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    The Nodosaurus, The Armored Dinosaur That Roamed The Earth 100 Million Years Ago
    Julius Csotonyi/Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyThe Nodosaurus lived more than 100 million years ago.Around 100 million years ago, an armored dinosaur known as the Nodosaurus roamed whats now the western United States and Canada. Though it was as big as a hippo and covered in plated armor, it wasnt nearly as fearsome as its size would suggest.The Nodosaurus was an herbivore that feasted mostly on ferns. Scientists even know which species of plants the creature preferred, thanks to an immaculately preserved specimen that was unearthed in Canada in 2011.The fossilized remains were essentially mummified, revealing the tiniest details of the dinosaurs body. From its small head to its stomach which still carried remnants of its last meal the prehistoric beast seemingly looked just as it had the day it died.The Nodosaurus, The Knobbed Lizard Of The CretaceousThe first Nodosaurus fossil was discovered by William Harlow Reed in July 1881. The scientific community was in the midst of the Bone Wars, a race between rival paleontologists to uncover as many fossils as possible.Reed came across the remains in southern Wyoming, and they were later studied by Othniel Charles Marsh, who realized theyd come from an unknown genus and species. He dubbed the creature Nodosaurus textilis, with Nodosaurus translating to knobbed lizard and textilis describing the textured plates on its back.The American Journal of Science (1921)The Nodosaurus fossils discovered by William Harlow Reed in 1881.The dinosaur was between 13 and 20 feet long and weighed a little under four tons, about the size of a hippo. It was covered in osteoderms, or bony plates that coated its body like armor from head to tail.The Nodosaurus was closely related to the Ankylosaurus, but it didnt have a club at the end of its tail. With no way to fight back against predators, it likely crouched low to the ground when under attack to protect itself with its armor, similar to armadillos.The few bones that Reed found gave scientists a general idea of what the Nodosaurus looked like. But 130 years later, a miner in Alberta, Canada, made a shocking discovery that brought the dinosaur back to life 100 million years after it first walked the Earth.The Mummified Nodosaur Discovered In CanadaOn March 21, 2011, Shawn Funk was digging with an excavator at Millennium Mine near the Canadian town of Fort McMurray when he struck something hard. He called over his supervisor, and the two men peered into the soil to see what it was.It was definitely nothing we had ever seen before, Funk told National Geographic in 2017. It was a nodosaur fossil and it was almost completely intact. Scientists believe that it fell into the water shortly before or after its death and was quickly covered by sediment, which preserved its body for millennia./Wikimedia CommonsThe Borealopelta markmitchelli fossil on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.The miners called paleontologists, who rushed to the site to study the fossil. After a lengthy extraction process during which the remains broke into several pieces the dinosaur was transferred to Albertas Royal Tyrrell Museum.Researchers were stunned by what they saw. We dont just have a skeleton, museum researcher Caleb Brown told National Geographic. We have a dinosaur as it would have been.Paleobiologist Jakob Vinther echoed Browns awe. [It] might have been walking around a couple of weeks ago, Vinther said. Ive never seen anything like this.The dinosaur was identified as a new genus of nodosaur called Borealopelta markmitchelli. Borealopelta means northern shield, and Mark Mitchell was the scientist who spent six years painstakingly chipping away at the rock surrounding the fossil.Once it was fully revealed, the nodosaur looked as if it were simply lying down for a nap. Everything was preserved, from the spikes emerging from its shoulders to the spaces where its eyes had been. Scientists could even see bits of reddish pigment under a microscope, hinting at the dinosaurs original coloring.Most remarkably of all, its stomach was just as it had been when the nodosaur took its final breath.The Last Meal Of A 100-Million-Year-Old DinosaurIn a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science in 2020, scientists took a look inside the preserved digestive system of Borealopelta markmitchelli and found its last meal.The finding of the actual preserved stomach contents from a dinosaur is extraordinarily rare, and this stomach recovered from the mummified nodosaur by the museum team is by far the best-preserved dinosaur stomach ever found to date, said Jim Basinger, a co-author of the study, in a statement released by the University of Saskatchewan.The nodosaur had dined on ferns shortly