This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for August 15–August 21, 2026

Researchers for the company that owns Scott paper towels announced the discovery of a substance in aloe that could replace wood fiber in paper products. Kimberly-Clark is one of the world's largest paper product makers, and swapping wood pulp for the succulent plant in products like Kleenex and Huggies diapers would mark a major industry change. While testing is ongoing, experts say using aloe may be more sustainable, considering the carbon loss from harvesting trees.

The fifth annual Corgi Race Vilnius was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on August 15. When the competition began in 2022, 40 of the short-legged dogs competed; this year's competition included 150 corgis from nine countries. Rather than demonstrating the herding the dogs are bred for, the contest includes events like "loudest bark" and "sharpest nose," as well as an 82-foot race, which was won this year by American competitor Gustave the Girl Dog.

Large quantities of ash spewed from Mount Etna, forcing Sicily’s largest airport to close for five days. The Catania–Fontanarossa airport is just 20 miles from the active volcano, and travel delays there are often triggered by volcanic activity, but this was the longest closure in nearly 25 years. Mount Etna disgorged so much smoke and ash into the atmosphere that it reached North Africa.

Millions of people traveled to Spain to experience the total solar eclipse. It was the first time in a century that the Spanish view of the Sun was completely blocked by the position of the Moon. Very briefly, eclipse viewers were plunged into an eerie, twilight-like darkness. The Greek root of eclipse, ekleipsis, means "an abandonment or forsaking," a reference to the sense that the Sun has inexplicably disappeared.

A trial against Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, began on August 18. Attorneys general from four states allege that the company deliberately designed features to entice children to prolong their time on social media. They say Meta planned the "like" button and certain algorithms to tempt kids to keep scrolling, and that the company neglected to protect the kids' safety and mental health. Entice is from the Old French enticier, "to stir up or excite."

A global escalation of extreme weather this summer included record-breaking heat, wildfires, and catastrophic flooding. Last week, parts of Japan got three times more rain in 12 hours than normally falls in all of August. Five heat waves in Europe fueled wildfires and a historic drought, and July was the hottest month ever in the continental U.S. The intensification of weather is also seen in NOAA data showing a current average of six annual heat waves, compared with two in the 1960s.

As more states adopt traffic speed cameras, some drivers have objected based on privacy and fairness. Traffic safety advocates gainsay accusations that the cameras are used for surveillance or to make money on fines, arguing that studies prove they work to reduce speeding and serious injuries in crashes. They also deny that the cameras are used for financial gain, noting the "many safeguards" built into the technology. The Old English roots of gainsay mean "say against."

The Samish Indian Nation is working with scientists to save the sunflower sea star, an endangered keystone species in the Pacific Northwest. A new environmental DNA detection tool is helping them locate surviving sunflower stars, billions of which have been killed by a bacterial disease that thrives in warming ocean waters. The 24-legged invertebrate predators protect kelp forests from ravenous sea urchins, making sunflower stars crucial to the survival of their entire ecosystem.

A new study showed that humans are not the only primates who treat other animals as pets. Researchers analyzed 427 cases of monkeys and apes caring for animals of other species and found repeated examples of play, grooming, and social bonds. Specific interactions included macaque monkeys grooming a dog; a tufted gray langur petting a squirrel; and a bonobo holding a mongoose like a baby. Scientists say the behaviors hint at the evolutionary roots of the human inclination to keep pets.

A small dog with unconventional looks won the World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, California. The unprepossessing rescue pug, Jinny Lu, has bulging eyes and a long tongue that habitually dangles from her mouth. She came in second place at last year's competition, losing the top spot to Petunia, a wrinkly, hairless bulldog with misaligned teeth. Along with a $5,000 prize, Jinny Lu won the honor of having her face on limited-edition cans of Mug Root Beer.