Scaphokogia huachafo: A new species of Pygmy Sperm Whale from the Miocene of Peru, with a distinctly asymmetric skull.

Most Vertebrates have symmetrical skulls, although there are some exceptions to this. The most obvious of these is found in the Flatfish, Pleuronectiformes, where both eyes have migrated to the same side of the head, enabling Fish to lie flat on the seabed. Among Tetrapods, asymmetric skulls have appeared in two groups, and in both is associated with positioning of the ears so that these can be used to locate prey when hunting. Many Owls, Strigiformes, have developed highly asymmetric skulls as part of a suite of adaptations which enable them to fly and hunt in light conditions which other Birds avoid. Among Whales, Cetacea, this trait has evolved at least twice, amongst the early-diverging Archaeocetes, a group known only from fossils and whose behaviour in life we can only speculate about, and in the extant Toothed Whales, Odontoceti, where it is combined with echo-location to give these Marina Mammals a formidable hunting capability.

Cranial asymmetry is found in the earliest known Sperm Whales, Physeteroidea, along with the development of a supercranial basin, which holds the spermaceti organ, which is used to make the clicks used in the echolocation used by these Whales. Only three species of Sperm Whale are alive today, the True Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, the Dwarf Sperm Whale, Kogia sima, and the Pygmy Sperm Whale, Kogia pusilla. However their fossil record shows they were once a much more diverse group, with considerable morphological variation, and therefore implied ecological variation, developing soon after the group first appeared in the Miocene.

In a paper published in the journal Communications Biology on 9 November 2026, Aldo Benites-Palomino of the GeoZentrum Nordbayern at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Department of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, and the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra, also of the Department of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, Florencia Paolucci of the División Paleontología Vertebrados at the Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Jorge Vélez-Juarbe of the Department of Mammalogy at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Alberto Collareta of the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra at the Università di Pisa, Apolline Alfsen of the Department of Evolutionary Morphology at the Museum für Naturkunde, Alton Dooley of the Western Science Center, Dan Omura of the Centro de Desarrollo para la Educación Lima Nikko of the Asociación Peruano Japonesa, Mario Urbina, also of the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, again of the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de Historia Natural-Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, and of the Laboratorios de Investigación y Desarrollo at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and Gabriel Aguirre-Fernández, once again of the Department of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, describe a new species of Pygmy Sperm Whale from the Late Miocene Pisco Formation of southern Peru, with a distinctly asymmetrical skull.

The new species is described from a single partial skull (MSUM 972), lacking the squamosal and lateralmost portion of the frontal on the left side of the cranium. This was excavated from an exposure of the Pisco Formation at Aguada de Lomas in the Bella Unión District of Caravelí Province. The sediments here deposit were laid down during a marine transgression between 6.3 and 5.6 million years ago, close to the end of the Miocene. 

The new species is placed in the extinct genus Scaphokogia, which already contains two species, Scaphokogia cochlearis and Scaphokogia totajpe. The genus Scaphokogia is thought to be related, but not ancestral, to the modern genus Kogia, with specimens known from the Late Miocene Pisco Formation in Peru and the Pliocene Tirabuzon Formation of Baja California, suggesting a rather limited geographical range. It is given the specific name huachafo, which in Peru is used to describe something surprising or unusual.

The rostrum of Scaphokogia huachafo is notably more robust than seen in other members of the genus, due to the presence of extensive pachyostotic bone and partial ossification of the mesethmoid (nose) cartilage. It has eight large and well-defined maxillary alveoli (tooth sockets in the upper jaw), but these are filled with spongey bone, but were lost or reabsorbed at some point, possibly associated with maturity. 

The facial region is distinctly asymmetric, with both the nares (nostrils) on the left side of the face, and the left nostril being larger than the right. There is a robust antorbital notch on the right side, whereas on the left there is a laminar process which extends both forward and backward of its equivalent on the right. The absence of distortion elsewhere in the skull suggests that this is not the result of injury or post mortem distortion of the skull.

Holotype skull of Scaphokogia huachafo (MUSM 972) in dorsal (a)–(c), right lateral (d)–(f), and ventral (g)–(i) views, shown as the specimen (a), (d), (g), schematic drawings (b), (e), (h), and segmented 3D surface reconstructions (c), (f), (i). Dotted red lines indicate the main cranial axis. Benites-Palomino et al. (2026).

