The word infrastructure has appeared in 2,803 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on May 13 in the Opinion guest essay “My College Students Are Not OK” by Jonathan Malesic:
It’s true that some students thrive with the flexibility and freedom afforded by Covid-era policies. Jeffrey Vancil, a sophomore at the University of Texas at Dallas (where my wife teaches and where I taught last year), said that in his first year, he could study more efficiently by watching lecture recordings on his own schedule and at faster speeds. He didn’t have to waste time moving from building to building. And with the extra time, he could work for political groups and as a volunteer firefighter.
After his classes went mostly in-person, he said, he had to pull back on his extracurriculars, and his grades suffered. The best approach, in his view, would be to “let people choose” how to take their classes, “because we now have the infrastructure in place that we can record lectures and have in-person ones for people who learn best each way,” he said.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word infrastructure in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how infrastructure can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
What is your reaction to the Open Streets program’s goal to create stoops for visitors “to sit and stay awhile”? Would you want your community to adopt a similar plan? Why or why not?
“I think New Yorkers love stoops,” said David Rockwell, who devised the new stoops for the program. “It’s a place where you can observe the theater of everyday life.” Where do those in your community gather to hang out or people-watch? Do you have any memorable experiences in these places?
Does your community have many public spaces? How inviting are they? Do you use them often?
Now it’s your turn: Propose an idea — big or small, practical or wildly imaginative — to bring your community’s residents closer together!
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Growing up in the Bronx, Domingo Morales was never interested in urban farming, and he thought vegetables were gross. However, after landing a job at a nonprofit that trains young people for solar installation, horticulture and other green jobs, Mr. Morales found his way to becoming, arguably, the most famous compost person in New York City.
In this lesson, you will learn about Mr. Morales’s life and his initiative called Compost Power. Then, you will find something that you can do in your school or community to benefit the environment.
Note to teachers: The featured article mentions some adult topics. Please read it before assigning it to students.
Warm-Up
Take a few minutes to write about how you and your family deal with waste: In a typical week, what kinds of things do you throw away? Do you throw everything in the trash? Do you recycle? Do you compost? Do you ever feel guilty about what, or how much, you toss out?
The article you will read today talks about composting. Watch this six-minute video from NowThis to learn about the process:
Then, tell us:
What is one interesting fact you learned about composting?
What is one question you have?
After watching this video, are you more inclined to find a way to compost your food scraps? Why or why not?
1. How did Domingo Morales get started in urban gardening? Why had he been hesitant to try it previously? Do you relate to any part of his journey?
2. What is the program that Mr. Morales created? Does anything like this exist in your community? If you live in a city, check out this map to see what composting services are available in your region.
3. What are some of the potential environmental benefits of Mr. Morales’s program?
4. What was Mr. Morales’s life like before he found his way to Green City Force? How did he excel in that work opportunity?
5. How did Mr. Morales overcome the challenges he faced in 2018 to eventually win a David Prize?
6. How is Mr. Morales described throughout the article? Does he remind you of any leaders in your community or of someone you admire for contributing to your town?
Going Further
What is one environmental action you can take in your home or school community?
Start by brainstorming a list of ideas. Here are some things you might consider:
Do you recycle at home or at school? What could make the process easier or clearer for people?
Is composting available where you live? Is it accessible to everyone? What could make it more accessible?
How much do people care about the environment and climate change where you live? Could you do something to educate your friends and family about why these issues matter?
What else matters to your community when it comes to the environment?
Now, choose one issue you want to focus on based on what you identified as concerns for your community, and create something to help educate people about it. Here are some ideas:
Create a poster, infographic, public service announcement, flyer or social media post with information and a strong message about your topic.
Make labels for trash cans and recycling bins that help people know how to properly dispose of waste.
Organize a demonstration or teach-in to educate people about the environment.
Next, make a plan for putting your project into action. Here are some questions to think about:
What are the materials you need to do this project? Where can you do research for it?
Who could you work with to help you execute your vision? Could any of your peers, parents, teachers, librarians, custodians or administrators help?
Is someone else already doing this work in your community? Could you partner with that person or organization?
What is your timeline?
Finally, take action, and let us know how it goes! Once you’ve got a plan in place, or have started your project, share it in the comments section of this article.
Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.
When we say boss, we usually mean our leader or a superior at work. While both boss and leader may refer to a superior or someone we report to at work, there are distinctions between the two.
