title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: "Gravity" had its world premiere at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2013, and had its North American premiere three days later at the Telluride Film Festival. It was released in the US in RealD 3D and IMAX 3D on October 4, 2013, and in the UK on November 1, 2013. The film's US release coincided with the beginning of World Space Week, which was observed from October 4 to 10. The film was originally scheduled to be released in the US on November 21, 2012, before being rescheduled for a 2013 release to allow the completion of extensive post-production work.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: "Gravity" emerged as one of the most successful sci-fi films of all time, and the biggest box office hit of both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney's careers. It became the highest-grossing feature film in October history, surpassing the animated "Puss in Boots" and holding the record until 2019's "Joker". Bullock's previous highest-grossing film was "Speed" ($350.2 million) while Clooney's benchmark was "Ocean's Eleven" ($450.6 million).


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Preliminary reports predicted the film would open with around $40 million in the US and Canada. The film earned $1.4 million from its Thursday night showings, and reached $17.5 million on Friday. "Gravity" topped the box office and broke the record held by "Paranormal Activity 3" (2011) as the highest-earning October and autumn openings, grossing $55.8 million from 3,575 theaters. 80 percent of the film's opening weekend gross came from its 3D showings, which grossed $44.2 million from 3,150 theaters. $11.2 million—20 percent of the receipts—came from IMAX 3D showings, the highest percentage for a film opening of more than $50 million. The film stayed at number one at the box office during its second and third weekends. IMAX alone generated $34.7 million from 323 theaters, a record for IMAX opening in October.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: "Gravity" earned $27.4 million in its opening weekend overseas from 27 countries with $2.8 million from roughly 4,763 screens. Warner Bros. said the 3D showing "exceeded all expectations" and generated 70 percent of the opening grosses. In China, its second largest market, the film opened on November 19, 2013, and faced competition with "" which opened on November 21, 2013. At the end of the weekend "Gravity" emerged victorious, generating $35.76 million in six days. It opened at number one in the United Kingdom, taking over the first weekend of release, and remained there for the second week. The film's high notable openings were in Russia and the CIS ($8.1 million), Germany ($3.8 million), Australia ($3.2 million), Italy ($2.6 million) and Spain ($2.3 million). The film's largest markets outside North America were China ($71.2 million), the United Kingdom ($47 million) and France ($38.2 million). By February 17, 2014, the film had grossed $700 million worldwide. "Gravity" grossed $274,092,705 in North America and $449,100,000 in other countries, making a worldwide gross of $723,192,705making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2013. Calculating in all expenses, "Deadline Hollywood" estimated that the film made a profit of $209.2 million.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: According to the tracking site Excipio, "Gravity" was one of the most copyright-infringed films of 2014 with over 29.3 million downloads via torrent sites.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 356 reviews, with an average rating of 9.00/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity" is an eerie, tense sci-fi thriller that's masterfully directed and visually stunning." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out based on reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 96 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim", and making it the second-highest scoring widely released film of its year. In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave "Gravity" an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. CinemaScore later issued an apology for the grade, saying they should have limited the poll to 3D showings instead of both 2D and 3D screenings ("The Hollywood Reporter" said it was "playing like an A+ film").


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Matt Zoller Seitz, writing on RogerEbert.com, gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "a huge and technically dazzling film and that the film's panoramas of astronauts tumbling against starfields and floating through space station interiors are at once informative and lovely". Justin Chang, writing for "Variety", said that the film "restores a sense of wonder, terror and possibility to the big screen that should inspire awe among critics and audiences worldwide". Richard Corliss of "Time" praised Cuarón for playing "daringly and dexterously with point-of-view: at one moment you're inside Ryan's helmet as she surveys the bleak silence, then in a subtle shift you're outside to gauge her reaction. The 3-D effects, added in post-production, provide their own extraterrestrial startle: a hailstorm of debris hurtles at you, as do a space traveler's thoughts at the realization of being truly alone in the universe."


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" gave the film five out of five stars, writing "a brilliant and inspired movie-cyclorama ... a glorious imaginary creation that engulfs you utterly." Robbie Collin of "The Daily Telegraph" also awarded the film five out of five stars.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film four out of four stars, stating that the film was "more than a movie. It's some kind of miracle." A. O. Scott, writing for "The New York Times", highlighted the use of 3-D which he said, "surpasses even what James Cameron accomplished in the flight sequences of "Avatar"". Scott also said that the film "in a little more than 90 minutes rewrites the rules of cinema as we have known them". Quentin Tarantino said it was one of his top ten films of 2013. "Empire", "Time" and "Total Film" ranked the film as the best of 2013.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Some critics have compared "Gravity" with other notable films set in space. Lindsey Weber of Vulture.com said the choice of Ed Harris for the voice of Mission Control is a reference to "Apollo 13". Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" suggests the way "a weightless Stone goes floating about in nothing but her underwear" references "Alien" (1979). Other critics made connections with "" (1968). James Cameron praised the film and stated, "I think it's the best space photography ever done, I think it's the best space film ever done, and it's the movie I've been hungry to see for an awful long time". Empire Online, AskMen and "The Huffington Post" also considered "Gravity" to be one of the best space films ever made. While "The Huffington Post's" Lauren Duca later included "Gravity" on the site's list of "8 Movies from the Last 15 Years That Are Super Overrated", another of the site's film critics, Christopher Rosen, placed it at the top of his list of Best Movies of 2013. "Gravity" was included on the top ten lists of 93 critics and topped the list of 22 of them.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: "Gravity" received ten nominations at the 86th Academy Awards; together with "American Hustle" it received the greatest number of nominations for the 2014 ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Bullock, and Best Production Design. The film won the most awards of the night with seven Academy Awards: for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. The film is second only to "Cabaret" (1972) to receive the most Academy Awards in its year without winning Best Picture, and has since been the most awarded film since "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008).


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Cuarón won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, and the film was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actress – Drama for Bullock and Best Original Score.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: "Gravity" received eleven nominations at the 67th British Academy Film Awards, more than any other film of 2013. Its nominations included Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress in a Leading Role. Cuarón was the most-nominated person at the awards; he was nominated for five awards, including his nominations as producer for Best Film awards and editor. Despite not winning Best Film, "Gravity" won six awards, the greatest number of awards in 2013. It won the awards for Outstanding British Film, Best Direction, Best Original Music, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: "Gravity" was released on digital download on February 11, 2014, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on February 25, 2014, in the United States and on March 3, 2014, in the United Kingdom. , "Gravity" has sold 908,756 DVDs along with 957,355 Blu-ray discs for $16,465,600 and $22,183,843, respectively, for a total of $38,649,443. "Gravity" was also offered for free in HD on Google Play and Nexus devices from late October 2014 to early November 2014.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: A "special edition" Blu-ray was released on March 31, 2015. The release includes a "Silent Space Version" of the film which omits the score composed by Steven Price.


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Cuarón has stated that "Gravity" is not always scientifically accurate and that some liberties were needed to sustain the story. Despite this, the film has been praised for the realism of its premises and its overall adherence to physical principles, although several inaccuracies and exaggerations were still noted. According to NASA Astronaut Michael J. Massimino, who took part in Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Missions STS-109 and STS-125, "nothing was out of place, nothing was missing. There was a one-of-a-kind wirecutter we used on one of my spacewalks and sure enough they had that wirecutter in the movie."


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin called the visual effects "remarkable" and he hoped that the film would stimulate the public to find an interest in space again, after decades of diminishing investments into advancements in the field: Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman said:


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Former astronaut Chris Hadfield was critical of "Gravity"s portrayal of astronauts, particularly its depiction of Bullock's character, saying "When she's faced with a problem, she's panicking and has no idea what to do. George Clooney is driving around like some sort of space cowboy and he's the only one who has any idea what's going on. I think it set back a little girl's vision of what a woman astronaut can be an entire generation." In contrast, Vanessa Reich-Shackelford from Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science and Technology while considering the character of Dr. Ryan Stone wrote: "I came to realize that writers Alfonso (also director) and Jonás Cuarón had created one of the most positive representation of a woman in STEM on screen so far."


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronomer and skeptic Phil Plait, and veteran NASA astronaut and spacewalker Scott E. Parazynski have offered comments about some of the most "glaring" inaccuracies. "The Dissolve" characterized these complaints as "absurd", problems "only an astrophysicist would find".


title: Gravity (2013 film)

text: Despite the inaccuracies in "Gravity", Tyson, Plait and Parazynski all said they enjoyed watching the film. Astronaut Cady Coleman advised Sandra Bullock on the film.


Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (Edward Augustus; 2 November 1767 – 23 January 1820) was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III. His only legitimate child became Queen Victoria.


title: Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

text: Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin on 23 April 1799 and, a few weeks later, appointed a General and commander-in-chief of British forces in the Maritime Provinces of North America. On 23 March 1802, he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar and nominally retained that post until his death. The Duke was appointed Field-Marshal of the Forces on 3 September 1805.


text: Edward was the first member of the royal family to live in North America for more than a short visit (1791–1800) and, in 1794, the first prince to enter the United States (travelling to Boston on foot from Lower Canada) after independence. He is credited with the first use, on 27 June 1792, of the term "Canadian" to mean both French and English settlers in Upper and Lower Canada. The Prince used the term in an effort to quell a riot between the two groups at a polling station in Charlesbourg, Lower Canada. In the 21st century, he has been styled the "Father of the Canadian Crown" for his impact on the development of Canada.


text: Prince Edward was born on 2 November 1767. His parents were the reigning British monarch, George III, and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.


text: As a son of the British monarch, he was styled "His Royal Highness" The Prince Edward from birth, and was fourth in the line of succession to the throne. He was named after his paternal uncle, the Duke of York and Albany, who had died several weeks earlier and was buried at Westminster Abbey the day before Edward's birth.


text: Prince Edward was baptised on 30 November 1767; his godparents were the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (his paternal uncle by marriage, for whom the Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain, stood proxy), Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (his maternal uncle, for whom the Earl of Huntingdon, Groom of the Stole, stood proxy), the Hereditary Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (his paternal aunt, who was represented by a proxy) and the Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (his paternal grandfather's sister, for whom the Duchess of Argyll, Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen, stood proxy).


text: The Prince began his military training in the Electorate of Hanover in 1785. King George III intended to send him to the University of Göttingen, but decided against it upon the advice of the Duke of York. Instead, Edward went to Lüneburg and later Hanover, accompanied by his German tutor, Baron Wangenheim. On 30 May 1786, he was appointed a brevet colonel in the British Army. From 1788 to 1789, he completed his education in Geneva. On 5 August 1789, aged 22, he became a mason in "L'Union", the most important Genevan masonic lodge in the 19th century.


text: In 1789, he was appointed colonel of the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers). In 1790, he returned home without leave and, in disgrace, was sent off to Gibraltar as an ordinary officer. He was joined from Marseilles by Madame de Saint-Laurent.


text: Due to the extreme Mediterranean heat, Edward requested to be transferred to present-day Canada, specifically Quebec, in 1791. Edward arrived in Canada in time to witness the proclamation of the Constitutional Act of 1791, become the first member of the Royal Family to tour Upper Canada and became a fixture of British North American society. Edward and his mistress, Julie St. Laurent, became close friends with the French Canadian family of Ignace-Michel-Louis-Antoine d'Irumberry de Salaberry; the Prince mentored all of the family's sons throughout their military careers. Edward guided Charles de Salaberry throughout his career, and made sure that the famous commander was duly honoured after his leadership during the Battle of Chateauguay.


text: The prince was promoted to the rank of major-general in October 1793. He served successfully in the West Indies campaign the following year, and was commander of the British camp at La Coste during the Battle of Martinique, for which he was mentioned in dispatches by General Charles Grey for his "great Spirit and Activity." He subsequently received the thanks of Parliament.


text: After 1794, Prince Edward lived at the headquarters of the Royal Navy's North American Station located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was instrumental in shaping that settlement's military defences, protecting its important Royal Navy base, as well as influencing the city's and colony's socio-political and economic institutions. Edward was responsible for the construction of Halifax's iconic Garrison Clock, as well as numerous other civic projects such as St. George's Round Church. Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth and Lady Francis Wentworth provided their country residence for the use of Prince Edward and Julie St. Laurent. Extensively renovated, the estate became known as "Prince's Lodge" as the couple hosted numerous dignitaries, including Louis-Phillippe of Orléans (the future King of the French). All that remains of the residence is a small rotunda built by Edward for his regimental band to play music.


text: After suffering a fall from his horse in late 1798, he was allowed to return to England. On 24 April 1799, Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin, received the thanks of parliament and an income of £12,000 (£ in ). In May that same year, the Duke was promoted to the rank of general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America. He took leave of his parents 22 July 1799 and sailed to Halifax. Just over twelve months later he left Halifax and arrived in England on 31 August 1800 where it was confidently expected his next appointment would be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.


text: Appointed Governor of Gibraltar by the War Office, gazetted 23 March 1802, the Duke took up his post on 24 May 1802 with express orders from the government to restore discipline among the drunken troops. The Duke's harsh discipline precipitated a mutiny by soldiers in his own and the 25th Regiment on Christmas Eve 1802. His brother Frederick, the Duke of York, then Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, recalled him in May 1803 after receiving reports of the mutiny, but despite this direct order he refused to return to England until his successor arrived. He was refused permission to return to Gibraltar for an inquiry and, although allowed to continue to hold the governorship of Gibraltar until his death, he was forbidden to return.


text: As a consolation for the end of his active military career at age 35, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal and appointed Ranger of Hampton Court Park on 5 September 1805. This office provided him with a residence now known as The Pavilion. (His sailor brother, William, with children to provide for, had been made Ranger of Bushy Park in 1797.) The Duke continued to serve as honorary colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot (the Royal Scots) until his death.


text: Though it was a tendency shared to some extent with his brothers, the Duke's excesses as a military disciplinarian may have been due less to natural disposition and more to what he had learned from his tutor Baron Wangenheim. Certainly Wangenheim, by keeping his allowance very small, accustomed Edward to borrowing at an early age. The Duke applied the same military discipline to his own duties that he demanded of others. Though it seems inconsistent with his unpopularity among the army's rank and file, his friendliness toward others and popularity with servants has been emphasized. He also introduced the first regimental school. The Duke of Wellington considered him a first-class speaker. He took a continuing interest in the social experiments of Robert Owen, voted for Catholic emancipation, and supported literary, Bible, and abolitionist societies.


text: His daughter, Victoria, after hearing Lord Melbourne's opinions, was able to add to her private journal of 1 August 1838 "from all what I heard, he was the best of all".


text: Following the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in November 1817, the only legitimate grandchild of George III at the time, the royal succession began to look uncertain. The Prince Regent (later King George IV) and his younger brother Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, though married, were estranged from their wives and had no surviving legitimate children. The king's surviving daughters were all childless and past likely childbearing age. The King's unmarried sons, William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), Edward, Duke of Kent, and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, all rushed to contract lawful marriages and provide an heir to the throne. The King's fifth son, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was already married but had no living children at that time, whilst the marriage of the sixth son, Augustus, Duke of Sussex, was void because he had married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.


text: For his part the Duke of Kent, aged 50, was already considering marriage, and he became engaged to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who had been the sister-in-law of his now-deceased niece Princess Charlotte. They were married on 29 May 1818 at Schloss Ehrenburg, Coburg, in a Lutheran rite, and again on 11 July 1818 at Kew Palace, Kew, Surrey.


text: Princess Victoria was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the sister of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, husband of the recently deceased Princess Charlotte. She was a widow: her first husband was Emich Karl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, with whom she had had two children: a son, Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen, and a daughter, Princess Feodora of Leiningen.


text: They had one child, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, who became Queen Victoria on 20 June 1837. He was 51 years old at the time of her birth. The Duke took great pride in his daughter, telling his friends to look at her well, for she would be Queen of the United Kingdom.


text: Various sources report that the Duke of Kent had mistresses. In Geneva, he had two mistresses, Adelaide Dubus and Anne Moré. Dubus died at the birth of her daughter Adelaide Dubus (1789in or after 1832). Anne Gabrielle Alexandrine Moré was the mother of Edward Schenker Scheener (1789–1853). Brought up in Geneva as the ostensible son of Thimothée Schencker, his father promised to find him a post in the UK civil service and in 1809 he was appointed a clerk in the Foreign Office, being retired with a pension in 1826. When his half-sister Victoria became Queen in 1837, with his English wife Harriet Boyn (1781-1852) he returned to Geneva, where he died in 1853. He had no children.


text: In 1790, while still in Geneva, the Duke took up with "Madame de Saint-Laurent" (born Thérèse-Bernardine Montgenet), the wife of a French colonel. She went with him to Canada in 1791, where she was known as "Julie de Saint-Laurent". She accompanied the Duke for the next 28 years, until his marriage in 1818. The portrait of the Duke by Beechey was hers.


text: Mollie Gillen, who was granted access to the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle, established that no children were born of the 27-year relationship between Edward Augustus and Madame de Saint-Laurent; although many Canadian families and individuals (including the Nova Scotian soldier Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet), have claimed descent from them. Such claims can now be discounted in light of this research.


text: While Prince Edward lived in Quebec (1791–93) he met with Jonathan Sewell, an immigrant American Loyalist who played trumpet in the Prince's regimental band. Sewell would rise in Lower Canadian government to hold such offices as Attorney General, Chief Justice, and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. In 1814, Sewell forwarded to the Duke a copy of his report "A plan for the federal union of British provinces in North America." The Duke supported Sewell's plan to unify the colonies, offering comments and critiques that would later be cited by Lord Durham (1839) and participants of the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences (1864).


text: I have had this day the pleasure of receiving your note of yesterday with its interesting enclosure. Nothing can be better arranged than the whole thing is or more perfectly, and when I see an opening it is fully my intention to point the matter out to Lord Bathurst and put the paper in his hands, without however telling him from whom I have it, though I shall urge him to have some conversation with you relative to it. Permit me, however, just to ask you whether it was not an oversight in you to state that there are five Houses of Assembly in the British Colonies in North America. If I am not under an error there are six, viz., Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the islands of Prince Edward and Cape Breton.


text: Allow me to beg of you to put down the proportions in which you think the thirty members of the Representatives Assembly ought to be furnished by each Province, and to suggest whether you would not think two Lieutenant-Governors with two Executive Councils sufficient for an executive government of the whole, namely one for the two Canadas, and one for New Brunswick and the two small dependencies of Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island, the former to reside in Montreal, and the latter at whichever of the two (following) situations may be considered most central for the two provinces whether Annapolis Royal or Windsor.


text: But, at all events, should you consider in your Executive Councils requisite I presume there cannot be a question of the expediency of comprehending the two small islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with Nova Scotia.


text: In January 1813, Prince Edward's brother, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (sixth son of King George III), became Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England (aka "The Moderns") on the resignation of his brother, the Prince Regent; and, in December of that year, Prince Edward became Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England (aka "The Ancients"). In 1811, both Grand Lodges had appointed Commissioners; and over the ensuing two years, articles of Union were negotiated and agreed upon. On 27 December 1813, the United Grand Lodge of England, formed as a result of these negotiations, was constituted at Freemasons' Hall, London with the younger Duke of Sussex as Grand Master. A Lodge of Reconciliation was formed a few weeks prior to reconcile the rituals worked under the two former Grand Lodges.


text: The Duke of Kent purchased a house of his own from Maria Fitzherbert in 1801. Castle Hill Lodge on Castlebar Hill, Ealing (West London), was then placed in the hands of architect James Wyatt and more than £100,000 spent (£ in ). Near neighbours from 1815 to 1817 at Little Boston House were US envoy and future US President John Quincy Adams and his English wife Louisa. ""We all went to church and heard a charity sermon preached by a Dr Crane before the Duke of Kent"", wrote Adams in a diary entry from August 1815.


text: Following the birth of Princess Victoria in May 1819, the Duke and Duchess, concerned to manage the Duke's great debts, sought to find a place where they could live inexpensively. After the coast of Devon was recommended to them they leased from a General Baynes, intending to remain "incognito", Woolbrook Cottage on the seaside by Sidmouth.


text: The Duke of Kent died of pneumonia on 23 January 1820 at Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth, and was interred in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He died six days before his father, George III, and less than a year after his daughter's birth.


text: He predeceased his father and his three elder brothers but, as none of his elder brothers had any surviving legitimate children, his daughter Victoria succeeded to the throne on the death of her uncle King William IV in 1837, and ruled until 1901.


text: In 1829 the Duke's former aide-de-camp purchased the unoccupied Castle Hill Lodge from the Duchess in an attempt to reduce her debts; the debts were finally discharged after Victoria took the throne and paid them over time from her income.


text: There is a bronze statue of the prince in Park Crescent, London. Sculpted by Sebastian Gahagan and installed in January 1824, the statue is tall and represents the Duke in his Field Marshal's uniform, over which he wears his ducal dress and the regalia of the Order of the Garter. He is the namesake of Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward Islands, Prince Edward County, and Duke Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia.


text: As a son of the sovereign, the Duke of Kent had use of the arms of the kingdom from 1801 to his death, differenced by a "label argent of three points, the centre point bearing a cross gules, the outer points each bearing a fleur-de-lys azure".


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The Village is a 2004 American period thriller film written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Brendan Gleeson. The film is about a village whose population lives in fear of creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it, referred to as "Those We Don't Speak Of."


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: "The Village" received mixed reviews, with many critics expressing disappointment with the twist ending. James Newton Howard was nominated for Best Original Score at the 77th Academy Awards. The film was a financial success as it grossed $257 million worldwide against a $60 million production budget.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: Residents of the small, isolated, 19th-century, Pennsylvania village of Covington live in fear of "Those We Don't Speak Of," nameless humanoid creatures living within the surrounding woods. The villagers have constructed a large barrier of oil lanterns and watchtowers that are constantly staffed. After the funeral of a child, the village Elders deny Lucius Hunt's request for permission to pass through the woods to get medical supplies from "the towns". Later, his mother Alice scolds him for wanting to visit "the towns", which the villagers describe as wicked. The Elders also appear to have secrets, keeping physical mementos hidden in black boxes, supposedly reminders of the evil and tragedy in the towns they left behind.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: After Lucius makes an unsanctioned venture into the woods, the creatures leave warnings in the form of splashes of red paint on all the villagers' doors.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: Ivy Elizabeth Walker, the blind daughter of Chief Elder Edward Walker, informs Lucius that she has strong feelings for him and he returns her affections. They arrange to be married, but Noah Percy, a young man with an apparent developmental disability, stabs Lucius with a knife because he is in love with Ivy himself. Noah is locked in a room while a decision awaits regarding his fate.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: Edward goes against the wishes of the other Elders, agreeing to let Ivy pass through the forest and seek medicine for Lucius. Before she leaves, Edward explains that the creatures inhabiting the woods are members of their community wearing costumes and have continued the legend of monsters to frighten and deter others from attempting to leave. Two young men are sent to accompany Ivy into the forest, but they abandon her almost immediately, fearful of the creatures. While traveling through the forest, one of the creatures attacks Ivy. She tricks it into falling into a deep hole to its death. The creature is Noah wearing one of the costumes, which he discovered under the floorboards of the room where he had been confined after stabbing Lucius. As she travels through the woods, Ivy's parents unlock a box and look at photographs of the elders outside a counseling center, revealing that it is the early 21st century instead of the 19th century.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: After she climbs over the wall at the edge of the woods, Ivy encounters a park ranger driving a patrol car who is shocked to hear that she has come out of the woods. Ivy gives the ranger a list of medicines that she must acquire.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The ranger talks to his boss, not mentioning his encounter with Ivy. The village was founded in the late 1970s by Edward Walker, then a professor of American history at the University of Pennsylvania. Recruiting people he met at a grief counseling clinic, they join in creating a place where they would live and be protected from any aspect of the outside world. Edward's family fortune purchased a wildlife preserve, built Covington in the middle, funded a ranger corps to make sure no one got in, and even paid off the government to make it a no-fly zone.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The park ranger retrieves the requested medicine from the ranger station and Ivy returns to the village, unaware of the truth of the situation.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: During her absence, the Elders secretly open their black boxes, each containing mementos from their lives in the outside world, including items related to their past traumas as crime victims. They gather around Lucius's bed when they hear that Ivy has returned and that she killed one of the monsters. Edward points out to Noah's grieving mother that his death will allow them to continue deceiving the rest of the villagers that there are creatures in the woods.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The film was originally titled "The Woods", but the name was changed because a film in production by director Lucky McKee, "The Woods" (2006), already had that title. Like other Shyamalan productions, this film had high levels of secrecy surrounding it, to protect the expected twist ending that became a known Shyamalan trademark. Despite that, the script was stolen over a year before the film was released, prompting many "pre-reviews" of the film on several Internet film sites and much fan speculation about plot details.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The village set in the film was built in its entirety in one field outside Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. An adjacent field contained an on-location temporary sound stage. Production on the film started in October 2003, with delays because some scenes needing fall foliage could not be shot because of a late fall season. Principal photography was wrapped up in mid-December of that year. In April and May 2004, several of the lead actors were called back to the set. Reports noted that this seemed to have something to do with a change to the film's ending, and, in fact, the film's final ending differs from the ending in a stolen version of the script that surfaced a year earlier; the script version ends after Ivy climbs over the wall and gets help from a truck driver, while the film version has Ivy meeting a park ranger and scenes where she returns to the village.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The film's score was composed by James Newton Howard, and features solo violinist Hilary Hahn. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, but lost to "Finding Neverland".


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The film grossed $114 million in the U.S., and $142 million in international markets. Its worldwide box office totalled $256 million, the tenth highest grossing PG-13 movie of 2004.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 218 reviews and an average rating of 5.39/10. The site's critics' consensus reads, ""The Village" is appropriately creepy, but Shyamalan's signature twist ending disappoints." At Metacritic, the film holds a score of 44 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C" on scale of A+ to F.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film one star and wrote: ""The Village" is a colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn ... To call the ending an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from "It was all a dream". It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore." Ebert named the film the tenth worst film of 2004 and subsequently put it on his "Most Hated" list. There were also comments that the film, while raising questions about conformity in a time of "evil," did little to "confront" those themes. "Slate"'s Michael Agger commented that Shyamalan was continuing in a pattern of making "sealed-off movies that [fall] apart when exposed to outside logic."


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The movie had a number of admirers. Critic Jeffrey Westhoff commented that though the film had its shortcomings, these did not necessarily render it a bad movie, and that "Shyamalan's orchestration of mood and terror is as adroit as ever." Philip Horne of "The Daily Telegraph" in a later review noted "this exquisitely crafted allegory of American soul-searching seems to have been widely misunderstood."


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The film has received some additional positive reviews since its release including Emily St. James of "Vox" and Chris Evangelista of "SlashFilm" who thought it was one of Shyamalan's best films, Adam Chitwood of "Collider" who praised the ending, the performances of Howard, Phoenix, and Hurt, and the cinematography, and Kayleigh Donaldson of "Syfy Wire" who praised the cinematography, and said, "...[the film] stands as one of the strongest representations of Shyamalan’s ethos, for better or worse." Carlos Morales of "IGN" argued that the film was misunderstood at the time of its release because it was mismarketed as a horror film, and also because of audience expectations that had been built up by Shyamalan's three previous films. "The real twist was that the movie they wanted wasn't the one Shyamalan made."


