Scientists Discover 'Goblin Prince' That Roamed With Dinosaurs
A newly discovered monstersaur roamed beneath the feet of giant dinosaurs. Paleontologists have described the new species as a giant Gila monster-like reptile, and bestowed on it a name fit for fantasy royalty.
The new species has been named Bolg amondol, which basically translates to "mound-headed goblin prince" in J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish language.
"Bolg is a great sounding name. It's a goblin prince from The Hobbit, and I think of these lizards as goblin-like, especially looking at their skulls," says Hank Woolley, paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's Dinosaur Institute.
Although Bolg's bones have been rattling around in museum drawers since 2006, the creature was only recently examined and described. The remains are a very fragmentary skeleton, but this was enough information for Woolley and team to identify it as a new species and place it in its evolutionary lineage.
Bolg is an early representative of Monstersauria, a clade of lizards that includes the Gila monster that still roams the region today. But where its modern counterparts can grow up to about 50 centimeters (20 inches) long, Bolg is estimated to have been much bigger.
Related:
"Three feet tip to tail, maybe even bigger than that, depending on the length of the tail and torso," says Woolley. "So by modern lizard standards, a very large animal, similar in size to a Savannah monitor lizard; something that you wouldn't want to mess around with."
Bolg's remains were discovered in Utah in the United States, dating back about 76 million years, during the tail end of the dinosaurs' reign. Intriguingly, however, its closest known relative was from Asia's Gobi Desert on the other side of the world, indicating that dinosaurs weren't the only creatures that managed to migrate across distant continents that were once connected.
The finding helps plug up some holes in the history of Monstersauria, but also fills out the roster of non-dinosaur reptiles that shared the planet with their famous cousins.
The research was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Ancient Blueprint For Human Bodies Discovered in Sea Anemones
Spider With No Venom Has a Deadly Trick to Poison Its Prey
Dolphins Got Giant Testicles. We Got a Chin. Only One Makes Sense.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Denis Villeneuve Is the Next Bond Director. So What Will His 007 Look Like?
Arrival. Blade Runner 2049. Dune. And now, Bond. Amazon MGM Studios just named Québécois auteur Denis Villeneuve the next James Bond movie. (Colloquially known as "Bond 26" until a real title comes along.) Now wielding the keys to the Aston Martin, Villeneuve's involvement raises big questions about the future for the spy franchise. Mainly: What's Bond 26 going to look like? First, the basics. Not only will this mark Villeneuve's first time working on the series in any form, but also producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman—who took the reins from the Broccolis after they ceded control to Amazon last February. It will also be the series debut of whatever actor will play James Bond next, following Daniel Craig's retirement in 2021's No Time to Die. Truly, we're in a brave new world for Bond. "I'm a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he's sacred territory," Villeneuve said in a statement, where he added that he shared the 007 movies with his father since Dr. No with Sean Connery. "I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor." Villeneuve is excited to take on Bond—who wouldn't be?!—but an auteur taking over a revered film series comes with plenty of questions and speculation that a lesser-known director wouldn't necessarily attract. Amazon MGM's choice is even more interesting when you factor Villeneuve's existing body of work, a number of which are expansive science fiction features that oscillate between refined and oppressive sensibilities. Judging by what we've broadly seen across his eleven films (beginning with his filmmaking debut August 32nd on Earth, from 1998), we might get a more tech-sophisticated Bond. You know the scenes where Bond meets Q and gets a fancy gadget? It's screaming Denis Villeneuve. And whatever the plot might be, you can bet the villain will dwell in some elaborate lair—with lots of empty space, of course—in which they pontificate their plans with deep solemnity. If Villeneuve leans toward a version of the Bond he grew up on, though, perhaps Bond 26 will be the opposite of what Blade Runner 2049 and the Dunes looked like. (Especially if Dune: Messiah, which begins filming this summer and comes out 2026, doesn't tucker him out from architectural straight lines and gunmetal-gray color palettes.) A Bond 26 that leans into funkier retro aesthetics, found in the Connery, Lazenby, and