The asymmetric cranian modifications of Scaphokogia huachafo are considered by Benites-Palomino et al. to be too specialised for a role in echolocation. Instead they suggest that they are indicative of a specialised feeding mode, probably hunting benthic prey with one side of the face pressed into the sediment for long periods. The Pisco Formation is noted for an abundance of benthic Invertebrate fauna, and has yielded other Vertebrates which appear to have specialised in feeding on these.

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Yellow Fever in West and Central Africa.

A total of sixty seven cases of Yellow Fever in Humans have been reported from West and Central Africa this year, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 6 November 2026. Of these cases, eighteen were fatal. Since the disease is strongly associated with the rainy season in West Africa, it is unlikely that further cases will be reported this year, although it is probable that many other cases have gone unreported. 

In Côte d’Ivoire there have been 30 reported cases, with ten fatalities. Fifteen of the reported cases were from Burkina Faso, where three people died, giving a case fatality ratio of 20%. Four cases were reported in Ghana, three of which were fatal. Nine cases, including a single fatality, were reported in Cameroon. Four cases were reported from Nigeria, again including a single death. Two non fatal cases were reported from the Central African Republic.  Liberia, Guinea, and Togo each reported single, non-fatal case. 

Confirmed yellow fever cases and recently affected areas in the WHO African Region, 2026. Data as of 12 October 2026. World Health Organization.

Yellow Fever is a Flavivirus (the group of RNA Viruses that also includes the West Nile, Zika and Hepatitis C Viruses) transmitted to humans by the bites of infected Aedes and Haemagogus Mosquitoes. The Virus causes a mild fever, accompanied loss of apatite, nausea and muscle pains, which passes within about 15 days. However, in about 15 % of cases a more severe infection attacks the liver and kidneys, which can lead to their failure, and therefore the death of the patient.  It originated in tropical Africa and but was carried to South America and the Caribbean during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Outbreaks of the disease have also been recorded in parts of tropical Asia and the Pacific in recent years, and many countries in tropical regions require visitors to carry a certificate proving they have been vaccinated against the Virus.

The Yellow Fever Virus. Erskine Palmer/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikipedia.

Because Yellow Fever infects a wide range of non-Human Mammals, the World Health Organization recomends that vaccination is the most effective means of combating the disease, combined with monitoring the population of Aedes and Haemagogus Mosquitoes and taking steps to prevent large populations of these Insects building up in populated areas. Yellow fever can also be a significant hazard to Cattle, with vaccines available for livestock in some areas, and treatment of live Animals with insecticides also used as a way of reducing infections.

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2026 ED138: A new candidate Dwarf Planet in the Kuiper Belt.

In the late twentieth century, our model of the Solar System was relatively simple, with nine planets orbiting the Sun, some of which had moons and rings, plus a variety of smaller comets and asteroids. The smallest of these planets, Pluto, was somewhat of an oddity, being smaller several of the Solar System's moons, including our own, and having a highly eccentric orbit which crossed the orbit of another planet, Neptune, but was clearly still to large a be a comet or asteroid. However, in the early twenty first century, this model began to change, with the discovery of a series of Pluto-like bodies beyond Neptune starting with Quaoar in 2002, then Sedna in 2003, Orcus and Haumea in 2004, and Eris and Makemake in 2005. This led the International Astronomical Union to reconsider how bodies within the Solar System are classified, coming up with a new category of objects, 'dwarf planets', in 2006. 

Dwarf planets are defined as objects large enough to have become rounded under the influence of their own gravity, but not large enough to have cleared their orbital path of other objects. Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, losing its status as the Solar System's smallest planet, as was Ceres, the largest body in the Main Asteroid Belt, along with the newly discovered bodies Quaoar, Sedna, Orcus, Haumea, Eris, and Makemake. This list has subsequently grown with the addition of bodies such as Salacia and Gonggong.

In a press release issued on 27 October 2026, the Vera C. Ruben Observatory, which is located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, announced the discovery of a new candidate dwarf planet, 2026 ED138, which was discovered by astronomer Matthew Holman of Harvard University, who was analysing data collected by the Ruben Observatory, looking for moving objects in the outer Solar System.

