As Terras do Meu Verão

Foto: Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Bordéus; Autor: Adriano Cerqueira

Portugal

• Alenquer (Visita)
• Amadora (Residência)
• Aveiro (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência)
• Azeitão (Visita)
• Braga (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência)
• Coimbra (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência)
• Covilhã (IV Comunicar Ciência)
• Faro (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência)
• Gaia (Compras&Utilidades)
• Gondomar (Natal)
• Lisboa (Visita, Cinema, Compras&Utilidades)
• Loures (Compras&Utilidades)
• Miramar (Almoço)
• Monte Real (Férias)
• Murtosa (Visita)
• Nazaré (Visita e Almoço)
• Oeiras (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência)
• Odivelas (Compras&Utilidades)
• Ovar (Residência)
• Porto (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência, Compras&Utilidades)
• Malveira (Visita)
• Matosinhos (UT Austin Portugal Annual Conference)
• Santa Maria da Feira (Compras&Utilidades)
• São Jacinto (Visita)
• Sintra (Praia)
• Trofa (Consulta)
• Válega (Páscoa)
• Vieira de Leiria (Férias)
• Vila do Conde (Compras&Utilidades)

Açores – Ilha de São Miguel

• Lagoa (SciComPt 2022)
• Lagoa do Canário
• Lagoa do Fogo
• Lagoa das Sete Cidades
• Rabo de Peixe (Visita)
• Ribeira Grande (Visita)
• Observatório Astronómico de Santana
• Ponta Delgada (Entrevistas 90 Segundos de Ciência)
• Porto Formoso (Chá Gorreana)

França

• Bordéus (Place de Quinonces, Place de la Bourse, L’Entrecôte, La Cité du Vin, Musée d’art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Les Bassins de Lumières)
• Mérignac (Aeroporto)

O Regresso da Véspera da Véspera de Natal Parte XVI

365 dias, 232 entrevistas, 90 Segundos de Ciência, 26 Bilharacos, 6500 trabalhadores migrantes mortos na construção de um Mundial, novecentos “Porque Flutuam os Meus Cereais” vendidos, 10% de inflação, 3 sequelas de Jurassic World, 2 canelés, um twitter caótico, e 0 pencas depois, sejam bem-vindos a mais um episódio do Regresso da Véspera da Véspera de Natal, a tradição anual mais aguardada pelos fiéis seguidores da Igreja Universal do Sagrado Chinelo, e por todos aqueles cujo ódio a pencas os une neste santo dia.

Anteriormente em A Véspera da Véspera de Natal:

“Um asteróide do tamanho de Odemira está em rota de colisão com a Terra!”, alerta Fernão, o de Magalhães.

“Isto parece estranhamente familiar”, murmura Bruce Willis.

Mindo: “Agora é a hora para eu brilhar!”

“Mas Mindo, precisamos de ti para descobrir a terra desconhecida chamada Brasil”, suplica Vasca, o da Gama.

“Isso é subjectivo!”

Dois minutos depois da Nau Espacial decolar do asteróide levando consigo o Capitão Iglo, Vasco, o da Gama, Pedro, o Álvares Cabral, Peyroteo, Eusébio, Jesus, o Cristo, Jesus, o Jorge, Jorge, o Palma, Bruce Willis, e Bernardo Soares:

Mindo agarrava no comando. Com os olhos cerrados recordava todos os ímanes que viu colarem-se entre as suas mãos. Mas, no momento em que estava prestes a carregar no botão uma figura imponente com um casaco de cabedal e óculos de sol toca no seu ombro e diz apenas:

“Vem comigo se queres viver.”

“Isso é sub…”, mas Mindo não tem sequer tempo para terminar a sua frase. A figura imponente arrasta-o para dentro de uma bolha envolta em raios, coriscos, e migas de coentrada.

Mindo perde a consciência. A bolha emite um flash de luz e desaparece daquele local como se nunca ali tivesse estado. A figura olha para a bomba levanta o pulso com o polegar para cima e com a outra mão carrega no botão.

Na Nau Espacial Jesus, o Cristo, Jorge, o Palma, Peyroteo, Eusébio, sem a sua toalha, e o Capitão Iglo partilham um olhar agridoce enquanto o asteróide é reduzido a pedaços, conscientes da perda daquele companheiro que um dia iria ajudar Vasco, o da Gama, a encontrar a terra desconhecida chamada Brasil.

Mal sabiam eles que Mindo estava a salvo. Pelo menos por agora.

Lentamente Mindo recupera a consciência e abre os olhos. Ao seu lado estava Jesus, o Jorge, ora nas palhas deitado, ora nas palhas estendido. Sangue escorria pela sua testa. Alguém o deve ter atacado antes de Mindo chegar.

À sua frente estava um monitor. A Menina do Gás, Fernão, o de Magalhães, Sócrates, o filósofo, e Jesus, o Cristo estavam rodeados por figuras encapuçadas que as detinham como reféns. Mindo reconheceu o local, era o Nakatomi Bom Sucesso, aquele que tem um Froiz na cave.

Isto não era uma transmissão televisiva mas sim uma emissão de câmaras de segurança. Mindo estava no interior do edifício e só ele os podia salvar.

Mindo procura imediatamente por uns ímanes mas apenas encontra uma arma, um comunicador, e fita-cola. Mindo liga o comunicador para pedir ajuda. Uma voz estranha responde.

“Ah, McClane, o Jorge. Finalmente te apanhámos”, diz Gruber, o Hans.

“Rende-te ou os teus amigos vão fazer companhia ao Mindo que morreu por nós e pelo Pessegueiro de D. Marcelo, o Afecto”.

“O Mindo sou eu? Eh Eh”, questiona Mindo confuso 

Jesus, o Jorge acorda e agarra no braço de Mindo.

