Feds try to seize dinosaur skull
The scientists argue that fossils sold to private collectors without corresponding data lose their scientific value. But amateur excavators and those who profit from the fossil market say the treasures would remain hidden in the Earth without their work.
The Gobi Desert is fertile ground for dinosaur fossils such as the Tyrannosaurus Baatar, an Asian relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex that roamed the Earth about 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.
Bataar fossils were first unearthed in that part of Mongolia during a 1946 expedition, according to the Dallas forfeiture lawsuit. The fossils aren’t known to be found elsewhere in the world, experts say.
In Mongolia, which is nestled between China and Russia, dinosaur fossils are the property of the government even if they’re excavated from private land, the forfeiture lawsuit says.
One in 3 people gets shingles. Not everyone writes a musical about it.
Alice Lipowicz did. When the journalist contracted shingles in 2016, it entered her eye — and during the months she spent recovering in a darkened room, she began to compose songs about her experience. Now her musical, “My Beautiful Darkened World: A Musical Journey From Illness to Inspiration (or How I Lost 15 Pounds on the Shingles Diet),” is on deck at the Highwood Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. It’s a cabaret-style show designed to raise awareness of shingles — and get a few laughs in the process.
But shingles itself is no laughing matter. It is caused when the varicella zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox — stays dormant in the body and reactivates years later. For 10 to 20 percent of people with shingles, the rash invades the eye. The complication, ophthalmic herpes zoster, can cause pain, swelling, scarring and even vision loss.
Lipowicz, who is still recovering from her ordeal, sings along with a jazz pianist and other performers in a show intended to entertain and inspire audiences. She also hopes to raise money for shingles awareness efforts and to remind people that quick treatment — and vaccinations — are available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 60 and older — the age group that develops about half of all cases — get the vaccine. million $8.9 million million