A remarkably well-preserved fossil from southern Patagonia in Argentina has revealed a new species of large crocodile relative that once roamed the area’s freshwater floodplains.
The fossilised skeleton, which includes a skull, jaws and multiple body bones, was discovered 20 miles south-west of the Argentine town of El Calafate in the Chorrillo Formation, a fossil-rich site dating to the Maastrichtian age, just before the mass extinction that ended the age of dinosaurs.
Named Kostensuchus atrox, the apex predator lived around 70 million years ago and probably preyed on dinosaurs, according to new research published in PLOS One.
Kostensuchus atrox skeleton (reconstructed 3D print and painted). Credit: José Brusco | CC-BY 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Kostensuchus atrox: a fierce predator
With an estimated length of 3.5 metres and a weight of 250 kilograms, K. atrox was of impressive stature, and the animal had wide jaws and sharp teeth capable of tackling large prey. Researchers think it was ‘hypercarnivore’ – an animal whose diet is made up of more than 70% meat – that ate medium-sized dinosaurs.
“This is the first crocodyliform fossil from the Chorrillo Formation, and one of the most intact peirosaurids ever found,” says lead author of the study Fernando Novas from Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.
Kostensuchus atrox measured up to 3 metres long and weighed as much as 250 kilograms. Credit: Gabriel Diaz Yanten | CC-BY 4.0, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The discovery also provides new clues about ancient Patagonian environments, which were warm and seasonally humid, home to dinosaurs, turtles, frogs and mammals. “Our study shows this species was the second-largest predator in the Chorrillo Formation,” says Novas, who believes K. atrox was among the most dominant predators in the area.
The name Kostensuchus atrox includes both local and cultural references: Kosten comes from the Tehuelche word for the fierce Patagonian wind, while Souchos is the Egyptian crocodile-headed god. The Latin atrox means ‘harsh’ or ‘fierce’.
Top image: Kostensuchus atrox skull. Credit: José Brusco, CC-BY 4.0
Researchers developed a technique called photonic origami that can fold ultrathin glass sheets into microscopic 3D photonic structures directly on a chip. [Image: Tal Carmon, Tel Aviv University]
Researchers have reportedly devised a way to use a laser to fold sub-micrometer-thick glass sheets directly on a chip (Optica, doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.560597). Discovered by accident, the technique could enable the creation of microscopic and complex optical devices for data processing, sensing and experimental physics.
A serendipitous discovery
Constructing high-quality silica photonic structures at the nanoscale with existing 3D-printing techniques is challenging because surface roughness—a result of 3D printing—can cause scattering losses, drastically degrading optical performance. This challenge was not front of mind, however, when Tal Carmon, Tel Aviv University, Israel, asked his graduate student Manya Malhotra to point a laser at glass, with increasing power, until the spot glowed.
Carmon was only hoping to identify the exact location where the invisible laser light was hitting the surface, but then the glass folded. “It was exciting to see the folding silica under the microscope,” said Carmon.
Folding glass
With the new technique, which is reminiscent of origami, the team is able to manipulate ultrasmooth silica on silicon chips with 20-nm alignment accuracy into polylines and helices. To prepare the glass for folding, Carmon, Malhotra and colleagues thermally grow a very smooth (down to 0.5 μm) amorphous silica layer on top of a silicon chip with cleanroom-grade silicon and oxygen. They then release the silica from the silicon with dry xenon difluoride silicon etching. Now, the glass surface is ready to be folded.
Manya Malhotra discovered photonic origami by chance while trying to locate an invisible laser beam. [Image: Tal Carmon, Tel Aviv University]
The researchers leverage interfacial tension at the border between the liquid and gas phases for the photonic origami. They focus an 11-µm-wavelength CO2 laser at crosshairs projected onto the silica surface from a top-view microscope. The laser heats the contact point to 3000 K, starting to vaporize it. The side of the silica opposite the laser contact point reaches a temperature of 1500 K, which is slightly above the transition temperature of glass, so it begins to liquify and exhibit viscosity. The tension formed between the hotter and cooler sides of the silica—one in liquid phase and the other gas—causes it to bend against gravity. This folding process, which the team monitors with a side-view microscope, occurs in under 1 ms.
