title: Fruit

text: Because several parts of the flower besides the ovary may contribute to the structure of a fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three general modes of fruit development:


title: Fruit

text: Consistent with the three modes of fruit development plant scientists have classified fruits into three main groups: simple fruits, aggregate fruits, and multiple (or composite) fruits. The groupings reflect how the ovary and other flower organs are arranged and how the fruits develop, but they are not evolutionarily relevant as diverse plant taxa may be in the same group.


title: Fruit

text: While the section of a fungus that produces spores is called a "fruiting" body, fungi are members of the fungi kingdom and not of the plant kingdom.


title: Fruit

text: Simple fruits are the result of the ripening-to-fruit of a simple or compound ovary in a "single flower" with a "single pistil". In contrast, a single flower with numerous pistils typically produces an aggregate fruit; and the merging of several flowers, or a 'multiple' of flowers, results in a 'multiple' fruit. A simple fruit is further classified as to whether it is dry or fleshy.


title: Fruit

text: To distribute their seeds, dry fruits may split open and discharge their seeds to the winds, which is called dehiscence. Or the distribution process may rely upon the decay and degradation of the fruit to expose the seeds; or it may rely upon the eating of fruit and excreting of seeds by frugivores —both are called indehiscence. Fleshy fruits do not split open, but they also are indehiscent and they may also rely on frugivores for distribution of their seeds. Typically, the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible pericarp.


title: Fruit

text: Fruits in which part or all of the "pericarp" (fruit wall) is fleshy at maturity are termed "fleshy simple fruits".


title: Fruit

text: Berries are a type of simple fleshy fruit that issue from a single ovary. (The ovary itself may be compound, with several carpels.) The botanical term "true berry" includes grapes, currants, cucumbers, eggplants (aubergines), tomatoes, chili peppers, and bananas, but excludes certain fruits that are called "-berry" by culinary custom or by common usage of the term —such as strawberries and raspberries. Berries may be formed from one or more carpels (i.e., from the simple or compound ovary) from the same, single flower. Seeds typically are embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary.


title: Fruit

text: The "strawberry", regardless of its appearance, is classified as a dry, not a fleshy fruit. Botanically, it is "not" a berry; it is an aggregate-accessory fruit, the latter term meaning the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Numerous dry achenes are attached to the outside of the fruit-flesh, (see image); they appear to be seeds but each is actually an ovary of a flower, with a seed inside.


title: Fruit

text: Schizocarps are dry fruits, though some appear to be fleshy. They originate from syncarpous ovaries but do not actually dehisce; rather, they split into segments with one or more seeds. They include a number of different forms from a wide range of families, including carrot, parsnip, parsley, cumin.


title: Fruit

text: An aggregate fruit is also called an aggregation, or "etaerio"; it develops from a single flower that presents numerous simple pistils (see graphic of raspberry pistils). Each pistil contains one carpel; together they form a fruitlet. The ultimate (fruiting) development of the aggregation of pistils is called an aggregate fruit, etaerio fruit, or simply an etaerio.


title: Fruit

text: Different types of aggregate fruits can produce different etaerios, such as achenes, drupelets, follicles, and berries.


title: Fruit

text: For example, the Ranunculaceae species, including "Clematis" and "Ranunculus", produces an etaerio of achenes;


title: Fruit

text: The "raspberry"; its pistils are called "drupelets" because each pistil is like a small drupe attached to the receptacle. In some bramble fruits such as blackberry the receptacle, an accessory part, elongates and then develops as part of the fruit, making the blackberry an "aggregate-accessory" fruit. The strawberry is also an aggregate-accessory fruit, of which the seeds are contained in the achenes. Notably in all these examples, the fruit develops from a single flower, with numerous pistils.


title: Fruit

text: A multiple fruit is formed from a cluster of flowers, (a 'multiple' of flowers) —also called an "inflorescence". Each ('smallish') flower produces a single fruitlet, which, as all develop, all merge into one mass of fruit. Examples include pineapple, fig, mulberry, Osage orange, breadfruit. An inflorescence (a cluster) of white flowers, called a head, is produced first. After fertilization, each flower in the cluster develops into a drupe; as the drupes expand, they develop as a "connate" organ, merging into a multiple fleshy fruit called a "syncarp".


title: Fruit

text: Progressive stages of multiple flowering and fruit development can be observed on a single branch of the Indian mulberry, or "noni", (see image). During the sequence of development, a progression of second, third, and more inflorescences are initiated in turn at the head of the branch or stem.


title: Fruit

text: Fruits may incorporate tissues derived from other floral parts besides the ovary, including the receptacle, hypanthium, petals, or sepals. Accessory fruits occur in all three classes of fruit development—simple, aggregate, and multiple. Accessory fruits are frequently designated by the hyphenated term showing both characters. For example, a pineapple is a multiple-accessory fruit. a blackberry is an aggregate-accessory fruit, and an apple is a simple-accessory fruit.


title: Fruit

text: Seedlessness is an important feature of some fruits of commerce. Commercial cultivars of bananas and pineapples are examples of seedless fruits. Some cultivars of citrus fruits (especially grapefruit, mandarin oranges, navel oranges), satsumas, table grapes, and of watermelons are valued for their seedlessness. In some species, seedlessness is the result of "parthenocarpy", where fruits set without fertilization. Parthenocarpic fruit-set may (or may not) require pollination, but most seedless citrus fruits require a stimulus from pollination to produce fruit.


title: Fruit

text: Seedless bananas and grapes are triploids, and seedlessness results from the abortion of the embryonic plant that is produced by fertilization, a phenomenon known as "stenospermocarpy", which requires normal pollination and fertilization.


title: Fruit

text: Variations in fruit structures largely depend on the modes of dispersal applied to their seeds. Dispersal is achieved by wind or water, by explosive dehiscence, and by interactions with animals.


title: Fruit

text: Some fruits present their outer skins or shells coated with spikes or hooked burrs; these evolved either to deter would-be foragers from feeding on them, or to serve to attach themselves to the hair, feathers, legs, or clothing of animals, thereby using them as dispersal agents. These plants are termed zoochorous; common examples include cocklebur, unicorn plant, and beggarticks (or Spanish needle).


title: Fruit

text: By developments of mutual evolution the fleshy produce of fruits typically appeals to hungry animals, such that the seeds contained within are taken in, carried away and later deposited (i.e., defecated) at a distance from the parent plant. Likewise, the nutritious, oily kernels of nuts typically motivate birds and squirrels to hoard them, burying them in soil to retrieve later during the winter of scarcity; thereby, uneaten seeds are sown effectively under natural conditions to germinate and grow a new plant some distance away from the parent.


title: Fruit

text: Other fruits have evolved flattened and elongated wings or helicopter-like blades, e.g., elm, maple, and tuliptree. This mechanism increases dispersal distance away from the parent via wind. Other wind-dispersed fruit have tiny "parachutes", e.g., dandelion, milkweed, salsify.


title: Fruit

text: Coconut fruits can float thousands of miles in the ocean, thereby spreading their seeds. Other fruits that can disperse via water are nipa palm and screw pine.


title: Fruit

text: Some fruits have evolved propulsive mechanisms that fling seeds substantial distances —(perhaps up to 100 m in the case of the sandbox tree)— via explosive dehiscence or other such mechanisms, (see impatiens and squirting cucumber.


title: Fruit

text: A cornucopia of fruits —fleshy (simple) fruits from apples to berries to watermelon; dry (simple) fruits including beans and rice, coconuts and carrots; aggregate fruits including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, pawpaw; multiple fruits such as pineapple, fig, mulberries; (see above re all)— are commercially valuable as human food. They are eaten both fresh and as jams, marmalade and other fruit preserves. They are used extensively in manufactured and processed foods (cakes, cookies, baked goods, flavorings, ice cream, yogurt, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables and meals) and beverages such as fruit juices and alcoholic beverages (brandy, fruit beer, wine). Spices like vanilla, black pepper, paprika, and allspice are derived from berries. Olive fruit is pressed for olive oil and similar processing is applied to other oil bearing fruits/vegetables.


title: Fruit

text: Fruits are also used for socializing and gift-giving in the form of fruit baskets and fruit bouquets.


title: Fruit

text: Typically, many botanical fruits —"vegetables" in culinary "parlance"— (including tomato, green beans, leaf greens, bell pepper, cucumber, eggplant, okra, pumpkin, squash, zucchini) are bought and sold daily in fresh produce markets and greengroceries and carried back to kitchens, at home or restaurant, for preparation of meals.


title: Fruit

text: All fruits benefit from proper post harvest care, and in many fruits, the plant hormone ethylene causes ripening. Therefore, maintaining most fruits in an efficient cold chain is optimal for post harvest storage, with the aim of extending and ensuring shelf life.


title: Fruit

text: Various culinary fruits provide significant amounts of fiber and water, and many are generally high in vitamin C. An overview of numerous studies showed that fruits (e.g., whole apples or whole oranges) are satisfying (filling) by simply eating and chewing them.


title: Fruit

text: The dietary fiber consumed in eating fruit promotes satiety, and may help to control body weight and aid reduction of blood cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Fruit consumption is under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect chronic diseases. Regular consumption of fruit is generally associated with reduced risks of several diseases and functional declines associated with aging.


title: Fruit

text: For food safety, the CDC recommends proper fruit handling and preparation to reduce the risk of food contamination and foodborne illness. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be carefully selected; at the store, they should not be damaged or bruised; and precut pieces should be refrigerated or surrounded by ice.


title: Fruit

text: All fruits and vegetables should be rinsed before eating. This recommendation also applies to produce with rinds or skins that are not eaten. It should be done just before preparing or eating to avoid premature spoilage.


title: Fruit

text: Fruits and vegetables should be kept separate from raw foods like meat, poultry, and seafood, as well as from utensils that have come in contact with raw foods. Fruits and vegetables that are not going to be cooked should be thrown away if they have touched raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs.


title: Fruit

text: All cut, peeled, or cooked fruits and vegetables should be refrigerated within two hours. After a certain time, harmful bacteria may grow on them and increase the risk of foodborne illness.


title: Fruit

text: Because fruits have been such a major part of the human diet, various cultures have developed many different uses for fruits they do not depend on for food. For example:


title: Incubus

text: An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in the birth of witches, demons, and deformed human offspring. Legendary magician Merlin was said to have been fathered by an incubus. Parallels exist in many cultures. Walter Stephens alleges in "Demon Lovers", some traditions hold that repeated sexual activity with an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, an impaired mental state, or even death.


title: Incubus

text: The Late Latin word "incubus" ("a nightmare induced by a demon") is derived from Latin "incubō" ("nightmare, what lies down on one whilst one sleeps") and further from "incubāre" ("to lie upon, to hatch"). One of the earliest evident mentions of a demon sharing qualities to an incubus comes from Mesopotamia on the Sumerian King List, "circa" 2400 BC, where the hero Gilgamesh's father is listed as Lilu. Lilu is described as "disturbing" and "seducing" women in their sleep, while Lilitu, a female demon, is described as appearing to men in erotic dreams. Two other corresponding demons appear as well: Ardat lili, who visits men by night and begets ghostly children from them, and Idlu lili, a male counterpart to Ardat lili who visits women by night and begets from them. "Ardat lili" is derived from "ardatu", the word for "a woman of marriagable age", while "idlu lili" is derived from "idlu", meaning a "grown man". These demons were originally storm demons but eventually became regarded as night demons potentially due to mistaken etymology.


title: Incubus

text: The half-human offspring of such a union is sometimes referred to as a cambion. An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin, which was the first popular account of demonic parentage in Western Christian literature.


title: Incubus

text: In the "Malleus Maleficarum", exorcism is presented one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of incubi. The others are Sacramental Confession, the Sign of the Cross (or recital of the Angelic Salutation), moving the afflicted to another location, and by excommunication of the attacking entity, "which is perhaps the same as exorcism". In contrast, the Franciscan friar Ludovico Maria Sinistrari stated that incubi "do not obey exorcists, have no dread of exorcisms, show no reverence for holy things, at the approach of which they are not in the least overawed".


title: Incubus

text: One scientific explanation for the incubus concept could fall under the scope of sleep paralysis, as well as hypnagogia, as it is common to experience auditory and visual hallucinations in both states. Typical examples include a feeling of being crushed or suffocated, electric "tingles" or "vibrations", imagined speech and other noises, the imagined presence of a visible or invisible entity, and sometimes intense emotions of fear or euphoria and orgasmic feelings. These often appear quite real and vivid, especially auditory hallucinations of music, which can be quite loud, indistinguishable from music being played in the same room. Humanoid and animal figures, often shadowy or blurry, are often present in hypnagogic hallucinations, more so than other hallucinogenic states.


title: Incubus

text: The combination of sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucination could cause someone to believe that a "demon was holding them down". Nocturnal arousal etc. could be explained by creatures causing otherwise guilt-producing behavior. Add to this the common phenomena of nocturnal arousal and nocturnal emission, and all the elements required to believe in an incubus are present.


title: Incubus

text: Additionally, some crimes of sexual assault were likely passed off as the actions of incubi. Some authors speculate that rapists may have attributed the rapes of sleeping men and women to demons to escape punishment. Robert Masello asserts that a friend or relative is at the top of the list in such cases and would be kept secret by the intervention of "spirits".


title: Incubus

text: A number of variations on the incubus theme are seen around the world. The alp of Teutonic or German folklore is one of the better known. In Zanzibar, Popo Bawa primarily attacks men and generally behind closed doors. "The Trauco", according to the traditional mythology of the Chiloé Province of Chile, is a hideous deformed dwarf who lulls nubile young women and seduces them. The Trauco is said to be responsible for unwanted pregnancies, especially in unmarried women. Perhaps another variation of this conception is the "Tintín" in Ecuador, a dwarf who is fond of abundant-haired women and seduces them at night by playing the guitar outside their windows — a myth that researchers believe was created during the colonial period to explain pregnancies in women who never left their houses without a chaperone. In Hungary, a "lidérc" can be a Satanic lover that flies at night and appears as a fiery light (an "ignis fatuus" or will o' the wisp) or, in its more benign form as a featherless chicken.


title: Incubus

text: In Brazil and the rainforests of the Amazon basin, the Amazon river dolphin (or "boto") is believed to be a combination of siren and incubus that shape-shifts into a very charming and handsome man who seduces young women and takes them into the river. It is said to be responsible for disappearances and unwanted pregnancies. According to legend, a boto always wears a hat to disguise the breathing hole at the top of its head while in human form, metamorphosing back into a dolphin during the day.


title: Incubus

text: The Southern African incubus demon is the Tokolosh. Chaste women place their beds upon bricks to deter the rather short fellows from attaining their sleeping forms. They also share the hole in the head detail and water-dwelling habits of the boto.


title: Incubus

text: In Swedish folklore, the mara or mare is a spirit or goblin that rides on the chests of humans while they sleep, giving them bad dreams (or "nightmares"). Belief in the mare goes back to the Norse Ynglinga saga from the 13th century, but the belief is probably even older. The mare was likely inspired by sleep paralysis.


title: Incubus

text: In Assam, a northeastern province of India, it is mostly known as "pori" (Assamese: পৰী, meaning "angel") ("pari "in Hindi and etymological cousin of fairy). According to the mythology, Pori comes to a man at night in his dreams and seduces him. Gradually, the victim's health deteriorates, and in some cases, he develops suicidal tendencies.


title: Incubus

text: In Turkish culture, incubus is known as "Karabasan". It is an evil being that descends upon some sleepers at night. These beings are thought to be spirits or "jinns". It can be seen or heard in the nightmare and a heavy weight is felt on the chest. Yet, people cannot wake up from that state. Some of the causes are sleeping without adequately covering the body (especially women) and eating in bed.


title: Incubus

text: In the Xhosa, Pondo and Zulu cultures of South Africa, some variations of the" impundulu" resemble incubi as they are believed to appear as handsome men to seduce women and drink their blood.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: The Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress declared that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states. The Congress voted to approve independence by passing the Lee Resolution on July 2 and adopted the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches, and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain's rule. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration to remove its vigorous denunciation of the slave trade, finally approving it two days later on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Historians have long disputed whether members of Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: By a remarkable coincidence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the only two signatories of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as presidents of the United States, both died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, Jefferson even mentioning the fact. Although not a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, another Founding Father who was elected president, also died on July 4, 1831, making him the third President who died on the anniversary of independence. The only U.S. president to have been born on Independence Day was Calvin Coolidge, who was born on July 4, 1872.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Independence Day is a national holiday marked by patriotic displays. Per , Independence Day is a federal holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions (such as the postal service and federal courts) are closed on that day. While the legal holiday remains on July 4, if that date happens to be on a Saturday or Sunday, then federal government employees will instead take the day off on the adjacent Friday or Monday, respectively.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue; many take advantage of the day off and, in some years, a long weekend to gather with relatives or friends. Decorations (e.g., streamers, balloons, and clothing) are generally colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. Parades are often held in the morning, before family get-togethers, while fireworks displays occur in the evening after dark at such places as parks, sporting venues, fairgrounds, public shorelines, or town squares.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: The night before the Fourth was once the focal point of celebrations, marked by raucous gatherings often incorporating bonfires as their centerpiece. In New England, towns competed to build towering pyramids, assembled from barrels and casks. They were lit at nightfall to usher in the celebration. The highest were in Salem, Massachusetts, with pyramids composed of as many as forty tiers of barrels. These made the tallest bonfires ever recorded. The custom flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries and is still practiced in some New England towns.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs, such as "The Star-Spangled Banner" (the American national anthem); "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean"; "God Bless America"; "America the Beautiful"; "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"; "This Land Is Your Land"; "Stars and Stripes Forever"; "Yankee Doodle"; "Dixie" in southern states; "Lift Every Voice and Sing"; and occasionally, but has nominally fallen out of favor, Hail Columbia. Some of the lyrics recall images of the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Firework shows are held in many states, and many fireworks are sold for personal use or as an alternative to a public show. Safety concerns have led some states to ban fireworks or limit the sizes and types allowed. In addition, local and regional conditions may dictate whether the sale or use of fireworks in an area will be allowed; for example, the global supply chain crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellations of shows. Some local or regional firework sales are limited or prohibited because of dry weather or other specific concerns. On these occasions the public may be prohibited from purchasing or discharging fireworks, but professional displays (such as those at sports events) may still take place.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: A salute of one gun for each state in the United States, called a "salute to the union," is fired on Independence Day at noon by any capable military base.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: New York City has the largest fireworks display in the country sponsored by Macy's, with more than 22 tons of pyrotechnics exploded in 2009. It generally holds displays in the East River. Other major displays are in Seattle on Lake Union; in San Diego over Mission Bay; in Boston on the Charles River; in Philadelphia over the Philadelphia Museum of Art; in San Francisco over the San Francisco Bay; and on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: During the annual Windsor–Detroit International Freedom Festival, Detroit, Michigan hosts one of the largest fireworks displays in North America, over the Detroit River, to celebrate Independence Day in conjunction with Windsor, Ontario's celebration of Canada Day.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: The first week of July is typically one of the busiest United States travel periods of the year, as many people use what is often a three-day holiday weekend for extended vacation trips.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: The Philippines celebrates July 4 as its Republic Day to commemorate the day in 1946 when it ceased to be a U.S. territory and the United States officially recognized Philippine Independence.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: July 4 was intentionally chosen by the United States because it corresponds to its Independence Day, and this day was observed in the Philippines as Independence Day until 1962. In 1964, the name of the July 4 holiday was changed to Republic Day.


