International

Jurassic Journeys: Mary Anning’s impact on evolutionary science

Mary Anning made some of the most significant geological discoveries in history, but her life and work have largely gone unnoticed due to the gender discrimination prevailing in 19th-century England. She meticulously explored the beaches of Dorset on the southwest coast of England, uncovering evidence of marine reptiles that shook the existing scientific knowledge.

Anning’s fossils are believed to have greatly influenced Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, being a poor and uneducated woman, she was never taken seriously by English society. The area where Mary conducted her research is now known as the Jurassic Coast, a stretch of about 152 kilometers in Dorset and Devon counties, recognized by UNESCO for its exceptional rocks, fossils, and geographical features.

Her Great Discoveries

Venturing along the cliffs of Lyme Regis, Mary observed every detail of the rocks, patiently searching through the strata. In 1811, she was informed by Joseph about a peculiar fossilized skull he had found. Mary meticulously excavated the skeleton for months, revealing a 5.2-meter-long creature.

Locals speculated that the boys had found a monster, while the scientific community thought it might be a crocodile. This discovery coincided with Georges Cuvier formulating his “Essay on the Theory of the Earth,” challenging religious principles by proposing catastrophic events in Earth’s history causing extinctions.

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The mysterious specimen found by the Annings was eventually called Ichthyosaur, or “fish lizard,” a marine reptile that lived about 200 million years ago. Mary’s controversial and exceptional discoveries continued, including the first complete skeleton of a plesiosaur in 1823, challenging skeptics who initially thought it was fake.

Mary also found the first pterosaur outside Germany, and she is credited as a pioneer in the study of coprolites, fossilized feces. Despite her exceptional achievements, Mary faced systematic discrimination due to her gender, excluded from academic institutions. She persevered, self-educated, and established connections with scientists who recognized her worth.

Mary Anning was never formally admitted to the Geological Society of London due to her gender. The institution acknowledged her talent and contributions many years after her death from breast cancer in 1847 at the age of 47. Mary undoubtedly pioneered in a male-dominated world, paving the way for future generations of female scientists.

International

FBI Warns of Possible Iranian Drone Attack on U.S. West Coast

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned police departments in California about a possible Iranian plan to carry out a drone attack against the west coast of the United States, according to a report published Wednesday by ABC News.

The warning was issued through a memorandum sent to agencies participating in a Joint Terrorism Task Force, outlining the possibility of a surprise attack involving unmanned aerial vehicles launched from a vessel off the U.S. coastline.

According to the document, intelligence suggested that in early February 2026 Iran may have considered an attack against unspecified targets in California if the United States carried out airstrikes on Iranian territory.

However, the memo also noted that authorities lack additional details about the timing, method, specific targets, or individuals responsible for the alleged plan.

Reports cited by U.S. media indicate that the alert coincided with the start of a military offensive by the administration of Donald Trump against the Iran, a development that has heightened tensions across the Middle East.

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Law enforcement sources with counterterrorism experience told the Los Angeles Times that the warning is part of a routine precautionary advisory based on information from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The sources emphasized that there is no credible indication of an imminent attack and no evidence that Iran currently has the capability to successfully carry out such an operation.

California is home to the largest Iranian community in the United States. According to the Migration Policy Institute, more than half of Iranian immigrants in the country lived in the state in 2019, including around 140,000 people in Los Angeles County alone.

The city also hosts a neighborhood widely known as “Tehrangeles,” where a large Iranian community began settling in the 1960s and continued to grow following the Iranian Revolution.

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International

Trump Says Iran Is Welcome at 2026 World Cup but Warns of Security Concerns

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said Thursday that the national football team of Iran is “welcome” to participate in the 2026 World Cup, although he suggested it might be safer for the team not to take part in the tournament.

“The Iranian national soccer team is welcome at the World Cup, but I really don’t think it’s appropriate for them to be there, for their own safety,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

His comments came a day after Iran’s sports minister, Ahman Donyamali, said that there are currently no conditions for the country to participate in the tournament following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during a military offensive launched on February 28 by Israel and the United States.

“After the corrupt government killed our leader, there are no conditions that allow us to take part in the World Cup,” the Iranian official said. He added that the country has faced two wars in the past eight or nine months, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths, making participation in the tournament unlikely.

On Tuesday, the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, met with Trump at the White House.

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Following the meeting, Infantino said that Trump reiterated that Iran’s national team would be allowed to compete in the FIFA World Cup 2026.

“We discussed the current situation in Iran and the fact that the Iranian team has qualified to participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026. During the conversation, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino wrote on Instagram.

International

Iran issues threat to Trump as conflict escalates over Strait of Hormuz

The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, threatened U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning him to “beware of being eliminated.”

The Republican president had warned on Monday that he would strike Iran “very hard” if the Islamic Republic blocked oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed since the war began eleven days ago.

“Iran is not afraid of your empty threats. Others more powerful than you tried to destroy the Iranian nation and failed. Beware that you are not eliminated,” Larijani wrote on X.

Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards — the ideological military force of the Islamic Republic — also said their forces would move to block oil exports from the Gulf.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military offensive against Iran is far from over.

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“Our aspiration is that the Iranian people free themselves from the yoke of tyranny; ultimately, that depends on them. But there is no doubt that with the measures taken so far we are breaking their bones, and we are not finished yet,” Netanyahu said in a statement.