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Stunning discovery: Africa's oldest known dinosaur

Plus, fire orbs in space, battles at the livestock auction, and this week’s celestial wonders.

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August 31, 2022 2:44pm EDT

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A FIND 230 MILLION
YEARS IN THE MAKING

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we discover 230 million-year-old fossils, fly before a solar eclipse, attend a livestock auction in Texas, moon watch ahead of the Artemis launch... and learn about NASA’s fiery new research.

An illustration of a dinosaur in a stream

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREY ATUCHIN

The long-necked dinosaurs known as sauropods were the biggest animals ever to walk on land—and a new fossil underlines that the giants had humble beginnings. Today, researchers funded by the National Geographic Society have unveiled fossils they discovered in northern Zimbabwe, in rocks more than 230 million years old.

As Nat Geo’s Michael Greshko reports, the findings include the oldest definitive dinosaur bones ever found in Africa. Among these remains is a stunningly complete skeleton of an early sauropod relative (below a researcher holds a fossilized ilium–or upper pelvis bone—from the species). Called Mbiresaurus, (illustrated above) the animal was mostly mature when it died—and stood less than two feet tall at the hip.

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A hand holds a fossil fragment above a table filled with other small fossils

PHOTOGRAPH BY MURPHY ALLEN

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A paraglider is silhouetted by a solar eclipse

PHOTOGRAPH BY @MARCELOMARAGNI

To fly before a solar eclipse: Paraglider pilot Rafael Goberna traveled to Facundo, Argentina, with this mission in mind. Photographer Marcelo Maragni guided Goberna via a radio on the pilot’s helmet to find the perfect alignment. With the sun 94 million miles away, the moon almost 239 thousand miles away, and the athlete just one mile away, Maragni had only a few seconds to capture the moment when they all met.

SOLAR ECLIPSES, EXPLAINED

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

A woman holds a microphone with a dog at her feet

PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN

Follow podcaster Cat de Medici Jaffee’s (above) mission to tell stories for change

Surprise findings: Roaming bison boost native plant species richness by 86%

Why rabies is still a threat, even though we know how to prevent deaths

Foraging for dinner: a new way to explore coastal areas

Long read: Meet the Americans who hold the country together

Bahrain’s plan to double its landmass by building lavish artificial islands

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A horse is presented at a livestock sale

PHOTOGRAPH BY BALAZS GARDI

Business and activism collide: Held the first weekend of every month at a sprawling barn complex about an hour’s drive northwest of Dallas, the Bowie Texas Livestock sale (above, locals and traders pack the auction stands) has grown into one of the largest auctions of its kind in the U.S. It's also a clearinghouse for animals at the bottom rung of the livestock business: hundreds of horses and donkeys that pass through its gates each month will end up being processed in Mexican slaughterhouses. Rescuers attend alongside seasoned traders, bidding to save the animals and find them new homes, Jason Motlagh reports for Nat Geo.

INSIDE THE AUCTION HOUSE

THE NIGHT SKIES

Illustration of the night sky with constellation figures

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW FAZEKAS

Moon gaze ahead of Artemis: As we watch with anticipation for NASA’s Artemis I mission, sky-watchers can follow the moon as it pays a visit to notable bright stars. Tonight, the crescent moon is positioned near the brightest star in the constellation Virgo—Spica, a stunning blue-white star about 260 light years from Earth. By Friday and Saturday night, look for the first quarter moon to dance with the orange-hued Antares, which marks the eye of Scorpius. Classified as a red giant star, this stellar monster is a hundred times the diameter of our sun.

On Sunday, catch a glimpse of Mars, the ultimate destination for human exploration in the coming decade. It’ll appear beside another giant red star, Aldebran, at dawn in the east.

PHOTOS OF THE RED PLANET

IN A FEW WORDS

“I decided to help in my community because we don’t have guidance or any person who is supporting the Somali community. My English isn’t perfect, but I was learning, and I understand, so I help.”

Ifrah Yusuf, a Somali community leader in Kansas

Read how Yusef and others are filling great needs in their communities

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA

‘Otherworldly’ flames: NASA program Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) conducted experiments with flames for years on the International Space Station to help improve spacecraft fire safety and computer models of combustion. Researchers found that without gravity, hot air lacks the buoyancy to whip flames into their familiar, dancing forms. In microgravity they can swell into ethereal domes and orbs that burn at a surprisingly cool 900 degrees Fahrenheit (above, a composite image shows flames generated from these tests).

QUESTIONS THAT PUZZLE SCIENTISTS

This newsletter has been curated and edited by Jen Tse, Heather Kim, Alissa Swango, Amy McKeever, Allie Yang, Anne Kim-Dannibale, Sydney Combs, and Janey Adams. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.

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Stunning discovery: Africa's oldest known dinosaur

Plus, fire orbs in space, battles at the livestock auction, and this week’s celestial wonders.

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