Johnny Cash might have said, life wasn't easy for a dinosaur named SUE. She grew up quick and she grew up mean, packing on nearly 4000 pounds a year as a teenager. "We estimate they [Tyrannosaurs] grew as fast as 3,950 pounds per year (1790 kg) during the teenage period of growth, which is more than twice the previous estimate," said John R. Hutchinson of The Royal Veterinary College, London in a press release. Modeling the teenage growth spurts of an ancient mega-predator was made possible by comparing computer models of smaller, younger Tyrannosaurs with those of full grown adults, including the tyrant lizard queen, SUE, the largest T. rex skeleton yet discovered. The new models also found that the 42 foot-long SUE may have been much heavier than earlier estimates. She tipped the scales at approximately 9 tons, according to the computer model. "We knew she was big but the 30 percent increase in her weight was unexpected," said co-author Peter Makovicky, c...
Some lucky people living in southern Russia got to experience something very unusual the other day - purple snow. Yes, you read that correctly. Purple snow. Russian scientists who have analyzed it believe that the unusual colored snow is the result a massive dust cyclone from Africa entering the upper atmosphere and then mixing with snow clouds over Russia. Or something like that. In any event, the scientists say that the snow is perfectly safe but they do not recommend eating the purple snow. Do people in Russia regularly do that? Perhaps with all of the purple snow some Russians might get confused and think that it is raining ice cream. In any event, this is truly one of the most unusual weather events that we have seen in the world lately. Russian scientists may think that they know what caused the purple snow, but as for us, we still plan to label it as one of the world's great unexplained mysteries.
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