New species of titanosaur identified amid group of ancient skeletons found in Spain
(NEW YORK) — A new species of dinosaur has been identified more than a decade after a large number of ancient skeletons were found in Spain — and researchers expect more species to be discovered.
The discovery was made at the Lo Hueco fossil site near Cuenca, a mountainous town in central Spain. The site was being excavated for the construction of a high-speed train between Madrid and Valencia when crews began digging up numerous ancient skeletons of dinosaurs, crocodiles and turtles, Pedro Mocho, a paleontologist at the University of Lisboa’s faculty of sciences, told ABC News.
Researchers then spent the next three months extracting several skeletons of dinosaurs, mostly sauropods, a herbivore characterized by having a very long neck, long tail, large body and small head, Mocho said.
The haul of fossils derived from that paleontological expedition, estimated to be about 72 million years old from the late Cretaceous period, produced Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra, a new species of titanosaur, according to the paper, published Wednesday in Communications Biology.
The Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra is characterized by having a “weird” tail morphology, in which all of the vertebrates are “anteriorly clean,” a feature only noted in a specific group of titanosaurs found in South America, Mocho said.
The dinosaur, which the skeleton belonged to, likely died as a sub-adult because the vertebras are “completely sutured,” meaning the animal likely did not reach its full-grown size, Mocho said.
All sauropods are herbivores, so the new species likely subsisted on a plant-based diet.
Another reason why paleontologists are fascinated by the new species is because Europe was an “insular environment” during the late Cretaceous period, and it was rare for an animal to grow so big under those conditions.
“A lot of dinosaurs are small because they have small areas to live in, so they have a small amount of resources,” Mocho said. “So, generally, the animals associated to insular environments are relatively small in some cases, and others, the opposite happens.”
Researchers are trying to determine whether the lineage for this species of sauropod originated in Asia or North America.
The new species was named Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra, in reference to the town of Cuenca as well as the painter Antonio Saura and Queen Pintiquiniestra, a character from the 16th-century book, “Amadis of Greece,” which was later referenced in “Don Quixote,” the 17th-century Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes.
While the area where the train passes through was completely cleared of more ancient bones, the remainder of the Lo Hueco site was given protections by the Spanish government, Mocho said.
At least two different sauropods were found on the site, Mocho said, adding that they are still sifting through the skeletons that require examination.
Researchers expect to not only discover more species from the fossils that were collected but to find more skeletons if and when additional excavations commence.
“We don’t know exactly how many bones we still have over there, but we still have some remains to collect,” he said.
(WINDER, Ga.) — A Georgia community is in mourning after two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School on Wednesday morning, according to authorities.
Another nine victims were taken to hospitals with injuries, but are all expected to survive, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey.
The suspect, a 14-year-old student, is in custody and will be tried as an adult, the GBI said.
Hosey identified the four victims Wednesday evening, whose ages ranged from 14 to 53 years old. Here is what we know about the four victims killed:
Mason Schermerhorn
Mason Schermerhorn was a 14-year-old student at the high school, according to the GBI.
Christian Angulo
Christian Angulo was a 14-year-old student at the high school, according to the GBI.
Richard Aspinwall
Richard Aspinwall was a 39-year-old teacher at Apalachee High School, according to the GBI.
Aspinwall was a math teacher who also coached football as the defensive coordinator, according to the school’s website.
Christina Irimie
Christina Irimie was a 53-year-old math teacher at Apalachee High School, according to the GBI.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — “I wanted some kind of revenge. I was seeing red,” one of the former Memphis, Tennessee, officers who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the death of Tyre Nichols said on the witness stand Monday evening.
The federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Nichols continued Tuesday morning after prosecutors called ex-officer Emmitt Martin III to the stand, according to WATN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
Martin, whose nickname on the force was “Full Can” for what prosecutors said was his use of pepper spray against suspects, started Tuesday’s testimony by watching the footage from the night of Nichols’ stop, WATN reported.
“They were assaulting him,” Martin said of his former partners. “I was already angry that he ran. I kicked him … They [his former partners] were holding him up. He was helpless.”
Martin admitted to kicking Nichols four times and punching him five times and said the Memphis resident remained passive even when officers were aggressive with him, according to WATN.
Martin testified at the trial of former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — who were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Martin and Desmond Mills Jr, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records. Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.
“You get your a– beat,” Martin said when prosecutors asked about a term his former unit used called the “run tax”, which referred to the consequences suspects paid for running from police, WATN reported.