“Vai procurar ajuda. Eles estão no andar… Oitochentcha e oitcho, ouvistes?!”, diz com dificuldade antes de perder novamente a consciência.

Confuso pela situação Mindo pega na fita-cola e na arma e decide ir procurar uma saída.

À sua direita uma porta leva-o a um corredor escuro. Dois guardas estão inconscientes em frente à porta do elevador.

“Jesus Cristo”, diz o Mindo.

“Eu não tive nada a ver com isto, foi Jesus, o Jorge”, afirma Jesus, o Cristo, que por ali passava ora nas palhas estendido, ora nas palhas deitado.

“Desce até ao andar 88. É lá onde estão os reféns”, completa.

“Como escapou? Cê não vem comigo?”, questiona Mindo.

“Não, eu estou bem obrigado. Leva esta lata de Barbasol, vais precisar dela mais tarde. E se passares por uma vending machine traz-me uma Cola Zero”, diz Jesus, o Cristo, seguindo o seu caminho para se reencontrar com Jesus, o Jorge e oferecer-lhe o dicionário de português que o Pai Natal por engano lhe deixou no sapatinho.

Mindo desce pelo elevador. Olha para a fita-cola e para a arma e sabe o que tem a fazer.

Quando o elevador chega ao andar 88 as portas abrem-se. À frente de Mindo está a Menina do Gás, Fernão, o de Magalhães, Sócrates, o filósofo, e Gruber, o Hans a comer uma maçã.

Os dois guardas próximos do elevador tentam agarrar no Mindo mas ele atira com a fita-cola à testa de um, enquanto o outro tropeça na toalha do Eusébio que por ali passava à procura de um estendal.

Ambos caem de frente batendo na cabeça um do outro e ficando inconscientes.

Gruber, o Hans agarra na Menina do Gás e aponta-lhe uma arma.

“Rende-te ou ela morre”, diz Gruber, o Hans em tom ameaçador.

“Eu vou querer o que ela está comendo”, diz Mindo.

“Hun?”, responde Gruber, o Hans, em tom confuso. “Isto não é When Harry Met Sally!”

“Acabou de ser revogada!”, diz Mindo disparando contra Gruber, o Hans, enquanto este tenta se compor após a estupidez que acabou de presenciar.

O disparo acerta no colete que Gruber, o Hans tinha vestido mas empurra-o para trás. Gruber, o Hans tropeça numa janela que por acaso estava aberta e fica apenas agarrado ao parapeito.

Mindo corre para o agarrar.

“O que é que pensas que estás a fazer?! É suposto deixares-me cair”

“Isso é subjectivo!”, diz Mindo puxando Gruber, o Hans com força.

Naquele momento a figura imponente com um casaco de cabedal e óculos de sol que o salvou do asteróide regressa. Uma bolha de raios, coriscos, e coentros de cebolada envolve-o novamente e Mindo desaparece.

Gruber, o Hans cai do octogésimo oitavo andar do Nakatomi Bom Sucesso e cai na secção de frescos do Froiz.

“He’ll be back”, diz a figura de casaco de cabedal e óculos de sol antes de ela também desaparecer numa bolha de raios, coriscos, e coentros de cebolada.

O dia parece estar salvo mas a história não acaba por aqui.

Entretanto, na base aérea de Tortosendo D. Marcelo, o Afecto, primeiro de seu nome, recebe o Capitão Iglo, Vasco, o da Gama, Pedro, o Álvares Cabral, Peyroteo, Eusébio, Jesus, o Cristo, Jesus, o Jorge, Jorge, o Palma, Bruce Willis, e Bernardo Soares, para celebrar com eles a destruição do asteróide que ameaçou a humanidade, e o seu pessegueiro.

Mas antes da cerimónia poder começar uma carrinha da DHL entra na base. O estafeta traz consigo uma carta dirigida ao Capitão Iglo.

“Temos esta carta há uns bons anos no nosso escritório com instruções para ser entregue hoje a esta hora neste local ao Capitão Iglo. Inicialmente esteve nos CTT, mas eles passaram-na para nós para ter a certeza que chegava mesmo a tempo e não com três meses de atraso. Tínhamos até uma aposta entre o pessoal se o Capitão Iglo estaria mesmo aqui, parece que perdi a aposta”.

Perplexo com este conto, o Capitão Iglo abre a carta e começa a ler.

“Caro Capitão Iglo, Se os meus cálculos estiverem correctos essa carta deve chegar momentos depois de vocês regressarem do asteróide. Isso é subjectivo mas eu tenho estado a viver no ano de 1885…”

“O que se passa?”, questiona Vasco, o da Gama.

“É o Mindo! Ele está vivo. Está a comer queijadas com o Eça de Queiroz mas está vivo!”

“Rápido, precisamos de encontrar um Sado com um capacitador de fluxo!”

Doc, o Brown, aparece na pista com um Punto GT: “Acho que consigo fazer melhor!”

O que está o Mindo a fazer em 1885? Conseguirão os seus companheiros salvá-lo? Será que Eça voltou-se a esquecer das queijadas?

Não percam o próximo episódio, porque nós também não!

Esta épica história regressa na próxima Véspera da Véspera de Natal.

Até lá continuem a celebrar o dia mais aguardado ao longo de todo o ano. Dediquem estas horas a espalhar pelo Mundo as palavras de felicidade que só um dia como o 23 consegue transmitir, e não se esqueçam de gastar os €125 do vosso apoio excepcional de rendimentos.

Pois hoje é a Véspera da Véspera de Natal, dêem as mãos e cantem todos comigo:

Morram pencas, morram! Pim!

Therizinosaurus: The Panda bear of the Cretaceous

Therizinosaurus by Ivan Iofrida

With long arms and sharp claws, Therizinosaurus has almost all the character traits of a predator, however, this dinosaur was an herbivore.