Moore eras—or the over-the-top bombast that defined Dalton and Brosnan—or something that's all of the above, seems plausible for Villeneuve. Back in 2015, Villeneuve told ComingSoon that directing Bond would be a dream, and that it would be an invitation to try something different. "I understand that each genre has its own specific rules, but for me, they are all movies," he said. "I'm just attracted to try to do different things, and I was very excited to make a movie that required more action. I was raised with James Bond. I love James Bond movies. I would love to do a James Bond movie one day. Action is very cinematic. I'm not someone that loves dialogue—I am someone that loves movement. Action, if it's well done, can be very poetic and meaningful." In a 2021 appearance on the podcast Happy Sad Confused, Villeneuve called Bond "a dream to do" and "pure cinematic joy." Whether Villeneuve's definition of joy means remaking Moonraker or making Bond even more of an iconoclast in a rapidly evolving world is yet to be seen. But the Villeneuve era of Bond is already shaping up to be the biggest paradigm shift since Craig stood up on a sandbar in Casino Royale. Basically: Get ready for Bond to get shaken, not stirred. You Might Also Like Kid Cudi Is All Right 16 Best Shoe Organizers For Storing and Displaying Your Kicks
Medscape
an hour ago
- Medscape
Real-World Cases of Skin Cancer Management in Older Adults
Supporting Data and the Patient's Response to Imiquimod Supporting that decision-making process was a randomized controlled trial published in 2017 comparing surgery with imiquimod 5% cream for nodular and superficial BCC, showing that imiquimod was inferior to surgery but still provided sustained benefit, Patel said. The 5-year success rates (absence of recurrence) in that trial were 82.5% compared with 97.7% for surgery (relative risk of imiquimod success, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.77-0.91; P < .001) — rates that were comparable to previously reported 3-year success rates of 83.6% and 98.4% for imiquimod and surgery, respectively. Most recurrences occurred within the first year. The 'caveat,' Patel said, was that the trial looked only at low-risk locations such as the cheek and the trunk, and not the tip of the nose. Patients with superficial BCC received 6 weeks of imiquimod cream once daily, and those with nodular BCC received 12 weeks. Use of this therapy 'requires clear explanation to the patient and an understanding of the off-label and not-fully-evaluated potential application,' Patel said in an interview after the meeting. After 6 weeks of treatment, the patient had notable crusting of the nasal tip with surrounding erythema. At 12 weeks, the tip of her nose was 'smooth with no obvious residual carcinoma notable,' Patal said at the meeting. 'She tolerated the treatment well and had a great response.' There have been suggestions made among some Mohs surgeons that the Mohs surgery AUC for primary superficial BCCs should be reevaluated, Patel said, referring to a Viewpoint piece published in JAMA Dermatology in July 2018 that pointed out that they are indolent, penetrate minimally, and are often multifocal, making them amenable to nonsurgical treatments. The lower-risk nodular BCC subtype is also worthy of AUC reevaluation, he said. Decision-Making About a Second Lesion: Melanoma In Situ (MIS) During the follow-up period, the patient's daughter noticed a large 2 cm pigmented area on her mother's wrist, and a biopsy revealed MIS. NCCN guidelines for MIS recommend surgical excision with margins of 0.5-1 cm but contain a footnote that consideration of topical immunotherapy or radiation therapy is an option in select patients with MIS of the lentigo maligna (LM) subtype, Patel said. He pointed to a retrospective review published 10 years ago looking at 63 MIS/LM cases in which imiquimod 5% cream was used as either primary or adjuvant therapy. When used as primary therapy, with no surgery, 72.7% demonstrated clinical clearance at a mean follow-up of 39.7 (range, 8-95) months. And when used as adjuvant therapy, 94.4% demonstrated clearance at a mean follow-up of 43.1 (range, 4-106) months. One could opt for primary therapy, knowing that 3 out of 4 patients might have clearance lasting over the course of several-plus years. Or, in the case of adjuvant therapy, 'you could do a partial resection or narrow margin resection, and if you have positive margins, go back and have an even higher success rate with adjuvant imiquimod cream,' Patel said. For his 88-year-old patient, 'surgery for a 2 cm tumor on the wrist, with skin that's fragile, is not easy to accomplish, certainly not easy to close up,' he said. The question was, 'could we cause more harm than good?' The patient decided on every-other-day treatment with 5% imiquimod cream for 6 weeks and responded with some clearing. She continued for another 6 weeks but on follow-up was noted to have some areas of progression. 