In this undated photo issued by the National Museums Scotland on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, University of Edinburgh PhD student Natalia Jagielska poses for a photo with the world's largest Jurassic pterosaur unearthed on the Isle of Skye. The fossil of a 170-million-year-old pterosaur, more popularly known as pterodactyl, billed as the world’s best-preserved skeleton of the prehistoric winged reptile, has been found on the Isle of Skye in remote Scotland. The National Museum of Scotland said the fossil of the pterosaur is the largest of its kind ever discovered from the Jurassic period. (Stewart Attwood/National Museums Scotland via AP)
By Sylvia Hui
The fossil of a 170 million-year-old pterosaur, described as the world’s best-preserved skeleton of the prehistoric winged reptile, has been found on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, scientists said Tuesday.
The National Museum of Scotland said the fossil of the pterosaur, more popularly known as pterodactyls, is the largest of its kind ever discovered from the Jurassic period. The reptile had an estimated wingspan of more than 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), similar to that of an albatross, the museum said.
The fossil was discovered in 2017 by PhD student Amelia Penny during a field trip on the Isle of Skye in remote northwestern Scotland, when she spotted the pterosaur’s jaw protruding from rocks. It will now be added to the museum’s collection.
“Pterosaurs preserved in such quality are exceedingly rare and are usually reserved to select rock formations in Brazil and China. And yet, an enormous superbly preserved pterosaur emerged from a tidal platform in Scotland,” said Natalia Jagielska, a doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh who is the author of a new scientific paper describing the find.
Steve Brusatte, a professor of palaeontology at Edinburgh University, said the discovery was the best one found in Britain since the early 1800s, when celebrated fossil hunter Mary Anning uncovered many significant Jurassic fossils on the southern English coast.
He said the fossil had “feather light” bones, “as thin as sheets of paper,” and it took several days to cut it from rock using diamond-tipped saws as his team battled against encroaching tides.
It “tells us that pterosaurs got larger much earlier than we thought, long before the Cretaceous period when they were competing with birds, and that’s hugely significant,” Brusatte added.
The pterosaur has been given the Gaelic name Dearc sgiathanach, which translates as “winged reptile."
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to fly, some 50 million years before birds. They lived as far back as the Triassic period, about 230 million years ago. They were previously thought to have been much smaller during the Jurassic period.
The United Nations COP26 climate talks are scheduled for October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. Heads of state will be joined by private sector leaders to once again discuss the shrinking window of time left to take action against global temperature rise. Barbara Humpton, CEO of focused technology company Siemens U.S., is also attending and spoke to Cheddar about what she hopes to see during the conference for both the public and private spheres. "What we are really urging is that there are large commitments made in Glasgow and that we really commit to this next decade of action," she said.
Voyager, Nanoracks, and Lockheed Martin are all teaming up to develop the first-ever free-flying commercial space station with room for a crew of four astronauts. The private companies are joining forces as part of NASA’s greater mission to retire the International Space Station by the year 2030. The low-earth orbit space station will be called "Starlab," and is planned to achieve operational capability by 2027. Lisa Callahan, Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin, and Matthew J. Kuta, President and Chief Operating Officer of Voyager Space, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments in the Alec Baldwin prop gun shooting, when vaccines for kids as young as 5 should be approved, new reporting on Facebook and more.
Middle school students from across the country battled it out for a chance at being crowned 'America's Top Scientist.' Each applicant had to submit a video to compete in the '3M Young Scientist Challenge' and describe a unique solution to an everyday problem for the chance to win $25,000. 10 finalists were chosen and after a two-day virtual competition, one walked away with the title. 14-year-old Sarah Park won the award, she joins Cheddar News to talk about her invention Spark Care+.
NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated that recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should have gotten two doses, to begin with. An FDA panel had recently recommended that J&J boosters be made available for everyone who received the single dose.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is delaying its launch date for commercial space flights to Q4 of 2022 following a rescheduled test flight. Shares for the aerospace company fell on the news.
The NIH released findings of a study that say recipients of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine may benefit from getting Pfizer or Moderna boosters as the antibody levels from those shots were seen as more robust than from a Johnson & Johnson booster.
"Star Trek" actor William Shatner's voice broke with emotion as he recounted his trip into space on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket to Jeff Bezos on October 13, 2021.