title: Independence Day (United States)

text: Rebild National Park in Denmark is said to hold the largest July 4 celebrations outside of the United States.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in "Doctor Who" (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in "The Thick of It" (2005–2012), for which he received four British Academy Television Award nominations, winning Best Male Comedy Performance in 2010. When he reprised the role of Tucker in the feature film "In the Loop", Capaldi was honoured with several film critic award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his 1993 short film "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life". He went on to write and direct the drama film "Strictly Sinatra" and directed two series of the sitcom "Getting On". Capaldi also played Mr Curry in the family film "Paddington" (2014) and its sequel "Paddington 2" (2017), voiced Rabbit in the Disney film "Christopher Robin" (2018) and portrayed supervillain The Thinker in the DC Extended Universe film "The Suicide Squad" (2021).


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Nancy ( Soutar) and Gerald John Capaldi. His paternal grandfather was Italian, while the rest of his ancestry is Scottish and Irish. His parents ran an ice cream business in the Springburn district, where they were neighbours and acquaintances of the family of Armando Iannucci, creator of "The Thick of It", although the two men did not know each other as children. He was educated at St Teresa's Primary School in Possilpark, St Matthew's Primary School in Bishopbriggs, and St Ninian's High School, Kirkintilloch, before attending the Glasgow School of Art.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi displayed an early talent for performance by putting on a puppet show in primary school. While at high school, he was a member of the Antonine Players, who performed at the Fort Theatre in Bishopbriggs. As an art student, he was the lead singer and guitarist in a punk rock band called The Dreamboys, whose drummer was future comedian Craig Ferguson. The pair also performed a cabaret act together as "Bing & Dean Hitler" and wrote an alternative pantomime of Sleeping Beauty. Capaldi went on to perform musical comedy cabaret in the guises of "bank clerk about town" "Gavin Meekie" and as one half of husband-and-wife TV evangelists "Tom & Sammy Jo".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi has appeared in over 40 films and television shows since his appearance as Danny Oldsen in "Local Hero" (1983). He played Beatles member George Harrison in "" (1985), had roles in "The Lair of the White Worm" (1988) and "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988), and was featured as Ozzy in a 1985 episode of "Minder". In 1992 he auditioned for, but did not get, the role of Benjamin Sisko in "".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi's first starring role on television was as Luke Wakefield, a strange man who imagines he has witnessed a crime, in the BBC drama series "Mr Wakefield's Crusade". He played fictional "Songs of Praise" producer Tristan Campbell in two episodes of the sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley", and a transgender woman in ITV's "Prime Suspect". In Neil Gaiman's gothic fantasy "Neverwhere", he portrayed the angel Islington.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi is also an audiobook narrator, and his many titles include several of the works of Iain Banks. He starred as Rory in the 1996 television version of Banks's "The Crow Road".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: In the 1999 Channel 4 series "Psychos", he played a mathematician with bipolar disorder. Capaldi made an appearance as a university professor in the sitcom "Peep Show", and played a prime suspect in the 2007 series of "Waking the Dead". He voiced Chief Petty Officer Grieves in the BBC Radio Ministry of Defence comedy "Our Brave Boys". In 2007, Capaldi appeared as Mark Jenkins (Sid's dad) in the E4 teen comedy drama series "Skins". He returned for a second series in 2008 although his character died in the third episode. He appeared in the "Midsomer Murders" episode "Death in Chorus" and ITV1's "Fallen Angel". He also appeared in the 2007 British comedy film "Magicians".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: He appeared as King Charles I in the Channel 4 series "The Devil's Whore", aired in 2008. Capaldi provided his voice for the animated film "Haunted Hogmanay" in 2006. He played Balthazar, one of the Biblical Magi, in the 2010 BBC adaptation of "The Nativity".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: In November 2011, he began playing Professor Marcus in "The Ladykillers" at the Liverpool Playhouse, then transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London. The original run closed at the Gielgud on 14 April 2012. He appeared in "The Field of Blood" as Dr Pete, for which he received a BAFTA Scotland nomination in the TV actor/actress category; he was beaten by his co-star Jayd Johnson. He had a small role as a therapist in "Big Fat Gypsy Gangster", written by and starring his "Getting On" co-star Ricky Grover. In 2012, Capaldi played Randall Brown, the new Head of News, on the BBC2 drama "The Hour". He appeared as a WHO doctor in "World War Z" (2013), and had a role in "Maleficent" (2014), but his part in the latter film was cut during post-production.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: He starred in "Inside the Mind of Leonardo", a documentary about Leonardo da Vinci. In 2013 he portrayed Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian in "The Fifth Estate". In 2014 he starred in a new adaptation of "The Three Musketeers" as Cardinal Richelieu on BBC One.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: He appeared as Paddington Bear's neighbour Mr Curry in the family comedy film "Paddington" and its sequel "Paddington 2". In 2018, he voiced Rabbit in the Disney film "Christopher Robin". In 2022, he voiced Seamus McGregor in the Netflix series "Big Mouth".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Prior to taking over the lead role in "Doctor Who", Capaldi was best known for playing spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the Armando Iannucci-written BBC sitcom "The Thick of It", which he played from 2005 to 2012. Tucker is said to be largely, if loosely, based upon Tony Blair's right-hand man Alastair Campbell, although Capaldi has said that he based his performance more on Hollywood power players, such as the often abrasive Harvey Weinstein. A film spin-off from "The Thick of It" called "In the Loop" (in which Capaldi returned to the role of Tucker), was released in 2009.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: The role of Tucker won Capaldi several awards. In 2006, 2008 and 2010 he was nominated for the BAFTA and RTS Best Comedy Actor Awards. He won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Male Performance in a Comedy Role. He also won the 2010 and 2012 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor. He received another BAFTA Award nomination in 2013.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi was cast in 2013 as the Doctor in the BBC science-fiction series "Doctor Who", succeeding Matt Smith in the role. Capaldi first appeared as the Doctor in a cameo in the 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", before appearing in the 2013 Christmas special, "The Time of the Doctor". A lifelong fan of the series, Capaldi had previously played Lobus Caecilius in the 2008 episode "The Fires of Pompeii" with the Tenth Doctor and his companion Donna Noble, as well as playing civil servant John Frobisher in the 2009 spin-off "".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Before taking the role, Capaldi stated that he had to seriously consider the increased level of visibility that would come with the part. He revealed in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly" that he had been invited to audition for the role of the Eighth Doctor in 1995 prior to the production of the 1996 TV film, stating: "I didn't go. I loved the show so much, and I didn't think I would get it, and I didn't want to just be part of a big cull of actors."


title: Peter Capaldi

text: In 2014, Capaldi voiced the Doctor on the CBBC website's game "The Doctor and the Dalek" and in 2015 voiced him in "Lego Dimensions". In 2016, Capaldi reprised his role as the Twelfth Doctor in the "Doctor Who" spin-off programme "Class", written by young-adult author Patrick Ness.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: On 30 January 2017, in an interview on BBC Radio 2, Capaldi confirmed that the tenth series would be his last. His final episode was the 2017 Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time", in which he was replaced by Jodie Whittaker.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: In 1992, Capaldi wrote and starred in the road movie "Soft Top, Hard Shoulder", which won the audience award at the London Film Festival. In 1995, he won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for his film "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life", which was tied with fellow nominee "Trevor", leading to both films being announced as joint winners, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film a year before that. He also wrote and directed "Strictly Sinatra" in 2001, and in 2009 he wrote and presented "A Portrait of Scotland", a documentary detailing 500 years' history of Scottish portrait painting.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: In 2012, Capaldi wrote (with Tony Roche), directed and performed in "The Cricklewood Greats", an affectionate spoof documentary about a fictitious film studio, which tracks real developments and trends throughout the history of British cinema, including silent movies, horror and bawdy comedy, and a disastrous Terry Gilliam epic.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi married Elaine Collins in Strathblane near his home city of Glasgow in 1991. Collins is an actress and writer; they met in 1983 in a touring production for the Paines Plough Theatre Company. Together they have a daughter. They live in Muswell Hill, London.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: On 12 September 2016, Capaldi, with Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jesse Eisenberg, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Kit Harington and Stanley Tucci, was featured in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness about the global refugee crisis. ""What They Took With Them"" has the actors reading a poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi's second cousin once removed is singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi. The two worked together in the video for "Someone You Loved".


title: Peter Capaldi

text: Capaldi is a patron of Worldwide Cancer Research, and the Scottish children's charity, the Aberlour Child Care Trust.


title: Peter Capaldi

text: In October 2022, Capaldi voiced his support for Scottish independence. He told "The Daily Telegraph": "It used not to be something I was particularly drawn to. I've lived in London for most of my life, and always loved Cardiff and Manchester and Belfast. But after the relentlessness of the past 12 years, everything we have been put through, it might just be time to go home and be a part of that."


title: The Epoch Times

text: The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. "The Epoch Times" has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" opposes the Chinese Communist Party, promotes far-right politicians in Europe, and has championed former President Donald Trump in the U.S.; a 2019 report by NBC News showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign. "The Epoch Times" frequently promotes other Falun Gong-affiliated groups, such as the performing arts company Shen Yun. The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have spread misinformation and conspiracy theories, such as QAnon and anti-vaccine misinformation, and false claims of fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" was founded in 2000 by John Tang and other Chinese Americans affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. Tang was a graduate student in Georgia at the time; he began the newspaper in his basement. The founders said they were responding to censorship inside China and a lack of international understanding about the Chinese government's repression of Falun Gong.


title: The Epoch Times

text: By 2003, "The Epoch Times" website and group of newspapers had grown into one of the largest Chinese-language news sites and newspaper groups outside China, with local editions in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and major Western European countries. The first English edition launched online in September 2003, followed by the first print edition in 2004.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Nick Couldry and James Curran wrote in 2003 that the paper represents a "major step in the evolution of Falun Gong-related alternative media", and may be part of a "de facto" media alliance with democracy activists in exile. In 2003 sociologist Yuezhi Zhao wrote that the paper "displays an indisputable ideological and organizational affinity with Falun Gong" and that it strongly emphasizes negative portrayals of the Chinese government and positive portrayals of Falun Gong. Per Zhao, "Epoch" portrays itself as neutral, independent, and public-interest oriented.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2005, the "San Francisco Chronicle" reported that "three new U.S.-based, Chinese-language media outlets that provide provocative reporting about the Communist Party, government oppression and social unrest in China (namely "The Epoch Times", Sound of Hope, and NTDTV) have ties to the Falun Gong spiritual movement." When interviewed, executives at each outlet claimed they did not represent the Falun Gong movement as a whole.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Associated Press reporter Nahal Toosi wrote in 2006 that it is "technically inaccurate" to say that Falun Gong owns "The Epoch Times," though many of the paper's staffers are Falun Gong practitioners. Toosi noted "many observers" have said Falun Gong uses the newspaper for its public relations campaigns, and the paper is connected with the group and carries sympathetic coverage of it.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The English "Epoch Times" chair Stephen Gregory has denied that "The Epoch Times" is directly connected to Falun Gong. Independent reporters in the U.S. have confirmed the connection.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2008, David Ownby, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the Université de Montréal and the author of "Falun Gong and the Future of China", said Falun Gong practitioners set up the newspaper with their own money. He described "The Epoch Times" as wishing to be taken seriously as a global newspaper rather than being judged on the basis of its strong association with Falun Gong. He wrote: ""Epoch Times" is a newspaper with a mission, that of reporting on issues bearing on human rights throughout the world, which allows for considerable focus on China and Falun Gong."


title: The Epoch Times

text: Canadian scholar Clement Tong wrote "The Epoch Times" "operates as a mouthpiece for" Falun Gong without an official statement of affiliation with the movement.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2009, Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, appeared at the newspaper's headquarters in Manhattan and called for the expansion of "The Epoch Times" to "become regular media." Li has called "The Epoch Times" "our media", along with the NTD digital production company and the Shen Yun dance troupe. Two former employees said that top editors traveled to meet with Li at Falun Gong's compound, Dragon Springs, where he weighed in on editorial and strategic decisions; "The Epoch Times" denied that a meeting took place.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Former "Epoch Times" employees have noted Falun Gong practitioners' involvement in the management and editorial process. Three anonymous former employees said "Epoch Times" workers were encouraged to attend weekly "Fa study" sessions outside work hours to study Li's teachings. Former employees have said that criticizing "The Epoch Times" amounts to disobeying Li.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" runs frequent promotional stories about the related Shen Yun dance troupe. "The New Yorker" review of Shen Yun called "The Epoch Times" "the world's foremost purveyor of Shen Yun content."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In a 2018 report, conservative think tank the Hoover Institution wrote, "the space for truly independent Chinese-language media in the United States has shrunk to a few media outlets supported by the adherents of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect in China, and a small publication and website called "Vision Times"", the report noting that the latter is also associated with Falun Gong.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In a 2019 report, Reporters Without Borders wrote, "Aside from the "Epoch Times" newspaper and New Tang Dynasty Television, which are run by the Falun Gong, a religious movement persecuted in China, and "China Digital Times", a website founded by a leading US-based critic of the regime, the United States now has few truly independent diaspora media."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2019, an NBC News investigative report suggested "The Epoch Times" political coverage may be affected by Falun Gong believers' anticipation of a judgment day in which communists are sent to hell and Falun Gong's allies are spared. Former "Epoch Times" employees told NBC News that Donald Trump is viewed as a key anti-communist ally, allegedly hastening that judgment day.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2020, Vox identified "China Uncensored" and NTD as affiliates of "The Epoch Times", as part of a multilingual "media empire".


title: The Epoch Times

text: According to NBC News, "little is publicly known about the precise ownership, origins or influences of "The Epoch Times"", and it is loosely organized into several regional tax-free nonprofits, under the umbrella of the Epoch Media Group, together with New Tang Dynasty Television.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The newspaper's revenue has increased rapidly in recent years, from $3.8 million in 2016 to $8.1 million in 2017 (with spending of $7.2 million), $12.4 million in 2018 and $15.5 million in 2019. Tax documents indicate that between 2012 and 2016, the group received $900,000 from a principal at Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund led at the time by the conservative political donor Robert Mercer. Chris Kitze, a former NBC executive and creator of the fake news website Before It's News who also manages a cryptocurrency hedge fund, joined the paper's board as vice president in 2017.


title: The Epoch Times

text: A 2020 "New York Times" report called "The Epoch Times" recent wealth "something of a mystery." Steve Bannon, the former executive chairman of "Breitbart News" who produced a documentary with NTD, said "I'd give them a number" on a project budget and "they'd come back and say, 'We're good for that number.'" Former employees say they were told "The Epoch Times" is financed by subscriptions, ads and donations from wealthy Falun Gong practitioners.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" publishes in 21 languages and 33 countries, and has print editions in eight languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, and Indonesian. Special print editions have also been erratically published in France. As of March 2022, "The Epoch Times" is planning to expand into the United Kingdom.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In April 2019, videos and ads from the Epoch Media Group including "The Epoch Times" and New Tang Dynasty (NTD) totaled 3 billion views on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, according to the analytics company Tubular. That ranked it 11th among all video creators, and ahead of any other traditional news publisher, according to NBC News.


title: The Epoch Times

text: As of early 2021, "The Epoch Times" is the 7th most followed account on Gab, a social networking service known for its far-right userbase.


title: The Epoch Times

text: According to a Facebook report released in August 2021, a subscription page for "The Epoch Times" received 44.2 million views between April and June 2021. As of August 2021, the Facebook page for "The Epoch Times" had 9 million followers.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" is an ardent opponent of the Chinese Communist Party. Since a shift in the newspaper's approach in 2016, the newspaper received significant attention for its favorable coverage of the Trump administration, the German far-right, and the French far-right.


title: The Epoch Times

text: According to NBC News, "The Epoch Times" "generally stayed out of U.S. politics" before 2016 "unless they dovetailed with Chinese interests". Ben Hurley, an "Epoch Times" employee until 2013, said the paper was critical of abortion and LGBT people and that Falun Gong practitioners "saw communism everywhere" including in internationalist figures like Hillary Clinton and Kofi Annan, "but there was more room for disagreements in the early days."


title: The Epoch Times

text: Since 2016, according to NBC News, "The Epoch Times" has promoted favorable coverage of Trump's campaign and presidency, and emphasized issues such as Islamic terrorism and illegal immigration to the United States. It has also emphasized "what the publication claims is a labyrinthian, global conspiracy led by [Hillary] Clinton and former President Barack Obama to tear down Trump."


title: The Epoch Times

text: A former "Epoch Times" reporter who covered the 2016 campaign, Steve Klett, said his editors had encouraged favorable coverage of Trump after he won the Republican nomination, and that "they seemed to have this almost messianic way of viewing Trump as the anti-Communist leader who would bring about the end of the Chinese Communist Party." After Trump was elected, "The Epoch Times" hired Brendan Steinhauser, a Tea Party strategist, to reach out to more conservatives and encourage the Trump administration to oppose the persecution of Falun Gong.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" picks up mainstream newswire stories and in some places can resemble a community newspaper. According to sociologist Yuezhi Zhao, "While mainstream newspapers typically treat Web versions as an extension of the already-existing print version, "The Epoch Times" website serves as the master for all its worldwide papers."


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" is known for alleging conspiracies involving former Communist Party general secretary Jiang Zemin, under whose administration Falun Gong was suppressed in China.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The newspaper is at odds with the Taiwanese-owned and U.S.-based Chinese language newspaper "World Journal", calling it a "megaphone for the evil Chinese Communist Party."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In September 2017, the German edition, "The Epoch Times Deutschland", which became Web-only in 2012, was described by online magazine "The China File" as aligned with the German far-right, and attractive to supporters of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the anti-immigrant group Pegida. Stefanie Albrecht, a reporter for the German broadcaster RTL who spent several days inside "The Epoch Times" Berlin office while investigating the far right, said that the staffers she met had no journalistic training and did not check facts, trusting instead in the alternative sources they consulted. During her time at "The Epoch Times"'s office, Albrecht was exposed to debunked conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate, the chemtrail conspiracy theory, weather-changing machines and the Great Replacement.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In France, "The Epoch Times" gives "an unfettered platform to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the patriarch of the French far right, and his daughter, Marine, who leads the nationalist party her father founded", according to "The New Republic".


title: The Epoch Times

text: In November 2004, the Chinese version of "The Epoch Times" published a series of editorials titled "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party". The editorials argued that China would not be free or prosperous until it was rid of the party, which it said was at odds with China's cultural and spiritual values. "The Epoch Times" also organized a campaign called the "Tuidang" movement, urging people to quit the Chinese Communist Party, and said that more than 2 million people had resigned. A report by the OpenNet Initiative said that 90% of websites mentioning the phrase "Nine Commentaries" were blocked in mainland China as of 2005.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Caylan Ford, a former staff writer for "The Epoch Times," wrote in a 2009 guest opinion article in "The Christian Science Monitor" that millions of copies of the "Nine Commentaries" articles were circulated in China by email, fax, and underground printing houses. Ford wrote that the campaign differed from the 1989 and 2008 democracy movements in China by drawing on Buddhist and Daoist spirituality.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2012, a former People's Liberation Army Air Force officer testified to the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China that he had been sentenced to four years of prison for distributing a "Nine Commentaries" DVD in Beijing.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The Tuidang movement was called one of the top global events in 2011 by Russian economist Andrey Illarionov, who cited claims by "The Epoch Times" that over 100 million people had quit.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Li Yi, a Hong Kong-based democratic activist, questioned "The Epoch Times" claims about the number of resignations in an "Apple Daily" opinion piece in 2006, warned that the Tuidang movement could be using "lies to fight lies", and wrote that the propagandistic nature of the movement could hurt the integrity of the pro-democracy community.


title: The Epoch Times

text: According to China scholar David Ownby, the Nine Commentaries are a "condemnation of communism and a direct indictment of the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's rule in China." While acknowledging the "unnecessary violence" the Chinese Communist Party has inflicted, Ownby finds that the lack of balance and nuance in tone and style makes the editorials resemble "anti-Communist propaganda written in Taiwan in the 1950s". Journalist Oscar Schwartz called the Nine Commentaries a "quasi-McCarthyist screed".


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" has promoted an array of pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theories and is known as one of Trump's closest media allies and defenders.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The paper has financially benefited from its promotion of Trump conspiracies, increasing its revenue nearly fourfold during the first three years of Trump's administration (from $3.9 million in 2016 to $15.5 million in 2019) as it catered to Trump's most ardent supporters, to whom the paper marketed itself via targeted social media advertising.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The publication championed Trump's Spygate conspiracy theory in its news coverage and advertising, and the Epoch Media Group's "Edge of Wonder" videos on YouTube spread the far-right, pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory and embraced false QAnon claims.


title: The Epoch Times

text: An NBC News report found that two of "Edge of Wonder"'s hosts have been a creative director and chief photo editor at "The Epoch Times". The newspaper promoted "Edge of Wonder" videos in dozens of Facebook posts through 2019.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In September 2019, during the Trump–Ukraine scandal, Hunter Biden's Wikipedia article included dubious claims about his business dealings in Ukraine and his father Joe Biden's motivations for going after a Ukrainian prosecutor; the claims were sourced to "The Epoch Times" and "The New American". "The Epoch Times" promoted the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden had abused his power in 2016 to protect Hunter's business interests in Ukraine.


title: The Epoch Times

text: During the February 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, "The Epoch Times" shared viral disinformation from the conservative group Judicial Watch that falsely alleged inflated voter rolls. The disinformation, which went viral on Facebook, was debunked by fact checkers and the Iowa secretary of state. A Harvard media expert said that "The Epoch Times" employed a "classic disinformation tactic" known as "trading up the chain", in which false stories are repackaged and shared.


title: The Epoch Times

text: After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, "The Epoch Times" consistently sought to question the election results. The organization produced a 93-minute video that falsely suggested widespread fraud in the counting; one interviewee, attorney Lin Wood, falsely alleged that China had bought an American election vendor. Versions of the video on YouTube, the "Epoch Times" website and NTD were viewed hundreds of thousands of times.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" created a network of seven new YouTube channels to pump out election disinformation and other false claims, including falsehoods about the Nashville Christmas Day bombing. Only one of the seven YouTube channels disclosed its ties to "The Epoch Times" or Falun Gong. In the two and a half months after their creation, the disinformation channels garnered tens of millions of views and at least 1.1 million subscribers.


title: The Epoch Times

text: One of the channels ("Eye Opener With Michael Lewis") portrays itself as an independent effort by the host "and a few friends". After the videos' false and misleading claims were reported, YouTube removed several of the videos in accordance with the site's policy against election disinformation.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The newspaper helped publicize the January 6, 2021, Trump rally in Washington, D.C., that led to the storming of the Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob. Afterward, one of its columnists suggested that the riot was a "false flag" operation, and Michael Lewis's "Epoch Times"-linked YouTube channel echoed the same lie, suggesting that the Capitol attack was orchestrated by "antifa" as part of an "old Communist tactic."


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" has spread misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in print and via social media including Facebook and YouTube. Raquel Miguel of the European watchdog EU DisinfoLab said in 2022: ""The Epoch Times" has played a noticeable role in transmitting and amplifying many anti-vaccine narratives". According to Josef Holnburger of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy, a German extremism monitoring agency, "The Epoch Times"'s German edition has been the most shared outlet among Germany's COVID-skeptic movement.


title: The Epoch Times

text: It has promoted anti-CCP rhetoric and conspiracy theories about the pandemic, for example through an eight-page special edition called "How the Chinese Communist Party Endangered the World", which was distributed unsolicited in April 2020 to mail customers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In the newspaper, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is known as the "CCP virus", and a commentary in the paper posed the question, "is the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan an accident occasioned by weaponizing the virus at that [Wuhan P4 virology] lab?" The paper's editorial board suggested that COVID-19 patients cure themselves by "condemning the CCP" and "maybe a miracle will happen".


title: The Epoch Times

text: In France, "special" French-language print editions of "The Epoch Times" were distributed in 2021 during anti-Health pass protests. In Germany, "The Epoch Times" has published articles blasting the legitimacy of PCR tests and promoting conspiracy theories about vaccination mishaps.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The misinformation tracker NewsGuard called the French page of "The Epoch Times" one of the "super-spreaders" of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook, citing an "Epoch Times" article that suggested the virus was artificially created. NewsGuard later changed the rating of the English edition of "The Epoch Times" from green to red.


title: The Epoch Times

text: A February 17, 2020, "Epoch Times" story shared a map from the internet that falsely alleged massive sulfur dioxide releases from crematoria during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, speculating that 14,000 bodies may have been burned. A fact check by AFP reported that the map was a NASA forecast taken out of context.


title: The Epoch Times

text: A widely viewed video released by "The Epoch Times" on April 7, 2020, was flagged by Facebook as "partly false" for "the unsupported hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 is a bioengineered virus released from a Wuhan research laboratory." The video featured Judy Mikovits, an anti-vaccination activist. The fact-checker Health Feedback said of the video that "several of its core scientific claims are false and its facts, even when accurate, are often presented in a misleading way."


