Tech
Biggest dinosaur footprint site discovered from 166 million years
Just a few hundred metres from the roaring traffic of the M40, scientists have uncovered a very different kind of road.
Around 166 million years ago Britain’s ‘dinosaur highway’ was teaming with lumbering giants and fierce predators making their way across the country.
Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints.
Scientists found five of the UK’s most extensive dinosaur trackways, with the longest measuring 150m in length.
Four of these belong to long-necked herbivores – most likely Cetiosaurus, an 18-metre-long cousin of the Diplodocus.
The fifth track was made by a passing Megalosaurus, a ferocious nine-metre-long predator which stalked the boggy lagoons of Britain during the Middle Jurassic period.
These uniquely well-preserved tracks reveal some stunning insights into the lives of the long-extinct giants, even recording the moment two dinosaurs crossed paths.
And researchers say it is ‘very likely’ that there are still more tracks to be found.
The tracks were found in the Jurassic limestone of the Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire.
Originally buried under clay, these new tracks were first spotted by quarry worker Gary Johnson when he felt ‘unusual bumps’ while stripping back the clay to reach the quarry floor.
Realising the significance of the find, experts were contacted and a full-scale excavation of the site began.
During June last year, more than 100 scientists and volunteers carefully uncovered over 200 fossilised footprints.
In addition to making casts of the prints for further study, the researchers also took more than 20,000 photographs to create a complete 3D model of the site.
This discovery connects to earlier finds made in the area in 1997 when a previous limestone quarry uncovered more than 40 tracks from sauropods and theropods, a group of bipedal dinosaurs including the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
However, the site was buried before the widespread use of digital cameras and drones so no 3D models of the tracks could be made.
That means this latest discovery is an especially valuable insight into a vibrant prehistoric ecosystem.
OpenAI and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank (9984.T) will each commit $19 billion to fund Stargate, a joint venture to develop data centers for artificial intelligence in the U.S., the Information reported on Wednesday.
The ChatGPT maker will hold a 40% interest in Stargate, and would act as an extension of OpenAI, the report said, citing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaking to colleagues. His comments imply SoftBank would also have a 40% interest, the report added.
OpenAI and SoftBank did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle (ORCL.N) will unveil Stargate and invest $500 billion over the next four years to help the United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the global AI race.
Stargate will initially deploy $100 billion and the rest of the funding is expected over the next four years. The project is being led by SoftBank and OpenAI.
Taiwan’s HTC (2498.TW) said on Thursday it will sell part of its unit for extended reality (XR) headsets and glasses to Google (GOOGL.O) for $250 million and transfer some of its employees to the U.S. company.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, HTC said.
The two companies will also explore further collaboration opportunities, HTC added.
Google said in a separate statement that the deal will accelerate the development of the Android XR platform and strengthen the ecosystem for headsets and glasses.
Lu Chia-te, HTC vice president and general counsel, told reporters the company had granted its intellectual property rights to Google as a non-exclusive license.
“Therefore, this is not a buyout nor an exclusive licence. In the future, HTC will still retain the ability to use, utilise, and even further develop it without any restrictions,” he said.
Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers who said the business-focused social media platform disclosed their private messages to third parties without permission to train generative artificial intelligence models.
According to a proposed class action filed on Tuesday night on behalf of millions of LinkedIn Premium customers, LinkedIn quietly introduced a privacy setting last August that let users enable or disable the sharing of their personal data.
Customers said LinkedIn then discreetly updated its privacy policy on Sept. 18 to say data could be used to train AI models, and in a “frequently asked questions” hyperlink said opting out “does not affect training that has already taken place.”
This attempt to “cover its tracks” suggests LinkedIn was fully aware it violated customers’ privacy and its promise to use personal data only to support and improve its platform, in order to minimize public scrutiny and legal fallout, the complaint said.
The lawsuit was filed in the San Jose, California, federal court on behalf of LinkedIn Premium customers who sent or received InMail messages, and whose private information was disclosed to third parties for AI training before Sept. 18.
It seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract and violations of California’s unfair competition law, and $1,000 per person for violations of the federal Stored Communications Act.
A lawyer for Prince Harry on Wednesday said the Duke of Sussex had reached a settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s news conglomerate.
LinkedIn said in a statement: “These are false claims with no merit.”
A lawyer for the plaintiffs had no immediate additional comment.
The lawsuit was filed several hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a joint venture among Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL.N) and SoftBank (9984.T), with a potential $500 billion of investment, to build AI infrastructure in the United States.
OpenAI, SoftBank each commit 19bn dollars to Stargate AI data center
Taiwan’s HTC to sell part of XR unit to Google for 250mn dollars
Microsoft’s LinkedIn sued for disclosing customer information to train AI models
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