'She ultimately needed an excision as the lesion was progressing in one area, and rebiopsy showed minimal invasion of the MIS, but she was now happy to do so as she felt it was necessary and declared by the disease,' Patel said after the meeting. She was able to undergo an excision with clear margins, and a complex layered closure with a partial skin graft was performed, which she tolerated well. A Patient With SCC In Situ (SCCis) Another patient recently referred to Patel for discussion of Mohs surgery was an 89-year-old man who had multiple rough, scaly patches on his bald scalp, a history of prostate cancer, hypertension managed with hydrochlorothiazide, and no family history of melanoma or keratinocyte carcinomas. Biopsies on two areas of the scalp vertex within 1 cm of each other and one on the neck revealed an SCC in situ on the scalp with an adjacent actinic keratosis (AK). In addition, a biopsy on the neck revealed 'AK with focal SCCis,' Patel said at the meeting. 'We'd agree this patient does not need Mohs. But [in this case] we posed a question that was [examined] in a recent study: Does SCC in situ need treatment at all?' Patel said, referring to a single-center cohort study published in 2024 in which 411 consecutive SCCis tumors with a clinically resolved biopsy site were managed with watchful waiting. Of the 411 tumors, 17 recurred locally (4% recurrence rate), and there were no instances of nodal metastases, distant metastases, or disease-specific death. The highest risk for local recurrence was conferred by a history of solid-organ transplantation (hazard ratio [HR], 9.979; 95% CI, 2.249-39.69), and additional risk factors predicting local recurrence were location of the tumor on the vermillion lip or ear (HR, 9.744; 95% CI, 1.420-69.28) and on the head and neck (HR, 6.687; 95% CI, 1.583-36.15). The size of the lesion was also predictive of recurrence, with biopsies showing tumor extension to the deep edge being associated with a sixfold increased risk (HR, 6.562; 95% CI, 1.367-39.04). 'In typical, run-of-the-mill smaller SCCis, the vast majority of these lesions after biopsy did not recur,' Patel said. Many experts have proposed the consideration of topical therapy as a first-line treatment for SCCis, but 'the question sometimes comes up of whether we can identify patients' at a higher risk for recurrence, he said. A study published this year of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 5% cream for SCCis found that shorter treatment duration (particularly under 2 weeks) and larger lesion size (> 2 cm) were associated with a higher risk for treatment failure. Beyond that, there was no [impact] of immunosuppression or anatomic location, including hair-bearing locations, on the risk of recurrence, Patel said. The patient decided to pursue 2 weeks of therapy with 5-FU to help mitigate potential side effects, Patel said after the meeting. 'He did well….and we decided to monitor after the shortened treatment course.' Is Intralesional Treatment Coming? In the future, intralesional treatment may make skin cancer therapy 'even easier' for older patients, Patel said at the meeting. In a case report published in 2024, a 98-year-old wheelchair-bound 80-pound woman with frailty — and a 3.5-cm rapidly growing crusted nodule on her left proximal-lateral arm was treated with intralesional 5-FU — weekly for 4 weeks — after a shave biopsy revealed an invasive, well-differentiated SCC. There was no sign of recurrence at 3 months, and the patient died 6 months later of primary cardiac arrest, Patel said, noting that this was a case 'of doing no harm and limiting the morbidity associated with this tumor rather than approaching it from an aggressive standpoint.' A phase 3 trial of intralesional cemiplimab in patients with early-stage cutaneous SCC, newly underway at GW and multiple other sites, will look at how well the immune checkpoint inhibitor works when injected into the lesion, compared with surgery. The goal is to provide cutting-edge immunotherapy while potentially avoiding systemic toxicity, thus making this a viable nonsurgical option for older patients or those with surgical fatigue, Patel said after the meeting. Patel disclosed that he had received consulting honoraria from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharma, Almirall, and Palvella Therapeutics, as well as research support from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. He had served on the speaker's bureau with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharma, and Almirall, and was the cofounder of the Skin Cancer Outcomes Consortium. Lead image: Moment/Getty Images Image 1: GWU Department of Dermatology
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Klotho Neurosciences Moves Forward with Manufacturing Gene Therapy for the Treatment of ALS
