Fossil claimed to be new species of mosasaur is suspected forgery

 

Image courtesy of Henry Sharpe.

Joel Kontinen

Why is a never-before-seen fossil of a marine reptile a forgery? Most of the scientist say so. It is not the first fake in science.

”Remnants of a bizarre “shark-toothed” aquatic predator that lived alongside dinosaurs were probably forged, according to new research.

 the contentious fossil of a jaw fragment was apparently collected by miners working at the Sidi Chennane phosphate mines in Morocco, in rock that is 66 to 72 million years old. Nick Longrich at the University of Bath, UK, and his colleagues analysed the find and classified it as a new species of mosasaur named Xenodens calminechari in 2021.

The fossil possesses highly unusual blade-like teeth similar to those of sharks, which Longrich and his colleagues suggested would help carve up large prey.

Morocco is uniquely rich in mosasaur fossils, says Henry Sharpe at the University of Alberta in Canada. “Miners working in the phosphate mines come across mosasaurs all the time.”

The problem is many people in Morocco make a living selling fossils, says Sharpe. “So many of the mosasaur fossils being sold from Morocco are modified [there] – teeth are added, bones are sculpted, all to make the fossil worth more to sell.”

Source:

 Taylor Mitchell Brown 2025 Fossil claimed to be new species of mosasaur is suspected forgery | New Scientist 16 January 

Astronomers baffled by bizarre 'zombie star' that shouldn't exist

Image courtesy of  James Josephides

Joel Kontinen

A newly discovered neutron star is behaving so strangely that it may alter our understanding of the dense remains left behind when stellar objects die

Some astronomers are  worried because they see a neutron star that should not be living.  It is a mystery that is brought about the Big Bang story . But who do they support a theory that is one the way out?

”A collapsed star around 13,000 light years away is so unusual that the researchers who have discovered it say it shouldn’t exist.

It was first detected in January 2024 by the ASKAP radio telescope in Western Australia and is likely to be a kind of pulsar that has never been seen before.

When supermassive stars reach the end of their lives and explode in a supernova, the remnants form a super-dense object called a neutron star. Pulsars are neutron stars that spin rapidly, emitting radio waves from their magnetic poles as they rotate. Most pulsars spin at speeds of more than one revolution per second and we receive a pulse at

the same frequency, each time a radio beam points towards us.

But in recent years, astronomers have begun to find compact objects that emit pulses of radio waves at a much slower rate. This has baffled scientists, who had thought that radio wave flashes should cease when the rotation slows to more than a minute for each spin.

These slow-spinning objects are known as long-period radio transients. Last year, a team led by Manisha Caleb at the University of Sydney, Australia, announced the discovery of a transient with a period of 54 minutes.”

God made the universe at the beginning, it is full of wonders that people do not understand.

Source: 

James Woodford 2025 Astronomers baffled by bizarre 'zombie star' that shouldn't exist | New Scientist 15 January 

New supergiant 'Darth Vader' sea bug discovered in South China Sea — and it's absolutely massive

 

Image credit: Peter Ng

A new supergiant isopod was found near the Spratly Islands in South China Sea — and it's absolutely massive

Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen giant sea bug after studying samples purchased from fishers in Vietnam.

“Bathynomus vaderi belongs to the genus Bathynomus — giant isopods that are abundant in cold, deep waters. It is a "supergiant," weighing over 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) and growing up to 12.8 inches (32.5 centimeters) long, making it one of the largest known isopods.”

The species is named "vaderi" because its head resembles Darth Vader's iconic helmet from "Star Wars."

It seems that God can make animals big or small, and in this instance it is big.

Source:

Jacklin Kwan 2025 New supergiant 'Darth Vader' sea bug discovered in South China Sea — and it's absolutely massive | Live Science 14 January

 

A supermassive black hole is sending out a mysterious pulsing beat

 

Image courtesy of Aurore Simonnet/Sonoma State University

Joel Kontinen

What are black holes? Recently, a black hole appears to send more noise to us.  

“Strange vibrations emanating from a supermassive black hole appear to be growing more frequent and they could be caused by a white dwarf star orbiting perilously close to its event horizon.

In 2018, a supermassive black hole called 1ES 1927+654 took astronomers by surprise by changing from a relatively inactive black hole to an extremely bright one. It was the first time a supermassive black hole had been observed changing in this way.”

Space is unique, as God created it that way,

Source:

Alex Wilkins 2025 A supermassive black hole is sending out a mysterious pulsing beat | New Scientist 13 January 

Why sabre-toothed animals evolved again and again

 

Image courtesy of Steve Morton 

Joel Kontinen

How do sabre-tooted animals evolve again in the cause of life?   Evolution is a thing that is supposed to come one at a time.  Animals are supposed to get an advantage and then die out.   

But according to evolution, “predators have evolved sabre teeth many times during the history of life – and we now have a better idea why these teeth develop as they do.

Sabre teeth have very specific characteristics: they are exceptionally long, sharp canines that tend to be slightly flattened and curved, rather than rounded. Such teeth have independently evolved in different groups of mammals at least five times, and fossils of sabre-tooth predators have been found in North and South America, Europe and Asia.”

Here’s which New Scientist says about the event:

” The teeth are first known to have appeared some 270 million years ago, in mammal-like reptiles called gorgonopsids. Another example is Thylacosmilus, which died out about 2.5 million years ago and was most closely related to marsupials. Sabre teeth were last seen in Smilodon, often called sabre-toothed tigers, which existed until about 10,000 years ago.

To investigate why these teeth kept re-evolving, Tahlia Pollock at the University of Bristol, UK, and her colleagues looked at the canines of 95 carnivorous mammal species, including 25 sabre-toothed ones.

First, the researchers measured the shapes of the teeth to categorise and model them. Then they 3D-printed smaller versions of each tooth in metal and tested their performance in puncture tests, in which the teeth were mechanically pushed into gelatine blocks designed to mimic the density of animal tissue.

The study has millions of years with evolution, as evolution cannot be caused by thousands of years.  

Source:

Chris Simms 2025 Why sabre-toothed animals evolved again and again | New Scientist 9 January

Permafrost thaw beneath Arctic lakes poses surprise pollution threat

  

Image courtesy of (AP/EmrahGurel). 

 Joel Kontinen

Climate change has been in the news recently, in spite of the winter weather in America and England. but is the weather caused by carbon dioxide or is there something that most scientist do not understand.

”As the Arctic gets warmer, large quantities of greenhouse gas could be released from the sediment at the bottom of lakes, a source that has previously been overlooked.

The frozen soil of the Arctic has already started to thaw, triggering the release of more methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This climate feedback is well known, but most modelling only accounts for thawing in the top 3 metres of Arctic soil.”

Source:

Madeleine Cuff 2025 Permafrost thaw beneath Arctic lakes poses surprise pollution threat | New Scientist 6 January 

 

What were the Velociraptors?

 

Joel Kontinen

Velociraptors were turkey sized animals. The dino sized things in the film Jurassic Park described what these Cretaceous predators looked like Deinonychus. That was what scientists thought at that time.

”In 2007, researchers confirmed that Velociraptors had feathers. The presence of feathers gave Velociraptors a whole new look that was far more bird-like than how they — or Deinonychus — were previously depicted.”

that is what evolution says. 

Source:

Patrick Pester 2024 A sea monster with it's head on it's butt? 10 times we were completely wrong about dinosaur-age creatures 30.12.