Therizinosaurus is a theropod, the dinosaur family that includes T. rex, Allosaurus, dromeosaurs, and even birds. But unlike most of its non-avian cousins, Therizinosaurus evolved to have a mostly plant-based diet.

A lot like panda bears, which have traded a predator lifestyle for bamboo leaves while retaining most of the characteristics that make them part of the bear family, Therizinosaurus kept a set of strong arms ending in very long and sharp claws.

This made this dinosaur one of the most bizarre and also one of the most capable of defending itself against a predator. Bumping into a Therizinosaurus in the middle of a dark forest would most likely be as terrifying as stumbling into a T. rex’s nest.

No longer a turtle

Therizinosaurus fossils were first found in 1948 by a team of soviet paleontologists exploring the Nemegt Formation of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.  

This expedition found a great deal of dinosaur and turtle fossil remains, but the most noteworthy find was three sizeable incomplete claw bones in combination with other objects including a metacarpal fragment and multiple rib pieces in close proximity to a big theropod's skeleton.

The fossils were given the specimen number PIN 551-483 and later used as the basis for the new genus and type species Therizinosaurus cheloniformis, which became the holotype specimen, described by the Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev in 1954.

The name Therizinosaurus, which refers to this animal’s enormous claws, is derived from the Greek words therzo, which means scythe, reap, or cut, and sauros, which means lizard. The specific name cheloniformis, which refers to the remains, is derived from the Greek word chelóni, which means turtle, and the Latin formis, since the remains were thought to belong to a turtle-like reptile.

However, in 1970 another Russian paleontologist named Anatoly K. Rozhdestvensky, had a better look into these fossils and suggested that Therizinosaurus was in fact a theropod dinosaur and not a turtle, by comparing its claw bones with those of other meat-eating dinosaurs.

New fossil findings of this animal and of other species closely related to Therizinosaurus, like Segnosaurus and Nothronychus, further supported this claim, making this dinosaur the first of a new family called Therizinosauridae.

A not-so-gentle giant

Mounted forelimbs of specimen MPC-D 100/15 at Nagoya City Science Museum

Although new fossil remains have been found, Therizinosaurus is to this day one of the most incomplete members of this group. The most complete remains only include bones of its forelimbs, claws, some ribs, and its hindlimbs, and we have yet to find its skull.

Taking this data into account, and looking at other members of this group, paleontologists have managed to determine that Therizinosaurus would have reached 9 to 10 meters (30 to 33 ft) in length with an estimated height of 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 ft) and a weight from 3 to 5 metric tons (3.3 to 5.5 short tons).

But one of the most fascinating things about this animal was its diet. In 1993, Canadian paleontologists Dale and Donald Russell compared Therizinosaurus and Chalicotherium, an extinct large ungulate mammal known for walking on its knuckles. This team identified some similarities in both animals’ body plans.

Both Therizinosaurus and Chalicotherium had large, well-developed, and relatively strong arms, a robust pelvic girdle suited for a sitting behavior, and robust and shortened hindlimbs.

Dale and Donald considered these adaptations to represent an example of convergent evolution, which happens when different organisms evolve similar traits without being related. An example of this is sharks, dolphins, and ichthyosaurs, evolving a very similar body plan in spite of being separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution, and belonging to different clades.

Since animals with this type of body plan are known to represent herbivores, the authors suggested this lifestyle for Therizinosaurus. Dale and Donald Russell reconstructed the feeding behavior of Therizinosaurus as being able to sit while consuming foliage from large shrubs and trees, using its arms to pull the branches towards itself, and its long neck to feed on the leaves without having to stand.

When browsing in a bipedal stance, Therizinosaurus may have been able to reach even higher vegetation supported by its short and robust feet. Whereas Chalicotherium was more suited to hook branches, Therizinosaurus was better at pushing large clumps of foliage because of its long claws.

In 2018, paleontologist Anthony R. Fiorillo suggested that Therizinosaurus had a reduced bite force that may have been useful for cropping vegetation or foraging. This hypothesis was suggested based on an analysis of other therizinosaurids such as Erlikosaurus and Segnosaurus.

A Jurassic star is born

Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is being chased by a Therizinosaurus in Jurassic World Dominion

Therizinosaurus has recently risen to fame, being one of the new dinosaur stars of Jurassic World Dominion. But how accurate was this dinosaur’s depiction in the new movie?

Although the fossil remains of Therizinosaurus are relatively incomplete, its physical characteristics can be inferred through more complete and related therizinosaurids.

Paleontologists believe that like other members of its family, Therizinosaurus had a proportionally small skull bearing a horny beak atop its long neck, a bipedal gait, a large belly to process its plant-based diet, and it was most likely covered in feathers.

Jurassic World Dominion’s interpretation of this animal is inspired by most of these traits.

It’s a bit larger than the real animal, having 12 meters (40 ft) in length and 6 meters (20 ft) in height, which is not unusual for this franchise.

This animal was in fact covered in feathers and it’s not unlikely that it might have acted aggressively towards an unknown threat.

Where Jurassic World Dominion seems to have dropped the ball is with this dinosaur’s head sculpt. The beak is too birdlike and its snout is too short, but overall it is one of the most accurate dinosaur designs in the latest installment of this franchise.

Being a theropod, Therizinosaurus most likely would have had acute eyesight, a trait that this animal would’ve needed to detect predators and other threats and to find food and other members of its species.

In this movie this dinosaur is portrayed as being blind, however, this seems to be due to an incident that happened off-screen involving that particular animal, and not a characteristic common to all in-world Therizinosaurus.

Therizinosaurus was an odd and fascinating dinosaur that questioned our understanding of theropod evolution. Its discovery opened up a new wave of research for paleontologists and other scientists interested in the ecology of this long-lost world.   