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: The soundtrack was widely praised, and was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of the Best Film Scores and the Academy Award for Best Original Score.


title: The Village (2004 film)

text: Simon & Schuster, publishers of the 1995 young adult book "Running Out of Time" by Margaret Peterson Haddix, claimed that the film had taken ideas from the book. The plot of Shyamalan's movie had several similarities to the book. They both involve a 19th-century village, which is actually a park in the present day, have young heroines on a search for medical supplies, and both have adult leaders bent on keeping the children in their village from discovering the truth.


title: Mongoose

text: A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, Africa and Asia, whereas the Mungotinae comprises 11 species native to Africa.


title: Mongoose

text: The Herpestidae originated about in the Early Miocene and genetically diverged into two main genetic lineages between 19.1 and .


title: Mongoose

text: The English word "mongoose" used to be spelled "mungoose" in the 18th and 19th centuries. The name is derived from names used in India for "Herpestes" species:


title: Mongoose

text: The form of the English name (since 1698) was altered to its "-goose" ending by folk etymology. The plural form is "mongooses".


title: Mongoose

text: Mongooses have long faces and bodies, small, rounded ears, short legs, and long, tapering tails. Most are brindled or grizzly; a few have strongly marked coats which bear a striking resemblance to mustelids. Their nonretractile claws are used primarily for digging. Mongooses, much like goats, have narrow, ovular pupils. Most species have a large anal scent gland, used for territorial marking and signaling reproductive status. The dental formula of mongooses is .


title: Mongoose

text: Mongooses are one of at least four known mammalian taxa with mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that protect against snake venom. Their modified receptors prevent the snake venom α-neurotoxin from binding. These represent four separate, independent mutations. In the mongoose, this change is effected, uniquely, by glycosylation.


title: Mongoose

text: Herpestina was a scientific name proposed by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1845 who considered the mongooses a subfamily of the Viverridae. In 1864, John Edward Gray classified the mongooses into three subfamilies: Galidiinae, Herpestinae and Mungotinae. This grouping was supported by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1919, who referred to the family as "Mungotidae".


title: Mongoose

text: Genetic research based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses revealed that the Galidiinae are more closely related to Madagascar carnivores, including the fossa and Malagasy civet. Galidiinae is presently considered a subfamily of Eupleridae.


title: Mongoose

text: Phylogenetic research of 18 mongoose species revealed that the solitary and social mongooses form different clades.


title: Mongoose

text: Mongooses mostly feed on insects, crabs, earthworms, lizards, birds, and rodents. However, they also eat eggs and carrion.


title: Mongoose

text: Some species can learn simple tricks. They can be semi-domesticated and are kept as pets to control vermin.


title: Mongoose

text: In ancient Mesopotamia, mongooses were sacred to the deity Ninkilim, who was conflated with Ningirama, a deity of magic who was invoked for protection against serpents. According to a Babylonian popular saying, when a mouse fled from a mongoose into a serpent's hole, it announced, "I bring you greetings from the snake-charmer!" A creature resembling a mongoose also appears in Old Babylonian glyptic art, but its significance is not known.


title: Mongoose

text: All mongoose species, except for "Suricata suricatta", are classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing them from being imported into the country.


title: Mongoose

text: A well-known fictional mongoose is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, who appears in a short story of the same title in "The Jungle Book" (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. In this tale set in India, a young pet mongoose saves his human family from a krait and from Nag and Nagaina, two cobras. The story was later made into several films and a song by Donovan, among other references. A mongoose is also featured in Bram Stoker's novel "The Lair of the White Worm". The main character, Adam Salton, purchases one to independently hunt snakes. Another mongoose features in the denouement of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Crooked Man", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Indian Tamil devotional film "Padai Veetu Amman" shows Tamil actor Vinu Chakravarthy changing himself into a mongoose by using his evil tantric mantra, to fight the goddess Amman. However, the mongoose finally dies at the hands of the goddess.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote. They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections. Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral (i.e. anti-phage) defense system of prokaryotes and provide a form of acquired immunity. CRISPR is found in approximately 50% of sequenced bacterial genomes and nearly 90% of sequenced archaea.


title: CRISPR

text: Cas9 (or "CRISPR-associated protein 9") is an enzyme that uses CRISPR sequences as a guide to recognize and cleave specific strands of DNA that are complementary to the CRISPR sequence. Cas9 enzymes together with CRISPR sequences form the basis of a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 that can be used to edit genes within organisms. This editing process has a wide variety of applications including basic biological research, development of biotechnological products, and treatment of diseases. The development of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technique was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 which was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. In 2022, based on evidence presented in Interference 106, 115, the PTAB tipped the scale for invention covering application of CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotic cells in favour of Feng Zhang, a professor of the Broad Institute.


title: CRISPR

text: The discovery of clustered DNA repeats took place independently in three parts of the world. The first description of what would later be called CRISPR is from Osaka University researcher Yoshizumi Ishino and his colleagues in 1987. They accidentally cloned part of a CRISPR sequence together with the ""iap" gene" "(isozyme conversion of alkaline phosphatase)" from the genome of "Escherichia coli" which was their target. The organization of the repeats was unusual. Repeated sequences are typically arranged consecutively, without interspersing different sequences. They did not know the function of the interrupted clustered repeats.


title: CRISPR

text: In 1993, researchers of "Mycobacterium tuberculosis" in the Netherlands published two articles about a cluster of interrupted direct repeats (DR) in that bacterium. They recognized the diversity of the sequences that intervened in the direct repeats among different strains of "M. tuberculosis" and used this property to design a typing method that was named "spoligotyping", which is still in use, today.


title: CRISPR

text: Francisco Mojica at the University of Alicante in Spain studied repeats observed in the archaeal organisms of "Haloferax" and "Haloarcula" species and their function. Mojica's supervisor surmised at the time that the clustered repeats had a role in correctly segregating replicated DNA into daughter cells during cell division because plasmids and chromosomes with identical repeat arrays could not coexist in "Haloferax volcanii". Transcription of the interrupted repeats was also noted for the first time; this was the first full characterization of CRISPR. By 2000, Mojica performed a survey of scientific literature and one of his students performed a search in published genomes with a program devised by himself. They identified interrupted repeats in 20 species of microbes as belonging to the same family. Because those sequences were interspaced, Mojica initially called these sequences "short regularly spaced repeats" (SRSR). In 2001, Mojica and Ruud Jansen, who were searching for additional interrupted repeats, proposed the acronym CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to alleviate the confusion stemming from the numerous acronyms used to describe the sequences in the scientific literature. In 2002, Tang, et al. showed evidence that CRISPR repeat regions from the genome of "Archaeoglobus fulgidus" were transcribed into long RNA molecules that were subsequently processed into unit-length small RNAs, plus some longer forms of 2, 3, or more spacer-repeat units.


title: CRISPR

text: In 2005, yogurt researcher Rodolphe Barrangou discovered that "Streptococcus thermophilus", after iterative phage challenges, develops increased phage resistance, and this enhanced resistance is due to the incorporation of additional CRISPR spacer sequences. The Danish food company Danisco, which at that time Barrangou worked for, then developed phage-resistant "S. thermophilus" strains for use in yogurt production. Danisco was later bought out by DuPont, which "owns about 50 percent of the global dairy culture market" and the technology went mainstream.


title: CRISPR

text: A major addition to the understanding of CRISPR came with Jansen's observation that the prokaryote repeat cluster was accompanied by a set of homologous genes that make up CRISPR-associated systems or "cas" genes. Four "cas" genes ("cas" 1–4) were initially recognized. The Cas proteins showed helicase and nuclease motifs, suggesting a role in the dynamic structure of the CRISPR loci. In this publication, the acronym CRISPR was used as the universal name of this pattern. However, the CRISPR function remained enigmatic.


title: CRISPR

text: In 2005, three independent research groups showed that some CRISPR spacers are derived from phage DNA and extrachromosomal DNA such as plasmids. In effect, the spacers are fragments of DNA gathered from viruses that previously tried to attack the cell. The source of the spacers was a sign that the CRISPR/"cas" system could have a role in adaptive immunity in bacteria. All three studies proposing this idea were initially rejected by high-profile journals, but eventually appeared in other journals.


title: CRISPR

text: The first publication proposing a role of CRISPR-Cas in microbial immunity, by Mojica and collaborators at the University of Alicante, predicted a role for the RNA transcript of spacers on target recognition in a mechanism that could be analogous to the RNA interference system used by eukaryotic cells. Koonin and colleagues extended this RNA interference hypothesis by proposing mechanisms of action for the different CRISPR-Cas subtypes according to the predicted function of their proteins.


title: CRISPR

text: Experimental work by several groups revealed the basic mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas immunity. In 2007, the first experimental evidence that CRISPR was an adaptive immune system was published. A CRISPR region in "Streptococcus thermophilus" acquired spacers from the DNA of an infecting bacteriophage. The researchers manipulated the resistance of "S. thermophilus" to different types of phages by adding and deleting spacers whose sequence matched those found in the tested phages. In 2008, Brouns and Van der Oost identified a complex of Cas proteins (called Cascade) that in "E. coli" cut the CRISPR RNA precursor within the repeats into mature spacer-containing RNA molecules called CRISPR RNA (crRNA), which remained bound to the protein complex. Moreover, it was found that Cascade, crRNA and a helicase/nuclease (Cas3) were required to provide a bacterial host with immunity against infection by a DNA virus. By designing an anti-virus CRISPR, they demonstrated that two orientations of the crRNA (sense/antisense) provided immunity, indicating that the crRNA guides were targeting dsDNA. That year Marraffini and Sontheimer confirmed that a CRISPR sequence of "S. epidermidis" targeted DNA and not RNA to prevent conjugation. This finding was at odds with the proposed RNA-interference-like mechanism of CRISPR-Cas immunity, although a CRISPR-Cas system that targets foreign RNA was later found in "Pyrococcus furiosus". A 2010 study showed that CRISPR-Cas cuts both strands of phage and plasmid DNA in "S. thermophilus".


title: CRISPR

text: Researchers studied a simpler CRISPR system from "Streptococcus pyogenes" that relies on the protein Cas9. The Cas9 endonuclease is a four-component system that includes two small molecules: crRNA and trans-activating CRISPR RNA (tracrRNA). Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier re-engineered the Cas9 endonuclease into a more manageable two-component system by fusing the two RNA molecules into a "single-guide RNA" that, when combined with Cas9, could find and cut the DNA target specified by the guide RNA. This contribution was so significant that it was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. By manipulating the nucleotide sequence of the guide RNA, the artificial Cas9 system could be programmed to target any DNA sequence for cleavage. Another group of collaborators comprising Virginijus Šikšnys together with Gasiūnas, Barrangou, and Horvath showed that Cas9 from the "S. thermophilus" CRISPR system can also be reprogrammed to target a site of their choosing by changing the sequence of its crRNA. These advances fueled efforts to edit genomes with the modified CRISPR-Cas9 system.