before its death, and the leaves were so well-preserved that they could be compared to modern plants. The creature seemingly had a preference for soft plants and mostly avoided the conifers that were common in the region during the Cretaceous period.Brown et al., Royal Society Open Science (2020)Plant cells from the stomach of the nodosaur found in Canada.Scientists also found bits of charcoal, suggesting that the forest where the dinosaur was grazing had recently been affected by a wildfire. Whats more, there were gizzard stones in its stomach, similar to the type that modern birds swallow to aid digestion.When people see this stunning fossil and are told that we know what its last meal was because its stomach was so well preserved inside the skeleton, it will almost bring the beast back to life for them, said Basinger, providing a glimpse of how the animal actually carried out its daily activities, where it lived, and what its preferred food was.Today, the nodosaur found in Canada is on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. At roughly 112 million years old, its the earliest dinosaur ever found in Alberta. As such, it provides rare insight into what the region was like during the Cretaceous period. But more than that, it stands as an extraordinary specimen that brings history to life. You dont need to use much imagination to reconstruct it, said Caleb Brown in a 2017 press release. It will go down in science history as one of the most beautiful and best preserved dinosaur specimens the Mona Lisa of dinosaurs.After learning about the Nodosaurus, learn 31 fascinating facts about dinosaurs. Then, discover what really killed the prehistoric beasts.The post The Nodosaurus, The Armored Dinosaur That Roamed The Earth 100 Million Years Ago appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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    How Aerospace Engineer Judith Love Cohen Broke Barriers And Helped Save Apollo 13
    As a teenager, Judith Love Cohen went to a guidance counselor to talk about her future and professed her deep love of math. But the counselor had other advice. She said: I think you ought to go to a nice finishing school and learn to be a lady.Instead, Cohen pursued her dreams. She studied engineering at USC and later helped design the program that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts. In retirement, Cohen produced books encouraging young girls to follow in her footsteps.Wikimedia CommonsJack Blacks mother Judith Love Cohen at work, circa 1959.Although her son, Jack Black, is certainly the most famous of the family, his mother has a remarkable story all her own.This is the story of Judith Love Cohen, the fearless engineer who was much more than Jack Blacks mom.Judith Love Cohens Early Love Of Math And ScienceJudith Love Cohen had an eye on the stars from a young age. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 16, 1933, Cohen initially dreamt of studying astronomy. But she had never heard of a female astronomer.Girls didnt do these things, Cohen later explained. The only time I saw a woman doing anything interesting I had a math teacher who was a woman. So I decided, OK, Ill be a math teacher.At home, Cohen hung on every word of her father, who explained geometry using ashtrays. By the time she was in fifth grade, other students paid her to do their math homework. And as a young woman, Cohen shrugged off her counselors advice and went to Brooklyn College to study math.There, Cohen fell in love with another subject engineering. But that wasnt all that caught her eye. At the end of her freshman year, Cohen met Bernard Siegel, whom she married a few months later.The newlyweds decided to move to southern California, where they began to grow their family. But in addition to giving birth to three children (Neil, Howard, and Rachel), Cohen also continued to pursue her studies. She liked to be busy, Cohens son, Neil Siegel later recalled.By 1957, Cohen had graduated from USC with a bachelors and a masters degree in electrical engineering. Next, she went to work for Space Technology Laboratories, a NASA contractor later called TRW fulfilling her childhood dream.I wound up actually being able to do the thing I wanted when I was 10 years old, Judith Love Cohen later said.Jack Blacks Mom Designs The Program That Saved The Apollo 13 AstronautsNASAThough NASAs mission control was primarily male, it was a device that Cohen had helped build that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts.As an electrical engineer working in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Judith Love Cohen was often the only woman in the room. Only 0.05% of all engineers at the time were women.Undaunted, Cohen took on a number of exciting projects. In her career as an engineer, Cohen worked on the guidance computer for the Minuteman missile, the Abort Guidance System in the Lunar Excursion Module for the Apollo space program, the ground system for the Tracking Data, And Relay System Satellite (which orbited for 40 years), and others.Cohen was dedicated to her work. She actually went to her office on the day that Jack [Black] was born, Neil recalled. (Cohen and Bernard Siegel divorced in the mid-1960s, after which Cohen married Thomas Black.)When it was time to go to the hospital, she took with her a computer printout of the problem she was working on. Later that day, she called her boss and told him that she had solved the problem. And oh, yes, the baby was born, too.But of all Judith Love Cohens accomplishments, she took the most pride in her Abort Guidance System. When the Apollo 13 crew lost power in April 1970, the astronauts used Cohens AGS to navigate their way back to Earth.My mother usually considered her work on the Apollo program to be the highlight of her career, Neil said. [Cohen] was there when the Apollo 13 astronauts paid a thank you to the TRW facility in Redondo Beach.Judith Love Cohens Impressive Legacy Beyond Being The Mother Of Jack BlackUSCJudith Love Cohen and her son Neil.Saving astronauts wasnt enough for Judith Love Cohen. She also wanted to make sure that young girls had a clear path to enter science and math careers.In retirement, Cohen published books with her third husband, David Katz, to encourage young girls to study STEM subjects. Cohen acknowledged that she never had such encouragement except at home and wanted to make a difference.She died on July 25, 2016, at the age of 82 years old. Though Cohen may be best known as Jack Blacks mother, the actor would be the first to acknowledge her accomplishments.jackblack/InstagramThe photo of Jack Blacks mom Judith Love Cohen that he posted to Instagram for Mothers Day 2019.In an Instagram post on Mothers Day 2019, he posted a picture of her with one of her satellites, writing: Judith Love Cohen. Aerospace engineer. Author of childrens books. Loving mother of four.Miss you mom.After reading about Jack Blacks mother Judith Love Cohen, learn about Margaret Hamilton, whose code helped send NASA astronauts to the moon. Or, look through these Apollo photos from NASAs heyday.The post How Aerospace Engineer Judith Love Cohen Broke Barriers And Helped Save Apollo 13 appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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    The Infamous Story Of Frances Farmer, Hollywoods Original Bad Girl
    In mid-century America, few movie stars were as famous as Frances Farmer. From 1936 to 1958, the actress appeared in 15 films alongside stars like Bing Crosby and Cary Grant, and she was known as much for her tumultuous private life as she was for her roles.At the height of her career, Farmer was institutionalized, where legend had it that the star was lobotomized. Though her family later disputed this claim, the rumor spawned a slew of books and movies that focused on the gruesome procedure.Indeed, despite her star-studded career, Farmers mental health struggles became the center of her legacy in a society obsessed with sensationalism. This is the true story of Frances Farmer, the actress whose battle with depression became an urban legend.How Frances Farmer Got Her StartFlickrA headshot of Frances Farmer for Paramount Pictures.Born on September 19, 1913, in Seattle, Washington, Frances Farmer remembered having an unsteady childhood. After her parents divorced when she was four, Farmer moved to California with her mother only to be returned to her father in Seattle when her mother decided she couldnt both work and care for her children efficiently.Farmer later said that being shunted from one household to another was a new adjustment, a fresh confusion, and I groped for ways to compensate for the disorder. She did so by writing. When she was a senior in high school, she won a prestigious writing award for an essay she titled God Dies.Her love of writing brought her to college where she studied journalism at the University of Washington before finding her true path in theater. She starred in numerous university plays, and by 1935, made the fateful decision to move to New York in order to jumpstart her career as a stage actress.FlickrA glamorous Frances Farmer.She ended up signing a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures instead and began appearing in B-movie comedy films. In 1936, however, she starred alongside Bing Crosby in a western titled Rhythm on the Range, turning her into a star almost overnight.A noted homebody at this time, Paramount studio head Adolph Zukor phoned her and told her, Now that she was a rising star shed have to start acting like one. But Farmer remained behind the scenes, and she still wanted to be taken seriously as an actress.She then traveled to upstate New York to participate in summer stock, where she caught the