Quetzalcoatlus: A pterosaur as tall as a giraffe that hunted dinosaurs

Mark Witton and Darren Naish (2008)

Were these flying reptiles really as big as an airplane? How did such a large animal conquer the skies?

Imagine a stork the size of a giraffe hunting dinosaurs. This may sound like something from the pages of a science fiction novel, but it’s not. From 108 to 66 million years ago the skies of the Cretaceous were dominated by a group of giant flying reptiles called Azhdarchids, and one of the biggest known members of this family was Quetzalcoatlus.

Discovered in 1971 in Texas by a geology grad student named Douglas A. Lawson, this giant pterosaur was named after Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec feathered serpent god. With a wing span of 11 meters (36 ft) and a height estimate of 5,5 meters (18 ft), this was one of the biggest animals to have ever flown. It was as tall as a giraffe with a wing span similar to that of a Cessna 172 aircraft.

Although it was a big animal more recent weight estimates put it at around 200 to 250 kg (440 to 550 lb), making it somewhat of a lightweight, which would be perfect for flying.

Scientists are still discussing whether or not Quetzalcoatlus was able of long-range extended flight, with some studies even arguing that large azhdarchids only would have flown occasionally and for short distances. The debate is still going on, although the consensus seems to be leaning more to the idea that Quetzalcoatlus would be able to fly for long distances and perhaps even across continents.

Quetzalcoatlus lived in North America right at the end of the Cretaceous, sharing its environment with large long-necked titanosaurs like Alamosaurus, the oviraptorosaur Ojoraptorsaurus, the hadrosaurid Kritosaurus, the armored nodosaur Glyptodontopelta, ceratopsids like Torosaurus, Bravoceratops, and Ojoceratops, and even some yet to be described members of the Tyrannosaur family.

In fact, Alamosaurus was so common in this environment that paleontologists believe Quetzalcoatlus might have hunted hatchlings and even juveniles of this species of long-necked dinosaurs.

Like other pterosaurs, Quetzalcoatlus was covered in pycnofibers, short and simple structures similar to feathers that would have covered its body with fuzz. Its skull was bout 2,5 meters long (8.2 ft), it had a very sharp and pointed beak, as well as a head crest, the size of which is still unknown.

How accurate was the Quetzalcoatlus in Jurassic World Dominion?

Quetzalcoatlus has featured in some of the most popular works of paleo media, such as Walking With Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Planet, and Jurassic World Dominion. In the latest installment of the Jurassic World franchise, we see this giant pterosaur attack and crash an airplane, stranding Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, and Kayla Watts in the BioSyn dinosaur sanctuary.

As is often common with the prehistoric animals represented in Jurassic World, this Quetzalcoatlus was just way too big. In the movie, this animal had a wingspan of about 21 meters (50 ft), making it almost double the size of its real-life counterpart. This size estimate was actually at one point suggested, however, more recent research has put this animal’s max wing span at about 11 meters (36 ft).

Although birds have been known to shut airplane engines down after flying into them, it’s highly unlikely that an attack from a Quetzalcoatlus from above would be strong enough to crash a plane. If this pterosaur had flown into one or two of the propellers, it would have made for a more plausible scene, granted with a considerably lower dramatic effect.

Other than that, its depiction is fairly accurate, especially if we take into consideration the scene in Jurassic World Dominion’s prologue where we are first introduced to this giant azhdarchid. The way it moved on the ground, the size and shape of its beak and head crest, and even the pycnofibers covering its body, make it one of the most accurate designs in this film.

Pterosaurs vs. Dinosaurs

One common mistake in popular media is pairing pterosaurs and dinosaurs together as belonging to the same family. Although dinosaurs and pterosaurs are both archosaurs and probably shared an ancestor, both lineages diverged from each other at the beginning of the Triassic.

Pterosaurs were a very diverse family, from the small Nemicolopterus, with a wing span of only 25 centimeters (10 inches), to the weird short-tailed Anurognathus, and from the beautifully crested Tapejara from Brazil, to the famous Pteranodon. These animals were the first vertebrates to conquer the skies, first evolving 228 million years ago in the Late Triassic, and becoming extinct along with the non-avian dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

Azhdarchids were late arrivals to this evolutionary story, but their size and their range across prehistoric Earth made them one of the most successful families of pterosaurs.

Giganotosaurus: Was this the apex predator of its time?

Gigantosaurus in Jurassic World Dominion

Was Giganotosaurus the biggest carnivore that the World has ever seen? And how would it compare to a T. rex?

The main dinosaur antagonist in Jurassic World Dominion, Giganotosaurus, was marketed throughout the movie as the biggest carnivore that the World has ever seen. A claim that was given strength by this franchise's main paleontologist, and fan favourite, Dr. Alan Grant.

Giganotosaurus was first featured in Jurassic World Dominion's prologue, a short film released in theatres as an IMAX-exclusive before the showing of Fast 9. In this prologue, we travel back to the late cretaceous of North America, 66 million years ago, where we see several dinosaurs in their natural environment, like Dreadnoughtus, Nasutoceratops, and Oviraptor, and where we are first introduced to the giant azhdarchid Quetzalcoatlus.

At the end of this prehistoric journey, we witness a fight between a Giganotosaurus and a feathered T. rex. The Giganotosaurus manages to beat the tyrant lizard king, leaving it to die at the base of a river. We then see a mosquito biting the fallen T. rex and are brought back to our World, where the T. rex from the original Jurassic Park is being chased by a helicopter after escaping from Lockwood Manor. Giving us a hint that this animal was cloned from the DNA extracted by the same mosquito that bit the fallen T. rex, 66 million years ago.

There are many issues with this short film but the main one is that Giganotosaurus and T. rex would have never met. Giganotosaurus, whose name means giant southern lizard, lived during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 99,6 to 97 million years ago, while Tyrannosaurus rex lived from 68 to 66 million years ago. This means both animals were separated by more than 30 million years.