title: CRISPR

text: Groups led by Feng Zhang and George Church simultaneously published descriptions of genome editing in human cell cultures using CRISPR-Cas9 for the first time. It has since been used in a wide range of organisms, including baker's yeast ("Saccharomyces cerevisiae"), the opportunistic pathogen "Candida albicans", zebrafish ("Danio rerio"), fruit flies ("Drosophila melanogaster"), ants ("Harpegnathos saltator" and "Ooceraea biroi"), mosquitoes ("Aedes aegypti"), nematodes ("Caenorhabditis elegans"), plants, mice ("Mus musculus domesticus)", monkeys and human embryos.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR has been modified to make programmable transcription factors that allow scientists to target and activate or silence specific genes.


title: CRISPR

text: The CRISPR-Cas9 system has shown to make effective gene edits in Human tripronuclear zygotes first described in a 2015 paper by Chinese scientists P. Liang and Y. Xu. The system made a successful cleavage of mutant Beta-Hemoglobin (HBB) in 28 out of 54 embryos. 4 out of the 28 embryos were successfully recombined using a donor template given by the scientists. The scientists showed that during DNA recombination of the cleaved strand, the homologous endogenous sequence HBD competes with the exogenous donor template. DNA repair in human embryos is much more complicated and particular than in derived stem cells.


title: CRISPR

text: In 2015, the nuclease Cas12a (formerly known as ) was characterized in the CRISPR/Cpf1 system of the bacterium "Francisella novicida". Its original name, from a TIGRFAMs protein family definition built in 2012, reflects the prevalence of its CRISPR-Cas subtype in the "Prevotella" and "Francisella" lineages. Cas12a showed several key differences from Cas9 including: causing a 'staggered' cut in double stranded DNA as opposed to the 'blunt' cut produced by Cas9, relying on a 'T rich' PAM (providing alternative targeting sites to Cas9), and requiring only a CRISPR RNA (crRNA) for successful targeting. By contrast, Cas9 requires both crRNA and a transactivating crRNA (tracrRNA).


title: CRISPR

text: These differences may give Cas12a some advantages over Cas9. For example, Cas12a's small crRNAs are ideal for multiplexed genome editing, as more of them can be packaged in one vector than can Cas9's sgRNAs. As well, the sticky 5′ overhangs left by Cas12a can be used for DNA assembly that is much more target-specific than traditional Restriction Enzyme cloning. Finally, Cas12a cleaves DNA 18–23 base pairs downstream from the PAM site. This means there is no disruption to the recognition sequence after repair, and so Cas12a enables multiple rounds of DNA cleavage. By contrast, since Cas9 cuts only 3 base pairs upstream of the PAM site, the NHEJ pathway results in indel mutations that destroy the recognition sequence, thereby preventing further rounds of cutting. In theory, repeated rounds of DNA cleavage should cause an increased opportunity for the desired genomic editing to occur. A distinctive feature of Cas12a, as compared to Cas9, is that after cutting its target, Cas12a remains bound to the target and then cleaves other ssDNA molecules non-discriminately. This property is called "collateral cleavage" or "trans-cleavage" activity and has been exploited for the development of various diagnostic technologies.


title: CRISPR

text: In 2016, the nuclease (formerly known as ) from the bacterium "Leptotrichia shahii" was characterized. Cas13 is an RNA-guided RNA endonuclease, which means that it does not cleave DNA, but only single-stranded RNA. Cas13 is guided by its crRNA to a ssRNA target and binds and cleaves the target. Similar to Cas12a, the Cas13 remains bound to the target and then cleaves other ssRNA molecules non-discriminately. This collateral cleavage property has been exploited for the development of various diagnostic technologies.


title: CRISPR

text: In 2021, Dr. Hui Yang characterized novel miniature Cas13 protein (mCas13) variants, Cas13X & Cas13Y. Using a small portion of N gene sequence from SARS-CoV-2 as a target in characterization of mCas13, revealed the sensitivity and specificity of mCas13 coupled with RT-LAMP for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in both synthetic and clinical samples over other available standard tests like RT-qPCR (1 copy/μL).


title: CRISPR

text: The CRISPR array is made up of an AT-rich leader sequence followed by short repeats that are separated by unique spacers. CRISPR repeats typically range in size from 28 to 37 base pairs (bps), though there can be as few as 23 bp and as many as 55 bp. Some show dyad symmetry, implying the formation of a secondary structure such as a stem-loop ('hairpin') in the RNA, while others are designed to be unstructured. The size of spacers in different CRISPR arrays is typically 32 to 38 bp (range 21 to 72 bp). New spacers can appear rapidly as part of the immune response to phage infection. There are usually fewer than 50 units of the repeat-spacer sequence in a CRISPR array.


title: CRISPR

text: Small clusters of "cas" genes are often located next to CRISPR repeat-spacer arrays. Collectively the 93 "cas" genes are grouped into 35 families based on sequence similarity of the encoded proteins. 11 of the 35 families form the "cas" core, which includes the protein families Cas1 through Cas9. A complete CRISPR-Cas locus has at least one gene belonging to the "cas" core.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR-Cas systems fall into two classes. Class 1 systems use a complex of multiple Cas proteins to degrade foreign nucleic acids. Class 2 systems use a single large Cas protein for the same purpose. Class 1 is divided into types I, III, and IV; class 2 is divided into types II, V, and VI. The 6 system types are divided into 19 subtypes. Each type and most subtypes are characterized by a "signature gene" found almost exclusively in the category. Classification is also based on the complement of "cas" genes that are present. Most CRISPR-Cas systems have a Cas1 protein. The phylogeny of Cas1 proteins generally agrees with the classification system, but exceptions exist due to module shuffling. Many organisms contain multiple CRISPR-Cas systems suggesting that they are compatible and may share components. The sporadic distribution of the CRISPR/Cas subtypes suggests that the CRISPR/Cas system is subject to horizontal gene transfer during microbial evolution.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR-Cas immunity is a natural process of bacteria and archaea. CRISPR-Cas prevents bacteriophage infection, conjugation and natural transformation by degrading foreign nucleic acids that enter the cell.


title: CRISPR

text: When a microbe is invaded by a bacteriophage, the first stage of the immune response is to capture phage DNA and insert it into a CRISPR locus in the form of a spacer. Cas1 and Cas2 are found in both types of CRISPR-Cas immune systems, which indicates that they are involved in spacer acquisition. Mutation studies confirmed this hypothesis, showing that removal of cas1 or cas2 stopped spacer acquisition, without affecting CRISPR immune response.


title: CRISPR

text: Multiple Cas1 proteins have been characterised and their structures resolved. Cas1 proteins have diverse amino acid sequences. However, their crystal structures are similar and all purified Cas1 proteins are metal-dependent nucleases/integrases that bind to DNA in a sequence-independent manner. Representative Cas2 proteins have been characterised and possess either (single strand) ssRNA- or (double strand) dsDNA- specific endoribonuclease activity.


title: CRISPR

text: In the I-E system of "E. coli" Cas1 and Cas2 form a complex where a Cas2 dimer bridges two Cas1 dimers. In this complex Cas2 performs a non-enzymatic scaffolding role, binding double-stranded fragments of invading DNA, while Cas1 binds the single-stranded flanks of the DNA and catalyses their integration into CRISPR arrays. New spacers are usually added at the beginning of the CRISPR next to the leader sequence creating a chronological record of viral infections. In "E. coli" a histone like protein called integration host factor (IHF), which binds to the leader sequence, is responsible for the accuracy of this integration. IHF also enhances integration efficiency in the type I-F system of "Pectobacterium atrosepticum". but in other systems, different host factors may be required


title: CRISPR

text: Bioinformatic analysis of regions of phage genomes that were excised as spacers (termed protospacers) revealed that they were not randomly selected but instead were found adjacent to short (3–5 bp) DNA sequences termed protospacer adjacent motifs (PAM). Analysis of CRISPR-Cas systems showed PAMs to be important for type I and type II, but not type III systems during acquisition. In type I and type II systems, protospacers are excised at positions adjacent to a PAM sequence, with the other end of the spacer cut using a ruler mechanism, thus maintaining the regularity of the spacer size in the CRISPR array. The conservation of the PAM sequence differs between CRISPR-Cas systems and appears to be evolutionarily linked to Cas1 and the leader sequence.


title: CRISPR

text: New spacers are added to a CRISPR array in a directional manner, occurring preferentially, but not exclusively, adjacent to the leader sequence. Analysis of the type I-E system from "E. coli" demonstrated that the first direct repeat adjacent to the leader sequence is copied, with the newly acquired spacer inserted between the first and second direct repeats.


title: CRISPR

text: The PAM sequence appears to be important during spacer insertion in type I-E systems. That sequence contains a strongly conserved final nucleotide (nt) adjacent to the first nt of the protospacer. This nt becomes the final base in the first direct repeat. This suggests that the spacer acquisition machinery generates single-stranded overhangs in the second-to-last position of the direct repeat and in the PAM during spacer insertion. However, not all CRISPR-Cas systems appear to share this mechanism as PAMs in other organisms do not show the same level of conservation in the final position. It is likely that in those systems, a blunt end is generated at the very end of the direct repeat and the protospacer during acquisition.


title: CRISPR

text: Analysis of "Sulfolobus solfataricus" CRISPRs revealed further complexities to the canonical model of spacer insertion, as one of its six CRISPR loci inserted new spacers randomly throughout its CRISPR array, as opposed to inserting closest to the leader sequence.


