Latest news with #JurassicPeriod
National Geographic
17-07-2025
- Science
- National Geographic
Who wants to buy a piece of Mars?
The largest piece of Mars on Earth became the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction at Sotheby's annual 'Geek Week,' and a full Ceratosaurus skeleton fetched $30 million. Next up for bidding: an Apple computer hand-built by Steve Jobs. The piece of Mars being auctioned through Sotheby's. Weighing in at 54 pounds, this is the largest piece of Mars on Earth, and is the most valuable Meteorite ever found. Photograph Courtesy of Sotheby's In the end, the long-dead dinosaur outperformed the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. At Sotheby's on Wednesday , an exhibition-ready, mounted skeleton of a 150-million-year-old dinosaur—a juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis—sold for $30.5 million (including fees and costs), far exceeding its estimate of $6 million. Meanwhile, the Mars-originating, 54-pound meteorite named NWA 16788 sold for $5.3 million—in sluggish bidding, without fees and costs included, it fetched just $300,000 over its upper estimate of $4 million. Still, it remains the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction. The Ceratosaurus, dating from the late Jurassic Period and originally found in Bone Cabin Quarry, Wyoming in 1996, measures around 6 feet 3 inches in height, and 10 feet 8 inches in length. Consisting of 139 original fossil bone elements with additional sculpted materials, the skeleton has a virtually complete skull and 43 present teeth. Collectors from 37 countries bid for it. Also among the 122 objects up for auction on Wednesday was the largest-known lunar sphere—at $825,500 setting the record for most valuable lunar meteorite ever sold at auction, and taking its place as the second most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction after the Martian meteorite. NWA 16788, The Largest Piece of Mars on Earth, est. $2,000,000-$4,000,000 is featured during Sotheby's "Geek Week" Sales in New York, NY, July 8, 2025 Photography by Efren Landaos/Sipa USA, AP Images The original LED sign from SEGA's The Lost World: Jurassic Park Light Gun Arcade Game sold for around $20,000, the skull of a Pachycephalosaurus for $1.8 million, a Neanderthal tool set dated to around 400,000 years ago for $57,150, and the skeleton of a large cave bear found in Eastern Europe for $35,560. Cassandra Hatton, Vice Chairman, Global Head, Science & Natural History, Sotheby's, said: 'These stellar results underscore a deep and enduring fascination and respect for the natural world—from the farthest reaches of space to the ancient depths of the Earth. What draws collectors is more than just a passion for science; it's a deep-seated curiosity about the forces that have shaped our planet and beyond.' (Let's give Ceratoraurus a hand) A hot market for dinos The winning, as yet anonymous, buyer of the Ceratosaurus intends to loan it to an institution, 'as is fitting for a specimen of this rarity and importance,' Sotheby's said in a statement. 'Whether they will reveal their identity is not something I have the answer to,' Hatton told National Geographic, adding that she wasn't surprised the Ceratosaurus had commanded such a high price. 'It's a beautiful fossil, rare and important. I think it more than deserves the price it sold for.' Detail of the piece of Mars being auctioned off at Sotheby's 'Geek Week.' Photograph Courtesy of Sotheby's The bidding on the meteorite, Hatton said, had been slower because buyers were more tentative around something that has not had a comparable antecedent in the market. 'In the absence of a bidding precedent, you're going to look at the behavior of the other bidders,' she said. 'No one wants to be the person to make the first move.' In time, buyers may become as enthusiastic over meteorites as they are for dinosaur fossils and bones, Hatton said. Last year at Sotheby's, billionaire Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, successfully bid $44.6 million for a 150 million-year-old, 11-foot tall, 27-foot long stegosaurus skeleton, named 'Apex'—the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction. It had been only expected to fetch $6 million. Some have voiced concern over the high-priced market. Andre LuJan, president of the Association of Applied Paleontology, told The New York Times that the increasing prices of leases for land where such finds were made were harming both academic research and commercial operators. (Odd Martian meteorites traced back to largest volcanic structure in the solar system) Hatton said both landowners and people who do the excavations should be paid 'properly' for their part in fossil discoveries—traditionally both parties have been 'cheated' in the process, she said. It was important to 'diversify' the types of fossils coming to market, Hatton told National Geographic, as nuances within the field—'the Stegosaurus market is different to the T. rex market, which is different to the Ceratosaurus market'—inform not just pricing models, but such matters as how museums calculate insurance values. The largest piece of Mars on Earth The 'incredibly rare' NWA 16788 meteorite measures 14¾ x 11 x 6 inches and was apparently blown off the surface of Mars, then traveled the 140 million miles to Earth, crashing into the Sahara. Classified as an olivine-microgabbroic shergottite, a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma, it was discovered by a meteorite hunter in Niger's remote Agadez region in November 2023. Pieces of Mars are 'unbelievably rare,' Sotheby's said—of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites, only 400 are Martian meteorites. 'This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,' Hatton told the AP . 'So it's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.' NWA 16788 is approximately 70 percent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth, and covered in a reddish-brown fusion crust, giving it 'a Martian hue.' Sotheby's said the meteorite had endured 'minimal terrestrial weathering,' and was 'a likely a relative newcomer here on Earth, having fallen from outer space rather recently.' Prior to landing at Sotheby's, NWA 16788 was exhibited at the Italian Space Agency in Rome in 2024 and in a private gallery in Arezzo, Tuscany. (Meteorites on Earth may be from an ancient crater on Mars) On Thursday afternoon, the final sale of Geek Week will feature what Sotheby's says is 'the finest operational Apple-1 computer in existence,' from the first batch of 50 hand built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976. The estimated auction price stands between $400,000 and $600,000. Hatton declined to say what buyers could expect to bid on at Geek Week 2026. 'Space exploration was my first auction and my first passion,' she told National Geographic. 'I love the history of science and technology, the manuscripts, books, and Enigma machines. It's so great to get these objects in, and to tell their individual stories.'
