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ARTICLE OF THE DAY from the Free Dictionary
The Lafarge Poisoning Case In one of the first trials followed by the public through daily newspaper reports, Frenchwoman Marie-Fortunée Lafarge, who stood accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic, was found guilty of murder. Her conviction in 1840 was the first to be based heavily on direct forensic toxicological evidence. During the trial, local experts presented contradictory testimony regarding the presence of arsenic in the victim's body, and it was ultimately exhumed and tested using what new detection method?
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IN THE NEWS from the Free Dictionary
Gene Linked to Deadly Child Cancer Though neuroblastoma causes just 7 percent of all childhood cancers, it is responsible for 15 percent of all non-adult cancer deaths. The deadly cancer has just a 40 percent survival rate, but there is new hope for families struggling with the disease; researchers have identified a gene that causes most forms of inherited neuroblastoma, the ALK gene. The discovery will enable doctors to test families affected by familial neuroblastoma and monitor children with the mutation. Mutations of this gene have also been associated with some cases of lymphoma and lung cancer, and several companies are currently working on drug treatments that block the ALK protein.
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THIS DAY IN HISTORY from the Free Dictionary
"I Have a Dream," Says Martin Luther King, Jr King was a leading figure in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s. His "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Considered one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory, it powerfully and eloquently expresses King's desire for a future in which blacks and whites can live harmoniously as equals. What political, cultural, and religious allusions can be found in the speech?
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