If time wasn't enough, both animals lived on opposite sides of the globe. While T. rex lived in North America, Giganotosaurus fossils have been discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia, in Argentina. Two continents that, at the time, were separated by a large ocean, meaning that even if both animals had lived at the same time, the likelihood of them ever meeting would be very low.

Giganotosaurus vs. T. rex

Giganotosaurus vs. T. rex in Jurassic World Dominion

Although the first T. rex fossils were found in 1874 by Arthur Lakes near Golden, Colorado, we would have to wait 30 more years for Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History, to in 1905 give this animal the name that would catapult it to stardom.

But, how big was a T. rex? One of the largest and the most complete specimens was Sue (FMNH PR2081), which can currently be seen at the Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago. Sue measures about 12,4 meters in length (40.7 ft), 3,96 meters (13 ft) in height, and has been estimated to have a mass of about 8,4 metric tons (9.3 short tons).

However, the title of biggest T. rex ever found belongs to a specimen nicknamed Scotty (RSM P2523.8), located at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Scotty is reported to measure about 13 meters (43 ft) in length, with an estimated mass of 8,87 metric tons (9.78 short tons).

Discovered by Rubén D. Carolini in 1993, Giganotosaurus was one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, however, its exact size has been hard to determine due to the fact that paleontologists have yet to find a complete specimen.

The skeleton of Giganotosaurus holotype specimen (MUCPv-Ch1) was about 70% complete and included the skull, pelvis, leg bones, and most of the backbone. A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, living or extinct, known to have been used when the species was first formally described.

Scientists estimate that MUCPv-Ch1 measured about 12,5 meters (41 ft) in length, with a body mass of 6,6 metric tons (7.3 short tons). However, a second specimen (MUCPv-95) has also been discovered. Although this specimen's remains are more fragmentary than the holotype's, it is estimated that this individual was about 13,2 meters (43.3 ft) long, with a mass between 7 and 8 metric tons (7.7 and 8.8 short tons).

Giganotosaurus also had one of the longest known skulls for a theropod dinosaur, with the holotype's skull estimated at 1,80 meters (5.8 ft) and the second specimen's estimated at 1,95 meters (6.3 ft). The largest known T. rex skull measures about 1,52 meters (5 ft) in length.

This means that Giganotosaurus would surpass T. rex in length by less than half a meter, however T. rex would've been a more massive animal, weighing almost one metric ton more than Giganotosaurus.

In fact, Spinosaurus would probably be a better contender for the title of biggest carnivore the World has ever seen, with a skull 1,75 meters (6 ft) long, a length of 14 meters (46 ft), and an estimated mass of 7,4 metric tons (8.2 short tons).

However, with Spinosaurus evolving to adapt to a semiaquatic lifestyle, its jaws were better equipped to hunt fish rather than fight off large theropods, dropping Jurassic Park III's main star to last place.

But when it comes to T. rex and Giganotosaurus, their size would put both animals as the apex predators of their own ecosystems.

As for who would win in a fight? My money is on our not-so-friendly neighbourhood tyrant lizard king.

We need to talk about the locusts

Jurassic World Dominion Locust Animatronic, Image Source: DR

One of the main and most controversial plot points in Jurassic World Dominion is the use of genetically modified locusts with ancient DNA to ravage crops that were not planted using seeds sold by Biosyn, a genetics company, and the main antagonist of the movie.

Lewis Dodgson, the head of Biosyn, had the idea to use these locusts to destroy the competition and ensure that farmers only bought seeds sold by his company. However, things don’t go according to plan and the genetically modified locusts get out of control and start ravaging crops all across North America.

The remainder of the film then revolves around finding a solution to end this plague of biblical proportions before it manages to consume the World’s food supply.

So, are these locusts based on any real extinct species? Can we genetically modify insects? And does the solution cooked up by Dr. Henry Wu have any real World science to back it up?

How to become a fossil in four easy steps

Insects, and invertebrates in general, have a very incomplete fossil record, filled with gaps at times spanning hundreds of millions of years. In fact, we are lucky that some species have managed to fossilize at all.

This happens because insects are small and their bodies are too fragile to be preserved as fossils. However, insects do have a tough external skeleton that, under the right conditions, can be preserved as fossils.

The process of fossilization requires a very specific set of steps and conditions that actually makes it rare for an animal, regardless of its size, to fossilize. First, we need the animal to die close to a water source, like a lake, a swamp, a slow-moving river, or the sea bed, and for it to be buried quickly in a sedimentary basin before the natural process of decomposition begins, and before its body gets the chance to be eaten by scavengers.

For better preservation, a low oxygen environment is your best option. Then, as time passes the sedimentary basin hardens into rock and the bones are replaced with minerals, giving us an imprint of the animal.

Since insects are very small they would have to be buried very quickly in a low oxygen environment with minimal bacteria, in order to guarantee their bodies are not decomposed.

When paleontologists find a sedimentary deposit that exhibits exceptionally well-preserved fossils they call it a Lagerstätte, a German word that aptly means ‘a place of storage’.

One of the most famous fossils found in a Lagerstätte deposit was Archaeopteryx, discovered in 1861 in limestone deposits near Solnhofen, in Germany. Known as the first bird, Archaeopteryx was so well-preserved, that it still had most of its feathers, making it one of the earliest fossil evidence of the relation between dinosaurs and birds.

And, as popularized by the original Jurassic Park, insects can also be preserved in amber. Amber is fossilized tree resin that, like other fossils, was quickly buried in a layer of sediment before it could decompose, preserving everything that got trapped inside it.

Unlike what is said in the movie, however, being preserved in amber actually accelerates DNA degradation. Sorry, that mosquito may look like it had just finished feeding on the closest dinosaur, but whatever dino-DNA it may have carried is now long gone.