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Earth's rotation is speeding up for 3 days this summer — starting today
Planet Earth will spin a little faster on three separate days this summer, starting today. This will technically result in shorter days, but the change will be so minuscule you won't even notice. Several milliseconds will be shaved off of the 24 hours it takes for Earth to complete a full rotation — we're talking even less time than the blink of an eye. Planet Earth is our timekeeper, but it's not perfect. It takes our planet 24 hours — one day — to complete one full rotation on its axis, which breaks down to 86,400 seconds. But Earth's rotation could change by a millisecond (.001 seconds) or two every day. The orbit of the moon can have an effect on how fast the Earth spins around. 'Our planet spins quicker when the moon's position is far to the north or south of Earth's equator,' according to 'Earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal forces, subterranean geology, and many other mechanisms can cause the planet's rotation to slow down or speed up, and those micro-adjustments can trend over time,' Popular Mechanics reported. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 accelerated Earth's rotation, shortening the length of the standard 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds (0.0018 milliseconds). These tiny day-to-day fluctuations in the Earth's spin speed began to be measured in the 1950s with atomic clocks. Any number above or below the standard 86,400 seconds is called the length of day (LOD). The shortest day recorded was on July 5, 2024, when Earth completed its full rotation 1.66 milliseconds faster than the standard 86,400 seconds. There are three days this summer when the moon will be around its furthest distance from Earth's equator, resulting in a minuscule increase in the Earth's spin speed. The following are predictions from scientists: July 9: The day is shortened by 1.30 milliseconds July 22: Earth loses 1.38 milliseconds of the day Aug. 5: The day is shortened by 1.51 milliseconds What feels like the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is known as the winter solstice, when Earth is tilted away from the sun at its maximum. This results in the fewest amount of daylight hours all year and occurs in mid-December. There weren't always 24 hours in a day. Researchers believe that in the Jurassic Period, it took Earth just 23 hours to make a complete rotation around its axis. Scientists have found that the length of a day on Earth is increasing each century by about 1.7 milliseconds. Over time, that adds up. Experts think that 200 million years from now, there will be 25 hours in a full day.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Earth's rotation is speeding up for 3 days this summer — starting tomorrow
Planet Earth will spin a little faster on three separate days this summer, starting on July 9. This will technically result in shorter days, but the change will be so minuscule you won't even notice. Several milliseconds will be shaved off of the 24 hours it takes for Earth to complete a full rotation — we're talking even less time than the blink of an eye. Planet Earth is our timekeeper, but it's not perfect. It takes our planet 24 hours — one day — to complete one full rotation on its axis, which breaks down to 86,400 seconds. But Earth's rotation could change by a millisecond (.001 seconds) or two every day. The orbit of the moon can have an effect on how fast the Earth spins around. 'Our planet spins quicker when the moon's position is far to the north or south of Earth's equator,' according to 'Earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal forces, subterranean geology, and many other mechanisms can cause the planet's rotation to slow down or speed up, and those micro-adjustments can trend over time,' Popular Mechanics reported. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 accelerated Earth's rotation, shortening the length of the standard 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds (0.0018 milliseconds). These tiny day-to-day fluctuations in the Earth's spin speed began to be measured in the 1950s with atomic clocks. Any number above or below the standard 86,400 seconds is called the length of day (LOD). The shortest day recorded was on July 5, 2024, when Earth completed its full rotation 1.66 milliseconds faster than the standard 86,400 seconds. There are three days this summer when the moon will be around its furthest distance from Earth's equator, resulting in a minuscule increase in the Earth's spin speed. The following are predictions from scientists: July 9: The day is shortened by 1.30 milliseconds July 22: Earth loses 1.38 milliseconds of the day Aug. 5: The day is shortened by 1.51 milliseconds What feels like the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is known as the winter solstice, when Earth is tilted away from the sun at its maximum. This results in the fewest amount of daylight hours all year and occurs in mid-December. There weren't always 24 hours in a day. Researchers believe that in the Jurassic Period, it took Earth just 23 hours to make a complete rotation around its axis. Scientists have found that the length of a day on Earth is increasing each century by about 1.7 milliseconds. Over time, that adds up. Experts think that 200 million years from now, there will be 25 hours in a full day.
