“A newly discovered 157-million-year-old salamander is the oldest of its kind and would’ve swum with the aquatic beasts of the Jurassic. The discovery supports the idea that this order diverged from other salamanders earlier than thought, the researchers said. Six specimens of this new species, now called Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis, were discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation, in Liaoning Province, China. Some other salamander specimens discovered in the area are quite a bit smaller than B. jianpingensis, suggesting they are either juveniles or a smaller species. The salamander’s scientific name comes from ‘beiyan,’ an ancient name for the area in which it was discovered, and ‘herpeton,’ the Greek word for creeping animal.” w/ photo

“An extinct primitive marine vertebrate had the sharpest dental structures ever known — with tips just one-twentieth of the width of a human hair, but able to apply pressures that could compete easily with those from human jaws. The razor-sharp teeth belonged to conodonts, jawless vertebrates that evolved some 500 million years ago in the Precambrian eon and went extinct during the Triassic period, around 200 million years ago. The creatures roamed the planet for longer than any other vertebrate so far –– and despite their lack of jaws, they were the first creatures to evolve teeth.” w/ photo

“Bet you’ve never seen someone carry 20 beers in one hand before! What’s the trick? Check it out for yourself!” — alparis008

“The coach seriously just had the WTF moment of his life.” — MTLRELLIK

“When you’re dangling by your fingertips more than 1,000ft up, the age-old advice is probably still the best: don’t look down. Unless, like daredevil climber Dave MacLeod, you want to stop and take in the view from the most dangerous cliff in Britain. Perched on a tiny ledge above the rocks and crashing surf below, he found time to admire the ‘breathtaking’ scenery from St John’s Head, Hoy, in the Orkneys – while dodging frequent dollops of foul-smelling seabird vomit from unfriendly fulmars. Dave became the first person to ever free-climb – using just his hands and feet with ropes only as a safety precaution – St John’s Head on the Isle of Hoy, Orkney, in Scotland.” w/ photos

“Pink diamonds are one of the most valuable jewels in the world – and now Rio Tinto miners in Australia have unearthed the biggest ever found in the country. The company’s Argyle mine, situated in the Kimberly region, produces a staggering 90 per cent of the world’s pink diamonds and is describing this example as ‘unprecedented’. It has named the 12.76-carat jewel the Argyle Pink Jubilee and the bookies believe it may fetch between $26-$33million at auction. ‘A diamond of this calibre is unprecedented – it has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone, and we may never see one like this again,’ said Argyle Pink Diamonds Manager Josephine Johnson in a statement.” w/ photos

“With 47 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren between them, two Scottish sisters, 102, have claimed a new world record as the oldest living twins on the planet. Edith Ritchie and Evelyn ‘Evie’ Middleton, who celebrated their birthday last November, have never left the UK and currently live together in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. When the pair were born in 1909 Edward VII was on the throne, the first game of rugby had just been played at Twickenham and the first British color film was being shown in London theaters. Edith claims the secret to a long life is, ‘simple living, hard work and a good husband.” w/ photos

“Each year the lakes of Kenya play host to one of the world’s largest populations of flamingos. For a short period the area around a group of lakes is awash with pink as millions of lesser flamingos fly in to breed and one of the world’s most spectacular displays takes place.” w/ photos

“In a world first, an elderly patient has had a 3D printer-created lower jaw surgically implanted with complete success. The titanium jaw was built by Belgian company LayerWise in collaboration with scientists from the University of Hasselt, based in the same country. The operation was carried out in the Netherlands last June to treat the woman’s osteomyelitis – bone infection – of almost the entire lower jawbone. However, only now are the details of the ground-breaking procedure emerging. The jaw was made using a high-precision laser, which fused together titanium powder layer by layer, without glue or binder liquid.” w/ photos

“I wonder how much stuff he can steal in a convenient store.” — 2Tudew