title: CRISPR

text: Multiple CRISPRs contain many spacers to the same phage. The mechanism that causes this phenomenon was discovered in the type I-E system of "E. coli". A significant enhancement in spacer acquisition was detected where spacers already target the phage, even mismatches to the protospacer. This ‘priming’ requires the Cas proteins involved in both acquisition and interference to interact with each other. Newly acquired spacers that result from the priming mechanism are always found on the same strand as the priming spacer. This observation led to the hypothesis that the acquisition machinery slides along the foreign DNA after priming to find a new protospacer.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR-RNA (crRNA), which later guides the Cas nuclease to the target during the interference step, must be generated from the CRISPR sequence. The crRNA is initially transcribed as part of a single long transcript encompassing much of the CRISPR array. This transcript is then cleaved by Cas proteins to form crRNAs. The mechanism to produce crRNAs differs among CRISPR/Cas systems. In type I-E and type I-F systems, the proteins Cas6e and Cas6f respectively, recognise stem-loops created by the pairing of identical repeats that flank the crRNA. These Cas proteins cleave the longer transcript at the edge of the paired region, leaving a single crRNA along with a small remnant of the paired repeat region.


title: CRISPR

text: Type III systems also use Cas6, however, their repeats do not produce stem-loops. Cleavage instead occurs by the longer transcript wrapping around the Cas6 to allow cleavage just upstream of the repeat sequence.


title: CRISPR

text: Type II systems lack the Cas6 gene and instead utilize RNaseIII for cleavage. Functional type II systems encode an extra small RNA that is complementary to the repeat sequence, known as a trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA). Transcription of the tracrRNA and the primary CRISPR transcript results in base pairing and the formation of dsRNA at the repeat sequence, which is subsequently targeted by RNaseIII to produce crRNAs. Unlike the other two systems, the crRNA does not contain the full spacer, which is instead truncated at one end.


title: CRISPR

text: CrRNAs associate with Cas proteins to form ribonucleotide complexes that recognize foreign nucleic acids. CrRNAs show no preference between the coding and non-coding strands, which is indicative of an RNA-guided DNA-targeting system. The type I-E complex (commonly referred to as Cascade) requires five Cas proteins bound to a single crRNA.


title: CRISPR

text: During the interference stage in type I systems, the PAM sequence is recognized on the crRNA-complementary strand and is required along with crRNA annealing. In type I systems correct base pairing between the crRNA and the protospacer signals a conformational change in Cascade that recruits Cas3 for DNA degradation.


title: CRISPR

text: Type II systems rely on a single multifunctional protein, Cas9, for the interference step. Cas9 requires both the crRNA and the tracrRNA to function and cleave DNA using its dual HNH and RuvC/RNaseH-like endonuclease domains. Basepairing between the PAM and the phage genome is required in type II systems. However, the PAM is recognized on the same strand as the crRNA (the opposite strand to type I systems).


title: CRISPR

text: Type III systems, like type I require six or seven Cas proteins binding to crRNAs. The type III systems analysed from "S. solfataricus" and "P. furiosus" both target the mRNA of phages rather than phage DNA genome, which may make these systems uniquely capable of targeting RNA-based phage genomes. Type III systems were also found to target DNA in addition to RNA using a different Cas protein in the complex, Cas10. The DNA cleavage was shown to be transcription dependent.


title: CRISPR

text: The mechanism for distinguishing self from foreign DNA during interference is built into the crRNAs and is therefore likely common to all three systems. Throughout the distinctive maturation process of each major type, all crRNAs contain a spacer sequence and some portion of the repeat at one or both ends. It is the partial repeat sequence that prevents the CRISPR-Cas system from targeting the chromosome as base pairing beyond the spacer sequence signals self and prevents DNA cleavage. RNA-guided CRISPR enzymes are classified as type V restriction enzymes.


title: CRISPR

text: The cas genes in the adaptor and effector modules of the CRISPR-Cas system are believed to have evolved from two different ancestral modules. A transposon-like element called casposon encoding the Cas1-like integrase and potentially other components of the adaptation module was inserted next to the ancestral effector module, which likely functioned as an independent innate immune system. The highly conserved cas1 and cas2 genes of the adaptor module evolved from the ancestral module while a variety of class 1 effector cas genes evolved from the ancestral effector module. The evolution of these various class 1 effector module cas genes was guided by various mechanisms, such as duplication events. On the other hand, each type of class 2 effector module arose from subsequent independent insertions of mobile genetic elements. These mobile genetic elements took the place of the multiple gene effector modules to create single gene effector modules that produce large proteins which perform all the necessary tasks of the effector module. The spacer regions of CRISPR-Cas systems are taken directly from foreign mobile genetic elements and thus their long term evolution is hard to trace. The non-random evolution of these spacer regions has been found to be highly dependent on the environment and the particular foreign mobile genetic elements it contains.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR/Cas can immunize bacteria against certain phages and thus halt transmission. For this reason, Koonin described CRISPR/Cas as a Lamarckian inheritance mechanism. However, this was disputed by a critic who noted, "We should remember [Lamarck] for the good he contributed to science, not for things that resemble his theory only superficially. Indeed, thinking of CRISPR and other phenomena as Lamarckian only obscures the simple and elegant way evolution really works". But as more recent studies have been conducted, it has become apparent that the acquired spacer regions of CRISPR-Cas systems are indeed a form of Lamarckian evolution because they are genetic mutations that are acquired and then passed on. On the other hand, the evolution of the Cas gene machinery that facilitates the system evolves through classic Darwinian evolution.


title: CRISPR

text: Analysis of CRISPR sequences revealed coevolution of host and viral genomes. Cas9 proteins are highly enriched in pathogenic and commensal bacteria. CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene regulation may contribute to the regulation of endogenous bacterial genes, particularly during interaction with eukaryotic hosts. For example, "Francisella novicida" uses a unique, small, CRISPR/Cas-associated RNA (scaRNA) to repress an endogenous transcript encoding a bacterial lipoprotein that is critical for "F. novicida" to dampen host response and promote virulence.


title: CRISPR

text: The basic model of CRISPR evolution is newly incorporated spacers driving phages to mutate their genomes to avoid the bacterial immune response, creating diversity in both the phage and host populations. To resist a phage infection, the sequence of the CRISPR spacer must correspond perfectly to the sequence of the target phage gene. Phages can continue to infect their hosts' given point mutations in the spacer. Similar stringency is required in PAM or the bacterial strain remains phage sensitive.


title: CRISPR

text: A study of 124 "S. thermophilus" strains showed that 26% of all spacers were unique and that different CRISPR loci showed different rates of spacer acquisition. Some CRISPR loci evolve more rapidly than others, which allowed the strains' phylogenetic relationships to be determined. A comparative genomic analysis showed that "E. coli" and "S. enterica" evolve much more slowly than "S. thermophilus". The latter's strains that diverged 250 thousand years ago still contained the same spacer complement.


title: CRISPR

text: Metagenomic analysis of two acid-mine-drainage biofilms showed that one of the analyzed CRISPRs contained extensive deletions and spacer additions versus the other biofilm, suggesting a higher phage activity/prevalence in one community than the other. In the oral cavity, a temporal study determined that 7–22% of spacers were shared over 17 months within an individual while less than 2% were shared across individuals.


title: CRISPR

text: From the same environment, a single strain was tracked using PCR primers specific to its CRISPR system. Broad-level results of spacer presence/absence showed significant diversity. However, this CRISPR added 3 spacers over 17 months, suggesting that even in an environment with significant CRISPR diversity some loci evolve slowly.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPRs were analysed from the metagenomes produced for the human microbiome project. Although most were body-site specific, some within a body site are widely shared among individuals. One of these loci originated from streptococcal species and contained ≈15,000 spacers, 50% of which were unique. Similar to the targeted studies of the oral cavity, some showed little evolution over time.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR evolution was studied in chemostats using "S. thermophilus" to directly examine spacer acquisition rates. In one week, "S. thermophilus" strains acquired up to three spacers when challenged with a single phage. During the same interval, the phage developed single nucleotide polymorphisms that became fixed in the population, suggesting that targeting had prevented phage replication absent these mutations.


title: CRISPR

text: Another "S. thermophilus" experiment showed that phages can infect and replicate in hosts that have only one targeting spacer. Yet another showed that sensitive hosts can exist in environments with high phage titres. The chemostat and observational studies suggest many nuances to CRISPR and phage (co)evolution.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPRs are widely distributed among bacteria and archaea and show some sequence similarities. Their most notable characteristic is their repeating spacers and direct repeats. This characteristic makes CRISPRs easily identifiable in long sequences of DNA, since the number of repeats decreases the likelihood of a false positive match.


title: CRISPR

text: Analysis of CRISPRs in metagenomic data is more challenging, as CRISPR loci do not typically assemble, due to their repetitive nature or through strain variation, which confuses assembly algorithms. Where many reference genomes are available, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be used to amplify CRISPR arrays and analyse spacer content. However, this approach yields information only for specifically targeted CRISPRs and for organisms with sufficient representation in public databases to design reliable polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers. Degenerate repeat-specific primers can be used to amplify CRISPR spacers directly from environmental samples; amplicons containing two or three spacers can be then computationally assembled to reconstruct long CRISPR arrays.


title: CRISPR

text: The alternative is to extract and reconstruct CRISPR arrays from shotgun metagenomic data. This is computationally more difficult, particularly with second generation sequencing technologies (e.g. 454, Illumina), as the short read lengths prevent more than two or three repeat units appearing in a single read. CRISPR identification in raw reads has been achieved using purely "de novo" identification or by using direct repeat sequences in partially assembled CRISPR arrays from contigs (overlapping DNA segments that together represent a consensus region of DNA) and direct repeat sequences from published genomes as a hook for identifying direct repeats in individual reads.