Carmon, Malhotra and colleagues can precisely (to the 0.1 microradian) achieve different angles and shapes by manipulating either the laser or silica surface while performing the folding. A slow train of lower-power pulses can result in a specific angle, and monotonically moving the glass in relation to the laser focus will produce a circular or helical shape. The researchers can also fold a single sheet of silica multiple times. “The level of control we had over 3D microphotonic architecture came as a pleasant surprise—especially given that it was achieved with a simple setup involving just a single laser beam focused on the desired fold,” Carmon said.
Broken records and next steps
Using the on-chip glass origami method, the researchers were able to create record length-to-thickness ratio structures, measuring 3 mm long and 0.5 μm thick. These structures, which include concave micromirrors and microresonators, are also ultrasmooth so can reflect light without distortion.
Additionally, they believe that their new technique can be applied to materials other than silica, based on similar surface tension and viscosity characteristics at liquid–phase boundaries observed in other materials. Examples of such materials include dielectrics, like silicon nitride and aluminum oxide, and compound semiconductors, like amorphous gallium arsenide.
The team says the approach could enable the transformation of planar electro-opto-mechanical circuits into high-quality 3D configurations. “High-performance, 3D microphotonics had not been previously demonstrated,” said Carmon. “This new technique brings silica photonics—using glass to guide and control light—into the third dimension, opening up entirely new possibilities for high-performance, integrated optical devices.”
‘Mini brains’ reveal secrets of brain cell formation in womb
Recent groundbreaking research has provided unprecedented insights into the earliest stages of human brain development.
Primarily, human brain development is a complex process, particularly with regard to the immune cells residing in the brain, which play a far more active and crucial role than previously understood.
In addition to the statistics, inhibitory interneurons make up 25% to 50% of the neurons in the adult cortex.
The findings showed that the human cortex has more than double the number of interneurons as compared to the mouse cortex, suggesting key lines of inquiry for future research.
These internuncial neurons, between other brain cells, help keep that signalling in check with a chemical messenger called GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid).
GABA, “inhibitory” messengers turn down brain activity by making neurons less likely to fire and balancing out the excitatory signals that intensify brain activity.
Over the past five years, scientists have begun to recognize how the immune system and nervous system develop simultaneously.
In this connection, study co-author Dr. Xihanhua Pio, a physician-scientist, told Live Science, “The microglia really fine-tune and regulate nervous development. It really adds a new dimension as to how microglia exert their function.”
The study further suggests that microglia are not just fighting for infection rather they are actively promoting the growth of interneurons by providing Insulin-like Growth Factor 1(IGF1), a previously uncommon and crucial role in healthy brain information.
The team examined that when they turned off IGF1 while signaling in various ways, they found that it blocked the instant increase in interneurons.
According to the reports written by researchers, “These findings indicate an evolutionary adaptation of microglial function to support the increased demand for interneurons in the human cortex.”
The data further suggests that organoids aren’t an exact replication of the human brain, so there is a specific limit to what the 3D models can tell us.
At this stage, this model is sufficient for the study of early age development. These organoids don’t do as well with later stages of brain development.
Humans have more than double the number of interneurons, and more research can provide a new avenue for understanding human evolution and cognitive abilities.
While future work will help clarify the previously unknown role of immune cells in the brain, more research is needed.
Today in the history of astronomy, Mars comes within a record-breaking distance of Earth.
The Hubble Space Telescope snapped these two images of Mars about 11 hours apart, on Aug. 26 and 27, 2003, as it made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. Credit: NASA, J. Bell (Cornell University), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute)
Mars is considered at opposition when it appears opposite the Sun from Earth’s perspective.
Mars oppositions occur approximately every two years, coinciding with Mars’ closest approach to Earth for that orbital period.
The proximity of Mars during opposition varies due to the elliptical nature of both planetary orbits.
The closest approach of Mars to Earth in recorded history occurred on August 27, 2003, and is not expected to be surpassed until 2287 C.E.
