Jonah Choiniere, a paleobiologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, was boating around the world’s largest artificial lake in 2018 when he and his team found the first known fossils of Musankwa sanyatiensis — an ancestor of the sauropod dinosaurs from around 210 million years ago.Part of a flood of similar discoveries from the past decade or so, the fossils hint at how the four-legged sauropods developed from the two-legged sauropodomorphs that preceded them. “We knew r ...read more
For hundreds of years, mariners and fishermen knew this sea creature as a herald of woe. Seeing one in the water or even washed up on shore was an omen, a warning of some impending disaster, typically a natural one, such as an earthquake or tsunami. In Japan, the creature was named “ryugu no tsukai,” a messenger from the palace of the sea god. Others dramatically dubbed it the Harbinger of Doom, or simply the Doomsday Fish. You may know it as the oarfish.Then again, this might be your first ...read more
The Oregon Cascade Range is ... complicated. From the surface it looks like the chain of volcanoes that we started exploring back in British Columbia remains the same. However, once you start looking at the deep geologic processes that are causing volcanoes in Oregon, you quickly realize there is a lot going on."How much?" you say? Here's a short list:The Juan de Fuca plate is still subjecting (sliding underneath) North America just off the Pacific Coast.Much of the basin that follows the Columb ...read more
If you thought the COVID-19 lockdowns were rough, think of this: Astronauts on the Mars mission will be confined to a spaceship with three to five other people for more than two years. And they will be, at peak distance, 140 million miles from anything they’ve ever known. Even the most extreme introvert and most daring adventurer might find that disconcerting. But NASA is on it.The Human Factors and Behavioral Performance (HFBP) team, a part of NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP), works to u ...read more
British historian Amanda Glover says she loves a mystery. And according to a research article she published in February, she may be beginning to untangle one of the greatest historical mysteries of England's Tudor period, which lasted from 1485 to 1603. The mystery in question is that of Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated second wife of King Henry VIII who was accused of and executed for adultery by her own husband. While Anne was imprisoned in the Tower of London, awaiting execution, she wrote an ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine