Thalattoarchon saurophagis–meaning “lizard-eating ruler of the sea” (!)–was at least 28 feet long, and spent its 160 million years on Earth eating creatures that were smaller, the same size, and even bigger than itself, before it died out about 90 million years ago, or 25 million years before the end of the dinosaurs. It used a giant skull with giant teeth to prey on those often-giant sea-dwellers. Researchers, who first discovered fossil evidence of Thalattoarchon in central Nevada in 2008 and published their findings this week, pin the creature’s heyday at about 244 million years ago....

If you don’t have reliable Internet access or are more comfortable installing programs on your computer, there’s no shortage of competition, either. The programs in Corel’s WordPerfect Office suite ($300; corel.com) can also open and save documents in MS Office format. There are free open-source suites as well, such as openoffice.org and the Mac-only neooffice.org. Besides their lower cost, most of these programs have other small advantages too, like saving docs in PDF format without installing extra software—a feature still not available on Office 2007 for Windows....

This $4.5 million cafeteria, which serves about 200 people each day, is run by the university, and the experiment is being conducted by university researchers, working with Sodexo, an international catering firm, and the Noldus software company, all of whom are hoping take the current research on consumer behavior to an entirely new level. Specifically, they are trying to determine which conscious decisions on the part of the retailer trigger particular subconscious decisions in the buyer in order to steer customers towards certain items—the item with the higher price tag or the food with more nutritional value, for example....

The case report that detailed these findings, originally published in the American Journal of Transplantation earlier this year, explains how after a 53-year-old woman died of a stroke, she donated her heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs to four different transplant recipients. While the donor had no documented history of cancer when she died, DNA tests confirm the cancers in the recipients originated in the body of the donor. Cancer spreading from a donor to a recipient is “extremely rare,” Dr....

The droneboarder in question appears to be no older than eight. The quadcopter pulling the kid doesn’t provide a lot of thrust, making it more novelty than innovation. Or, as The Verge so aptly put it, “Droneboarding needs bigger drones or smaller humans.” As the description for the video itself identifies, this is a variant on “kiteboarding,” where riders instead catch the wind and use that to sail across the snow....

For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat....

As it turns out, those experiences in interspecies mating were far from isolated one-night stands. According to a new analysis of gene ancestry data published Monday in Nature Ecology & Evolution, populations of humans and Neanderthals mated and procreated multiple times over during the 30,000 years when the two species overlapped. Our snippets of Neanderthal DNA are not the result of one-off hookups. “The history of human-Neanderthal interactions is complex,” says Joshua Schraiber, a genomics researcher at Temple University and a co-author of the new study....

Drinking a cup of tea Scientists are still working on figuring out exactly how tea manages to placate our troubled minds—and how strong the effect actually is. But there is evidence that a good cuppa will make us feel better more often than not. Some researchers think a large chunk of tea’s benefits could come from the fact that we tend to drink it in scenarios that are conducive to relaxation, but that just gives you an excuse to turn your afternoon tea break into a little ritual filled with other comforts, like a favorite cookie or a snuggly blanket....

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been an enthusiastic Twitter user for years, but he made his investment in the company official last week, purchasing a 9.2 percent share in the social media site — making him the largest individual shareholder of the company. On Tuesday, Twitter announced that it would invite Musk to join its 11-person board, with Agrawal saying Musk “would bring great value to our Board” as a “passionate believer and intense critic of the service....

Continuous learning is when you subject yourself to an endless pursuit of knowledge to avoid stagnation and remain relevant in your chosen industry. It’s about never stopping to acquire new knowledge and skills in order to expand your skillset, elevate your competence, and achieve more success. With the Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle ft. Rosetta Stone, you can do just that for just $179 (reg. $1,794). This bundle nets you access to an award-winning software that can teach you up to 24 languages and an online course platform that packs over 1,000 premium courses....

