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History & Society
Government officials are erasing graffiti of Islamic State (ISIS) banner in Solo, Java, Indonesia.
© Garudeya /Shutterstock.com

English-speaking countries and news agencies have an aversion to long names. So when the jihadist militant group that called itself الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام‎, or “The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,” entered the world political sphere, it was referred to with a simple acronym. Well, it was intended to be a simple acronym. News outlets, and common citizens by influence, began to call the group ISIS, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. However, some political figures, including the president of the United States, Barack Obama, use the acronym ISIL, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. So what is the underlying difference between the two acronyms: ISIS and ISIL? And why do some people say one, and some say the other?

When the group started to gain notoriety in the press and politics, confusion over just how to shorten its name in English arose from one tricky phrase: al-Sham. The term has no direct translation in English and refers to Greater Syria, the geographic area in the Middle East that the group desires for its vision of an Islamic state. The English word closest in meaning to “al-Sham” is the dated name for a slightly overlapping geographic area: the Levant, which spans the countries of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. Therefore, the acronym ISIL is the more-accurate name, as it recognizes these areas that the group affects and targets, while ISIS refers exclusively to Iraq and Syria. The tendency to call the group ISIS arose as they became active militants in the Syrian civil war in 2012. Though less accurate, the name ISIS has become entrenched in the international lexicon and is still used by many politicians and news companies.

Many world leaders have taken to using the name Daesh to refer to the group, rather than ISIS or ISIL. This name is also an acronym, but one that takes from the Arabic words in the group’s longer moniker. The phonetic sound of the acronym is intended to be unpleasant, and the rare use of an acronym in Arabic is meant to attribute disrespect to the group and to ignore the meaning behind its longer name. In the midst of the confusion and name calling, since 2014 the group has decided to call itself the shorter and to-the-point Islamic State, or IS.

Science & Tech
Camel at Khor Rori, Oman; mammal.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Camels have long been known for their ability to go weeks at a time without needing to drink water—an ability that makes them particularly useful pack animals for people traveling across arid environments and that earned them the nickname “ships of the desert.” Camels are also known for their prominent humps (either one or two humps, depending on the species), which leads many people to believe that these are used to store water for access at a later time. However, camels’ humps actually store fatty tissue, not water, which is used as a source of nourishment when food is scarce.

Demystified: Do camels store water in their humps? No. They store fat that camels can use for nourishment. By concentrating fatty tissue in humps on their backs, camels' bodies are less insulated, which helps regulate their body temperature.
What do camels store in their humps?Learn more about camels and their humps.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

So why do camels store fat in these humps instead of having it spread equally throughout their bodies, like other mammals? Camels typically live in the desert, where food sources can be hard to come by. When a camel is unable to access food for a long period of time, its body is able to metabolize the fat in the humps for nutrition. The humps can deflate and droop if the camel has gone a particularly long time without food, but they will sit upright again once the camel is able to refuel. The camel’s humps also help the animal regulate its body temperature, an important feature in the desert, where temperatures can be extremely high during the day and drop drastically at night. By concentrating fatty tissue in humps on their backs, camels are able to minimize heat insulation throughout the rest of their body during the day when the temperature is high, and their body temperature rises. Then, at night, the extra heat dissipates through the rest of the camel’s body so that their body temperature is not too low when the temperature is cooler.

Although the humps do not store water, camels are still incredibly efficient in the amount of water they use per day, which is why they are able to go nearly a week without drinking. This is partly due to the unique shape of their blood cells, which are oval. Oval-shaped blood cells allow camels to consume large amounts of water (up to 30 gallons in one sitting!) since the cells are more elastic and can change shape more easily. This shape also allows their blood to flow more easily when water is scarce, which is common in a desert.

A camel’s humps are incredibly important for the animal’s survival in a tough environment like a desert. Without its humps, a camel would be more likely to overheat and sweat—but it’s still the oval-shaped blood cells that help the camel retain so much water, not the humps.