Even though a high number of improbable steps need to be taken for an insect to fossilize, paleontologists have in fact found quite a few in the last two centuries.

And locusts just happen to be one of those lucky specimens.

Prehistoric Locusts

Locusts, grasshoppers, and crickets belong to an order of insects called orthoptera, meaning ‘straight wings’. This order is divided into two suborders, ensifera, which includes crickets, katydids, and other insects, and caelifera, which includes locusts and grasshoppers.

Fossil and genetic data suggest that these two suborders split right at the end of the Permian, 250 million years ago, making them contemporaries of Lystrosaurus and other therapsids, mammalian ancestors that are also featured in the latest installment of the Jurassic World franchise.

Just recently a 300 million-year-old fossil locust was found in São Pedro da Cova, Portugal. Named Lusitadischia sai, this new species is now one of the oldest known members of this insect family. Its size was, however, rather modest, when compared with some of the monstrous insects of the Carboniferous, only growing to about 6 centimeters (2 in) in length.

In Jurassic World Dominion Biosyn’s genetically modified locusts were as big as a common house cat. The biggest locust alive today is the hedge grasshopper (Valanga irregularis) also known as the giant grasshopper. It’s native to Australia and females can grow up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long, about a third the size of the ones featured in this film. What about their dinosaur-aged ancestors?

Most modern families of locusts such as Eumastacidae, Tetrigidae, and Tridactylidae appeared during the Cretaceous, meaning that the locusts featured in the film did have ancient counterparts during the reign of the dinosaurs. These however were not very impressive in size.

Insects are not very effective in the way they transport oxygen from the air to their organs, meaning that their size is highly dependent on the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. For most of the Mesozoic, and particularly during the Cretaceous, oxygen levels on Earth were closer to what they are today, meaning that most insects, including locusts and grasshoppers, couldn’t grow much larger than modern species.

In the movie we also see these locusts flying in a large swarm spreading through several miles over the continental US. In 1954 the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) ravaged Kenya in a swarm that covered over 200 square kilometers (77 square miles).

It’s hard to tell if ancient locusts swarmed like they do today since this behavior is not one that would fossilize well. However, the similarities between modern and Mesozoic species give scientists enough evidence to conclude that swarming behavior was probably well established during the Cretaceous.

You never had control, that’s the illusion!

In Jurassic World Dominion Dr. Henry Wu’s solution to deal with the swarm of Biosyn locusts is to introduce into the wild locusts with a special genetic trigger that could spread throughout the swarm and kill every single one of them.

This is actually based in real-world science. Today there are genetically modified mosquitoes that are introduced into the environment to stop the spread of certain species of mosquitoes that carry infectious diseases such as malaria, zika, or yellow fever.

These mosquitoes are created by irradiating the males, using ionized radiation, which makes them sterile. These males are then released to mate with wild females, which would then lay sterile eggs that do not hatch, thus reducing the mosquito population.

Dr. Wu’s method is a bit more convoluted but its end results are the same.

As we have previously seen in this franchise, the science behind Jurassic World Dominion isn’t always as accurate as one can find in nature documentaries such as the recently released Prehistoric Planet. However, some of the concepts seen throughout this film are clearly based on the latest developments in the fields of paleontology and genetics, shining a light on issues that are currently being discussed in the scientific community.

To summarize, although ancient giant locusts the size of your typical house cat have yet to be discovered, swarms of locusts have been known to ravage entire continents, as recently as 2020, and genetic modification of animals and plants has become a common practice.

Unlike Lewis Dodgson, scientists are developing new technology to prevent these plagues from happening and to guarantee that our crop yields are enough to feed the whole World. Let’s just hope that a company as evil as Biosyn never leaves the fictional universe of Jurassic World Dominion.

Lignin: How a single mutation lit the spark of the industrial revolution

A Carboniferous forest depicting Meganeura, Image Source: Field Museum

What do giant insects, trees, and the industrial revolution have in common? All three are part of a 360 million-year-old domino effect that can be traced to a single mutation in the plants' genome, the biosynthesis of lignin.

Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers found in plants, and it's a key player in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, lending rigidity to the plant's stem and making it so that trees can grow large.

Before lignin was first synthesized, terrestrial plants couldn't grow much larger than a bush. If you found yourself walking through the continents of the Devonian 400 million years ago you would be immersed in a truly alien environment.

Instead of trees, you'd find small bushes made out of ferns, horsetails, and seed plants, with no flowers in sight. Earth would still have to wait 270 million years to see the first flower bloom. 

But what would possibly first catch your eye would be the 8-meter (26 ft) tall and 1-meter (3 ft) wide giant fungi.

The forests of the Devonian were more akin to the Mushroom Kingdom from the Super Mario games, with plants playing second fiddle to giant mushrooms.

This would all change by the beginning of the Carboniferous, 360 million years ago. A single mutation led plants to synthesize lignin. With this polymer plants were finally able to outgrow the fungi in whose shadow they stood for millions of years.

Thanks to lignin and to the absence of natural predators - although insects were already abound, vertebrates were still making their first steps onto land - trees were free to grow as large as they could, with some species growing as tall as a 10-story building with an average height of 30 meters (98 ft).

And since lignin was the new kid on the block fungi, which usually are responsible for degrading organic matter and turning it into nutrients, didn't actually know how to degrade lignin. This meant that if a tree were to fall its trunk would just lay on the ground.

So, for about 60 million years trees spread around the globe leaving their trunks on the forest ground to be buried by sediment. Time and the pressure of the Earth's crust turned this ancient wood into coal. The very same coal that was used to power the industrial revolution and that some countries still use today to produce electricity.

This was all possible due to the evolution of lignin and the fungi's inability to degrade it.