title: CRISPR

text: Another way for bacteria to defend against phage infection is by having chromosomal islands. A subtype of chromosomal islands called phage-inducible chromosomal island (PICI) is excised from a bacterial chromosome upon phage infection and can inhibit phage replication. PICIs are induced, excised, replicated, and finally packaged into small capsids by certain staphylococcal temperate phages. PICIs use several mechanisms to block phage reproduction. In the first mechanism, PICI-encoded Ppi differentially blocks phage maturation by binding or interacting specifically with phage TerS, hence blocking phage TerS/TerL complex formation responsible for phage DNA packaging. In the second mechanism PICI CpmAB redirects the phage capsid morphogenetic protein to make 95% of SaPI-sized capsid and phage DNA can package only 1/3rd of their genome in these small capsids and hence become nonviable phage. The third mechanism involves two proteins, PtiA and PtiB, that target the LtrC, which is responsible for the production of virion and lysis proteins. This interference mechanism is modulated by a modulatory protein, PtiM, binds to one of the interference-mediating proteins, PtiA, and hence achieves the required level of interference.


title: CRISPR

text: One study showed that lytic ICP1 phage, which specifically targets "Vibrio cholerae" serogroup O1, has acquired a CRISPR/Cas system that targets a "V. cholera" PICI-like element. The system has 2 CRISPR loci and 9 Cas genes. It seems to be homologous to the I-F system found in "Yersinia pestis". Moreover, like the bacterial CRISPR/Cas system, ICP1 CRISPR/Cas can acquire new sequences, which allows phage and host to co-evolve.


title: CRISPR

text: Certain archaeal viruses were shown to carry mini-CRISPR arrays containing one or two spacers. It has been shown that spacers within the virus-borne CRISPR arrays target other viruses and plasmids, suggesting that mini-CRISPR arrays represent a mechanism of heterotypic superinfection exclusion and participate in interviral conflicts.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR technology has been applied in the food and farming industries to engineer probiotic cultures and to immunize industrial cultures (for yogurt, for instance) against infections. It is also being used in crops to enhance yield, drought tolerance and nutritional value.


title: CRISPR

text: By the end of 2014, some 1000 research papers had been published that mentioned CRISPR. The technology had been used to functionally inactivate genes in human cell lines and cells, to study "Candida albicans", to modify yeasts used to make biofuels, and genetically modify crop strains. Hsu and his colleagues state that the ability to manipulate the genetic sequences allows for reverse engineering that can positively affect biofuel production CRISPR can also be used to change mosquitos so they cannot transmit diseases such as malaria. CRISPR-based approaches utilizing Cas12a have recently been utilized in the successful modification of a broad number of plant species.


title: CRISPR

text: In July 2019, CRISPR was used to experimentally treat a patient with a genetic disorder. The patient was a 34-year-old woman with sickle cell disease.


title: CRISPR

text: In February 2020, progress was made on HIV treatments with 60-80% of the integrated viral DNA removed in mice and some being completely free from the virus after edits involving both LASER ART, a new anti-retroviral therapy, and CRISPR.


title: CRISPR

text: In March 2020, CRISPR-modified virus was injected into a patient's eye in an attempt to treat Leber congenital amaurosis.


title: CRISPR

text: In the future, CRISPR gene editing could potentially be used to create new species or revive extinct species from closely related ones.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR-based re-evaluations of claims for gene-disease relationships have led to the discovery of potentially important anomalies.


title: CRISPR

text: In July 2021, CRISPR gene editing of hiPSC's was used to study the role of MBNL proteins associated with DM1.


title: CRISPR

text: CRISPR associated nucleases have shown to be useful as a tool for molecular testing due to their ability to specifically target nucleic acid sequences in a high background of non-target sequences. In 2016, the Cas9 nuclease was used to deplete unwanted nucleotide sequences in next-generation sequencing libraries while requiring only 250 picograms of initial RNA input. Beginning in 2017, CRISPR associated nucleases were also used for direct diagnostic testing of nucleic acids, down to single molecule sensitivity. CRISPR diversity is used as an analysis target to discern phylogeny and diversity in bacteria, such as in xanthomonads by Martins "et al.", 2019. Early detections of plant pathogens by molecular typing of the pathogen's CRISPRs can be used in agriculture as demonstrated by Shen "et al.", 2020.


title: CRISPR

text: By coupling CRISPR-based diagnostics to additional enzymatic processes, the detection of molecules beyond nucleic acids is possible. One example of a coupled technology is SHERLOCK-based Profiling of IN vitro Transcription (SPRINT). SPRINT can be used to detect a variety of substances, such as metabolites in patient samples or contaminants in environmental samples, with high throughput or with portable point-of-care devices. CRISPR/Cas platforms are also being explored for detection and inactivation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Two different comprehensive diagnostic tests, AIOD-CRISPR and SHERLOCK test have been identified for SARS-CoV-2. The SHERLOCK test is based on a fluorescently labelled press reporter RNA which has the ability to identify 10 copies per microliter. The AIOD-CRISPR helps with robust and highly sensitive visual detection of the viral nucleic acid.


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: The Union Council of Ministers is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by the prime minister and consists of the heads of each of the executive government ministries. Currently, the council is headed by prime minister Narendra Modi and consists of 29 members, including the prime minister. The council is subject to the Parliament of India.


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: A smaller executive body called the Union Cabinet is the supreme decision-making body in India; it is a subset of the Union Council of Ministers who hold important portfolios and ministries of the government


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: Pursuant to , the Council of Ministers is responsible collectively to the lower house of the Indian parliament, called the Lok Sabha (House of the People). When a bill introduced by a minister in the Lok Sabha is not approved by it, the entire council of ministers is responsible and not the minister. The council of ministers upon losing the confidence of Lok Sabha shall resign to facilitate the formation of a new government.


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: A minister shall take any decision without being considered by the council of ministers per . All union cabinet members shall submit in writing to the President to propose a proclamation of emergency by the president in accordance with .


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: According to the Constitution of India, the total number of ministers in the council of ministers must not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha. Ministers must be members of parliament. Any minister who is not a member of either of the houses of the parliament for six consecutive months is automatically stripped off his or her ministerial post.


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: Pursuant to , a minister who works at the pleasure of the president, is appointed by The President on the advice of The Prime Minister. Since at least the turn of the millennia, evidence indicates that an MP's electoral performance enhances the likelihood of being granted a ministerial portfolio.


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: Every state in India is governed by its council of ministers with rules and procedures similar to the union council of ministers per .


title: Union Council of Ministers

text: In March 2020, the Supreme Court of India used its powers for the first time to do "complete justice" under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution to remove a minister functioning in the state of Manipur.


title: Stormzy

text: Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his "Wicked Skengman" series of freestyles over classic grime beats.


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy's song "Shut Up", which was initially released as a freestyle on YouTube, became popular and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart after he launched a campaign to reach Christmas number one. Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the 2014 and 2015 MOBO Awards and was named as an artist to look out for in the BBC's Sound of 2015 list. His debut album, "Gang Signs & Prayer" (2017), was the first grime album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart and won British Album of the Year at the 2018 Brit Awards. In 2019, Stormzy achieved his first UK number-one single with "Vossi Bop" and his headline appearance at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival was widely praised; he wore a Union Jack stab vest designed by Banksy, in light of the rise in knife crime in London. His second album, "Heavy Is the Head", was released on 13 December 2019. On 22 September 2022, Stormzy released the single "Mel Made Me Do It" accompanied by an 11-minute music video featuring popular artists, actors and sports figures such as Usain Bolt and José Mourinho. His third album, "This Is What I Mean", was released on Def Jam on 25 November 2022.


title: Stormzy

text: Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. was born on 26 July 1993 in Croydon, London. His mother is Ghanaian, his father was a taxi driver and he is a cousin of rapper Nadia Rose. He grew up in South Norwood, London, with his mother, brother, and two sisters. Stormzy did not come from a particularly musical household, although he liked music. He attended Stanley Tech South Norwood. He began rapping at the age of 11 and would clash with older rappers at his local youth club.


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy has said about his school years: "I was a very naughty child, on the verge of getting expelled, but I wasn't a bad child; everything I did was for my own entertainment. But when I went into an exam I did really well." He said he got six A*s, three As, and five Bs on his GCSEs, but then only achieved a "humbling" ABCDE on his A Levels: "For someone who would cuss in class and was on the verge of being expelled, it was A Levels that showed me that in life you need work ethic." He studied for an apprenticeship in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and worked in quality assurance for two years at an oil refinery in Southampton, Hampshire.


title: Stormzy

text: After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via his "Wicked Skengman" series of freestyles over classic grime beats, Stormzy released his debut EP "Dreamers Disease" independently in July 2014. On 22 October 2014, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the MOBO Awards. Later that month he became the first unsigned rapper to appear on "Later... with Jools Holland", performing the song "Not That Deep" from "Dreamers Disease".


title: Stormzy

text: In November 2014, Stormzy collaborated with rapper Chip and Shalo on the track "I'm Fine", also appearing in a video for the song.


title: Stormzy

text: On 7 January 2015, Stormzy was number 3 in the "BBC Introducing top 5" on Radio 1. In March 2015 he released the single "Know Me From", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 49. In September 2015, he released a final instalment to his "WickedSkengMan" freestyle series, "WickedSkengMan 4", onto iTunes, along with a studio version of his "Shut Up" freestyle over XTC's "Functions on the Low" instrumental. The track debuted at number 18 on the UK chart dated 24 September, becoming Stormzy's first top 40 hit and the first ever freestyle to reach the top 40 in the United Kingdom.


title: Stormzy

text: On 12 December 2015, Stormzy performed "Shut Up" during British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua's ring-walk for his fight versus Dillian Whyte. Originally, "Shut Up", released as part of the "WickedSkengMan 4" single EP in September 2015, charted at number 59. Since the performance, it began climbing up the iTunes chart and into the top 40. As a result, Stormzy launched a Christmas number 1 campaign to get the song to number 1. It generated a large amount of support, which made it enter the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart on 18 December 2015 at number 8, a week prior to the Christmas number-1 week, succeeding the chart position of "WickedSkengMan 4".


title: Stormzy

text: After a year's hiatus from social media, Stormzy returned in early February 2017 via a series of billboard campaigns across London displaying the hashtag "#GSAP 24.02". The album title was announced to be "Gang Signs & Prayer". The album was released on 24 February 2017 and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart on 3 March 2017.


