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In September 1826, Margaret Warden died by arsenic poisoning, near Dundee, Scotland. Warden, a young servant girl, was pregnant at the time of her death; the father was George Smith, the son of Warden's employers, Mary and David Smith. The attending doctor thought Warden died of cholera, but rumours of poisoning soon spread and she was exhumed. Her stomach contents were tested; arsenic was found, and in October Mary Smith was committed for trial for murder. Her defence advocates called nearly fifty witnesses, and the trial began on 19 February. Testimony at the trial made it clear that Smith had given Warden something to drink shortly before she became ill. The defence called witnesses who testified that Warden might have committed suicide. The jury returned a verdict of not proven, acquitting Smith of the crime. Popular opinion at the time was that Smith was guilty, and ballads were written about the case. One of Smith's lawyers later wrote that he was sure she had committed the murder. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Eugene Parker

... that Eugene Parker (pictured) described the mathematics behind his theory of solar wind as just "four lines of algebra"?
... that the Papyrus Bingen 45 may contain a word handwritten by Cleopatra?
... that the Free Universal Construction Kit connects ten otherwise incompatible children's construction toys?
... that the courtesan in a Buddhist tale has been described as an "omnipotent dictator"?
... that male and female specimens of Skimmia japonica were once thought to belong to different species?
... that the fashion of Catherine, Princess of Wales, reportedly boosted the British fashion industry by up to £1 billion within a year in 2021?
... that Chen Diexian's 1913 autobiographical novel The Money Demon mainly details his own love affairs?
... that a committee rejected six designs for the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins before approving a seventh, which was sketched during the meeting?
... that pianist Derek Han inherited "a barrel of cash" and became a successful financier?

In the news

Luke Littler

Luke Littler (pictured) wins the PDC World Darts Championship.
The United States strikes targets in Venezuela and captures President Nicolás Maduro.
A fire at a bar during New Year's Eve celebrations in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, kills at least 40 people.
Bulgaria adopts the euro, becoming the 21st member of the eurozone.
Former prime minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia dies at a hospital in Dhaka.

On this day

January 5: Twelfth Night (Western Christianity)

Battle of Turckheim

1675 – Franco-Dutch War: French troops defeated Austrian and Brandenburg forces at the Battle of Turckheim (pictured) in Alsace.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross was inaugurated as Governor of Wyoming, the first woman to serve as the governor of a U.S. state.
1975 – The bulk carrier Lake Illawarra struck a bridge over the River Derwent in Hobart, Australia, causing the deaths of seven of the ship's crewmen and five motorists on the bridge.
1976 – The Troubles: In response to the killings of six Catholics the previous night, South Armagh Republican Action Force gunmen killed ten Protestants in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
1991 – The embassy of the United States to Somalia was evacuated by helicopter airlift days after violence enveloped Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War.

Philippa of England (d. 1430)
Hayao Miyazaki (b. 1941)
Diane Keaton (b. 1946)
Deepika Padukone (b. 1986)

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Ilia Malinin, three-time U.S. national champion in men's single skating

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition to crown the national champions of the United States in figure skating. Organized by U.S. Figure Skating, medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating and ice dance, at the senior and junior levels. The first U.S. Championships were held in 1914 in New Haven, Connecticut; while they were interrupted during World War I, they have been held without interruption since 1920. Dick Button and Roger Turner are tied for winning the most U.S. Championships titles in men's singles (with seven each), while Maribel Vinson and Michelle Kwan are tied for winning the most titles in women's singles (with nine each). Theresa Weld-Blanchard and Nathaniel Niles hold the record in pair skating (with nine), while Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates, are tied for winning the most titles in ice dance (with six each). (Full list...)

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Chromodoris annae is a species of sea slug in the family Chromodorididae. It is found in the tropical central area of the Indo-Pacific region from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to the Marshall Islands, a region rich in biodiversity and rich in coral, mangroves and seagrasses. C. annae has an elongated body, reaching a maximum length of 5 centimetres (2.0 in), and is coloured in various shades of blue with black spots, its mantle edge and foot being bordered with white and orange-to-yellow lines. The sea slug's diet consists solely of Petrosaspongia, part of the Thorectidae family of sea sponges. It absorbs a noxious chemical from the sponge, storing it in its glands and using it to deter predation. C. annae is generally a docile species, but individuals have been occasionally sighted fighting each other. These C. annae sea slugs were photographed in the diving resort of Anilao in Mabini, Batangas, in the Philippines.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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