New species of dinosaur helps understanding of T.rex evolution
When you think about the T.rex, you probably picture a big predator with small arms and big teeth.But its early ancestors didn't look quite as fearsome and scientists have found a new species of dinosaur they believe is its most recent relative.Researchers called the species Khankhuuluu mongoliensis which means Dragon Prince of Mongolia.They say the discovery has helped understand the evolution of the T.rex from their small early ancestors.
The team at the University of Calgary in Canada studied two partial skeletons which were first discovered in Mongolia in the 1970s which were being kept at a museum, The fossils are 86-million-years old and have given scientists new information about tyrannosaurs evolved. Jared Voris, a PhD student working on the project, noticed features similar to the tyrannosaur. The skull suggested it had a strong jaw, a feature found in tyrannosaurs, needed for their powerful bite. The evolution of such powerful jaws meant the T.rex could pounce on larger prey, and even bite through bone.
Tyrannosauroids are the superfamily of carnivorous (meat eating) dinosaurs that walked on two legs.The first tyrannosauroids though were tiny. They were nimble on their feet and "lived in the shadows of other apex predators" according to lead researcher Professor Darla Zelenitsky.She explained that the new species, Khankhuuluu, is a "transitional fossil between earlier ancestors and the mighty tyrannosaurs".It would have weighed about 750kg (about the same as a giraffe) while an adult T.rex could have weighed as much as eight times that."It has helped us revise the tyrannosaur family tree and rewrite what we know about the evolution of tyrannosaurs," she added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
33 minutes ago
- Times
From dancing robots to DeepSeek, the university helping China to win tech race
A s it grows in economic and geopolitical might, China likes to find heroes, whether exemplary communists, successful businessmen or Olympic gold medallists. Its latest is a university. Twenty years ago, the sweeping campus of Zhejiang University in China's one-time capital Hangzhou would not feature in any lists of top international seats of learning. Even now, when it ranks among the world's best, it would probably elicit the reaction 'Where?' from most people outside China. But as of this year that has changed, thanks to a legion of earnest young tech entrepreneurs — they can reasonably be called nerds — like Liu Chang and Sean Pan. Zhejiang University campus in Hangzhou ALAMY Zhejiang has won the nickname locally as the 'mother of little dragons' — new tech start-ups like the AI company DeepSeek that are taking the world by storm. And there are more dragons on their way, if Chang and Pan have their way.
Medical News Today
7 hours ago
- Medical News Today
Alzheimer's: Mood disorders in late-life may be an early indicator
A new study finds a link between mood disorders in late life and the risk of developing dementia. Hakan & Sophie/Stocksy Late-life mood disorders (LLMDs) are mental health issues that first occur or recur at an older age. Past research shows that people with an LLMD may be at a higher risk of developing dementia. A new study found that people with LLMDs have larger amounts of the proteins beta-amyloid and tau in their brains than those with no late-onset mental health issues. Researchers also found that these abnormal brain protein levels can be detected years before traditional dementia symptoms first appear. In addition to having an impact on a person's quality of life, past research shows that people with an LLMD may be at a higher risk for developing dementia. 'We often encounter cases in clinical practice where patients who develop mood disorders later in life — after the age of 40 — eventually progress to dementia,' Keisuke Takahata, MD, PhD, chief researcher at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology in Japan, told Medical News Today . ' This has led to the shared clinical impression that such mood disorders may, in some cases, represent early symptoms of neurodegeneration. Previous postmortem brain studies also suggest that depression and dementia that occur in old age share common pathologies. However, the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms [have] remained unclear,' he explained. Researchers also found that these abnormal brain protein levels can be detected years before traditional dementia symptoms first appear. For this study, researchers recruited 99 adult study participants — 52 participants had an LLMD over the age of 40, and 47 participants acted as age-matched healthy controls. Additionally, scientists analyzed brain tissue samples from 208 autopsy cases of various neurodegenerative diseases. At the study's conclusion, researchers found that about 50% of participants with LLMDs had tau accumulation and 29% had amyloid deposits, versus 15% and 2%, respectively, in the control group. 'It suggests that mood disorders can emerge many years — over seven on average — before the typical symptoms of dementia are recognized. In other words, psychiatric symptoms such as depression or mania may be the first clinical indicators of an ongoing neurodegenerative process. Acknowledging this possibility could help shift the clinical mindset to consider dementia in the differential diagnosis of new-onset mood disorders in older adults.' — Keisuke Takahata, MD, PhD Takahata and his team also discovered that these abnormal protein amounts could be detected years before traditional cognitive symptoms appeared, with mood symptoms preceding cognitive or motor symptoms by an average of 7.3 years in autopsy cases. 'This finding highlights that mood symptoms can appear well before the clinical onset of dementia, sometimes by more than seven years,. It suggests that we should consider mood disorders — especially those with late onset — as possible prodromal features of neurodegenerative dementias. This perspective has important implications for earlier diagnosis and proactive monitoring of at-risk individuals.' — Keisuke Takahata, MD, PhD 'Our results reinforce the emerging paradigm in which diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and non-AD tauopathies are increasingly informed by objective molecular markers, rather than relying solely on clinical symptoms,' he continued. 