attention of playwright and director Clifford Odets. He offered her a part in his play, Golden Boy, which garnered her national praise. Farmer continued to work in the theater, spending only a few months out of the year in Los Angeles making movies.In 1942, however, Farmers life began to fall apart. Her Tumultuous Off-Screen LifeWikimedia CommonsFrances Farmer being restrained during a court hearing in 1943.In June, Frances Farmer and her first husband a Paramount actor she met shortly after signing her contract divorced. Next, after refusing to take a role in Take A Letter, Darling, Paramount suspended her contract. On October 19 of that year, Farmer was arrested for driving drunk with the cars headlights on during a wartime blackout. Police fined her $500, and the judge forbade her from drinking. But Farmer still hadnt paid the rest of her fine by 1943, and on January 6, a judge issued a warrant for her arrest. On January 14, police tracked her down at the Knickerbocker Hotel, where she had been sleeping naked and drunk, and forced her to surrender to police custody. According to the Evening Independent, Farmer admitted she had been drinking everything I could get my hands on, including Benzedrine. The judge sentenced her to 180 days in jail.Newspapers captured the gritty details of Farmers behavior, writing that she floored a matron, bruised an officer, and suffered some rufflement on her own part when police refused to let her use a telephone after her sentencing. Matrons then purportedly had to remove Farmers shoes as they carried her off to her cell in order to prevent injury as she kicked at them. Farmers sister-in-law, who was present at the sentencing, decided that admitting Farmer to a psychiatric hospital would be preferable to imprisonment. Thus Farmer was transferred to Californias Kimball Sanitarium, where she spent nine months.Farmers mother then traveled to Los Angeles, where a judge awarded her guardianship over Farmer. The two returned to Seattle, but things didnt get much better for Farmer there. On March 24, 1944, Farmers mother checked her into Western State hospital yet again. Though Farmer was released three months later, her freedom proved to be short-lived.Claims Of Lobotomy And Abuse In The HospitalGetty ImagesFarmer in a jail cell in 1943.In May 1945, Frances Farmer returned to the hospital, and though she was paroled briefly in 1946, she would ultimately remain institutionalized at Western State Hospital for almost five more years.It was during this stretch that rumors of a lobotomy were spawned. Popularized by claims in author William Arnolds 1978 book on Farmer, Shadowland, the lobotomy rumor would become Farmers most enduring legacy, though it is factually flawed. Indeed, in a 1983 court case over copyright infringement related to the books film adaptation, Arnold admitted that he made the lobotomy story up, and the presiding judge ruled that portions of the book were fabricated by Arnold from whole cloth despite the subsequent release of the book as nonfiction.Additionally, Frances Farmers sister Edith Elliot wrote her own account of her famous siblings life in the self-published book, Look Back In Love. In it, Elliot wrote that their father visited Western State Hospital in 1947, just in time to stop the lobotomy from occurring. According to Elliot, he wrote that if they tried any of their guinea pig operations on her, they would have a danged big lawsuit on their hands.Thats not to say that Frances Farmer suffered no abuse at the hospital, however. In her posthumously published autobiography, Will There Really Be A Morning?, Farmer wrote that she was raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats and poisoned by tainted food chained in padded cells, strapped into strait jackets and half drowned in ice baths.But even knowing the truth of Farmers own account of her life is difficult. For one thing, Farmer didnt finish the book, it was her close friend, Jean Ratcliffe, who did. And it could very well have been the case that Ratcliffe embellished parts of the book to fulfill the requirements of the publisher, who had given Farmer a large advance before her death. Indeed, a 1983 newspaper claimed that Ratcliffe intentionally made the story more dramatic in hopes of securing a movie deal. Whatever the truth was of her time in the hospital, on March 25, 1950, Farmer was released this time for good.Frances Farmer Wrestles Back Control Of Her Lifevintag.esA 1940 publicity shot of Frances Farmer.Believing that her mother might institutionalize her again, Farmer moved to have her guardianship removed. In 1953, a judge agreed that she could indeed take care of herself, and legally restored her competency.After her parents deaths, Farmer moved to Eureka, California, where she became a bookkeeper. She connected with television executive Leland Mikesell there, whom she would eventually