Remarkably preserved feathered dinosaur discovered in China reveals new secrets of flying-predator evolution - Live Science

A tiny piece of amber from Myanmar has captured a defensive maneuver that lizards still use today: shedding part of their tail to escape a predator. The fossil provides direct evidence that this defensive mechanism was already in operation in mid-Cretaceous forest ecosystems. General view of the amber piece from Myanmar, arrows highlighting the debris stuck to the initial resin flow at the level of the ventral surface of the tail. Image credit: Fabrikant et al., doi: 10.26879/1706.

A hatchling squid imaged with light-sheet microscopy, to highlight its hair cells. (Wang et al., Current Biology, 2026) The skin of a squid, surprisingly, has much in common with an organ inside your ear. As reported in a new study in Current Biology, scientists have found that squid are covered in cells with little hair-like structures, similar to those inside human ears, which detect information carried by passing waves. For humans, these little hairs help us to interpret sound waves from a melody or a voice, or the honk of an impatient driver. For squid, it's all the little details carried in water movement: the twitch of nearby prey, the rumble of a distant shore, the pull of a current. Until now, scientists had no idea that squid were totally studded with these hair cells – and the discovery may be able to tell us something about our own hearing equipment. Hair bundles on the surface of the squid, and their neuronal connectivity. (Wang et al., Current Biology, 2026)Brian McDermott from Case Western Reserve University is an otolaryngologist – a scientist who studies inner ears, noses, and throats.

The first Norellraptor barsboldi fossil is impressively well-preserved. (Wang et al., Nat. Comms., 2026) An exquisitely preserved feathered raptor just discovered in north-eastern China could probably fly. It's also somewhat disrupted the evolutionary path we thought birds took to get into the air. Norellraptor barsboldi, as the new dinosaur has been named, is a microraptor, which means it's a small dinosaur with feathers and wings. It's also a member of the wider group Paraves, which includes a range of theropod dinosaurs, including some that are still thriving today: birds. And, like its living relatives, Norellraptor could probably fly. But close analysis of this remarkably detailed fossil suggests the evolutionary path to flight may be far more forked than we thought. Norellraptor is described in a new paper by paleontologist Xuri Wang of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and his colleagues. The paper is published in Nature Communications. Details of the Norellraptor barsboldi type specimen. (Wang et al., Nat.

Posted: Oct 16, 2026 10:11am UTCMike Flanagan has revealed his approach for the hotly-anticipated The Dark Tower TV show, which is sure to please fans of Stephen King’s book series. Flanagan, famous for Netflix horror shows The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and, most recently, Amazon's Carrie, has been trying to get an adaptation of King’s much-loved fantasy saga off the ground for years — despite the fact the script for Season 1 has King’s seal of approval. The Dark Tower is currently “one of the most complicated properties to get started,” Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly in the summer, referencing his struggle to get the go-ahead. “Getting the green light on Dark Tower is a much longer and more involved process than anything else I’ve ever approached in my life.”Actually getting The Dark Tower made is the hard part, then. But in terms of the adaptation itself, it’s relatively straightforward. That’s because Flanagan has taken the approach of faithfully adapting the books, almost to a fault, leaning heavily on the story King himself told. “That one I feel like I figured out,” Flanagan said in a recent interview with The Process Unlocked.