When the Sun, Earth, and Mars all align so that from an earthly perspective, Mars is opposite the Sun, Mars is said to be at opposition. Mars oppositions happen about every other year, and at opposition – or rather, within a few days of it – Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth for that orbit. Thanks to the shape of the orbits involved, some of these close approaches are closer than others. And the closest of all are when Mars is at perihelion, or its nearest point to the Sun, at the same time Earth is at aphelion, or its farthest point from the Sun. When those circumstances happen at the same time as an opposition, you get an event like Aug. 27, 2003, when Mars was the closest it’s been to us for about 60,000 years. The last time Mars was that close was Sept. 24, 57617 B.C.E.; the 2003 record won’t be surpassed until 2287 C.E.
Renowned experimental physicist, Nobel laureate and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss, passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 92.
Weiss was integral in confirming the existence of tiny ripples in spacetime called “gravitational waves,” first predicted by Albert Einstein in his 1915 theory of gravity, general relativity. Weiss achieved this when he conceived the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) with the aid of other physics luminaries such as Kip Thorne and Scottish physicist Ronald Drever. Weiss then went on to lead the team that built LIGO, as well as leading the scientists who, on Sept. 14, 2015, made the first detection of gravitational waves. The signal, designated GW150914, was the result of two black holes colliding and merging 1.4 billion light-years away.
Weiss shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for this breakthrough, with LIGO and its international partners, the Virgo gravitational wave interferometer, and the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA) going on to make many more detections of gravitational waves created by colliding black holes and merging neutron stars. Remarkably, in confirming the existence of gravitational waves, Weiss both proved Einstein right and wrong at the same time. Einstein had been convinced that these ripples in spacetime were so faint that no apparatus on Earth could ever be sensitive enough to detect them, showing just how revolutionary LIGO was.
Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science and the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics, worked with Weiss in the 1990s to build an early prototype gravitational wave detector.
“Rai leaves an indelible mark on science and a gaping hole in our lives,” she said in a statement from MIT. “He will be so missed, but has also gifted us a singular legacy. Every gravitational wave event we observe will remind us of him, and we will smile,” Mavalvala said.
“I am indeed heartbroken, but also so grateful for having him in my life, and for the incredible gifts he has given us — of passion for science and discovery, but most of all to always put people first.”
A committed mentor and teacher, Weiss initially envisioned gravitational wave detectors as a teaching aid. Weiss told MIT News in 2017: “What’s the simplest thing I can think of to show these students that you could detect the influence of a gravitational wave?”
Rainer Weiss (center, seated) poses with members of the MIT LIGO team. Peter Fritschel is seated on the far right. Weiss was honored, along with Barry Barish and Kip Thorne from the California Institute of Technology, with the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for detecting gravitational waves. (Image credit: Bryce Vickmark)
Gravitational waves weren’t Weiss’s only passion in physics. Weiss developed a precise atomic clock, and was also a pioneer in the measurement of a cosmic fossil called the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), leftover radiation from an event just after the Big Bang.
Weiss not only devised a way to measure the CMB using a weather balloon, but he was co-founder of the NASA Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) project. Launched to Earth orbit on Nov. 18, 1989, and operating until 1993, COBE revolutionized our view of the evolution of the universe and provided crucial evidence supporting the Big Bang.
“Rai held a singular position in science: He was the creator of two fields — measurements of the CMB and of gravitational waves,” Peter Fisher, former head of the MIT physics department and the Thomas A. Frank Professor of Physics, said. “His students have gone on to lead both fields and carried Rai’s rigor and decency to both. He not only created a huge part of important science, but he also populated them with people of the highest caliber and integrity.”
An image of the CMB taken by NASA’s COBE mission pioneered by Rainer Weiss” (Image credit: NASA)
Weiss was born in Berlin in 1932, arriving in New York City after he and his family fled Nazi Germany. Growing up in New York, Weiss developed a love of classical music and electronics, earning money repairing radios. He finished his undergraduate degree in 1955 and earned his PhD in 1962.
After developing experiments to test gravity as part of Robert Dicke’s Princeton University physics group, Weiss returned to MIT in 1964 (he had enrolled earlier but dropped out in his junior year), where he founded a new research group dedicated to the study of cosmology and gravity.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Weiss was honored during his career with a cavalcade of other awards. These included: the Medaille de l’ADION, the 2006 Gruber Prize in Cosmology, the 2007 Einstein Prize of the American Physical Society, a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Gruber Prize in Cosmology, the Shaw Prize in Astronomy, and the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, the latter three of which he shared with Drever and Thorne.
