Technologies

76 Million-Year-Old Fossil Fills Long-standing Gap In T. Rex History

Nicknamed «Sisyphus,» this specimen was incredibly difficult to nudge it out of its ancient resting place.

Ask anyone to name three dinosaurs in five seconds, and I guarantee you Tyrannosaurus Rex will make the list. Whether it be because of Jurassic Park’s murderous scenes or humanity’s deep obsession with ancient predatorial kin, the T. Rex has become something of a cultural icon.

Yet, despite the level of detail we have about this tiny-armed reptile itself, scientists surprisingly don’t know much about the rest of T. Rex’s family. A wealth of questions remain about the ancestral tree that sprouted this vicious, quintessential dinosaur — though paleontologists with the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in North Dakota say we may have some answers, at last.

In a paper published Friday in the journal Paleontology and Evolutionary Science, paleontologists Elias Warshaw and Denver Fowler report the discovery of a 76.5 million-year-old fossil that they believe belonged to one of T. Rex’s ancestors, a species now known as Daspletosaurus wilsoni.

And this dinosaur, expected to have lived during the Cretaceous period, seems to have been just as ferocious as its famous descendant. D. wilsoni, which literally translates to «Wilson’s frightful reptile,» after John P. Wilson who found the specimen to begin with, likely once had expended air pockets in its skull, a blue-grayish coloring, a set of sharp teeth and an elongated eye socket — rimmed with horns.

But in short, locating this species is a big deal for scientists because its existence could provide the «missing link» in T. Rex’s family backstory, bridging a longstanding gap between older and younger tyrannosaur species named Daspletosaurus torosus and Daspletosaurus horneri, which lived about 77 to 75 million years ago, respectively.

«Since the 1990s,» Warshaw and Fowler wrote in a statement, «debate has surrounded Daspletosaurus, a large tyrannosaurid known from Montana and Alberta, which has been proposed to be an ancestor of T. rex itself.»

But according to the statement, reconstructing the evolutionary relationships of Daspletosaurus has been hampered by the rarity of good specimens, and many researchers are still engaged in debate as to whether these tyrannosaurids represent a single lineage evolving in place or several closely related species from various lineages.

«We can now see that many of these species are actually very finely separated in time from each other,» the statement reads, «forming consecutive ladder-like steps in a single evolutionary lineage where one ancestral species evolves directly into a descendant species.»

The team even named its fossil find «Sisyphus,» after the mythical Greek king who was punished for cheating death. As the tale goes, Sisyphys’ punishment was to roll a giant boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down the hill every time he got close to the top. This seemingly horrid endeavor lasted for an eternity.

«The holotype skull and partial skeleton, BDM 107, is nicknamed ‘Sisyphus’ after the seemingly endless task of removing over 25 feet (8 meters) of rock which lay on top of the bones,» the researchers said.

It was Badlands Dinosaur Museum crew member Jack Wilson who spotted the skeleton in the first place in 2017 — a small, flat piece of bone was peeking out from the bottom of a towering cliff. Upon close examination, that little bit of evidence turned out to be part of the dinosaur’s nostril. And so the dig began, culminating in 2021 with an exquisite tyrannosaurus-type animal figure.

«These findings,» the researchers said, «suggest that previous research was correct in identifying several species of Daspletosaurus as a single evolving lineage, and supports the descent of T. rex from this group.»

Technologies

Chrome Autofill Now Supports Passport, Driver’s License and Vehicle Info

Soon, you’ll never need to remember anything ever again.

Computer users are accustomed to web browsers autofilling everything from names and addresses to credit card numbers. Now, Google Chrome is adding new enhanced autofill options that allow users to automatically populate fields for passports, driver’s licenses, and their vehicle’s license plate or VIN, Google said in a blog post on Monday.

Desktop users must choose to turn on the feature, which is called enhanced autofill. Otherwise, it stays off. To turn it on, open Chrome, and at the top right of your browser, select more, then settings, then autofill and passwords. Finally, choose enhanced autofill and turn it in.

Google says Chrome now can «better understand complex forms and varied formatting requirements, improving accuracy across the web.» The company also says that enhanced autofill will be «private and secure.»

This enhanced autofill update is available in all languages, and more data options will be supported in the coming months.

A representative for Google said the company had no additional comment.

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Chrome is a critical component in Google’s business. The web browser, currently the most popular in the world with a 73% market share, according to GlobalStats, provides the company with valuable user data that it uses to sell advertising. Advertising is how Google makes the majority of its revenues. New features help keep users loyal to Chrome, making it more difficult for them to switch to other browsers, including those from companies like Perplexity and OpenAI.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 4, #407

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 4, No. 407.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle makers will never run out of categories because they have discovered they can just pick one athlete and make a connections group out of four facts about that person. They do that today with the blue category, so if you don’t know that one player, you’re out of luck. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Get up and go!

Green group hint: College hoops.

Blue group hint: Famous basketball player.

Purple group hint: Not fair, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Energy.

Green group: Men’s college basketball teams with the most championships.

Blue group: Associated with Damian Lillard.

Purple group: Foul ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is energy. The four answers are pep, verve, vigor and zip.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is men’s college basketball teams with the most championships. The four answers are Kentucky, UCLA, UCONN and UNC.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Damian Lillard. The four answers are 0, Dame Time, Trail Blazers and Weber State.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is foul ____. The four answers are out, shot, territory and tip.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Nov. 4

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 4.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? There are a few tricky clues, so read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.