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recently recognized mosasaur was a fish-hunting beast

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Scientists at the University of Cincinnati recognized another type of mosasaur—an 18-foot-long fish-eating beast that lived 80 million years prior.

UC associate teacher instructor Takuya Konishi and his understudy, UC graduate Alexander Willman, named the mosasaur Ectenosaurus everhartorum after scientists Mike and Pamela Everhart. The mosasaur occupied the Western Interior Seaway in what today is western Kansas.

The disclosure was reported for this present week in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

The recently distinguished mosasaur checks just the second species in the sort Ectenosaurus.

“Mosasaurs in western Kansas have been all around inspected and well-informed. Those two variables make tall chances when you attempt to discover something new,” Konishi said.

Mosasaurs were gigantic marine reptiles, some as large as school transports. They possessed seas all throughout the planet during the Cretaceous time frame around the hour of Tyrannosaurus rex. On the off chance that Ectenosaurus clidastoides with its long, thin jaws looks like a gharial crocodile, Konishi said the new species is more like a bogus gharial crocodile with prominently blunter jaws.

Konishi, who instructs in the Biological Sciences Department of UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, first experienced the fossil in 2004 while functioning as an alumni understudy in systematics and development. Konishi was considering fossils of Platecarpus, an alternate sort of mosasaur away at Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum of Natural History, when he perceived something odd around one example.

“It was anything but a platecarpus. The front facing bone over the eye attachment was any longer. The bones of Platecarpus ought to have had a more extensive triangle,” he said. “That was one indication.”

Konishi associated the example was a sort with ectenosaur, just a single types of which had been recognized. However, the teeth appeared to be all off-base. The currently unfilled attachments that would have contained the mosasaur’s sharp, bended teeth in the unidentified example would have stretched out around the front of its mouth, not at all like other perceived species that has an innocuous platform, the hard bulge at the front of the mouth.

For quite a long time, the fossils perplexed him.

“A few things simply stick to you and they’re difficult to give up,” he said.

Yet, the secret would need to stand by on the grounds that Konishi was occupied with completing his doctoral certificate and dispatching a scholastic vocation that would carry him to UC’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The first mosasaur fossils were found in the Netherlands 50 years before anybody utilized the expression “dinosaur.” Mosasaurs started to catch the country’s consideration after the Civil War when the country’s head scientistss, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, started to examine Cretaceous limestone in Kansas in an organization that turned into an unpleasant public quarrel. From that point forward, Kansas has gotten widely acclaimed for mosasaur research.

Ages of specialists have come to Kansas to contemplate its examples, which are in plain view at galleries all throughout the planet.

“It’s a well known spot for mosasaur research. It’s very notable,” Konishi said. “So I figured I don’t need to be the person to put a stake. I’m certain somebody will get it. Yet, no one did.”

Ectenosaur is strange for what a small number of examples have been found in the class contrasted with other mosasaurs, Konishi said.

“In western Kansas we have more than 1,500 mosasaur examples. Out of those we can just discover one example each addressing these two types of ectenosaur,” Konishi said. “That is somewhat insane.”

At the point when Konishi affirmed with the Sternberg Museum that no different scientists were contemplating the example, he requested that they transport the fossils to UC. At the point when he opened the cautiously bubble-wrapped substance, his underlying feelings were affirmed.

“By then I had taken a gander at all the other known Platecarpus examples under the sun, so to speak. Furthermore, this example was particular from the others,” he said. “To me it was so self-evident.”

Simultaneously, Konishi’s understudy Willman asked about dealing with an exploration project. He got a UC Undergraduate STEM Experience award to assist with the ordered recognizable proof.

“I was past eager to be essential for the revelation,” Willman said.

The third creator on the investigation, Michael Caldwell, is an educator of science at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.

Willman delineated the fossils in meticulous detail to assist researchers with understanding the morphological contrasts that make the mosasaur extraordinary.

“I was extremely content with how he rejuvenated these wrecked bones,” Konishi said. “It helped present our defense exceptionally persuading to anybody that this is something new that warrants the foundation of another taxon.”

The specialists devoted the venture to the late Dale Russell, whose work has had a significant effect in North American mosasaur fossil science, Konishi said. In any case, they named the mosasaur for the Everharts, a Kansas couple who have gone through over 30 years offering their fossils to historical centers and driving examination field trips in the fossil-rich Smoky Hill Chalk.

“We’re as yet shortly of shock at the news. It’s exceptionally energizing,” Pamela Everhart said.

“It’s a significant privilege,” said Mike Everhart, creator of “Expanses of Kansas” about mosasaurs and other ancient life that possessed the Western Interior Seaway during the Cretaceous Period.

Mosasaurs are extremely uncommon to him, he said.

“The seas would not have been a protected spot for swimming in the Cretaceous,” he said. “Mosasaurs were the top hunter in the sea during those occasions.”