Weiss emphasized the collaborative nature of physics in humble fashion while discussing his Nobel Prize win at a 2017 MIT press conference.
“The discovery has been the work of a large number of people, many of whom played crucial roles. I view receiving this [award] as sort of a symbol of the various other people who have worked on this,” Weiss said. “This prize and others that are given to scientists is an affirmation by our society of [the importance of] gaining information about the world around us from reasoned understanding of evidence.”
Weiss is survived by his wife, Rebecca, his daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Tony, and his son, Benjamin, and his wife, Carla, as well as his grandson, Sam, and his wife, Constance.
SpaceX launched a fresh stack of Starlink internet satellites into orbit Wednesday morning (Aug. 27), and nailed a notable milestone for the company’s continued efforts toward rocket reusability.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex-40, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida, at 7:10 a.m. EDT (1110 GMT). This particular batch of Starlinks, Group 10-54, consisted of 28 broadband Starlink satellites, which were deployed in low-Earth orbit (LEO) about an hour later, SpaceX confirmed in a post on X.
It was only the second launch for the Falcon 9 booster supporting the mission, B1095, which executed a successful stage separation 2.5 minutes after liftoff. Six minutes later, B1095 performed a deceleration and landing burn, and touched down on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 B1095 stands on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)
This was the 400th successful droneship landing for SpaceX. The company’s first droneship landing occurred during the launch of NASA’s CRS-8 cargo mission to the International Space Station in April 2016, on Of Course I Still Love You. Since then, SpaceX also added A Shortfall of Gravitas to their droneship fleet, which is stationed on opposite coasts for launches out Florida as well as Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Starlink 10-56 was was SpaceX’s 108th mission so far in 2025, and follows the successful test launch of Starship Flight 10 on Tuesday night. Starship is SpaceX’s next generation heavy lift rocket being designed for full reusability. The company has successfully caught three of the vehicle’s Super Heavy boosters during Starship’s test campaign, and made significant strides forward in the development of the rocket’s Ship upper stage to eventually accomplish the same.
SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation currently totals more than 8,100 satellites in LEO. They provide nearly-worldwide coverage to Starlink subscribers to access low-latency high speed internet. The company also plans to begin launching more powerful Starlinks aboard Starship, once it reaches operational capability, with the goal of expanding the Starlink network’s speed and coverage.
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As the oceans become more acidic, shark teeth are likely to become weaker and more brittle, according to the findings of a new study. The idea of some of the world’s most formidable predators becoming less lethal might comfort surfers, but this will also undermine ocean ecosystems. Moreover, sharks’ teeth are just one of many points of vulnerability we have not previously considered.
Sharks’ capacity to grow new teeth and drop their old ones is a key reason some of them live so long as individuals, and they have collectively proven such survivors. It’s a feature that has extended to some of the largest apex predators the world has ever known, which produced some suitably enormous teeth.
Despite all the changes sharks have seen in their long years, there is one thing their teeth are not prepared for, the new research indicates: human-generated greenhouse gas emissions.
When carbon dioxide is dissolved in water, it makes it acidic. Enough of the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is absorbed by the oceans to move the slightly alkaline conditions towards neutral, a process known as ocean acidification.
The effects of ocean acidification on coral reefs have been widely studied for decades, and the fate of other shell-forming invertebrates has been investigated as well. Teeth, however, have attracted less attention, but that appears to be a dangerous oversight.
“Shark teeth, despite being composed of highly mineralized phosphates, are still vulnerable to corrosion under future ocean acidification scenarios,” said first author Maximilian Baum of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) in a statement. “They are high developed weapons built for cutting flesh, not resisting ocean acid. Our results show just how vulnerable even nature’s sharpest weapons can be.”
Baum and co-authors collected 600 teeth left behind by blacktip reef sharks in an aquarium. The teeth were placed in tanks for eight weeks with contrasting levels of acidity, with those in the best condition studied with a scanning electron microscope.
