Researchers from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom have uncovered the fossil of a new mosasaur species that ruled the seas during the Cretaceous period. The ferocious marine lizard was an apex predator that thrived in the waters of Morocco at the same time T. rex was on land. The scientist named the creature Thalassotitan atrox (T. atrox) from the Greek words "Thalassa" and "titan," meaning "sea giant." The species name atrox translates to "cruel" or "merciless."...

On October 5, 2022, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first Native American woman to launch into space. Mann is also the first woman to command a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The 45-year-old is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes....

Columbus Day, which honors the Italian explorer's October 12, 1492, arrival to the Americas, has been a US federal holiday since 1971. However, the holiday, marked annually on the second Monday of October (October 10th this year), has always been controversial. Many believe that the European settlers' mistreatment of the Native American people is not a cause for celebration....

A gentle giant in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has set a Guinness World Record as the world's tallest living domestic cat. Fenrir Powers measured an impressive 18.83 inches on January 29, 2021. The two-year-old Savannah cat's achievement was revealed in the Guinness World Records 2023 edition, released on September 13, 2022....

Plastic may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of footwear. But a significant portion of modern shoes, including soles and uppers, are made using plastic materials. The billions of pairs of discarded shoes, flip flops, and sandals that end up in landfills every year take hundreds of years to decompose and pose a substantial environmental challenge. California-based Blueview hopes to alleviate the problem with what they claim is the world's first fully compostable shoe....

The origin of Saturn's beautiful rings and the reason for the planet's unusually large 27 degree-tilt on its axis has puzzled astronomers for decades. Scientists had initially believed that the rings had been a part of the planet since its formation billions of years ago. However, recent research indicates that the planet acquired them sometime between 100 and 200 million years ago....

The Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga is home to a new island. The land mass results from the lava and ash spewed by the Home Reef seamount, an undersea volcano that came to life on September 10, 2022. While the volcano has been erupting steadily since, it poses no risk to the residents of the South Pacific archipelago....

Michael Heizer was just 27 years old when he began work on "City" in 1970. Now, 50 years later, the reclusive American artist is finally ready to showcase his life's work. The 1.5-mile-long complex, which cost $40 million to build, opened to the public on September 2, 2022. It is the largest contemporary artwork ever built. The exact location of "City" is a secret. But it lies in a remote valley in Nevada's Great Basin Desert....

Just days after destroying parts of Cuba and leaving much of the country without power, Hurricane Ian pummeled Southwest Florida on September 28, 2022. The powerful storm came ashore with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. It was just 7 miles short of becoming a Category 5 hurricane....

On September 26, 2022, NASA's golf cart-sized DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally crashed into a distant asteroid. The spectacular collision, observed by telescopes worldwide, was NASA's first practical attempt to alter the path of an asteroid. The $325 million mission was part of the space agency's overall planetary defense strategy to protect Earth from the impact of an errant space rock....

Any 25th birthday is a cause for celebration. But it was even more so for Janus, a two-headed Greek tortoise who marked the milestone year on September 3, 2022. The resident of the Natural History Museum in Geneva, Switzerland, is now believed to be the world's oldest two-headed tortoise. The museum celebrated the special occasion with a day-long party filled with fun events, which included taking photos with the birthday "boy."...

A seven-year-old boy's love for corn has made him an Internet celebrity worldwide. Tariq's rise to fame was accidental. The New York resident was at Smorgasburg, a weekly food festival in Brooklyn, this summer when Julian Shapiro-Barnum approached him. The comedian is the host of "Recess Therapy," a fun YouTube series featuring impromptu interviews with kids....

Europe experienced its hottest summer in recorded history in 2022. The high temperatures and arid weather dried up bodies of water, destroyed crops, and sparked several wildfires. The only silver lining? The extreme weather dropped water levels low enough to expose long-lost artifacts from the past....

On September 25, 2022, Jewish people worldwide will observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The two-day celebration is held annually on the first and second days of Tishrei — the first month of the Jewish year. While the holiday's exact date changes each year, it is almost always in September or October....

The giant African land snail (GALS) has returned to Florida for a third time. The invasive species was first detected in the state in 1969. It took seven years and $1 million to get rid of them. The gastropods reappeared in 2011 and were eradicated in 2021 at a cost of $23 million. On June 23, 2022, Florida officials reported that the snails had been found in the New Port Richey area of Pasco County....

A famous portrait of former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, has been stolen from the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, Canada. It has been replaced with a copy. The Hollywood-like heist was uncovered on August 19, 2022, after an employee noticed the portrait's frame did not match that of the other photographs in the hotel's reading room....

A "monster monsoon" is wreaking havoc in the South Asian country of Pakistan. The torrential rains, which began in mid-June and continued for eight weeks, have left a third of the country underwater and turned villages into islands. Most recent reports indicate over 1,500 people have died and 30 million — 1 in 7 Pakistanis — have been displaced from their homes....

Yvon Chouinard, the founder and CEO of outdoor apparel and gear company Patagonia, has always been a climate activist. Most of Patagonia's products are made using renewable and recycled raw materials. Additionally, since 1985, the company has been donating one percent of its annual sales to protect and restore the environment....

A local waterway and shipping authority was conducting a routine measurement in northern Germany’s Trave River when they stumbled upon a rare piece of history — a 17th-century shipwreck. Researchers from Kiel University, who revealed the find on July 26, 2022, believe the ship sank during the end of the Hanseatic period. This refers to the time between the 13th to 17th centuries when a network of 190 cities in 16 Northern European countries dominated maritime trade in the Baltic Sea....

Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom's longest-serving monarch, died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022. She was 96. Her historic 70-year reign spanned several wars, a pandemic, 15 British prime ministers, and 14 US Presidents! Her eldest son, Prince Charles, was sworn in as King of England on September 10, 2022....

The Prophalangopsis obscura (P. obscura) is one of only eight remaining descendants of an ancient katydid family of over 90-known species that lived during the Jurassic period (199.6 million to 145.5 million years ago). However, there is only one known specimen of the grasshopper-like insect. It was discovered in India in the mid-1800s and later donated to London's Natural History Museum. Scientists have now digitally recreated the P. obscura's long-lost call in the hopes of locating the insects in the wild....

A 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card sold for a record $12.6 million on August 27, 2022. It's the most ever paid for any sports item or memorabilia. The record previously belonged to a 1986 World Cup jersey worn by Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona. It was auctioned for $9.3 million in May 2022....

The carnivorous pitcher plants obtain nutrition by luring unsuspecting insects inside their unique jug-shaped leaves and devouring them. However, the brightly-colored "pitfall traps" are usually set above the ground. Now, researchers have found a new species that grows its prey-trapping contraptions underground to capture subterranean bugs like ants, mites, and beetles....

On September 11, 2022, Americans will mark the 21st anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attacks in US history. The unprovoked act of violence was planned and executed by members of the Islamic extremist organization al-Qaeda. The tragedy resulted in the deaths of 2,977 innocent people and altered life as we knew it forever....