'It also underscores the potential utility of PET biomarkers in identifying at-risk individuals at a much earlier stage — perhaps even before they meet the criteria for mild cognitive impairment.' 'We plan to follow individuals with late-life mood disorders over time using longitudinal PET imaging with both tau and amyloid tracers,' Takahata added. 'This approach will allow us to track the progression of pathological changes and relate them to the emergence of cognitive or neurological symptoms. By doing so, we hope to clarify which patients are truly in a prodromal phase of dementia and which may follow a more stable psychiatric course.' MNT had the opportunity to speak with Richard A. Bermudes, MD, board certified psychiatrist, associate physician in the School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Davis, chief medical officer of BrainsWay, and founder of Empathy MindCare, about this study, who commented the findings both validate what's been seen clinically, and fundamentally reframes late-life depression treatment. 'This isn't just about treating mood symptoms anymore — we're potentially intervening in the earliest stages of neurodegeneration,' Bermudes explained. 'The finding that 50% of late-life mood disorder patients showed tau pathology compared to only 15% of healthy controls means we've been underestimating the stakes.' The importance of early detection and diagnosis 'Early detection transforms everything in neurodegenerative disease, and this study positions mood symptoms as potentially our best early biomarker. By the time we see obvious cognitive decline, we've lost years of intervention opportunity — but if depression or mania after age 40 signals underlying pathology seven-plus years before cognitive symptoms, we have an unprecedented therapeutic window.' — Richard A. Bermudes, MD 'We need to change clinical practice to embrace comprehensive treatment approaches immediately,' Bermudes added. 'The evidence supports aggressive, multimodal intervention for late-life depression, and we have demonstrated safety and remarkable efficacy in older adults.' MNT also spoke with Gary Small, MD, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, about this study. 'Symptoms of mood and neurodegenerative disorders overlap, particularly for older adult. Untreated depression increases the risk for dementia, and patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia show a high rate of depression.' — Gary Small, MD 'These new findings are consistent with previous research showing a link between amyloid and tau accumulation in the brain and mood disorders,' Small said. 'Numerous studies indicate that early detection and intervention is an important strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. It is easier to protect a healthy brain than to attempt to repair neural damage once it becomes extensive.' 'Future studies using amyloid and tau PET as well as other neurodegenerative biomarkers in both mood and cognitive disorders will elucidate early detection and prevention strategies,' he added. Bipolar Depression Alzheimer's / Dementia Anxiety / Stress Seniors / Aging
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
New species of tiny tyrannosaurs gave Rex its bite
A new species of dinosaur has been discovered, which scientists say shows how tyrannosaurs evolved from smaller predators the size of a horse. The 'Dragon Prince', whose bones were found in a Mongolian museum, is thought to be about 20 million years older than the Tyrannosaurus Rex and provides a 'missing link' in the evolution of the apex predators. The skeleton of the Khankhuuluu Mongoliensis demonstrates where the T Rex got its vicious bite, researchers who 'rediscovered' the species said. 'We see features in its nasal bone that eventually gave tyrannosaurs those very powerful bite forces,' said Jared Voris, from the University of Calgary, the researcher who found the bones. The fossils were initially found in the early 1970s, but at the time were misidentified as belonging to a different tyrannosaur, Alectrosaurus. The bones were put away in a drawer at the Institute of Palaeontology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in the capital Ulaanbaatar, until they were re-discovered by then-PhD student Mr Voris. He was handed two plastic tubes full of bones while visiting the institute – and eventually found the fossils were partial skeletons of two different dinosaurs from a new species. Darla Zelenitsky, a palaeontologist from the University of Calgary, said: 'It is quite possible that discoveries like this are sitting in other museums that just have not been recognised.' The skeleton shows that the 'Dragon Prince' was about four metres long and weighed only 750kg, according to the findings, published in the academic journal Nature. An adult T Rex is believed to have weighed eight times as much. 'They were these really small, fleet-footed predators that lived in the shadows of other apex predatory dinosaurs,' said Dr Voris. 'This discovery shows us that, before tyrannosaurs became the kings, they were princes,' said Zelenitsky. The finding is considered a 'transitional' fossil and has helped clarify the evolution of the tyrannosaur family, which was 'really messy previously,' said Dr Zelenitsky. 'What makes them so important is their age,' said Stephen Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study. 'They are about 86 million years old, a good 20 million years older than T Rex. It has been a frustrating gap in the record.' The discovery also helps to paint the migration patterns of the tyrannosaurs. From Asia to North America They show that T Rex's direct ancestors probably migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge that used to connect Siberia and Alaska 85 million years ago, Dr Zelenitsky said. Tyrannosaurs then evolved in North America and remained there for the next several million years, she said. 'As the many tyrannosaur species evolved on the continent, they became larger and larger,' said Dr Zelenitsky. The records are incomplete so scientists are unsure of what happened in Asia 80 million years ago. However, the Khankhuuluu may have later been replaced by larger, more dominant, tyrannosaurs.