“We observed visible surface damage such as cracks and holes, increased root corrosion, and structural degradation,” on those held in more acidic water, said senior author Professor Sebastian Fraune. The authors think these teeth are also more likely to break under pressure, or be worn down more quickly than they can be replaced.
Blacktip reef sharks at Sealife Oberhausen supplied the teeth for the study on their vulnerability to a changing ocean.
Image credit: Max Baum
The authors acknowledge this is not the end of the story, since living teeth have repair processes that dropped ones do not. “In living sharks, the situation may be more complex. They could potentially remineralize or replace damaged teeth faster, but the energy costs of this would be probably higher in acidified waters,” Fraune explained. In other words, even if sharks can adapt, the price of doing so will probably be paid in other ways.
It’s much harder to acidify a 1,500,000-liter tank like the one these sharks live in than 20-liter ones used to process the teeth. Animal ethics committees would also need to give approval. Nevertheless, there may be no other way to know what sort of world we are creating for the creatures we share it with.
It’s also uncertain how widely the effects will spread. Blacktip reef sharks swim with their mouths open to maximize their access to dissolved oxygen. This may make for greater exposure to acidic ions than fish that keep their mouths closed. However, it’s the fish that can’t replace their teeth as frequently that may be most affected.
Comfortingly, the more acidic tank used in the experiment had an average pH of 7.37, a level the oceans are not anticipated to reach until 2300, and then only if emissions are sustained.
Nevertheless, if even a few keystone species are affected under more moderate conditions, the consequences could ripple through the ocean ecosystem.
“Maintaining ocean pH near the current average of 8.1 could be critical for the physical integrity of predators’ tools,” Baum said. Otherwise, we may face a whole new meaning for gummy shark.
Carbon dioxide levels have varied a lot over the 450 million years since sharks evolved, but have not been as high as they are today for at least the last 20 million years. The levels tested in this case resemble a peak some 200 million years ago, but when that occurred, sharks and all other animals had plenty of time to evolve responses. Two hundred years is unlikely to be enough.
“This study began as a bachelor’s project and grew into a peer-reviewed publication. It’s a great example of the potential of student research,” said Fraune. “Curiosity and initiative can spark real scientific discovery.”
The study is published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
ROSES-25 A.7 Water Quality Applications and ROSES-25 A.8 Water Resources Applications both solicit proposals for decision-support tools for water quality management using NASA Earth observation data in support of the goals of the NASA Earth Action Water Resources Program and the NASA Earth Science Division’s Earth Science to Action (ES2A) strategy.
Solutions that address the following water quality challenges are of priority to A.7 Water Quality Applications: 1) water pollution monitoring and management, 2) stormwater and wastewater management, 3) risk assessment and adaptation strategies, and 4) coordinated transboundary water quality management.
Projects must address: 1) Engagement and Needs Assessment, 2) Solution Development and Testing, and 3) Implementation and Evaluation (see Section 2.3). Proposals must define a specific decision-making need and articulate how the project will support relevant decision-making processes.
For A.8 Water Resources Applications While any water resources topics are welcome, priority will be given to:
Drought Resilience and Water Scarcity Management;
Integrated Water Infrastructure for Stormwater and Floodwater Management;
Water System Risk Assessment and Adaptive Management;
Sustainable and Efficient Water Use Across Sectors (Hydropower, Municipal Supply, and Irrigation); and
Water Allocation, Optimization, and Transboundary Cooperation.
Corrected August 27, 2025. The wording in Section 1.1 Eligibility regarding FFRDCs has been corrected to make it consistent with Section 1.8 of the Earth Science Research Overview, i.e., there is not a prohibition on all FFRDCs other than JPL, only on NASA funding FFRDCs via other government agencies. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through.
Mandatory NOIs for A.7 Water Quality Applications were due 08/19/2025 and proposals are due 10/21/2025. Step-1 proposals for A.8 Water Resources Applications are due 09/05/2025 and Step-2 proposals are due 11/14/2025.
Questions concerning A.7 Water Quality Applications or A.8 Water Resources Applications may be directed to Erin Urquhart at erin.urquhart.jephson@nasa.gov.