marry and later divorce, and who convinced her to return to television.In 1957, Farmer moved to San Francisco with the help of Mikesell and began her comeback tour. She appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, later telling one newspaper that she had finally come out of all this a stronger person. I won the fight to control myself.Still intent on becoming a stage actress, Frances Farmer returned to the theater and even made another movie. An opportunity to continue working in the theater took her to Indianapolis, where an NBC affiliate asked her to host a daily series that showcased vintage films, and she accepted.In a 1962 letter to her sister, Farmer penned that she had enjoyed the last few weeks so much in quiet and settled way, and I do think Ive never felt better in my life. But Farmer still struggled with alcohol abuse, and after a couple of DUI citations and a drunk on-camera appearance, Farmer was fired.Not to be deterred, Farmer kept acting, this time taking several roles in productions at Purdue University, where she served as actress-in-residence. In her autobiography, Farmer recalls those Purdue productions as some of the best and most fulfilling work of her career:[T]here was a long silent pause as I stood there, followed by the most thunderous applause of my career. [The audience] swept the scandal under the rug with their ovation my finest and final performance. I knew I would never need to act onstage again.And she largely never did. In 1970, Farmer was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and died in August of that year at the age of 57. Her story, equal parts true despair and devastating myth, would endure. Indeed, Frances Farmers life would inspire the works of countless artists to come, whose own struggles in some ways resembled those of Hollywoods fallen angel.If you were intrigued by the story of Frances Farmer, then check out these vintage Hollywood photos. Or, read about the true story behind the shocking Lizzie Borden murders.The post The Infamous Story Of Frances Farmer, Hollywoods Original Bad Girl appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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    Assassin's Creed Shadows Will Get Its Last Expansion Tomorrow
    Roughly three months after Assassin's Creed Shadows celebrated its one-year anniversary, the Sengoku period Japan-set Assassin's Creed title will receive its final major update for free on all platforms on Tuesday, June 16th.
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    The FCC Ban Impacts Another Budget-Friendly 4K Drone (For Now)
    First, it was DJI, now this affordable brand is caught in the crosshairs. See which 4K quadcopter is now on the no-fly list for recreational enthusiasts.
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    Sapphire Vs. Gorilla Glass: Which Is Better For Smartwatches?
    Choosing whether you want sapphire glass or Gorilla Glass for your smartwatch depends on what you plan to use your watch for-looks or fitness.
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    The US governments Anthropic models ban was never about an AI jailbreak
    The Trump administration's decision that forced Anthropic to pull its latest cybersecurity models could be reactionary, retaliatory, or both, but the message is clear: The AI industry isn't immune from U.S. government interference.
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  • Quinoa Market Gains Momentum from Increasing Demand for Plant-Based Nutrition Sources
    The global Quinoa Market is experiencing strong growth momentum, supported by increasing consumer preference for nutrient-dense, plant-based, and gluten-free food products. According to Fact.MR, worldwide quinoa sales are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2024, and the market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 10.7%, reaching USD 2.78 billion by 2034. Quinoa, often...
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  • Horatio Gates: Hero of Saratoga Who Lost Everything at Camden
    Horatio Gates: Hero of Saratoga Who Lost Everything at Camden On a raw October morning in 1777, a portly, bespectacled general in a Continental blue coat stood on a muddy field near Saratoga, New York, and accepted British General John Burgoyne’s surrender — a scene that electrified the American cause, delivered France as an ally, and crowned Horatio Gates...
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    Horrifying Footage Shows Helicopter Plunging to Ground in Brazil During Crash That Killed Singer Oliver Tree (VIDEO)
    Footage from Rio de Janeiros Military Fire Department shows a helicopter plunging to the ground in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. American Singer Oliver Tree was killed in a midair helicopter collision over
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