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy's headline appearance on the Pyramid Stage at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival was widely praised. The performance featured a speech by the politician David Lammy that discussed the proportion of black and minority ethnic people in the British criminal justice system and, during "Vossi Bop", Stormzy encouraged the audience to join him in chanting "Fuck the Government and fuck Boris" - the latter a reference to former London Mayor Boris Johnson's Conservative Party leadership campaign. The show included guest appearances by dance group Black Ballet and pop singer Chris Martin. Stormzy wore a Union Jack stab vest designed by the artist Banksy, which was widely perceived as a comment on the rise in knife crime in London.


title: Stormzy

text: He has reached number one on the UK Singles Chart four times; firstly as part of "Artists for Grenfell" on 23 June 2017 with "Bridge Over Troubled Water", secondly with his own solo single "Vossi Bop", which debuted at number one upon its entry, ahead of "Me!" by Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie by some 500 combined sales, thirdly with his collaboration with Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran, "Own It" and fourthly with as a featured artist on the Ed Sheeran single "Take Me Back to London". Stormzy later released the singles "Crown", "Sounds of the Skeng" and "Wiley Flow", before announcing his second album, "Heavy Is the Head", for release on 13 December 2019. In the 2020 action-adventure game "", Stormzy appears as a fictionalized version of himself, offering a mission in which his character plays the track "Rainfall" from "Heavy is the Head." The video for "Rainfall" appears in the mission, showing Stormzy's motion capture performance over locations, graphics, and the fictionalized future London setting of the game. Stormzy was recognised for both his contributions to music and his activism, landing him at number 5 in the Top 10 of the annual Powerlist in 2020, with an estimated net worth of £20 million in 2020. "Heavy is the Head" was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2020. This was the second nomination in his career. In the "Powerlist 2021" he ranked as the third most influential Black Briton, for his advocacy against racial injustice and philanthropy, pledging £10 million to charities


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy released the single "Mel Made Me Do It" on 23 September 2022, his first solo single since 2020. Its music video included a variety of cameos from Usain Bolt and Louis Theroux, among others. He returned to social media on 12 October 2022 to announce his third album "This Is What I Mean", which was recorded on Osea Island in England. It was released on 25 November 2022. The first single was titled "Hide & Seek" on 14 October 2022.


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy describes himself as "a child of grime" influenced by the likes of Lethal Bizzle, Bruza, D Double E and Flirta D, but also cites R&B singers such as Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill as influences on his sound.


title: Stormzy

text: In May 2016, Stormzy endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. In an interview with the newspaper "The Guardian", he spoke of his admiration for Corbyn's activism.


title: Stormzy

text: On 24 June 2017, Stormzy performed a chant of "Oh, Jeremy Corbyn" to the tune of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" on the Other Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. He also performed a rap he had written for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, telling the festivalgoers to demand that the authorities "tell the... truth" and for the "Government to be held accountable". In September of that year, after being presented with the Solo Artist of the Year award by Corbyn at the "GQ" Men of the Year Awards, Stormzy called Prime Minister Theresa May a "paigon", a Jamaican Patois word used to describe an untrustworthy person.


title: Stormzy

text: On 21 February 2018, Stormzy performed a freestyle at the Brit Awards, calling out May for her inaction in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire the previous year. The following day, 10 Downing Street issued a statement defending the Prime Minister.


title: Stormzy

text: In November 2019, along with other musicians, Stormzy endorsed Corbyn in the 2019 UK general election with a call to end austerity. He also said "people led change can be possible under a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government". He described the Labour leader as "the first man in a position of power who is committed to giving the power back to the people" and branded Boris Johnson "a sinister man". In the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, Stormzy issued a statement via his label, stating that he plans to donate £1 million a year for 10 years to charities, organisations and movements that are committed to fight racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment in the United Kingdom. In an interview with the BBC, he said: "Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it".


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy is a Christian. On the BBC's Christmas Day lineup in 2019 he read a passage from the Gospel of Luke. Stormzy was previously involved in a long-term relationship with presenter Maya Jama.


title: Stormzy

text: In November 2017, it was revealed that Stormzy had posted a series of messages on Twitter in 2011 that were deemed to be homophobic. These included a tweet in which he referred to a gay character on the soap opera "EastEnders" as a "fucking fag". He also asked another user who was discussing using hair straighteners if they were a "fag" and urged his followers to "put on BBC1 this little black boy is a fucking fag". He later posted a series of tweets, stating:


title: Stormzy

text: He also attracted controversy on 7 October 2020, when grime artist Chip released a video of Stormzy and several others at Chip's house in June of that year. The video was posted on Twitter and Instagram captioned: "June... When you get sent a video of Stormzy & friends tryna run up on your house." The event resulted in the police being called. Chip deleted the video within a few hours, but Stormzy was criticized for causing a heated argument with Chip's family and refusing to leave the building. The altercation was allegedly in response to a perceived diss by Chip on the track "Waze".


title: Stormzy

text: Stormzy has funded the "Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students" at the University of Cambridge, covering tuition costs for two students and maintenance grants for up to four years. He had previously approached the University of Oxford who "didn't want to get involved", according to him.


title: Stormzy

text: In July 2018 it was announced that the Penguin Random House division William Heinemann was to launch a new publishing imprint in partnership with Stormzy, called #Merky Books. The imprint launched with Stormzy's first book, "Rise Up", in autumn 2018, followed by "Taking Up Space: The Black Girl's Manifesto for Change" by Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi in summer 2019. "That Reminds Me", a novel in verse by Derek Owusu, was released in November 2019. In October 2021, #Merky Books released "Keisha the Sket", a viral serialised novel from the mid-2000s written by a Black London teenager in text-speak slang; the print publication includes both the original and a rewrite in standard English. An annual #Merky Books New Writers' Prize is awarded to "young, underrepresented, and unpublished writers from across the UK and ROI" who are "telling the stories that are not being heard, and the stories that deserve to be read, across fiction, non-fiction or poetry." An inaugural winner of the prize, Hafsa Zayyan's "We Are All Birds of Uganda" was published in 2021 by #Merky Books, and was shortlisted for the 2022 Glass Bell Award.


title: Antilia (building)

text: Antilia is a private residence in the billionaires row of Mumbai, India, named after the mythical island Antillia.


title: Antilia (building)

text: It is the residence of the Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family, who moved into it in 2012. The skyscraper-mansion is one of the world's largest and most elaborate private homes, at 27 stories, tall, over , and with amenities such as three helipads, a 168-car garage, a ballroom, 9 high speed elevators, a 50-seat theatre, terrace gardens, swimming pool, spa, health centre, a temple, and a snow room that spits out snowflakes from the walls.


title: Antilia (building)

text: The architectural design of Antilia has been fashioned along the lines of the lotus and the sun. The top six floors of the building have been set aside as the private full-floor residential area. It is also designed to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake.


title: Antilia (building)

text: , it is considered the world's most expensive private residence, costing between US $1 and 2 billion to build.


title: Antilia (building)

text: The land on which Antilia was built housed an orphanage called Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana belonging to a charity run by the Wakf board. The orphanage had been founded in 1895 by Currimbhoy Ebrahim, a wealthy shipowner.


title: Antilia (building)

text: In 2002, the trust requested permission to sell this land, and the charity commissioner gave the required permission three months later.


title: Antilia (building)

text: The charity sold the land allocated for the purpose of education of underprivileged Khoja children to Antilia Commercial Private Limited, a commercial entity controlled by Mukesh Ambani, in July 2002 for . The prevailing market value of the land at the time was at least .


title: Antilia (building)

text: The sale was in direct contravention of § 51 of the Wakf Act which requires that any such sale of land should be done after the permission of the Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs. The Waqf minister Nawab Malik opposed this land sale, as did the revenue department of the Government of Maharashtra. Thus a stay order was issued on the sale of the land. The Waqf board also initially opposed the deal and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the trust. The Supreme Court, while dismissing the petition, asked the Waqf board to approach the Bombay High Court. However, the stay on the deal was subsequently vacated after the Waqf board withdrew its objection.


title: Antilia (building)

text: In June 2011, the Union government asked the Maharashtra government to consider referring the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation.


title: Antilia (building)

text: A PIL was filed a decade later by Abdul Matin, against the orphanage and the Charity commissioners permission. As of 2018, the case was being heard by a special bench of the court.


title: Antilia (building)

text: The building was designed by two US architecture firms Perkins & Will, based in Chicago, and Hirsch Bedner Associates, based in Los Angeles. They were consulted after Nita Dalal Ambani was impressed by the contemporary Asian interiors at the Mandarin Oriental, New York, also designed by them.