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Exosonic, a Startup, Experiences a Supersonic Explosion Before Failing

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The announcement by civilian supersonic startup Exosonic that it is going out of business due to its inability to acquire necessary funding is another illustration of the huge upheaval occurring in the cutting-edge aerospace industry.

Any technological field that experiences a boom goes through several stages, some of which can be quite unpleasant for individuals engaged. I had the good fortune to be writing contracts in Seattle, Washington, which was the core of the internet explosion in the late 1990s.

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In those days, businesses would appear like mushrooms in a park during an autumn rainstorm. Suddenly, a new firm would occupy every available office space, furnishing it with expensive furniture and paying even more to hire employees. It was highly intoxicating, akin to seeing a gold rush. But by 2000, the boom had turned to crash, with the startups disappearing as fast as the figurative mushrooms, leaving just the most resilient.

As the competitors to profit from new developments are pushed aside, a similar shakedown is presently taking place in the more inventive sectors of the aircraft industry. Exosonic, situated in Torrance, California, has joined the ranks of hypersonic engine manufacturer Reaction Engines and eVTOL taxi startup Lilium that have already filed for bankruptcy.

After the collapse of the Concorde, aerospace engineer Norris Tie founded Exospace in 2019 with the goal of creating the next generation of civilian supersonic aircraft. Tie had previously worked at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. They were somewhat successful, obtaining contracts with the US Air Force to develop supersonic training drones and raising US$6.5 million in finance.

As the competitors to profit from new developments are pushed aside, a similar shakedown is presently taking place in the more inventive sectors of the aircraft industry. Exosonic, situated in Torrance, California, has joined the ranks of hypersonic engine manufacturer Reaction Engines and eVTOL taxi startup Lilium that have already filed for bankruptcy.

After the collapse of the Concorde, aerospace engineer Norris Tie founded Exospace in 2019 with the goal of creating the next generation of civilian supersonic aircraft. Tie had previously worked at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. They were somewhat successful, obtaining contracts with the US Air Force to develop supersonic training drones and raising US$6.5 million in finance.

“To all that stayed updated on our journey, we thank you for your support and shared love for our company’s vision and mission,” stated Exosonic in a statement. “For those that continue to be in the race, such as Boom Supersonic, Hermeus, Destinus, Venus Aerospace, Spectre Aerospace, and others, we wish you the best on your super/hypersonic campaigns. We will be rooting for you from the sidelines.”

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SpaceX will launch 24 Starlink satellites from Florida on Monday

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SpaceX is scheduled to launch 24 more Starlink broadband satellites from the Space Coast of Florida on Monday, November 11.

From Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is set to launch Monday within a four-hour window that begins at 4:02 p.m. EST (2102 GMT). Due to “unfavorable recovery weather conditions,” SpaceX had to postpone the launch, which was initially scheduled for Sunday evening.

Starting approximately five minutes prior to liftoff, SpaceX will broadcast the launch live on X.

Eight minutes after takeoff, assuming everything goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the droneship “A Shortfall.”

Meanwhile, the 24 Starlink satellites will continue to be carried by the upper stage of the Falcon 9 to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they will be deployed around 65 minutes following liftoff.

The launch on Monday comes after another Starlink mission took off early Saturday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

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Astronauts Confront Vision Challenges in Space with Upcoming Dragon Mission

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The primary priorities for the Expedition 72 crew on board the ISS on Tuesday were preparing cargo for a future voyage and safeguarding astronauts’ eyesight to maintain their health.

Microgravity Eye Health

Body fluids rise toward an astronaut’s head in the weightless atmosphere of space. This fluid movement puts pressure on the eyes, which may have an impact on vision and eye anatomy. NASA astronauts Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore tried a modified thigh cuff that stops these headward fluid movements in order to combat this. As NASA and its international partners prepare for lengthier journeys farther into space, researchers are keeping a careful eye on these changes to create strategies to safeguard eye health.

Getting Ready for Resupply

On Earth, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spaceship is preparing for the next resupply mission to the space station, which is scheduled to launch next week. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit got ready for Dragon’s arrival, which will include a delivery of new station hardware and scientific equipment. After docking and then returning to Earth, Pettit started packing and arranging the goods that would be stored aboard Dragon. Hague received training on how to use instruments that will monitor Dragon’s autonomous approach and docking procedure.

Spacecraft Docking and Manoeuvre

However, Hague will take Williams, Wilmore, and Roscosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on a brief ride onboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft to a new docking site prior to the supply mission blasting out toward the space station. On Sunday, November 3, the four will board Dragon. They will undock from the forward port of the Harmony module at 6:35 a.m. EDT and then navigate the spaceship to Harmony’s space-facing port for a docking at 7:18 a.m. The Dragon cargo mission’s forward port is made available by the relocation.

Earth Observations and Maintenance at Night

Gorbunov installed and turned on equipment to observe Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths following a training session on the exercise cycle of the Destiny laboratory module at the start of his shift. Ivan Vagner and Alexey Ovchinin, two of his fellow cosmonauts, collaborated on inspection and maintenance tasks in the Zvezda service module’s aft end.

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