NEW YORK, June 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Klotho Neurosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: KLTO) today announced that it is moving forward with manufacturing and process development work in preparation for clinical trials of KLTO-202, its investigational gene therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A unique RNA splice variant of the human gene called alpha-Klotho has been licensed by the Company from the Autonomous University of Barcelona ("UAB") including patents, patent applications, research, knowhow and other intellectual properties for use in the development of advanced gene and gene-engineered cell therapies. The human alpha-Klotho gene is located in cells found throughout the human body. It is a five exon gene that produces two protein isoforms: a full-length protein found mainly in cells of the kidney called membrane-bound Klotho (or m-KL), which controls phosphate homeostasis, and a much smaller protein isoform called secreted alpha-Klotho (or s-KL). The s-KL RNA splice variant is found mainly in the brain and spinal cord neurons; the variant protein is neuroprotective by minimizing both oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. Animal studies supported by the Company over the past two years in mouse and non-human primate models of rapid aging, in models of human Alzheimer's disease, and in models of ALS have shown that over-expression and amplification of the tissue levels of s-KL using a gene therapy approach result in highly favorable therapeutic outcomes in every model tested. These results have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and now support the transition of KLTO-202 into the clinical development stage. The Company expects that it will take approximately eight months to complete process development and manufacturing of KLTO-202, and about four to six months to conduct meetings with FDA, complete all FDA-mandated animal safety studies, file an investigational new drug application (IND), train and prepare clinical sites where the Phase I/II studies can be conducted, and then begin the single-dose gene therapy studies in ALS patients by the third quarter of next year. The Company will work with contract research organizations (CROs) to facilitate all activities including manufacturing and clinical trials without the need to hire several dozen staff members, which would significantly increase our operating overhead. Dr. Joseph Sinkule, the Company's CEO and founder commented: "With our recent fundraising success, we're moving forward with manufacturing the s-KL transgene DNA for KLTO-202. We've identified a more efficient method of producing the AAV vector to deliver the s-KL gene directly to motor neurons—the cells most affected by ALS. Our goal is to increase local s-KL protein levels to protect these neurons from the damage that leads to voluntary and involuntary muscle paralysis and ultimately death." ALS typically progresses rapidly, with most patients losing mobility, respiratory function, and life within just 2–3 years of diagnosis. About Klotho Neurosciences, Inc. Klotho Neurosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: KLTO), is a biogenetics company focused on the development of innovative, disease-modifying cell and gene therapies using a protein derived from a patented form of the "anti-aging" human Klotho gene (s-KL), and its novel delivery systems to transform and improve the treatment of neurodegenerative and age-related disorders such as ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. The Company's current portfolio consists of its proprietary cell and gene therapy programs using DNA and RNA as therapeutics and genomics-based diagnostic assays. The Company is managed by a team of individuals and advisors who are highly experienced in biopharmaceutical product development and commercialization. Investor Contact and Corporate Communications - Jeffrey LeBlanc, CFOir@ Website: Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the forward-looking statements in this press release include descriptions of the Company's future commercial operations. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, such as the Company's inability to implement its business plans, identify and realize additional opportunities, or meet or exceed its financial projections and changes in the regulatory or competitive environment in which the Company operates. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the documents filed or to be filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time, which could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. All information provided herein is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. SOURCE Klotho Neurosciences, Inc. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
