Science News Roundup: Scottish fossil of flying reptile leaves scientists 'gobsmacked'; Musk's Starlink connects remote Tonga villages still cut off after tsunami

Researchers said on Tuesday this pterosaur, named Dearc sgiathanach, lived roughly 170 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, soaring over lagoons in a subtropical landscape and catching fish and squid with crisscrossing teeth perfect for snaring slippery prey. Musk's Starlink connects remote Tonga villages still cut off after tsunami Elon Musk's satellite venture has launched a free high-speed internet service to connect remote villages in Tonga that have been cut off since a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in January.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Scottish fossil of flying reptile leaves scientists 'gobsmacked'

A fossil jawbone peeking out from a limestone seashore on Scotland's Isle of Skye led scientists to discover the skeleton of a pterosaur that showed that these remarkable flying reptiles got big tens of millions of years earlier than previously known. Researchers said on Tuesday this pterosaur, named Dearc sgiathanach, lived roughly 170 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, soaring over lagoons in a subtropical landscape and catching fish and squid with crisscrossing teeth perfect for snaring slippery prey.

Musk's Starlink connects remote Tonga villages still cut off after tsunami

Elon Musk's satellite venture has launched a free high-speed internet service to connect remote villages in Tonga that have been cut off since a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in January. Tonga's prime minister, Siaosi Sovaleni, said in a ceremony on Wednesday in the capital, Nuku'alofa, that 50 VSAT terminals provided free of charge by Musk's SpaceX would be distributed to the outlying islands worst hit by the tsunami.

(With inputs from agencies.)