Bumper dino haul
Palaeontologists in Mongolia鈥檚 Gobi Desert have unearthed a record 67 dinosaurs in one week. The fossils were mainly those of psittacosaurus, and Jack Horner of Montana State University and his team now have 100 such fossils to study. Psittacosaurus, the 鈥減arrot lizard鈥�, was a common, beaked plant-eater that lived 120 million years ago.
First female space tourist
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The first female space tourist lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday. The Soyuz capsule is carrying Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born US citizen; NASA鈥檚 Michael Lopez-Alegria; and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin. It will dock with the International Space Station. Ansari will spend eight days there, returning to Earth on 29 September.
Deadly disease outbreak
India鈥檚 southern state of Kerala is gripped by a suspected outbreak of chikungunya. Up to 50,000 people are showing symptoms of the potentially deadly mosquito-borne viral disease, which causes fever, headache, vomiting and severe joint pain, according to the chief medical officer of Kerala鈥檚 Alappuzha district.
Gorilla heaven
The Democratic Republic of Congo is to create two new protected areas totalling 10,000 square kilometres, larger than Yellowstone National Park in the US. The parks will span habitats from ancient sand dunes to dense forests and will protect species including elephants, chimps, jackal, leopards and some of the world鈥檚 largest gorilla populations.
Treating elephantiasis
Elephantiasis, a grotesque swelling of limbs and genitals caused by tiny filarial worms, could be halted using an existing antibiotic. Doxycycline improved the condition of patients in Ghana, unlike traditional anti-worm treatments that mainly just stop the infection spreading, according to a report in PLoS Pathogens.