That status may be shifting. Several automotive manufacturers like BMW and Ford have invested in battery maker Solid Power, which was established in 2011 and claims its SSBs will be safer, offer higher energy and cost less than lithium-ion batteries. Ford’s F-150 Lightning’s chief engineer Linda Zhang says the company is not using SSBs right now but they’re “definitely something we’re looking at.” With the wild popularity of the Lightning right now, the Blue Oval is doing everything it can to keep up with demand as is....

Several studies in the intervening years have concluded that smoking is the biggest preventable risk factor for SIDS. Many of these studies have quantified how much more likely a baby is to die of SIDS if their parent smoked while pregnant—it ranges from roughly 1.5- to 6.5-fold higher—but they mostly look across broad groups. Nine months is a long time. Could quitting halfway through help, or is the damage already done in the first trimester?...

A main concern surrounding J&J’s vaccine has always been its effectiveness. The one-shot vaccine has never been shown to have the same level of protection as the two mRNA vaccines—Pfizer’s and Moderna’s—both of which require two doses. Researchers at the meeting noted that the vaccine should perhaps always have been a two-dose series. Data provided by J&J scientists shows that a second dose of the company’s vaccine provides a higher level of antibodies than one dose alone....

The hearing was a chance for the public health community to begin transitioning from an emergency response to a long-term planning phase. The panel, which normally votes on vaccine approvals and policies, wasn’t asked to decide on a specific strategy. Instead, the FDA wants to “get input rather than waiting for the next crisis to start talking about it,” Jerry Weir, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review, told the panel....

Customized Wind Tunnel For Ski JumpersReal-Time Data For Going Big In The Half-PipeBobsled Built Like A RacecarPersonalized Skeleton SledA Chat With Katie UhlaenderThe Games Of RiskSochi’s Snow StrategySuperfast Fitted Ski SuitTalking With Ted Ligety Search For Other Earths **Astronomers have found more than 1,000 planets outside our solar system. The next step is finding one like ours. **By Katie Peek How To Find Our Planet’s Twin So what exactly constitutes an Earth doppelganger?...

The Bureau of Prisons is a division of the Justice Department boasting responsibility for 198,953 inmates, primarily those who have committed federal crimes or those who are imprisoned in Washington, D.C. They oversee only 7.5 percent of the roughly 1.5 million total prisoners held in the United States. Yesterday, they posted a “Request for Information” (which is basically the formal bureaucratic way an agency window shops before deciding to pursue a contract)....

But because even the healthiest of foods becomes a drag if you eat it the same way five days in a row, the key is to cook your beans in different ways. Stretch your bag of beans into unique meals with these three exciting recipes passed down from a traditional Salvadoran cook. You’ll be able to build off of these dishes, and either enjoy them during the week or freeze them for later....

Seeing an opening with the departure of the Ford Fiesta from the market this year, Fiat showcased a trio of super-chic 500e models mocked up with designer-brand interiors at the LA Auto Show on November 18. The ultra-compact, Euro-stylish Fiat 500 has always been adorable and represents la dolce vita (“the sweet life” in Italian) that Americans find charming. In EV form as the 500e, its appeal expands exponentially. Lavishly festooned with design elements from luxury brands Giorgio Armani, Kartell, and Bulgari, the 500e models on display were intentionally set up to lay out the brand’s direction and pricing structure....

Smell is one of the two hallmarks of flavor (along with taste) and as such, any company looking to sell a product needs to incorporate good volatile compounds so we react in a positive manner. There are even databases comprised solely of flavors and scents. Many of these chemicals come from plants and as such, plant-derived flavors are continually in demand. The problem, however, is the limited availability of many plant species....

That deadline might not be realistic, according to a new report from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), an organization that makes safety recommendations to NASA. The report praised NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which funds private companies to develop the rocketry and vehicles needed to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. However, the report says “there is a high likelihood of delays to the first test flights,” and raises some concerns regarding the program’s riskiness....