Excavated in August and September 2021, the largest and most intact skeleton of an ichthyosaurs found in the UK measures 10 meters long and includes a massive 10-ton skull. These rare fossils of the marine dinosaur (known as a “sea dragon”) were uncovered in the landlocked Midlands, where two smaller, incomplete skeletons were dug up in the ’70s—others, however, have been unearthed in North America. An apex predator, …
First-Ever Light Detected Behind a Black Hole Most space enthusiasts are aware that nothing can escape the tremendous gravitational pull of a black hole but, for the first time ever, scientists have detected light coming from behind a black hole located 800 million light-years from Earth. While flares of light around a black hole aren’t uncommon, astrophysicist Dan Wilkins and his colleagues had been observing …
The fossil of a massive pterosaur found a decade ago in the Australian outback has been confirmed as a previously unknown species of dinosaur. The creature—with an estimated seven-meter wingspan and “40 razor-sharp teeth”—is being compared to a dragon. To explain the size, Tim Richards (a researcher at the University of Queensland) says to picture a wingspan only slightly smaller than a hang-glider. “It would …
