Nature, Published online: 24 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02338-2Nature staff discuss the young but deadly dinosaur kings, the prowess of ancient Egyptian princesses, and how London is becoming the world’s AI safety capital.
Fossils discovered in Japan more than two decades ago have finally been identified as a new genus and species of giant salamander. Limnospondylus ajimuensis lived around 3.5 million years ago in a warmer, wetter Kyushu and may have reached 1.1 meters in length. Its discovery hints that many more unknown giant salamanders could be hiding among fossils previously given the wrong classification.