A boss is defined as a person in authority over employees, such as an employer, manager, or foreman, whereas a leader is defined as a person or thing that leads; directing, commanding, or guiding head, as of a group or activity.
The following are some of the distinctions between a leader and a boss:
The leader believes that the goal can be achieved with the right motivation of the employees; they believe more in being an example, an inspiration for the employees to follow. The boss, on the other hand, tends to enforce commands without direction most of the time; their focus is on achieving goals through the employees; they do not participate in the task, they do not motivate or inspire, they push, they give commands.
During discussions with employees, leaders allow them to be a part of the decision-making process as it relates to a task, allowing them to speak while the leaders listen and reason with the employees, the boss speaks and expects everyone to listen and act accordingly without objection or contribution.
In terms of teamwork, the leader is able to treat every team member equally, resulting in a strong team of employees who believe they are an important part of the team. The boss, on the other hand, may select one or two favorites from the team, making the favorites feel superior to the others and impeding teamwork.
Leaders lead by example, taking initiative and expecting employees to follow suit, whereas bosses abandon commands and supervise employees’ work.
Leaders believe in constructive criticism and advice, and when correcting an employee, they consider the employee’s emotions. Leaders can correct employees without making them look bad. The bosses do not care about the employees’ feelings; instead, they scold, bully, and threaten them in order to correct them.
Bosses have a tendency to intimidate employees, leading to low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority. Leaders understand that when employees are self-assured and confident, they can give their all on the job.
Leaders have no problem giving credit to employers who have earned it, and they can also share the glory of a job well done with their employees. The boss accepts the compliment for a job well done.
Leaders instill trust in their employees through delegation, making them feel more confident. Bosses lack trust in their employees; instead, they choose who they can trust from among the team.
Leaders are approachable and available, whereas bosses instill fear in their employees and are unapproachable.
10.While leaders invest time in their employees to help them become better employees, bosses are more focused on the end goal and use their employees as tools to get the job done.
Would you rather be a leader or a boss?
“The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says I; The leader says WE. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, GO; the leader says Lets GO!” – Harry Gordon Selfridge
The word “humanity” reminds me of the first time I heard in high school that humans are higher animals and monkeys are our cousins. I remember being irritated by the fact that we were even referred to as animals, despite the qualification “higher.” I’ve learned my lesson.
In my previous post about “lessons from animals,” I discussed some of the characteristics that some animals exhibit that humans also possess.
A definition of humanity could also help us understand what distinguishes humans. So, what exactly is humanity?
I looked up the definition of the word “Humanity” in various dictionaries and discovered that the definitions are given based on a variety of factors ranging from the human’s physical characteristics to the qualities the human possesses or is expected to possess.
The Collins English dictionary provides the following definition of humanity:
1. All human beings collectively; the human race; humankind
2. The state or quality of being human; human nature
3. The trait of being compassionate; kindness; benevolence
Understanding humanity may imply viewing the human from three different perspectives: species, behavior, and global identity.
HUMANITY AS A SPECIES;
This definition considers humans to be animals called Homo sapiens, which means higher animals, and this tends to distinguish humans from other animals due to some characteristics that humans possess. These characteristics include the ability to reason, imagine, learn and understand different languages, and develop technology and advancement. While the lesser animal kingdom has remained relatively unchanged over time, humans have been able to shape the world with their creative minds and imagination to the point where even some wild animals have been domesticated, and many inventions have been created by human imagination to make life easier on the planet. Humans have even been able to visit planets other than Earth.
Another aspect that distinguishes humans from lesser animals is their ability to create objects that are larger than them, objects that defy gravity’s laws, antibodies, vaccines, and weapons. The ability of humans to hybridize with other animals, plants, and machines has resulted in the development of robotics and artificial intelligence.
The human mind and imagination have also created technology that transcends time and space, such as communication platforms like Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, and Twitter. Meetings can be held in the air using these platforms, with all participants visible regardless of their location or time.
The evolution of human activities is also evidence of the human race’s superiority. Communication used to be mostly between people, but it has evolved since the invention of telephones, radios, and televisions. The same message could be delivered to a larger audience all at once. More inventions continue to emerge from the human mind’s imagination, the hybrid of the human and machine, and human intelligence; there is no end in sight. This makes humans the superior species!