Holman found 30 observations of the new object made by the Ruben Observatory between 4 March and 11 July 2026, which provided him with enough data to discover additional sightings in imagery from the Dark Energy Camera on the the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the Asteroid Institute’s ADAM Precovery service, with the oldest images dating back to 1937. 

A mosaic of images captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory of the newly discovered dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138. 2026 ED138 was discovered in observational data from Rubin spanning 4 March–11 July 2026. It was found by Rubin Operations team member and in-Kind contributor Matthew Holman, who contributes to improving Rubin's algorithms that search for distant moving objects in our Solar System. Its distance from the Sun places it beyond the orbit of Pluto, and initial analysis indicates that it may be among the largest and brightest bodies scientists have discovered in this region of the Solar System. Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/AURA Image Processing/Mario Jurić/Davide de Martin/Mahdi Zamani.

The designation 2026 ED138 implies that it was the 2454th asteroid (object D138 - in numbering asteroids the letters A-Y, excluding I, are assigned numbers from 1 to 25, with a number added to the end each time the alphabet is ended so that A = 1, A1 = 26, A2 = 51, etc., which means that D138 implies the (138 x 25 + 4) 2454th asteroid) discovered in the first half of March 2026 (period 2026 E - the year being split into 24 half-months represented by the letters A-Y, with I being excluded).

2026 ED138 is currently about 47.225 AU from the Sun (where 1 AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), with an orbital period estimated at 281 years, which will bring it as close as 36.86 AU from the Sun and as far as 49.04 AU. As an object which has an orbit entirely outside the orbit of Neptune, it is a trans-Neptunian Object, and having a low-eccentricity (approximately circular) orbit, it is a Classical trans-Neptunian Object. This orbit is tilted at 24.5° to the plain of the Solar System, making 2026 ED138 a Hot Classical trans-Neptunian Object; a Classical trans-Neptunian Object with an orbit tilted at more than 5° to the plain of the Solar System. Such objects are thought to have been disturbed from the plain of the Solar System by gravitational interactions with the planet Neptune.

The relative positions of 2026 ED138, the Earth, and the planets of the Outer Solar System on Sunday 1 November 2026. JPL Small Body Database.

2026 ED138 is a bright object, with an absolute magnitude estimated to be between 2.85 and 3.19. This would make it the ninth or tenth brightest trans-Neptunian Object discovered to date. From this brightness it is estimated that it has a diameter of between 600 and 1500 km. This variation stems from an uncertainty as to whether it has a bright surface, which would place it at the lower end of this range, or a dull one, which would place it towards the upper end, and make it a Dwarf Planet. Potential observations of the object with infrared telescopes, observations of stellar occulations (events in which it passes in front of a star), and possibly direct observations with the James Webb Space Telescope could tell us more about its nature.

The orbital period of 2026 ED138 suggests that it is locked into a 12⁄7 orbital resonance with Neptune. This is roughly the same as that of the dwarf planet Haumea, as well as a group of objects called the Haumean Family of trans-Neptunian Objects. However, it is not currently thought to be a member of that family due to the difference in its albedo (brightness) to that of Haumea and the Haumean Family objects.

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At least eighteen dead following Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake beneath Baqên County, Tibet.

The China Earthquake Networks Center recorded a Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km beneath Baqên County in northeast Tibet, close to Mount Everest and the border with Tibet slightly before 10.35 pm local time (slightly before 2.35 pm GMT) on Thursday 22 October 2026. At least eighteen people have died as a result of this event, with seventy six people known to have been injured, eleven of them seriously. The Earthquake is known to have caused the collapse of at least 339 houses, however, the nature of the area, with an average altitude of 4800 m above sealevel, and many people living in scattered villages in steep-sided valleys, where temperatures regularly fall below 0°C at night, means that these figures may worsen. There have been a number of aftershocks in the region, leading local authorities to evacuate 12 000 people from their homes. 

Villagers in a temporary resettlement camp following a Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in Baqên County, Tibet, on 22 October 2026. Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua.

Earthquake activity in the area is caused by the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, due to the impact of India into Eurasia to the south. The Indian Plate is moving northwards at a rate of 5 cm per year, causing it to impact into Eurasia, which is also moving northward, but only at a rate of 2 cm per year. The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates has led to the formation of the Himalayan Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau, and the mountains of southwest China, Central Asia and the Hindu Kush.

Block diagram showing how the impact of the Indian Plate into Eurasia is causing uplift on the Tibetan Plateau. Jayne Doucette/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Much of Tibet and neighbouring areas of Central Asia and the Himalayas, are prone to Earthquakes caused by the impact of the Indian Plate into Eurasia from the south. When two tectonic plates collide in this way and one or both are oceanic then one will be subducted beneath the other (if one of the plates is continental then the other will be subducted), but if both plates are continental then subduction will not fully occur, but instead the plates will crumple, leading to folding and uplift (and quite a lot of Earthquakes). 

The movement of India into Eurasia over the last 71 million years. United States Geological Survey.

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Norellraptor barsboldi: A new species of Microraptorine Dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China.

The Microraptines are a small group of Paravian Dinosaurs (the group that includes Birds and their closest relatives, the Dromaeosaurs, Troodontids, and Scansoriopterygids), known mostly from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China. The remarkable preservation of the Jehol Biota fossils means that while the Microraptines were not apparently widespread or numerous, the specimens we do have are often exceptionally well preserved. Such fossils have produced Microraptines with feather-like integumentary structures, true pennaceous feathers and remnants of the gut contents, enabling a more detailed reconstruction of their ecology than has been possible for many more numerous Dinosaur groups.

Many Microraptines are interpreted as having been capable of flying, and the close relationship between Microraptines and Birds has made them an important group to palaeontologists studying the origin of flight. The closest sister group to the Microraptines is usually thought to be the Dromaeosaurs, a group of medium-sized Paravian Theropods clearly quite incapable of flight, which raises two possibilities. Either the ability to fly arose twice (or more than twice) within the Paravian clade, or the earliest members of the group had the ability, with groups such as the Dromaeosaurs losing this ability secondarily. 

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications on 29 September 2026, Xuri Wang of the Key Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Hebei GEO University, Yannan Ji of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Andrea Cau of the OPHIS Museo Paleontologico e Centro Erpetologico, Martin Kundrát of the Center for Integrative Paleobiology at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Yichuan Liu, also of the Key Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and of the China University of Geosciences, Yang Wang, again of the Key Laboratory of Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and Qiang Ji, also of the Hebei GEO University describe a new species of Microraptorine Dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China.

The new species is named Norellraptor barsboldi, where 'Norellraptor' means 'Norell's Raptor' in honour of American palaeontologist Mark Allen Norell, and 'barsboldi' honours the late Mongolian palaeontologist Rinchen Barsbold (1957-2025), these being two scientists who have made exceptional contributions to the study of Paravian Dinosaurs. It is described from a single specimen (130108-MHGU-F4281) from an exposure of the Jiufotang Formation in the town of Lamadong, in Jianchang County, which is in western Liaoning Province.

Norellraptor barsboldi 130108-MHGU-F4281. (a) Whole specimen. (b) Skull in lateral view. (c) Close up of the rostrum. (d) Close up of the posterior part of skull. (e) Pectoral region. (f) Distal end of tail. Abbreviations: aof, antorbital fossa; arm, ascending ramus of maxilla; at, anterior tympanic recess; bt, basal tuber; bp, basypterygoid process; cf, coracoid fenestra; ct, caudal tympanic recess; cnV, 5th cranial nerve opening; cnVII, 7th cranial nerve opening; cv, cervical vertebra; d1, first dorsal vertebra; de, dentary; dt, dorsal tympanic recess; fo, foramen; fr, frontal; fu, furcula; gl, glenoid; h, humerus; la, lacrimal; lat, laterosphenoid; lcv, last caudal vertebra; lp, lateral pneumatic recess; mc, metacarpus; mxf, maxillary fenestra; na, nasal; oc, oto￾sphenoid crest; or, otic region; pa, parietal; paw, postantral wall; pmx, premaxilla; pp, paroccipital process; ppd, posterior processes of dentary; pt, pterygoid; pxf, promaxillary fenestra; r, radius; rp, retroarticular process; sa, surangular; sc, sca￾pula; so, supraoccipital; sp, sternal plate; sr, sclerotic ring; u, ulna; up, uncinate process; vor, ventral otic recess. Arrow indicates point of histological sampling. Scale bars are 50 mm (a); and 10 mm (b)–(f). Wang et al. (2026).

Norellraptor barsboldi has a skull triangular in lateral view, with an elongated snout, a vaulted area between the eyes, and very enlarged fenestra (skull openings). Its teeth are differentiated, with the premaxilary teeth being small and unserrated, while the maxilary teeth are larger, particularly so towards the back of the mouth, serrated, and hooked. Preserved plumage can be seen close to the right humerus and the synsacrum, ventral to the proximal caudal vertebrae, attached to the distal caudal vertebrae, ventral to the right tibiotarsus, and lateral to the right tarsometatarsus. However, the preservation of this is poor, preventing a detailed assessment of its structure.

Plumage of Norellraptor barsboldi (130108-MHGU-F4281). (a) whole specimen. (b) Distal tips of primary feathers. (c) Tibial plumage. (d) Distal tip of metatarsal feathers. (e) Plumage adjacent to humerus and thorax. (f) Plumage adjacent to ilium and tail base. (g) Distal tail feathers. Scale bars are 10 mm. Wang et al. (2026).

An osteological sample was taken from the distal portion of the mid-diaphysis of the left radius of specimen 130108-MHGU-F4281, and serial sectioned to give a view of its bone-structure. This section of bone had been crushed post-mortem, due to the weight of overlaying sediment. The bone is less than half a millimetre in diameter, and has a large medullary cavity lacking any internal structures, suggesting that the bone was heavily pneumatized in life. This is surrounded by a layer of laminated endosteal bone, making up 8-15% of the total bone thickness, then a thicker layer of periosteal bone, split into three layers by two lines of arrested growth (such lines typically form as an animal grows, with slowed growth in a season with less favourable conditions, such as winter or a dry season). This might be taken to mean the living Microraptor had lived at least two years after hatching. However, the large size of the inner cavity probably implies some total reabsorption of bone as the Dinosaur grew, making it several years older.

Histology of the left radius of 130108-MHGU-F4281. (a)–(c) Close-up of the left radius midshaft microstructure (d), (e). Physical transversal sections in transmitted (a), (d) fluorescent (b) and elliptically polarised light (c), (e). In (a)–(c) note an irregular interface between the inner periosteal bone and the endosteal bone (red arrow); a high difference in fluorescence between well-developed primary osteons of the zone 1 and of the inner group of osteons of the zone 2 (blue arrow); and ill￾developed primary of the outer group of osteons of the zone 2 (yellow arrow); a low fluorescence in the secondary osteonal bone (orange arrow). Compare the higher birefringence of the endosteal bone, an annulus-like tissue (white arrow), and early bone deposited to form zone 3 (black arrow). In (d), (e) note the occurrence of more organised osteocyte lacunae in the outer region of zone 1 and throughout the zone 2; increased birefringence in primary osteons of zone 1 (green arrow); in an annulus associate with Layer of Arrested Growth 1 (white arrow) and zone 3 (yellow arrow); and highly birefringent endosteal bone tissue (orange arrow). Abbreviations: ?ans, putative annulus; avbl, avascular layer; avr, avascular region; END, endosteal bone; FLB, fibro-lamellar bone; ICL, inner circumferential line; LAG, line of arrested growth; LAG-nvc, LAG crossing neurovascular canal; LAG1, inner circumferential layer; LAG2, outer line of arrested growth; ipos, ill developed primary osteon; lanvc, laminar neurovascular canal; lonvc, longitudinal neurovascular canal; meca, medullary cavity; onvc, neurovascular canal open on outer surface; osla, osteocyte lacuna; PER, periosteal bone; PFBM, parallel-fibered bone matrix; pos, primary osteon; pnvc, primary neurovascular canal; prpos, partially resorbed primary osteon; prsos, partially resorbed secondary osteon; ranvc, radial neurovascular canal; rel, resorption line; rupt, postfossilization rupture; snvc, secondary vascular canal; sos, secondary osteon; z1-3, first through third zone. Scale bars are 200 microns (a)-(c) and 100 microns (d), (e). Wang et al. (2026).

Norellraptor barsboldi shares many features with early Birds, but this appears to be a case of convergent evolution, with a phylogenetic reconstruction recovering it as a highly derived Microraptorine, and the Microraptors as the earliest branching group within the Paraves, i.e. the most distantly related group to the Birds within that larger group. This phylogeny shows the Microraptorines progressively acquiring 'Bird-like' traits over their history, apparently in response to similar evolutionary stimuli, something which Wang et al. interpret as evidence for the independent evolution of flight.

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