With so many trees around the oxygen levels in our atmosphere skyrocketed. Experts estimate that during the carboniferous atmospheric oxygen levels peaked around 35 percent, compared with 21 percent today.

This was good news for a particular group of animals: invertebrates. Today the largest invertebrate found on land is the coconut crab weighing about 4 kg (9 lbs), and with a leg span exceeding 1 meter (3 ft). But most other invertebrates that you may find in your backyard, be they insects or arthropods, usually aren't bigger than a few inches long.

Insects and other invertebrates can't grow any larger today because, well, because they don't have lungs and wouldn't be able to get enough oxygen.

Instead, insects have tiny tubes called tracheae that are distributed around their body. The air travels through these tubes by diffusion, a process that slows down the longer the tube is. This means that if these tubes are longer than 1 cm (0,4 in) the insect runs the risk of not being able to bring oxygen to its organs on time. Which is not ideal.

However, since oxygen levels in the carboniferous were almost double what they are today, this meant that insects could grow large. And I mean very large.

The stuff of nightmares

Have you ever had a dream where you're being chased by two-meter-long millipedes, dragonflies the size of your face, or scorpions larger than a medium-size dog?

If your answer is yes, you probably dosed off while watching a documentary on the insects of the carboniferous.

From Meganeura, an extinct order of insects similar to dragonflies but with a wingspan of over 60 cm (2 ft), to Arthropleura, a two-meter long millipede, and Pulmonoscorpius, a 70 cm (2,3 ft) scorpion, many species of large insects ruled the land from 360 to 300 million years ago.

And all this was possible due to a single mutation that made plants able to synthesize lignin.

Eventually, fungi did develop ways to degrade lignin using enzymes, such as peroxidase, which reduced the amount of wood left lying on the forest floor, as well as the number of trees. Lowering atmospheric oxygen levels closer to the ones we have today and leaving insects unable to grow larger than your garden variety grasshopper.

Arthropleura (left) and Meganeura (right), Image Source: DR

A Domino Effect 360 million years in the making

This single mutation led to a domino effect that dethroned the giant fungi that once ruled over the continents of the Devonian, and gave rise to the evolution of trees. This made the oxygen levels go up, and the insects grew along with them, finally leading to the fossilization of an immense amount of wood that would in time become the coal that humans used to power the steam engines that revolutionized the workforce in the 19th century.

We have lignin to thank for all this and for the extraordinary ecosystems that have evolved to be reliant on trees for nutrients, shelter, and shade.

Without it, our ancestors might've had a rough time finding a branch to swing on to.

What is a Dimetrodon and why it’s wrong to call it a Dinosaur?

Dimetrodon DR

If you search through your old toy chest that your parents were careful enough to save, you might find among your dinosaur toys a small lizard-like animal with a sail on its back and a menacing grin.

This animal is called a Dimetrodon and it’s not a Dinosaur. In fact, it’s more closely related to us than it is to a T. rex or a Triceratops.

Then why do so many people confuse it with a Dinosaur? As with many misconceptions in the World of paleontology, this one has its roots in popular media, with the latest installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Dominion, being the latest in a long list of movies and TV series showing this animal living alongside dinosaurs and pterosaurs (which are also not dinosaurs, but we’ll get into that in another article).

Dimetrodon was part of a group of animals called the synapsids, with its fossils being found all over the northern hemisphere from the US to Germany. Dimetrodon actually predates the dinosaurs by over 40 million years. It lived in the Permian period from 295 to 272 million years ago, going extinct even before the Great Dying, a massive extinction-level event that wiped out 90% of all life on Earth, marking the end of the Permian period and the beginning of the Triassic, 252 million years ago.

Synapsids are one of the two major groups of animals that evolved from basal amniotes, a clade of tetrapod (meaning four-legged) animals that comprise both the synapsids (mammals and their relatives) and the sauropsids (reptiles, dinosaurs, and birds).

One of the main characteristics that distinguish synapsids from other animals is that they have a temporal fenestra, an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye, leaving a bony arch beneath them. Paleontologists believe this distinctive trait developed around 318 million years ago during the late Carboniferous period when synapsids and sauropsids diverged.

(A little side note, it’s from the Carboniferous period that most of the coal used to power the industrial revolution came from. A topic for another day)

And Dimetrodon fossils have this distinct trait, making them not necessarily a mammal ancestor, but a close relative to us and to all other mammal species alive today.

Dimetrodon is actually a genus name comprising about 13 known species, the largest of which was Dimetrodon angelensis, growing to around 4 m (13 ft) in length, and the smallest being Dimetrodon teutonis with only 60 cm (24 in).

Fossils of Dimetrodon are known from the United States (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Ohio) and Germany, areas that were part of the supercontinent Euramerica during the Early Permian. Almost all fossils of Dimetrodon found in the US have come from three geological groups in north-central Texas and south-central Oklahoma: the Clear Fork Group, the Wichita Group, and the Pease River Group.

Most fossil finds are part of lowland ecosystems which, during the Permian, would have been vast wetlands. It lived alongside amphibians like Archeria, Diplocaulus, Eryops, and Trimerorhachis, the reptiliomorph Seymouria, the reptile Captorhinus, and the synapsids Ophiacodon and Edaphosaurus (a sailed-back herbivore).

Besides Dimetrodon, Jurassic World Dominion also features another synapsid, the Lystrosaurus. This little guy – full-grown adults reached around 1 meter (3 ft) in length – was actually one of the few lucky species to survive the Great Dying.

Lystrosaurus animatronic from the set of Jurassic World Dominion

It is found all over the world from Antarctica to South Africa and China, and its fossils were used to prove the theory of continental drift that led us to better understand plate tectonics and to recreate the supercontinent of Pangaea.

