lacks elasticity unlike normal tissue which distributes fiber elasticity. Scars differ in the amounts of collagen overexpressed. Labels have been applied to the differences in overexpression. Two of the most common types are hypertrophic and keloid scarring, both of which experience excessive stiff collagen bundled growth overextending the tissue, blocking off regeneration of tissues. Another form is atrophic scarring (sunken scarring), which also has an overexpression of collagen blocking regeneration. This scar type is sunken, because the collagen bundles do not overextend the tissue. Stretch marks (striae) are regarded as scars by some.


title: Scar

text: Hypertrophic scars occur when the body overproduces collagen, which causes the scar to be raised above the surrounding skin. Hypertrophic scars take the form of a red raised lump on the skin for lighter pigmented skin and the form of dark brown for darker pigmented skin. They usually occur within 4 to 8 weeks following wound infection or wound closure with excess tension and/or other traumatic skin injuries.


title: Scar

text: Keloid scars are a more serious form of excessive scarring, because they can grow indefinitely into large, tumorous (although benign) neoplasms.


title: Scar

text: Hypertrophic scars are often distinguished from keloid scars by their lack of growth outside the original wound area, but this commonly taught distinction can lead to confusion.


title: Scar

text: Keloid scars can occur on anyone, but they are most common in dark-skinned people. They can be caused by surgery, accident, acne or, sometimes, body piercings. In some people, keloid scars form spontaneously. Although they can be a cosmetic problem, keloid scars are only inert masses of collagen and therefore completely harmless and not cancerous. However, they can be itchy or painful in some individuals. They tend to be most common on the shoulders and chest. Hypertrophic scars and keloids tend to be more common in wounds closed by secondary intention. Surgical removal of keloid is risky and may exacerbate the condition and worsening of the keloid.


title: Scar

text: An atrophic scar takes the form of a sunken recess in the skin, which has a pitted appearance. These are caused when underlying structures supporting the skin, such as fat or muscle, are lost. This type of scarring is often associated with acne, chickenpox, other diseases (especially "Staphylococcus" infection), surgery, certain insect and spider bites, or accidents. It can also be caused by a genetic connective tissue disorder, such as Ehlers–Danlos syndrome.


title: Scar

text: Stretch marks (technically called "striae") are also a form of scarring. These are caused when the skin is stretched rapidly (for instance during pregnancy, significant weight gain, or adolescent growth spurts), or when skin is put under tension during the healing process (usually near joints). This type of scar usually improves in appearance after a few years.


title: Scar

text: Humans and other placental mammals have an umbilical scar (commonly referred to as a navel) which starts to heal when the umbilical cord is cut after birth. Egg-laying animals have an umbilical scar which, depending on the species, may remain visible for life or disappear within a few days after birth.


title: Scar

text: A scar is the product of the body's repair mechanism after tissue injury. If a wound heals quickly within two weeks with new formation of skin, minimal collagen will be deposited and no scar will form. When the extracellular matrix senses elevated mechanical stress loading, tissue will scar, and scars can be limited by stress shielding wounds. Small full thickness wounds under 2mm reepithelize fast and heal scar free. Deep second-degree burns heal with scarring and hair loss. Sweat glands do not form in scar tissue, which impairs the regulation of body temperature. Elastic fibers are generally not detected in scar tissue younger than 3 months old. In scars, rete pegs are lost; through a lack of rete pegs, scars tend to shear easier than normal tissue.


title: Scar

text: The endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus, is the only adult tissue to undergo rapid cyclic shedding and regeneration without scarring, shedding and restoring roughly inside a 7-day window on a monthly basis. All other adult tissues, upon rapid shedding or injury, can scar.


title: Scar

text: Prolonged inflammation, as well as the fibroblast proliferation, can occur. Redness that often follows an injury to the skin is not a scar and is generally not permanent (see wound healing). The time it takes for this redness to dissipate may, however, range from a few days to, in some serious and rare cases, a few years.


title: Scar

text: Scars form differently based on the location of the injury on the body and the age of the person who was injured.


title: Scar

text: Skin scars occur when the dermis (the deep, thick layer of skin) is damaged. Most skin scars are flat and leave a trace of the original injury that caused them.


title: Scar

text: An injury does not become a scar until the wound has completely healed; this can take many months, or years in the worst pathological cases, such as keloids. To begin to patch the damage, a clot is created; this clot is the beginning process that results in a provisional matrix. In the process, the first layer is a provisional matrix and is not a scar. Over time, the wounded body tissue overexpresses collagen inside the provisional matrix to create a collagen matrix. This collagen overexpression continues and crosslinks the fiber arrangement inside the collagen matrix, making the collagen dense. This densely packed collagen, morphing into an inelastic whitish collagen scar wall, blocks off cell communication and regeneration; as a result, the new tissue generated will have a different texture and quality than the surrounding unwounded tissue. This prolonged collagen-producing process results in a fortuna scar.


title: Scar

text: The scarring is created by fibroblast proliferation, a process that begins with a reaction to the clot. To mend the damage, fibroblasts slowly form the collagen scar. The fibroblast proliferation is circular and cyclically, the fibroblast proliferation lays down thick, whitish collagen inside the provisional and collagen matrix, resulting in the abundant production of packed collagen on the fibers giving scars their uneven texture. Over time, the fibroblasts continue to crawl around the matrix, adjusting more fibers and, in the process, the scarring settles and becomes stiff. This fibroblast proliferation also contracts the tissue. In unwounded tissue, these fibers are not overexpressed with thick collagen and do not contract.


title: Scar

text: EPF and ENF fibroblasts have been genetically traced with the Engrailed-1 genetic marker. EPFs are the primary contributors to all fibrotic outcomes after wounding. ENFs do not contribute to fibrotic outcomes.


title: Scar

text: Mammalian wounds that involve the dermis of the skin heal by repair, not regeneration (except in 1st trimester inter-uterine wounds and in the regeneration of deer antlers). Full-thickness wounds heal by a combination of wound contracture and edge re-epitheliasation. Partial thickness wounds heal by edge re-epithelialisation and epidermal migration from adnexal structures (hair follicles, sweat glands and sebaceous glands). The site of keratinocyte stem cells remains unknown but stem cells are likely to reside in the basal layer of the epidermis and below the bulge area of hair follicles.


title: Scar

text: The fibroblast involved in scarring and contraction is the myofibroblast, which is a specialized contractile fibroblast. These cells express α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA).


title: Scar

text: The myofibroblasts are absent in the first trimester in the embryonic stage where damage heals scar-free; in small incisional or excision wounds less than 2 mm that also heal without scarring; and in adult unwounded tissues where the fibroblast in itself is arrested; however, the myofibroblast is found in massive numbers in adult wound healing which heals with a scar.