title: The Epoch Times

text: On April 29, 2020, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) story reported that some Canadians were upset to receive a special edition of "The Epoch Times" that called COVID-19 the "CCP virus". The CBC later retracted a headline on its story that had quoted a recipient saying the special edition was "racist and inflammatory", and the CBC also retracted a claim that "The Epoch Times" edition had concluded that COVID-19 was a bioweapon. Opinion columns published by conservative tabloid "The Toronto Sun" accused the CBC of bias against "The Epoch Times" and said the CBC's report may have misled readers into thinking "The Epoch Times" was spreading anti-Asian sentiment.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In February 2021, an investigator for EU DisinfoLab found that "Tierra Pura", a Spanish-language website first launched in Argentina in March 2020 that publishes COVID-19 misinformation, is closely linked to "The Epoch Times" and Falun Gong. At the time, the site was the most shared outlet in Spain's COVID-19-skeptic Telegram channels and groups. "The Epoch Times" and "Tierra Pura" denied being linked.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In January 2022, the German edition of "The Epoch Times" amplified accusations by German activist Steffen Löhnitz that the Austrian government had deliberately inflated infection numbers to justify a lockdown. It said Löhnitz had been digging up "correct numbers" and reported his claims of "massive fraud" as fact. The "Epoch Times" story was shared by figures from "Querdenken", Germany's anti-lockdown movement.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2010, the paper ran an interview with Canadian Conservative Member of Parliament Rob Anders wherein Anders alleged that the Chinese government used gifts and business deals in attempts to influence Canadian political decisions.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" publishes a web series with conservative commentator Larry Elder, a candidate in the 2021 recall election against California governor Gavin Newsom.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The newspaper has been sued multiple times for copyright infringements; two class action suits have also been filed against it for misuse of personal information.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The Epoch Media Group spent $11 million on Facebook ads in 2019, including, over a six-month period in 2019, more than $1.5 million on about 11,000 pro-Trump Facebook advertisements purchased by "The Epoch Times". According to publicly available Facebook ad data reported by NBC News, "The Epoch Times" spent more on pro-Trump ads than any group except the Trump campaign itself.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Political ad spending on Facebook in April 2019 through an account called "Coverage of the Trump Presidency by The Epoch Times" exceeded any politician's spending except Trump's and Joe Biden's. Journalist Judd Legum wrote in May 2019 that "The Epoch Times" ads were "boosting Donald Trump and floating conspiracy theories about Joe Biden."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In August 2019, Facebook banned "The Epoch Times" from advertising on its platform after finding that the paper broke its political transparency rules by publishing pro-Trump subscription ads through sockpuppet pages such as "Honest Paper" and "Pure American Journalism." A Facebook representative told NBC: "Over the past year we removed accounts associated with "The Epoch Times" for violating our ad policies, including trying to get around our review systems."


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" publisher, Stephen Gregory, wrote in response that the paper did not intend to violate Facebook's rules and that its video ads were advertisements for subscriptions to the newspaper.


title: The Epoch Times

text: After Facebook banned it from advertising, the newspaper shifted its spending to YouTube, where it has spent more than $1.8 million on ads, some promoting conspiracy theories, since May 2018. YouTube demonetized "Edge of Wonder", a program of the Epoch Media Group, on its platform, and removed "Epoch Times" ads relating to COVID-19.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In October 2019, the fact-checking website Snopes reported close links between "The Epoch Times" and a large network of Facebook pages and groups called "The BL" ("The Beauty of Life") that shared pro-Trump views and conspiracy theories such as QAnon. At that time, "The BL" had spent at least $510,698 on Facebook advertising. Hundreds of the ads were removed for violations of Facebook's advertising rules. By December 2019, the "BL" network of pages had 28 million Facebook followers, according to "Snopes".


title: The Epoch Times

text: The editor-in-chief of "The BL" had previously worked as editor-in-chief of "The Epoch Times," and several other "BL" employees were listed as current or former "Epoch Times" employees. "The BL" was registered in Middletown, New York, to an address that also was registered to Falun Gong's "Sound of Hope Radio Network" and was associated with the YouTube series "Beyond Science," and Snopes found "the outlet as a whole is literally the English-language edition of "Epoch Times" Vietnam."


title: The Epoch Times

text: Snopes found that "The BL" was using more than 300 fake Facebook profiles based in Vietnam and other countries, using names, stock photos and celebrity photos in their profiles to emulate Americans, to administer more than 150 pro-Trump Facebook groups amplifying its content.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" and "The BL" denied being affiliated with each other, although the latter acknowledged that a "few of our staff" previously worked for "The Epoch Times".


title: The Epoch Times

text: In December 2019, Facebook announced it had removed a large network of accounts, pages, and groups linked to The BL and Epoch Media Group for coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign actor. The network had 55 million followers on Facebook and Instagram, and $9.5 million had been spent on Facebook ads through its accounts.


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The New York Times" reported that The BL had used fake profile photos generated by artificial intelligence. The Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab director Graham Brookie said the coordinated network of fake accounts demonstrated "an eerie, tech-enabled future of disinformation." Facebook's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said, "What's new here is that this is purportedly a U.S.-based media company leveraging foreign actors posing as Americans to push political content. We've seen it a lot with state actors in the past."


title: The Epoch Times

text: On August 6, 2020, Facebook removed hundreds of fake accounts by a digital company called TruthMedia that promoted "Epoch Times" and NTD content and pro-Trump conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and protests in the United States. The operation included 303 Facebook accounts, 181 pages, 44 Facebook groups and 31 Instagram accounts, which in total were followed by more than 2 million people. Snopes and NBC News reported that TruthMedia had ties to the Epoch Media Group, but Stephen Gregory, publisher of "The Epoch Times", denied this.


title: The Epoch Times

text: TruthMedia, now banned from Facebook, continues to operate YouTube channels in Chinese, English, Japanese, and Vietnamese, and has accounts on Pinterest and Twitter. It appears to have begun a petition to the White House to "start calling the novel coronavirus the CCP virus."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In some cases "The Epoch Times" operates in a hostile overseas environment, in which "overseas Chinese media companies choosing to remain independent or publish non-approved content become the targets of an aggressive campaign of elimination or control." In one instance, Chinese diplomatic officials made threats against media for reporting Falun Gong-related content; in other cases, advertisers and distributors have been threatened for supporting "The Epoch Times". Communist Party authorities have been accused of resorting to "militant methods" against the paper and its staff, including attacking staff and destroying computer equipment.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2006, the International Federation of Journalists criticized what it called a "dirty war" against "The Epoch Times", citing incidents such as "The Epoch Times" Hong Kong printing plant being broken into and damaged by unidentified men, and Epoch's offices in Sydney and Toronto receiving suspicious mail envelopes suspected of containing toxic materials. The IFJ also noted incidences of "Epoch Times" staff and advertisers being intimidated, and newspapers being confiscated, in what it characterized as "a vicious witch-hunt aimed at crushing the voice of dissent."


title: The Epoch Times

text: The newspaper was briefly banned from Malaysia after coming under reported pressure by the Chinese Communist Party.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2016, the newspaper was removed from the pharmacy of Australian National University after the president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association confronted the pharmacist and threw out the papers. The incident drew national media coverage over questions of Chinese government-sponsored overseas student organizations.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In November 2019, Reporters Without Borders called on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to protect press freedoms after "The Epoch Times" said four masked arsonists with batons had damaged its printing press. Additionally, in a 2019 report, Reporters Without Borders said that "The Epoch Times" chief technical officer, Li Yuan, was assaulted in his Atlanta, Georgia, home on February 8, 2006, by "suspected Chinese government agents" who took his two laptops.


title: The Epoch Times

text: On April 12, 2021, the Hong Kong printing facility was vandalized during working hours, in the presence of staff members. The attack was filmed by CCTV.


title: The Epoch Times

text: The 2022 film "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" was blocked from release in China after the film was submitted for review and footage that made reference to "The Epoch Times" was found.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In April 2006, a reporter with temporary "Epoch Times" press credentials unfurled a protest banner and heckled China's leader Hu Jintao at a summit with President George W. Bush, shouting, "Stop him from killing!" and "Evil people will die early", prompting Chinese officials to refuse to attend a ceremonial lunch in protest. "The Epoch Times" later disassociated itself from the reporter.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In September 2018, "Epoch Times" photographer Samira Bouaou broke White House protocol and handed Trump a folder. In August 2020, the White House Correspondents' Association objected to the Trump administration's bending of COVID-19 social distancing rules in press briefings to favor "The Epoch Times," "The Gateway Pundit" and One America News Network.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Ming Xia, a political science professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, wrote in 2007 that "The Epoch Times" represents part of Falun Gong's strategic effort to expand to non-practitioners, and "embed itself into the large civil society for influence and legitimacy." In 2018 he described "The Epoch Times" staff as largely part-time and volunteer, and said they "do not follow the protocols professional journalists abide by."


title: The Epoch Times

text: The misinformation tracker NewsGuard said that "The Epoch Times" "fails to gather and present information responsibly, rarely corrects or clarifies errors and remains opaque as to its ownership and funding".


title: The Epoch Times

text: "The Epoch Times" has been criticized by some scholars for biases, particularly regarding the Chinese Communist Party and mainland China issues, as well as for being a "mouthpiece" of the Falun Gong movement. James To, a New Zealand political scientist, described "The Epoch Times" as the "primary mouthpiece" of Falun Gong, writing that it "lacks credibility", despite the newspaper posing a "viable threat to the CCP" by publishing articles about the party's negative aspects.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In his book "Blocked on Weibo: What Gets Suppressed on China's Version of Twitter and Why," University of Toronto research fellow Jason Q. Ng referred to the paper's coverage of mainland China issues as "heavily biased against the Communist Party" and thus its reportage "should be viewed skeptically."


title: The Epoch Times

text: A 2018 report by the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank, called "The Epoch Times" one of the few independent Chinese-language media outlets in the U.S. not taken over by businessmen sympathetic to the Chinese government. The report also said that reports on China by "The Epoch Times" and other outlets affiliated with Falun Gong, which is banned from China, are "uneven."


