Armored Amphibian Lived Entirely At Sea 237 Million Years Ago, Fossils Suggest

Listen To This Story

Armored Amphibian Lived Entirely At Sea 237 Million Years Ago, Fossils Suggest (Maria)

The author writes, “Scientists report fossil evidence of the first fully marine amphibian in a study from the University of California, Davis; Peking University, and the Geological Museum of Guizhou. The amphibian is a giant, armored, salamander–sized, bottom-dwelling ocean creature that the researchers named Gerrothorax maritimus. The research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, is based on analysis of two nearly complete skeletons that date to the Late Triassic period nearly 237 million years ago.”

She Planned to Protest Trump. She Didn’t Plan on Getting Punched (Russ)

The author writes, “The night before President Trump spoke in Youngstown, Ohio, this month, Blake Miley stayed up past 4 am, cutting out felt letters for a T-shirt that would say ‘RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.’ The next evening, she went to the rally and stood up halfway through, revealing her shirt and yelling, ‘Fascist, fascist!’ Almost immediately, Ms. Miley, 29, was tackled, held down, and punched by male rally-goers as the president mocked her from the stage, calling her ‘scum,’ ‘low-class,’ and ‘a fat guy.’ As Mr. Trump barnstorms the country hoping to revive his base ahead of the midterm election, he is returning to an old habit: heckling protesters and encouraging violence against them.”

How the Climate Crisis Fueled the Youth Protests Roiling France (Laura)

From Inside Climate News: “By the time Cléo made it to Greek class, she had gone completely pale. It was a Wednesday in June during France’s second consecutive heat wave this year, and the 16-year-old was struggling to cope with the rising temperatures. She pushed through, thinking she was just tired. But the following day at her sweltering high school on the eastern edge of Paris, nausea and a desperate thirst gripped her. The school nurse, recognizing the signs of heat exhaustion, told her to go home. This week, as she recalled the experience and worried about more heat waves to come, Cléo and her friends stood by a pile of green garbage cans, blocking their school’s entrance. For the past four weeks, scenes like this have multiplied at thousands of schools across France.”

Texas Dad Deported by ICE to Ghana Was Then Forced to Go to Mali, a Country That’s Unsafe for Him (Sean)

From CBS News: “From thousands of miles away, a Texas dad, hiding in a country he doesn’t know, reminded his son to vacuum the carpet each week. Moussa Diawara is from Mali, but spent nearly half his life living in the United States, where he married, had two US citizen children, worked, and paid taxes. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Ghana over the summer. Diawara has no connection to Ghana, but a judge had issued an order that he couldn’t be deported to Mali, because it was likely he’d be persecuted there. Diawara said that within days of his arrival in Ghana, local officials forced him onto a flight to Mali.”

One Reason US Pedestrians Keep Dying: ‘Stroads’ (Reader Jim)

The author writes, “Pedestrian deaths in the US increased by 72% between 2009 and 2024, even though most developed nations saw their figures decrease. One big reason the US is an outlier is because urban planners keep building stroads … That’s particularly true in the Sunbelt, which has become the most dangerous region for American pedestrians.”

What Life in Denmark Shows About the Power of Emotional Safety (Dana)

From Psyche: “For newcomers to Denmark, many things don’t always make sense. Parents leave sleeping babies outside cafés. Young children cycle to school alone. Primary schools don’t do homework, exams, and competition. Success is quietly downplayed rather than celebrated. Meetings are spent revisiting the last meeting, planning the current one, eating together and preparing for the next meeting. Decisions are painfully slow, and everything is scheduled and regulated. Nothing is rushed. For me, and for many others who have made Denmark our home, much of everyday life initially seemed to defy the logic by which successful societies are supposed to function.”