Giant salamander-like predator with fangs existed 40 million years before dinosaurs, research reveals
CBSN
Scientists have revealed fossils of a giant salamander-like beast with sharp fangs that ruled waters before the first dinosaurs arrived. The animal, researchers say, is roughly 272-million-year-old.
The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The researchers dubbed the species Gaiasia jennyae, an hommage to Gai-as Formation in Namibia, where the fossil was found, and to Jenny Clack, a paleontologist who studied how vertebrates moved from water to land.
"Gaiasia jennyae was considerably larger than a person, and it probably hung out near the bottom of swamps and lakes," said Jason Pardo, an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum in Chicago and the co-lead author of the study, in a news release.
New Delhi — At least 116 people were killed in a stampede at a religious gathering in central India's Uttar Pradesh state Tuesday, police said. Most of the victims appeared to have been women, but authorities were still racing to confirm the number of casualties brought in to different hospitals in the region.
London — Tennis fans around the world started tuning in Monday to watch the iconic Wimbledon tennis tournament as it got underway in the leafy southern corner of London where it's taken place since 1877. Millions of people will watch two weeks of grass court action on their screens — but far fewer will actually get to take in the sights and sounds in person, and being one of them is no small feat.
Palestinians ordered to flee Khan Younis, signaling likely new Israeli assault on southern Gaza city
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Rome — A 15-year-old Italian web designer is set to become the Catholic Church's first saint from the millennial generation. On Monday, in a ceremony called an Ordinary Public Consistory, Pope Francis and the cardinals residing in Rome formally approved the canonization of Carlo Acutis, along with 14 others.
Paris — A far-right, anti-immigration party is in reach of becoming the biggest political force in France after the first of two rounds of voting in parliamentary elections drew a historically high turnout. The first-round results in the French election are the latest evidence of surging support for the far-right in Europe, but the real test of that trend nationally will come when France opens the polls for the second, decisive round of voting in one week.
The Hague, Netherlands — A Dutch beach volleyball player convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in Britain has qualified for the Paris Olympics. Steven van de Velde and partner Matthew Immers were one of two men's teams from the Netherlands that qualified for the beach volleyball competition at the Paris Games, which open on July 26 in the French capital.