title: The Epoch Times

text: Seth Hettena wrote in "The New Republic" that "The Epoch Times" "has built a global propaganda machine, similar to Russia's Sputnik or RT, that pushes a mix of alternative facts and conspiracy theories that has won it far-right acolytes around the world."


title: The Epoch Times

text: Joan Donovan of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University called "The Epoch Times" "a known disinformation operation." Jennifer Grygiel, an associate professor of communication at Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said that "The Epoch Times" is "a notorious outlet that has been known to spread disinformation and misinformation."


title: The Epoch Times

text: James Bettinger, a professor of communications at Stanford University and the director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, said "Even if "Epoch Times" is not associated with Falun Gong, if they consistently write about Falun Gong in the same perspective, or if there are no articles examining Falun Gong, people would perceive it as being not credible." Orville Schell, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley, said in 2005 that "It's hard to vouch for their quality because it's difficult to corroborate, but it's not something to be dismissed as pure propaganda."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In his 2008 book on Falun Gong, David Ownby wrote that "The Epoch Times" articles are "well written and interesting, if occasionally idiosyncratic in their coverage." According to Ownby, the newspaper has been praised and also criticized for a perceived bias against the CCP, and support of Falun Gong practitioners and other dissidents such as Tibetans, Taiwanese independence advocates, democracy activists, Uyghurs and others. The paper is therefore often assessed in light of its connection to Falun Gong, rather than a thorough analysis of its editorial content.


title: The Epoch Times

text: Jiao Guobiao, a former Beijing University journalism professor who was dismissed after criticizing the Propaganda Department, proposed that even if "The Epoch Times" published only negative information highly critical of the CCP, its attacks could never begin to counterbalance the propaganda the party publishes about itself. In addressing media balance, Jiao noted that the Chinese public lacked negative, critical information about their country. As such, he noted for a need of media balance based on the principles of freedom, equality, and legality, and that media balance "is the result of the collective imbalances of all."


title: The Epoch Times

text: Haifeng Huang, professor of political science at the University of California, said, "I'm not exactly clear why they have become such a major pro-Trump voice" but "part of it is perhaps because they regard President Trump as tough on the Chinese government and therefore a natural ally for them."


title: The Epoch Times

text: The web-only, German edition of the paper, "Epoch Times Deutschland", has aligned with the anti-immigration far-right in Germany; the paper favorably comments on Alternative for Germany and Pegida while criticizing mainstream German media as not to be trusted. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of "Foreign Policy" writes that "It's not clear why the German website of a Falun Gong newspaper would choose to promote right-wing populism in Germany" but that the decision could be a business decision to drive an increase in views of the publication, or because such views reflect the teaching of Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi, "who believes that mixed-race children are 'pitiable' and 'physically and intellectually incomplete'."


title: The Epoch Times

text: A German media report described the outlet as a "favorite" of Pegida supporters, along with Sputnik News and Kopp Report, and found that its articles critical of immigration have been shared almost daily.


title: The Epoch Times

text: A report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank, said the German edition of "The Epoch Times" "primarily runs anti-West, anti-American and pro-Kremlin content—a high proportion of this content is based on unverified information."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In December 2019, the English Wikipedia deprecated the English and Chinese online versions of "The Epoch Times" as an "unreliable source" to use as a reference in Wikipedia, with editors calling it "an advocacy group for the Falun Gong, and... a biased or opinionated source that frequently publishes conspiracy theories."


title: The Epoch Times

text: In March 2022, Angelo Carusone, the head of the watchdog group Media Matters for America, said that "The Epoch Times" "go[es] where the center for the strongest infrastructure or possibility of getting as much audience and influence and reach is", and added that this complexity makes it "radically different and hard to understand". According to Carusone, the metric of success for "The Epoch Times" is simply influence rather than money or a specific political agenda.


title: The Epoch Times

text: In 2014, the newspaper's reporting won several journalism awards, which "The New York Times" later described as indicative of "The Epoch Times" "edging closer to Mr. Li's vision of a respectable news outlet", before it changed course in 2015 and 2016 to focus on viral content and a "Trump pivot".


title: Guava

text: Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava "Psidium guajava" (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The name guava is also given to some other species in the genus "Psidium" such as strawberry guava ("Psidium cattleyanum") and to the pineapple guava, "Feijoa sellowiana". In 2019, 55 million tonnes of guavas were produced worldwide, led by India with 45% of the total. Botanically, guavas are berries.


title: Guava

text: The most frequently eaten species, and the one often simply referred to as "the guava", is the apple guava ("Psidium guayava"). Guavas are typical Myrtoideae, with tough dark heavy leaves that are opposite, simple, elliptic to ovate, and long. The flowers are white, with five petals and numerous stamens. The fruits are many-seeded berries.


title: Guava

text: The term "guava" appears to have been in use since the mid-16th century. The name derived from the Taíno, a language of the Awawaks as for "guava tree" via the Spanish for . It has been adapted in many European and Asian languages, having a similar form.


title: Guava

text: Guavas originated from an area thought to extend from Mexico, Central America or northern South America throughout the Caribbean region. Archaeological sites in Peru yielded evidence of guava cultivation as early as 2500 BCE.


title: Guava

text: Guava was adopted as a crop in subtropical and tropical Asia, parts of the United States (from Tennessee and North Carolina, southward, as well as the west and Hawaii), tropical Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Guavas were introduced to Florida, US in the 19th century and are grown there as far north as Sarasota, Chipley, Waldo and Fort Pierce. However, they are a primary host of the Caribbean fruit fly and must be protected against infestation in areas of Florida where this pest is present.


title: Guava

text: Guavas are cultivated in many tropical and subtropical countries. Several species are grown commercially; apple guava and its cultivars are those most commonly traded internationally. Guavas also grow in southwestern Europe, specifically the Costa del Sol on Málaga, (Spain) and Greece where guavas have been commercially grown since the middle of the 20th century and they proliferate as cultivars. Mature trees of most species are fairly cold-hardy and can survive temperatures slightly colder than for short periods of time, but younger plants will likely freeze to the ground.


title: Guava

text: Guavas are of interest to home growers in subtropical areas as one of the few tropical fruits that can grow to fruiting size in pots indoors. When grown from seed, guava trees can bear fruit in two years, and can continue to do so for forty years.


title: Guava

text: "Psidium" species are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera, mainly moths like the Ello Sphinx ("Erinnyis ello"), "Eupseudosoma aberrans", "E. involutum", and "Hypercompe icasia". Mites, like "Pronematus pruni" and "Tydeus munsteri", are known to be crop pests of the apple guava ("P. guajava") and perhaps other species. The bacterium "Erwinia psidii" causes rot diseases of the apple guava.


title: Guava

text: The fruit is cultivated and favored by humans, and many other animals such as birds consume it, readily dispersing the seeds in their droppings. In Hawaii, strawberry guava ("P. littorale") has become an aggressive invasive species threatening extinction to more than 100 other plant species. By contrast, several guava species have become rare due to habitat destruction and at least one (Jamaican guava, "P. dumetorum"), is already extinct.


title: Guava

text: Guava wood is used for meat smoking in Hawaii, and is used at barbecue competitions across the United States. In Cuba and Mexico, the leaves are used in barbecues.


title: Guava

text: Guava fruits, usually long, are round or oval depending on the species. They have a pronounced and typical fragrance, similar to lemon rind but less sharp. The outer skin may be rough, often with a bitter taste, or soft and sweet. Varying between species, the skin can be any thickness, is usually green before maturity, but may be yellow, maroon, or green when ripe. The pulp inside may be sweet or sour and off-white ("white" guavas) to deep pink ("red" guavas). The seeds in the central pulp vary in number and hardness, depending on species.


title: Guava

text: In 2019, world production of guavas was 55 million tonnes, led by India with 45% of the total (table). Other major producers were China and Thailand.


title: Guava

text: In Mexico and other Latin American countries, the popular beverage agua fresca is often made with guava. The entire fruit is a key ingredient in punch, and the juice is often used in culinary sauces (hot or cold), ales, candies, dried snacks, fruit bars, and desserts, or dipped in chamoy. "Pulque de guayaba" ("guayaba" is Spanish for guava) is a popular alcoholic beverage in these regions.


title: Guava

text: In many countries, guava is eaten raw, typically cut into quarters or eaten like an apple; it is also eaten with a pinch of salt and pepper, cayenne powder or a mix of spices (masala). In the Philippines, ripe guava is used in cooking "sinigang". Guava is a popular snack in Cuba as "pastelitos de guayaba"; and in Taiwan, sold on many street corners and night markets during hot weather, accompanied by packets of dried plum powder mixed with sugar and salt for dipping. In east Asia, guava is commonly eaten with sweet and sour dried plum powder mixtures. Guava juice is popular in many countries. The fruit is also often included in fruit salads.


title: Guava

text: Because of its high level of pectin, guavas are extensively used to make candies, preserves, jellies, jams, and marmalades (such as Brazilian "goiabada" and Colombian and Venezuelan "bocadillo"), and as a marmalade jam served on toast.


title: Guava

text: Red guavas can be used as the base of salted products such as sauces, substituting for tomatoes, especially to minimize the acidity. A drink may be made from an infusion of guava fruits and leaves, which in Brazil is called "chá-de-goiabeira", i.e., "tea" of guava tree leaves, considered medicinal.


title: Guava

text: Guavas are rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C, with moderate levels of folic acid (nutrition table). Low in food energy per typical serving, and with few essential nutrients, a single common guava ("P. guajava") fruit contains 257% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin C (table). Nutrient content varies across guava cultivars. Although the strawberry guava ("P. littorale" var. "cattleianum") has only 39% of the vitamin C in common varieties, its content in a 100 gram serving (90 mg) still provides 100% of the DV.


title: Guava

text: Guava leaves contain both carotenoids and polyphenols like (+)-gallocatechin and leucocyanidin. As some of these phytochemicals produce the fruit skin and flesh color, guavas that are red-orange tend to have more polyphenol and carotenoid content than yellow-green ones.


title: Guava

text: Guava seed oil, which may be used for culinary or cosmetics products, is a source of beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, copper, zinc and selenium, and is particularly rich in linoleic acid.


title: Guava

text: Since the 1950s, guavas – particularly the leaves – have been studied for their constituents, potential biological properties and history in folk medicine.


title: Guava

text: Guavas are one of the most common hosts for fruit flies like "A. suspensa", which lay their eggs in overripe or spoiled guavas. The larvae of these flies then consume the fruit until they can proceed into the pupa stage. This parasitism has led to millions in economic losses for nations in Central America.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Maxwell's equations, or Maxwell–Heaviside equations, are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The equations provide a mathematical model for electric, optical, and radio technologies, such as power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar etc. They describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated by charges, currents, and changes of the fields. The equations are named after the physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell, who, in 1861 and 1862, published an early form of the equations that included the Lorentz force law. Maxwell first used the equations to propose that light is an electromagnetic phenomenon. The modern form of the equations in their most common formulation is credited to Oliver Heaviside.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Maxwell's equations may be combined to demonstrate how fluctuations in electromagnetic fields (waves) propagate at a constant speed in vacuum, "c" (). Known as electromagnetic radiation, these waves occur at various wavelengths to produce a spectrum of radiation from radio waves to gamma rays.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The equations have two major variants. The "microscopic" equations have universal applicability but are unwieldy for common calculations. They relate the electric and magnetic fields to total charge and total current, including the complicated charges and currents in materials at the atomic scale. The "macroscopic" equations define two new auxiliary fields that describe the large-scale behaviour of matter without having to consider atomic-scale charges and quantum phenomena like spins. However, their use requires experimentally determined parameters for a phenomenological description of the electromagnetic response of materials.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The term "Maxwell's equations" is often also used for equivalent alternative formulations. Versions of Maxwell's equations based on the electric and magnetic scalar potentials are preferred for explicitly solving the equations as a boundary value problem, analytical mechanics, or for use in quantum mechanics. The covariant formulation (on spacetime rather than space and time separately) makes the compatibility of Maxwell's equations with special relativity manifest. Maxwell's equations in curved spacetime, commonly used in high-energy and gravitational physics, are compatible with general relativity. In fact, Albert Einstein developed special and general relativity to accommodate the invariant speed of light, a consequence of Maxwell's equations, with the principle that only relative movement has physical consequences.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The publication of the equations marked the unification of a theory for previously separately described phenomena: magnetism, electricity, light, and associated radiation.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Since the mid-20th century, it has been understood that Maxwell's equations do not give an exact description of electromagnetic phenomena, but are instead a classical limit of the more precise theory of quantum electrodynamics.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Gauss's law describes the relationship between a static electric field and electric charges: a static electric field points away from positive charges and towards negative charges, and the net outflow of the electric field through a closed surface is proportional to the enclosed charge, including bound charge due to polarization of material. The coefficient of the proportion is the permittivity of free space.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Gauss's law for magnetism states that electric charges have no magnetic analogues, called magnetic monopoles; no north or south magnetic poles exist in isolation. Instead, the magnetic field of a material is attributed to a dipole, and the net outflow of the magnetic field through a closed surface is zero. Magnetic dipoles may be represented as loops of current or inseparable pairs of equal and opposite "magnetic charges". Precisely, the total magnetic flux through a Gaussian surface is zero, and the magnetic field is a solenoidal vector field.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The Maxwell–Faraday version of Faraday's law of induction describes how a time-varying magnetic field corresponds to curl of an electric field. In integral form, it states that the work per unit charge required to move a charge around a closed loop equals the rate of change of the magnetic flux through the enclosed surface.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The electromagnetic induction is the operating principle behind many electric generators: for example, a rotating bar magnet creates a changing magnetic field and generates an electric field in a nearby wire.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The original law of Ampère states that magnetic fields relate to electric current. Maxwell's addition states that they also relate to changing electric fields, which Maxwell called displacement current. The integral form states that electric and displacement currents are associated with a proportional magnetic field along any enclosing curve.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Maxwell's addition to Ampère's law is important because the laws of Ampère and Gauss must otherwise be adjusted for static fields. As a consequence, it predicts that a rotating magnetic field occurs with a changing electric field. A further consequence is the existence of self-sustaining electromagnetic waves which travel through empty space.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The speed calculated for electromagnetic waves, which could be predicted from experiments on charges and currents, matches the speed of light; indeed, light "is" one form of electromagnetic radiation (as are X-rays, radio waves, and others). Maxwell understood the connection between electromagnetic waves and light in 1861, thereby unifying the theories of electromagnetism and optics.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: In the electric and magnetic field formulation there are four equations that determine the fields for given charge and current distribution. A separate law of nature, the Lorentz force law, describes how, conversely, the electric and magnetic fields act on charged particles and currents. A version of this law was included in the original equations by Maxwell but, by convention, is included no longer. The vector calculus formalism below, the work of Oliver Heaviside, has become standard. It is manifestly rotation invariant, and therefore mathematically much more transparent than Maxwell's original 20 equations in x,y,z components. The relativistic formulations are even more symmetric and manifestly Lorentz invariant. For the same equations expressed using tensor calculus or differential forms, see "".


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The differential and integral formulations are mathematically equivalent; both are useful. The integral formulation relates fields within a region of space to fields on the boundary and can often be used to simplify and directly calculate fields from symmetric distributions of charges and currents. On the other hand, the differential equations are purely "local" and are a more natural starting point for calculating the fields in more complicated (less symmetric) situations, for example using finite element analysis.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Symbols in bold represent vector quantities, and symbols in "italics" represent scalar quantities, unless otherwise indicated.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The equations introduce the electric field, , a vector field, and the magnetic field, , a pseudovector field, each generally having a time and location dependence.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The universal constants appearing in the equations (the first two ones explicitly only in the SI units formulation) are:


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The equations are a little easier to interpret with time-independent surfaces and volumes. Time-independent surfaces and volumes are "fixed" and do not change over a given time interval. For example, since the surface is time-independent, we can bring the differentiation under the integral sign in Faraday's law:


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Maxwell's equations can be formulated with possibly time-dependent surfaces and volumes by using the differential version and using Gauss and Stokes formula appropriately.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The definitions of charge, electric field, and magnetic field can be altered to simplify theoretical calculation, by absorbing dimensioned factors of and into the units of calculation, by convention. With a corresponding change in convention for the Lorentz force law this yields the same physics, i.e. trajectories of charged particles, or work done by an electric motor. These definitions are often preferred in theoretical and high energy physics where it is natural to take the electric and magnetic field with the same units, to simplify the appearance of the electromagnetic tensor: the Lorentz covariant object unifying electric and magnetic field would then contain components with uniform unit and dimension. Such modified definitions are conventionally used with the Gaussian (CGS) units. Using these definitions and conventions, colloquially "in Gaussian units",


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The equations simplify slightly when a system of quantities is chosen in the speed of light, "c", is used for nondimensionalization, so that, for example, seconds and lightseconds are interchangeable, and "c" = 1.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Further changes, called rationalization, are possible by absorbing factors of , effect whether Coulomb's law or Gauss's law include such a factor (see "Heaviside–Lorentz units", used mainly in particle physics).


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The equivalence of the differential and integral formulations are a consequence of the Gauss divergence theorem and the Kelvin–Stokes theorem.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Since is arbitrary (e.g. an arbitrary small ball with arbitrary center), this is satisfied if and only if the integrand is zero everywhere. This is


title: Maxwell's equations

text: By the Kelvin–Stokes theorem we can rewrite the line integrals of the fields around the closed boundary curve to an integral of the "circulation of the fields" (i.e. their curls) over a surface it bounds, i.e.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: Since can be chosen arbitrarily, e.g. as an arbitrary small, arbitrary oriented, and arbitrary centered disk, we conclude that the integrand is zero if and only if Ampere's modified law in differential equations form is satisfied.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The line integrals and curls are analogous to quantities in classical fluid dynamics: the circulation of a fluid is the line integral of the fluid's flow velocity field around a closed loop, and the vorticity of the fluid is the curl of the velocity field.


title: Maxwell's equations

text: The invariance of charge can be derived as a corollary of Maxwell's equations. The left-hand side of the modified Ampere's law has zero divergence by the div–curl identity. Expanding the divergence of the right-hand side, interchanging derivatives, and applying Gauss's law gives:


title: Maxwell's equations

text: By the Gauss divergence theorem, this means the rate of change of charge in a fixed volume equals the net current flowing through the boundary: