Science – Natural History – altogether interesting

The fanged, faceless sea creature that washed ashore during Harvey has been identified

I thought you might like this story from The Washington Post.
The fanged, faceless sea creature that washed ashore during Harvey has been identified.

From a picture posted by Preeti Desai on Twitter. https://twitter.com/preetalina/status/905578912348024834/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fspeaking-of-science%2Fwp%2F2017%2F09%2F14%2Fthe-fanged-faceless-sea-creature-that-washed-ashore-during-harvey-has-been-identified%2F

In an article by Lindsey Bever published on September 14, 2017, the identify of the mysterious creature that washed ashore in Texas City, about 15 miles from Galveston, TX was revealed.

Kenneth Tighe, a biologist and eel-expert with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, identifed the creature as ” most likely a fangtooth snake-eel, or Aplatophis chauliodus.”

http://wapo.st/2wrIWaz

Megalodon Shark Not Just A Great Movie Villian

The Megalodon Shark is not just a character in creature features*. Megalodon Sharks lived between 15.9 and 2.6 million years ago. They could grow up to 59 feet. The Discovery Channel features Megalodon during Shark Week and has a cool interactive site in its Sharkopedia. For more details about Megalodon including eating habits, environment and what it liked to eat visit Megalodon in their Sharkopedia.

Megalodon burst onto the movie/tv screen in 2009 with Mega Shark Vs. the Giant Octopus. The most recent adventure is the 2015 outing Mega Shark Vs. Kolossus.

*See IMDB for more info on mega shark movies including Mega Shark vs. Kolosuss (2015).

New Dinosaur Species Was Largest Animal Ever to Walk the Earth

According to National Geographic, the new dinosaur, named Patagotitan mayorum, was a long-necked behemoth lived about 102 million years ago and was likely more than 120 feet long and weighed 69 tons, or about the same as 12 African elephants (the current largest land dweller).

Bigger Than T-Rex? As Heavy as the Space Shuttle?

Meet the new heavyweight champion of dinosaurs: Patagotitan mayorum. This article in the Austin American Statesman provides more information about this gigantic dinosaur, now considered the biggest of a group of large dinosaurs called titanosaurs. The fossils were found in southern Argentina in 2012.

As reported in the story:”There was one small part of the family that went crazy on size,” said Diego Pol of the Egidio Feruglio paleontology museum in Argentina, co-author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“There was one small part of the family that went crazy on size,” said Diego Pol of the Egidio Feruglio paleontology museum in Argentina, co-author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

You’ll find links to other articles about this giant thunder lizard within altogether interesting.

How Cats and People Grew to Love Each Other

Stefan Sirucek reported for National Geographic in December 2013 that a then recent study showed that cats and humans began hanging out together as far back as 9,500 years ago.

Reported Sirucek:

“Today’s domestic cats are believed to be the descendants of ancient Near Eastern wildcats, and the previous discovery of a wildcat buried near a human in Cyprus roughly 9,500 years ago suggests some type of long-running relationship. The Egyptians famously thought very highly of cats, keeping them domestically and even administering medical treatment to them some 4,000 years ago.

“Now a new study marks possibly the earliest known evidence of a beneficial relationship between humans and cats. Researchers analyzing 5,300-year-old cat bones, found at the village of Quanhucun in China, determined that the bones match up closely with those of modern domestic cats—and that people may have even fed the animals. “

10 Historic Women Scientists You Probably Don’t Know

In 2011, science writer Sarah Zielinski shared biographies of 10 women scientists lost to history.

As a huge fan of dinosaurs, it was a pleasure to see her list included Mary Anning, (1799 – 1847), a prolific fossil hunter whose finds included Ichthyosaurus, the “fish-lizard.”

According to Zielinski, she also found long-necked plesiosaurs, “a pterodactyl and hundreds, possibly thousands, of other fossils that helped scientists to draw a picture of the marine world 200 million to 140 million years ago during the Jurassic. ”

Like many women scientists in history, she was self-taught. Her studies included anatomy, geology, paleontology and scientific illustration.

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edX.org – Free, Amazing, University Level Classes

edX.org (https://www.edx.org/) is an amazing web site supported by Harvard University, MIT, University of Texas and other top universities around the world. They offer free online courses on everything from World of Wine from the University of Adelaide to Introduction to Computer Science from Harvard to Introduction to Human Evolution from Wellesley.

For a small fee, you can get a certificate. But, you don’t have to do that. The courses are FREE. Love, love, love this website. And yup, they even have a mobile app too.