THE HUMAN BEHAVIOR;
This aspect examines human ethical behavior as it relates to their displays of kindness and compassion for one another. Kindness and compassion are the fundamental values that are used to define humanity. This is the ability to care for one’s fellow man, to save life, and to choose life over death. This is so important that it is the Red Cross Movement’s primary goal. This distinguishes humans from other species. This is also the definition of humankind given by humanity.
I saw an older male lion kill some lion cubs in order to gain access to their mother, the lioness, and because the cubs belonged to another male lion in a documentary about lions. Humanity, by definition, will naturally not commit such an act. This is why, when someone acts inappropriately, commits murder, or injures another, the question “where is your humanity?” is raised. Some of these evil acts committed by humans against other humans are the result of abnormalities in the brain or faulty backgrounds, beliefs, and trainings.
Although there have been some negative evolutions and advancements in the area of human ethical conduct, some laws and rules have also been put in place to curb excesses that may impede humanity’s fundamentality. For example, there are rules for the act of war, punishments for murder, and laws that govern every action in this regard.
HUMANITY AS A GLOBAL IDENTITY;
This is the global identity definition, which assumes that every human, regardless of location, religion, culture, beliefs, attainment, color, and so on, has a stake in the world because they are a part of the people on the planet. It regards all humans as a single group sharing a single planetary home.
Although this definition has been threatened by various circumstances and challenges in the world today as a result of a display of selfishness, superiority, and political prowess, the fact remains that we all face similar challenges such as violence resulting in war and crises, threats to our health and immune system, such as the Pandemic, dangers and risks from our technological inventions, such as climate change as a result of our inventions, and how to coexist.
Looking at the definitions of humanity above and the happenings in this same world we live in today, the wars, injustices, domination, cruelty, abominations, all kinds of evil and human rights abuse, one cannot help but wonder, WHERE HAS OUR HUMANITY GONE?
However, there is hope if we can reason like the saying below;
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Perhaps the part to play in reversing this evil trend toward our precious humanity is to heed the advice of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
Who was that person you wanted to look like, act like, or imitate as you grew up, and what was it about the person that you liked, is it the person’s shape, clothing, or behavior? That person could be your role model. I remember having similar feelings as a child; I wanted to be like one of my teachers because of the way she speaks; after a few years, I had another role model; I noticed I kept changing role models, and now I have different role models for various reasons. People have also told me that I am one of their role models. In my street, I have been approached, particularly by young girls, and my daughters have told me that they want to look like me when they reach my age. This tells me that we are all role models to different people in different places and capacities for a variety of reasons.
When you realize you are a role model, you feel a sense of sudden responsibility. These ladies who approached me on my street explained why they wanted to look like me; one of them assumed my youngest daughter was my only child because my older children were in school; she admired my clothing and shape; I later informed her that I have other grown children, and she was surprised. This awareness motivates me to exercise more in order to stay in shape, and I also make an effort to dress appropriately before leaving the house; you never know how many people are watching.
Who is a role model?
“A role model is a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term role model is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires, an example of which is the way young fans may idolize and imitate professional athletes or entertainment artists.”– Wikipedia
There are different types of role models;
A peer, either older or younger than you, who has done, or is doing better than you in a particular job or career, and whom you would like to emulate. These people serve as positive role models.
Another type of role model is one who has the qualities of a positive role model, they may have achieved what you want to achieve or exhibit behaviors you want to emulate, but you discover that their values are quite different from yours, so trying to emulate their process may not be in your best interests, but you were able to discover that you may be on the right track before desiring to be like them. This will motivate you to take the next step on your own. This type of role model is referred to as a reverse role model.
The third type of role model is someone who is in the same situation as you, doing the same job, but not doing well. When you study their lifestyle in order to avoid making the same mistakes they have made or maybe making, these people become anti-role models for you. These are examples of people who failed for reasons that you later discover and try to avoid so that you can succeed where they failed.
What type of role model do you want to be? If you want to be a positive role model, you should have the following characteristics:
– In your daily pursuit, be passionate about what is important to you and what distinguishes you from others.
– Maintain consistency in your actions, values, and beliefs.
– Be brave, calm, and confident.
– Improve your communication skills and your ability to assist others. Make time for people and make yourself available.
Role modeling requires a great deal of learning and observation on the part of the observer, as well as a willingness to impart knowledge and communication skills on the part of the role model. If you are a parent, you may want to start at home by being a positive role model for your children. It takes a lot of dedication and sacrifice, but it is well worth it in the end; additionally, children learn more through observation.
“By being a living role model of what you want to receive from others, you create more of what you want in your life.” Eric Allenbaugh
The Bible tells a story about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, which surprised some of them. One of them, Peter, refused to have his feet washed by his master, instead sarcastically asking him to wash his entire body. This was Jesus’ demonstration to the disciples of the importance of servant leadership.
What is Servant Leadership?
“Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader’s main focus is the thriving of their company or organization. A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.Instead of the people working to serve the leader, the leader exists to serve the people.”– Wikipedia
Servant leadership is a philosophy that was founded by Robert .K Greenleaf and one of the points he made about being a servant leader is the ability of such a leader to see that those who are served grow as individuals, become healthier, wiser, and freer, and eventually become more servant leaders themselves. In this manner, servant leaders replicate themselves.
Servant leadership is a unique find; most people want to lead because they want to be popular, to be served and revered by the led, rather than the other way around. These leaders fail to recognize that by putting the employees first, both they and the organization stand to benefit more because when the employees grow personally, the organization grows as well due to the commitment and dedication demonstrated by satisfied employees.
If you want to work for a company that has dedicated and satisfied employees and customers, you should look at the management to see if the leaders are servant leaders. If you can tell who the leader is within five minutes of entering an organization, that leader may not be a servant leader.
What actions should be observed in an organization to determine whether it has a servant-leader type of management?
Examine the organization’s mission; does it include any phrases that mention having a positive influence on both employees and customers? You can figure this out if you take the time to read between the lines.
What are the values of the organization, and are employees’ beliefs and values respected?
Are employees carefully chosen, what are the requirements for recruiting employees, and is cheap labor valued over service?
Is employee development an important part of the organization’s focus? Is employee development a top priority at your company? If the answer is yes, the organization recognizes that it is impossible to give what one does not have; employees can only give what they have. Better training results in improved service.
Is the organization concerned about the community in which it operates, and do they contribute to its development?
How do you recognize a servant leader?
– A servant leader is one who listens to understand and solve problems.
– A servant leader demonstrates compassion, sympathy, and understanding; he can put himself in the shoes of others and demonstrate empathy.
– A servant leader can ask the led to participate in important tasks, thereby working as a team to serve a mission greater than themselves, sharing victories with them, and not taking the glory for themselves, thereby making the led feel important.
–A Servant leader recognizes and appreciates the efforts, gifts, and talents of those who are led. They can also offer emotional support and encouragement to the leader.
– A servant leader uses persuasion and influence rather than manipulation. They accept and act on the led’s wise input.
– A servant leader can communicate to the led that they are both equal humans capable of facing the same challenges; this instills confidence in the led because he does not have to assume that the leader is a superior human.
– A servant is capable of communicating the organization’s vision in such a way that the leaders can internalize it and work in accordance with the vision.
– The servant leader must be proactive and foresighted in order to collaborate with the led to achieve a common goal.
– A servant leader does not shift blame or shift responsibilities but rather demonstrates a sense of duty and obligation. They demonstrate a strong sense of accountability and discipline.
– A servant recognizes and nurtures each team member’s ability to blossom and develop. They accomplish this by motivating, inspiring, and encouraging those who lead.
If you intend to know if you are a servant leader then take a look at the led, are they free around you, are you approachable? Are they free around you? Are you approachable? Do they appear to be in better shape than when they first started working with you? Are they wiser and more courageous, capable of confidently taking on responsibilities in your absence?
I’m sure the servant leader thing is all about garbage in, garbage out; as a leader, you reap what you sow. If your leadership style is self-serving, you will attract followers who are self-serving as well. The followers or the led will look out for themselves as well and put up eye service, becoming pretentious whenever you are around. This is a very unhealthy state for any organization because customers will suffer and the organization will not grow.
On the other hand, if you are a leader who seeks to serve the led, you will undoubtedly attract followers who will eventually become servants and eventually servant leaders.
“The first and most important choice a leader makes is the choice to serve, without which one’s capacity to lead is severely limited.” – Robert Greenleaf
“But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” – Mark 10:43 ESV
As a computer science major at Stanford, Akshaya Dinesh’s future felt pretty much laid out: “I thought the next step for me was to become a software engineer and get a job in tech,” Akshaya recalls.
Akshaya, 22, grew up in the New Jersey suburbs and learned how to code at her parents’ suggestion the summer before high school. She became a prolific hackathon participant and had her sights set on working for a major tech company like Facebook or Google someday. “I kind of revered the Silicon Valley stereotype,” she says.
In college, Akshaya immersed herself in the tech world and landed coveted internships at Microsoft, Bloomberg, and even a flying car startup. But as she got closer to her goal, something felt missing: “I wasn’t really feeling the impact of my work,” Akshaya says. “I was building a super tiny feature in a huge organization where I couldn’t interact with my users.”
So Akshaya decided to make something of her own. In March 2020, she built Ladder, a networking app for Gen Z professionals who were struggling to find tech jobs and internships during the pandemic. Ladder took off among her peers and, through a startup accelerator, attracted high-profile investors like Tony Xu of Doordash and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. At 19, Akshaya dropped out of Stanford to pursue startups fulltime.
“Being able to create your own vision and see that come to reality is something that is so rare in the workplace in so many different careers,” Akshaya says. As an Asian American woman occupying a predominantly white male space, she’s had to cope with her share of “small hurdles” and microaggressions as a founder, she says.
Akshaya is already onto her next company, Spellbound, a B2B product that incorporates interactive user experiences embedded inside of the body of emails. “My goal with the company is really to build an extremely successful large business and sort of prove to the world that you don’t need to be a white man to accomplish the same types of success,” she says.
Here, Akshaya shares how she fell in love with coding, how she copes with impostor syndrome, and her advice for developers who have entrepreneurial aspirations, too.
How’d you learn to code?
“The summer between middle school and high school, I just was super bored and had nothing to do. It was my parents who encouraged me to try to learn a new field. They basically were like, ‘Here, try to learn Java. Just pick it up and it’ll be a good skill in your toolkit.’
My parents weren’t developers, but they worked at companies where they saw that programmers were getting so many opportunities. They witnessed that there was clearly a huge demand for programming. I really owe it to them to give me that initial push. At the time, I was super against it: I never wanted to be an engineer; I thought it was not the right role for me. I’m very outspoken, and I wanted to do something where I could interact with people more.
So I unwillingly learned Java and hated it. The first language that I learned after Java was JavaScript, because I realized that Java wasn’t enough for me to actually build anything of use. I wanted to make a website — the very first website I built was a personality quiz. I actually used Codecademy to learn JavaScript for that website.”
Why did you stick with it?
“The reason why I ended up falling in love with computer science was through hackathons. I saw a hackathon sticker on somebody’s laptop, and I googled, What is this hackathon thing? I discovered this crazy world of these 24-hour events where it’s like a fun sleepover, you get to meet totally new people, and just go build a product. It was only until I had started to apply my skills in coding to actually building real-world applications that people could use that I started to see how insanely powerful it was. I became absolutely obsessed.
Throughout my four years of high school, I ended up going into about 45 hackathons, which was a lot of sleepless nights and traveling across the country — even the world. Attending these events all by myself put me very outside of my comfort zone. At most of these hackathons, I was one of very few girls there, so I felt very, very lonely.
If it wasn’t for Codecademy and attending hackathons, I would have quit after day one, because it was just so boring to me at first. Writing if statements and while loops, I was like, This is pointless. Getting to see how cool it is when people build a real-world application is what inspired me to keep going.”
What was it like launching your first company?
“I ended up starting my first company, Ladder, by accident. When the pandemic happened, everybody was sent home from school, and a lot of internships and job opportunities also started to fall away. It started out as just a simple side project meant to help my fellow students get new career opportunities and mentorship. There was so much demand and interest that it turned into a product that could almost resemble a new type of LinkedIn for that demographic.
The hardest step was getting something in the hands of users and getting their feedback. At most of the hackathons where I built all these cool projects, I never got to the point where I was confident enough to actually put it out into the world — they were all just works in progress. I was always worried like, What if they find bugs? Or what if they don’t like it?
It was super intimidating. There was a huge learning curve for me to dive into startups and understand how this entire world works. I had no idea how to raise [venture capital] funding or how to hire someone — I was barely a student myself, because I had only done 1.3 years of college.”
How’d you cope with that impostor syndrome?
“What I realized was that the most successful founders have an insane amount of confidence in themselves, their story, and the product that they’re building. Even if that confidence isn’t yet totally deserved, I think portraying that competence is honestly what gets people excited about your mission.
The female founders in my network — like, friends who I’ve helped fundraise or introduced to my investors — the first thing I tell them is, ‘When you enter a pitch meeting, just assume that you’re also a white male, and you have all the same privileges.’ You can warrant the same ruthless confidence that anybody else has.”
Did people treat you differently as a young woman of color?
“There are small biases and micro-patterns that I notice. At my last company, I had a male co-founder, and sometimes if we didn’t have our titles on LinkedIn, people would reach out to them as a default, or they would assume that I was a non-technical co-founder. There’s always the assumption that I don’t know how to code and I had somebody else that’s helping me on the technical side.
For some reason, when I fundraise for my company — even though it’s a totally normal B2B SaaS company that has nothing to do with women — I tend to only be introduced to the female partners at VC firms. That was a really weird thing for me to encounter, because I’m pretty sure other founders aren’t only getting introduced to a certain demographic of partners.”
What advice would you give someone who wants to build a product and launch a startup like you did?
“The first step to being an entrepreneur is getting validation in your idea. A lot of programmers become very obsessed with making the perfect product, fixing every single bug, and building every single feature. They spend six months building this incredible product, and they launch it only to realize that nobody actually wants to use it because they weren’t solving a real problem. For everything that I’ve worked on, I’ve always tried to validate before I even write a single line of code.
For Ladder, I ran some no-code experiments using existing platforms to try to mimic some of the functionality and see if I could get engagement out of my users. Only once I had seen the really positive signs of success in those early experiments did I then go and write my first line of code and build the real product. Probably the biggest pitfall that programmers turned into entrepreneurs have is they tend to write code a little bit too early.”
Researchers showed last year that the elite school inside of lymph nodes where the B cells train, called the germinal center, remains active for at least 15 weeks after the second dose of a Covid vaccine. In an updated study published in the journal Nature, the same team showed that six months after vaccination, memory B cells continue to mature, and the antibodies they produce keep gaining the ability to recognize new variants.
“Those antibodies at six months are better binders and more potent neutralizers than the ones that are produced one month after immunization,” said Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word germinal in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how germinal can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Do you like getting dressed up? When was the last time you did it? What did you wear?
What if you were invited to be a guest in a restaurant that required you to wear a suit or a dress, or that warned: “Upscale fashionable dress code strongly enforced”? Does that sound like fun to you — or not?
One unusually warm evening in the West Village, while other New Yorkers were outside walking their dogs in sneakers and T-shirts, a family of five sat primly in the front window of a formal dining room, each of them garbed in a stylish blazer. A couple in a velvet corner booth wore suits — his navy, hers powder blue. Pearls gleamed, freshly buffed shoes glowed. When a fashionably dressed couple stopped in momentarily for a peek at the menu, the sight was jarring: They were wearing jeans.
That everyone was in full feather at this restaurant, Les Trois Chevaux, was no coincidence. They had been instructed to do so the previous day in a text message that read like a manifesto.
“At Les Trois Chevaux, we revere the style and finesse that can only be attributed to having New York swagger,” it said. “We expect our guests to arrive in proper dinner attire, and for you to celebrate the style that downtown New York City can bring.”
Lest there be any confusion, details followed: “Blue jeans, shorts and sneakers are strictly prohibited.” Diners were “kindly” requested to wear jackets. For those without a jacket, a vintage Yves Saint Laurent model would be provided. Anything else? “Absolutely no flip-flops,” the chef and owner, Angie Mar, emphasized in an interview.
“Something that I feel tremendously is missing from New York over the past five or six years is that old-school flair that I love,” she said. “It is important that we bring that back.”
During a pandemic in which many Americans have traded their tailored slacks for leisure wear, dress codes are making an unexpected return to the dining room.
Over the last two years, several new restaurants around the country have opened with policies on expected attire, some stern (“upscale fashionable dress code strongly enforced,” warns a text from Olivetta in Los Angeles) and some vague (“smart casual or better,” advises Catbird in Dallas).
Some are aspirational: “We expect our guests to bring their best,” says Kitchen + Kocktails in Chicago. Others seem to allude to some disturbing prior incident: “Clothing emitting offensive odors is not permitted” at Juliet in Houston.
Whatever the particulars, the calculation is the same — a belief that many diners are eager to dress up again after an epoch of record-level dowdiness.
“Everywhere we went, people were walking around in sweatpants and T-shirts and their hair was not done,” said Rosea Grady, the general manager at Thirteen, a high-end Houston restaurant founded by the professional basketball player James Harden that opened in March 2021. “We wanted Thirteen to be a place where people put their best on.”
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