Body camera video shows Martin tossing his camera so their confrontation with Nichols wouldn’t be recorded. Martin admitted to not using his body camera video and said he was unaware of the Skycop camera recording the incident above them until he saw it on the news, WATN noted.
“If I couldn’t justify, I would have to cover it up. I’m not going to tell on them [my partners] and they’re not going to tell on me. It was understood,” Martin said. “I lied.”
According to WATN, in police reports, narratives read that Nichol swung at officers and tried to grab Martin’s gun. Martin said he never saw that occur.
The ex-officer claimed that he was hit by a car in November 2022 and returned to work Jan. 3, 2023, according to WATN. Martin said he was scared, angry and eager to show he could still do the job and wanted revenge for being struck by a vehicle.
On Jan. 7. 2023, the night Nichols was pulled over, Martin said he saw Nichols speeding and changing lanes without a signal, WATN reported. The former officer said he ran Nichols’ license plate and it came back clean. Martin claimed that he switched to car-to-car radio channels and reached out to Haley, who said he would take the lead on apprehending Nichols.
Prosecutors noted that Martin and Haley were called the “Smash Brothers,” according to WATN.
Martin said he blocked Nichols’ car once he caught up to him — a maneuver department policy designates only for felonies — resulting in Martin escalating it to a felony stop even though it wasn’t, WATN reported.
Martin claimed that he and Haley both approached Nichols’ vehicle with guns drawn and Haley pulled him out, WATN noted.
“No, never got a chance to,” Martin said when asked if he gave Nichols any reasons for why they pulled him over, according to WATN. “Just didn’t.”
“You can be charged by the department and possibly [end up] here,” Martin said when prosecutors asked what his police training taught him about use of force, WATN reported.
Martin said they should’ve analyzed the situation first and gotten control of Nichols’ hands, WATN noted. He added that conflicting commands were given to Nichols during the arrest.
Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him. Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes after. Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023 — three days later. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly.
The prosecution told ABC News Thursday that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.
SCORPION’s goal was to get guns and drugs off the street. Martin said that officers were picked based on productivity and remaining a member of the team depended on their statistics, WATN reported. Martin said they had zero arrests the night he spotted Nichols and they were told that if one officer had hands on someone that everyone had to have hands on them, WATN noted.
The trial was paused for lunch and Martin’s testimony continued after, according to WATN.
(MERRITT ISLAND, Fla.) — Embarking on a new chapter of private space exploration, the Polaris Dawn mission is poised to make history this week by launching four private citizens into ultra-high orbit and attempting the first civilian spacewalk.
Led by billionaire Jared Isaacman and in collaboration with SpaceX, the crew aims to reach as far as 870 miles above Earth, the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission in more than a half-century since the Apollo program.
SpaceX announced Sunday the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the Polaris Dawn crew to orbit could launch as early as Tuesday at 3:38 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Isaacman, the CEO of the payment-processing company Shift4, will be joined by former Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.
During the historic mission, which is set to span five days under normal conditions, two of the crew members will exit the spacecraft in the first commercial spacewalk at an altitude of 435 miles above Earth.
During a press briefing last week, Isaacman shared details on the ambitious mission, which will see all four crew members exposed to the vacuum of space due to the absence of an airlock on the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
The spacewalk will also serve as a critical test for SpaceX’s new Extravehicular Activity spacesuits, an evolution of the intravehicular activity suit.
This new design includes a heads-up display, helmet camera and enhanced joint mobility. It also features thermal insulation, solar protection and a suspension system that allows you to pressurize the suit, put on a harness and actually go through operations as if you are weightless.
The Dragon spacecraft has undergone significant modifications, including upgrades to the life support systems to supply more oxygen during spacewalks, according to the Polaris Program. Environmental sensing has been improved, and a new nitrogen repressurization system has been installed.
The Polaris Dawn mission will be Isaacman’s second journey to space.
In 2021, he funded his first mission to orbit Earth. The project was billed as a childhood cancer fundraiser, garnering $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and marked the first all-civilian mission to orbit.
Looking to the future, Isaacman believes the SpaceX vehicles could unlock a new frontier in commercial space travel.
“It could very well be the 737 for human space flight someday,” he said of the company’s Starship vehicle. “But it’ll certainly be the vehicle that will return humans to the moon and then on to Mars and beyond,” he added.