Yomiuri Shimbun
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Chicago Fossil Yields Insights on Famed Early Bird Archaeopteryx
Delaney Drummond / Field Museum / Handout via Reuters A fossil of the Jurassic bird Archaeopteryx is seen under UV light to show soft tissues alongside the skeleton, in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago, in this undated photo. Anew analysis of a pigeon-sized Archaeopteryx fossil in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago is revealing an array of previously unknown features of the earliest-known bird, providing insight into its feathers, hands, feet and head. The specimen, unearthed in southern Germany, is one of the most complete and best preserved of the 14 known fossils of Archaeopteryx identified since 1861. The discovery of the first Archaeopteryx fossil, with its blend of reptile-like and bird-like features, caused a sensation, lending support to British naturalist Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution and showing that birds had descended from dinosaurs. The new study, examining the Chicago fossil using UV light to make out soft tissues and CT scans to discern minute details still embedded in the rock, shows that 164 years later there is more to learn about this celebrated creature that took flight 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. The researchers identified anatomical traits indicating that while Archaeopteryx was capable of flight, it probably spent a lot of time on the ground and may have been able to climb trees. The scientists identified for the first time in an Archaeopteryx fossil the presence of specialized feathers called tertials on both wings. These innermost flight feathers of the wing are attached to the elongated humerus bone in the upper arm. Birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs, which lacked tertials. The discovery of them in Archaeopteryx, according to the researchers, suggests that tertials, present in many birds today, evolved specifically for flight. Feathered dinosaurs lacking tertials would have had a gap between the feathered surface of their upper arms and the body. 'To generate lift, the aerodynamic surface must be continuous with the body. So in order for flight using feathered wings to evolve, dinosaurs had to fill this gap — as we see in Archaeopteryx,' said Field Museum paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor, lead author of the study published on May 14 in the journal Nature. 'Although we have studied Archaeopteryx for over 160 years, so much basic information is still controversial. Is it a bird? Could it fly? The presence of tertials supports the interpretation that the answer to both these questions is 'yes,'' O'Connor added. Michael Rothman / Field Museum / Handout via Reuters A life reconstruction of the Jurassic bird Archaeopteryx is seen in this undated image. The delicate specimen, preserved in three dimensions rather than squashed flat like many fossils, was painstakingly prepared to protect soft tissue remains, which glowed under ultraviolet light. Birds are the only members of the dinosaur lineage to have survived a mass extinction 66 million years ago, caused by an asteroid striking Earth. Archaeopteryx boasted reptilian traits like teeth, a long and bony tail and claws on its hands, alongside bird-like traits like wings formed by large, asymmetrical feathers. The soft tissue of its toe pads appears to have been adapted for spending a lot of its life on the ground, consistent with the limited flight capabilities that Archaeopteryx is believed to have possessed. 'That's not to say it couldn't perch. It could do so still pretty well. But the point being that near the beginning of powered flight, Archaeopteryx was still spending most of its time on the ground,' said study coauthor Alex Clark, a doctoral student in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum. The soft tissue on the hand suggests that the first and third fingers were mobile and could be used for climbing. An examination of Archaeopteryx's palate — roof of the mouth — confirmed that its skull was immobile, unlike many living birds. But there was skeletal evidence of the first stages in the evolution of a trait that lets the beak move independently from the braincase, as seen in modern birds. The fossil possesses the only complete Archaeopteryx vertebral column, including two tiny vertebrae at the tip of the tail showing it had 24 vertebrae, one more than previously thought. The museum last year announced the acquisition of the fossil, which it said had been in the hands of a series of private collectors since being unearthed sometime before 1990. 'This specimen is arguably the best Archaeopteryx ever found and we're learning a ton of new things from it,' O'Connor said. 'I consider Archaeopteryx to be the most important fossil species of all time. It is, after all, the icon of evolution, and evolution is the unifying concept of the biological sciences. Not only is Archaeopteryx the oldest-known fossil bird, with birds today being the most successful lineage of land vertebrates, it is the species that demonstrates that birds are living dinosaurs,' O'Connor said.
