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By Sergio Queiroz and Diego Vara, Reuters Palaeontologist Rodrigo Temp Muller examines a dinosaur fossil from the Triassic period in 2019. Photo: AFP - CARL DE SOUZA Scientists in Brazil have announced the discovery of one of the world's oldest fossils believed to belong to an ancient reptile dating back some 237 million years that could help explain the rise of the dinosaurs. Named Gondwanax paraisensis, the four-legged reptile species was roughly the size of a small dog with a long tail, or about one metre long and weighing between 3 and 6 kilograms the scientists said in a statement on Monday. The small reptile would have likely roamed the land of what is today southern Brazil, when the world was much hotter. The fossil has been identified as a new silesaurid, an extinct group of ...

By Will Dunham, Reuters Europa. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute NASA has launched a spacecraft from Florida on a mission to examine whether Jupiter's moon Europa has conditions suitable to support life, with a focus on the large subsurface ocean believed to be lurking beneath its thick outer shell of ice. The US space agency's Europa Clipper spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket under sunny skies. The robotic solar-powered probe is due to enter orbit around Jupiter in 2030 after journeying about 2.9 billion kilometres in five and a half years. The launch had been planned for last week but was put off because of Hurricane Milton. It is the largest spacecraft NASA has built for a planetary mission, at about 30.5 me...

Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Queen Camilla arrive to meet members of the Welsh Parliament during a visit to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Senedd, in Cardiff on July 11, 2024. Photo: Chris Jackson / POOL / AFP Australia's six state premiers have stated they will not be attending King Charles reception in the capital, Canberra, when he arrives next week. The move has been labelled an "insult" and disrespectful by pro-monarchy group, Australian Monarchists League, as the debate around the country becoming a republic is reignited. When the 75-year-old ascended the throne after his mother's death in 2022, republic supporters in Commonwealth countries began to question their future under the monarchy. Last week, Buckingham Palace responded to the Australian Republic Move...