Lystrosaurus is an extinct member of herbivorous dicynodont therapsids. Therapsids are a group that includes true mammals, and dicynodonts were a family of therapsids that had a pair of tusk-like canines that serve as a tell-tale characteristic for Lystrosaurus.

It is also possible that these were amongst the first mammal-like animals to give birth to live young, although this hypothesis is only supported by the fact we have yet to find any evidence of Lystrosaurus’ eggs.

Although this animal actually lived in the Triassic it was still separated from the first dinosaur by about 20 million years. It did, however, most likely share its environment with the first dinosauromorphs, the group that would later give rise to the Dinosaurs that we all know and love.

To summarize, Dimetrodon and Lystrosaurus are a part of our own evolutionary history, albeit far in the distant past. They may not have been dinosaurs but that didn’t stop them from making their mark on our planet’s history.     

And although one cannot shake the fact that Dinosaurs dominate our collective imagination and our media landscape, we should also be aware of the amazing animals that lived long before their rise.

Janela de Overton e Efeito Ratchet

Imagem DR

Existem dois termos que todos os eleitores deviam conhecer antes de exercer o seu direito de voto, a janela de Overton e o efeito Ratchet (Overton Window e Ratchet Effect em inglês).

A janela de Overton é um conceito que se refere a um conjunto de temas que são, na sua maioria, aceites pela generalidade da população. Os temas que estão dentro da janela de Overton representam aquilo que é aceite como o status quo da sociedade, ou seja, os direitos e os deveres básicos que tomamos como garantido no nosso dia-a-dia.

Por exemplo, em Portugal podemos encontrar dentro da janela de Overton temas como a escola pública, o serviço nacional de saúde, o direito à vida, ou a liberdade de expressão e de associação. Contudo, a janela de Overton não é um espaço estanque. Ela pode ser movida ou ampliada para a esquerda ou para a direita do espectro político através da educação, da propaganda ou, até mesmo, da manipulação da opinião pública.

Nos anos 90 temas como o aborto, a eutanásia, o casamento homossexual, ou até mesmo a liberalização do consumo de drogas eram temas tabu, radicais e firmemente fora da janela de Overton. Felizmente, através da educação da população foi possível nas últimas décadas reverter esta situação e permitir que a opinião pública, na sua generalidade, aceitasse a inclusão destes temas na janela de Overton.

Hoje em dia seria impensável um partido dito moderado posicionar-se contra o aborto ou contra os direitos da comunidade LGBTQIA+. Temas que há trinta anos estavam fora do debate político hoje são direitos garantidos a todos os cidadãos.

Actualmente fora da janela de Overton podemos encontrar assuntos como a legalização das drogas leves e da prostituição, o rendimento básico incondicional, e o investimento em energia nuclear, à esquerda, e a liberalização do mercado e o corte de impostos, à direita.

Os partidos fora do bloco central têm como missão fazer lobby, propaganda e educar a população para que estes ou outros temas de seu interesse possam ser incluídos na janela de Overton.

Nos EUA, por exemplo, hoje em dia há um esforço enorme do partido democrata para incluir temas como o acesso universal a cuidados de saúde, o aumento do salário mínimo e a melhoria dos direitos dos trabalhadores na janela de Overton da opinião pública norte-americana. Enquanto o partido republicano esforça-se para remover da janela de Overton temas como o aborto ou os direitos das pessoas transgénero.

A janela de Overton é no fundo um conceito que retrata a fluidez da opinião pública e como esta pode ser alterada, para o bem e para o mal, através da acção dos diferentes actores políticos.

O efeito ratchet é um conceito um pouco mais complexo que procura explicar a dificuldade que certos países têm em mover a sua janela de Overton.

Imaginemos uma engrenagem que roda numa única direcção. Esta engrenagem tem uma peça que a impede de rodar na direcção oposta.

Voltando ao exemplo dos EUA. Durante a presidência de Donald Trump duas posições do Supremo Tribunal norte-americano ficaram disponíveis. Neste país estas posições são vitalícias e os juízes do supremo apenas abandonam o cargo após morte ou doença severa.

Donald Trump e o partido republicano aproveitaram esta oportunidade para colocar dois juízes conservadores com visões anti-aborto, anti-sindicais, anti-feministas e anti-LGBTQIA+ no lugar. Com a agravante de se tratarem de duas pessoas jovens que dificilmente sairão do lugar nos próximos vinte a trinta anos.

Isto significa que um executivo que apenas durou quatro anos conseguiu em tão pouco tempo ditar o futuro das principais decisões políticas do país para as próximas décadas, travando qualquer hipótese de reverter a engrenagem numa direcção progressista e favorável aos direitos das mulheres, dos trabalhadores e da comunidade LGBTQIA+.

Em Portugal o efeito ratchet é visível por exemplo nas políticas da troika impostas pelo governo de Passos Coelho que mesmo após seis anos de governo de António Costa ainda não foram revertidas, como o congelamento das carreiras dos funcionários públicos, o pagamento de horas extra, e a contratação colectiva.

O efeito ratchet é visível, em particular, nos partidos ao centro, pois estes sentem-se confortáveis em manter o status quo. Ao fazerem-no promovem a sua própria estabilidade governativa e garantem o apoio dos parceiros sociais mesmo que isso não seja do interesse da população em geral.

O bloco central promove assim o reforço da peça que impede a engrenagem de rodar no sentido oposto.

Com estes dois conceitos em mente torna-se mais fácil perceber os movimentos políticos de ambos os lados do espectro, permitindo uma escolha mais acertada do eleitor no momento do voto.

Quando somos convidados a votar devemos olhar para o estado do país e questionar que rumo queremos para o mesmo. Será que o meu voto vai puxar a janela de Overton na direcção correcta? Ou será que estarei apenas a promover um efeito ratchet que irá impedir o progresso e as reformas necessárias?