Observer
19-05-2025
- Science
- Observer
Chicago museum's fossil yields insights on famed early bird Archaeopteryx
A new analysis of a pigeon-sized Archaeopteryx fossil in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago is revealing an array of previously unknown features of the earliest-known bird, providing insight into its feathers, hands, feet and head. The specimen, unearthed in southern Germany, is one of the most complete and best preserved of the 14 known fossils of Archaeopteryx identified since 1861. The discovery of the first Archaeopteryx fossil, with its blend of reptile-like and bird-like features, caused a sensation, lending support to British naturalist Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution and showing that birds had descended from dinosaurs. The new study, examining the Chicago fossil using UV light to make out soft tissues and CT scans to discern minute details still embedded in the rock, shows that 164 years later there is more to learn about this celebrated creature that took flight 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. The researchers identified anatomical traits indicating that while Archaeopteryx was capable of flight, it probably spent a lot of time on the ground and may have been able to climb trees. The scientists identified for the first time in an Archaeopteryx fossil the presence of specialized feathers called tertials on both wings. These innermost flight feathers of the wing are attached to the elongated humerus bone in the upper arm. Birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs, which lacked tertials. The discovery of them in Archaeopteryx, according to the researchers, suggests that tertials, present in many birds today, evolved specifically for flight. Feathered dinosaurs lacking tertials would have had a gap between the feathered surface of their upper arms and the body. "To generate lift, the aerodynamic surface must be continuous with the body. So in order for flight using feathered wings to evolve, dinosaurs had to fill this gap - as we see in Archaeopteryx," said Field Museum paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor, lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "Although we have studied Archaeopteryx for over 160 years, so much basic information is still controversial. Is it a bird? Could it fly? The presence of tertials supports the interpretation that the answer to both these questions is 'yes,'" O'Connor added. The delicate specimen, preserved in three dimensions rather than squashed flat like many fossils, was painstakingly prepared to protect soft tissue remains, which glowed under ultraviolet light. Birds are the only members of the dinosaur lineage to have survived a mass extinction 66 million years ago, caused by an asteroid striking Earth. Archaeopteryx boasted reptilian traits like teeth, a long and bony tail, and claws on its hands, alongside bird-like traits like wings formed by large, asymmetrical feathers. The soft tissue of its toe pads appears to have been adapted for spending a lot of its life on the ground, consistent with the limited flight capabilities that Archaeopteryx is believed to have possessed. "That's not to say it couldn't perch. It could do so still pretty well. But the point being that near the beginning of powered flight, Archaeopteryx was still spending most of its time on the ground," said study co-author Alex Clark, a doctoral student in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum. The soft tissue on the hand suggests that the first and third fingers were mobile and could be used for climbing. An examination of Archaeopteryx's palate - roof of the mouth - confirmed that its skull was immobile, unlike many living birds. But there was skeletal evidence of the first stages in the evolution of a trait that lets the beak move independently from the braincase, as seen in modern birds. The fossil possesses the only complete Archaeopteryx vertebral column, including two tiny vertebrae at the tip of the tail showing it had 24 vertebrae, one more than previously thought. The museum last year announced the acquisition of the fossil, which it said had been in the hands of a series of private collectors since being unearthed sometime before 1990. "This specimen is arguably the best Archaeopteryx ever found and we're learning a ton of new things from it," O'Connor said. "I consider Archaeopteryx to be the most important fossil species of all time. It is, after all, the icon of evolution, and evolution is the unifying concept of the biological sciences. Not only is Archaeopteryx the oldest-known fossil bird, with birds today being the most successful lineage of land vertebrates, it is the species that demonstrates that birds are living dinosaurs," O'Connor said. —Reuters
