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Artist's impression of a small Cambrian marine animal with stalked eyes and front pincer-like appendages

518-million-year-old fossil reveals early origins of spider fangs

A tiny Cambrian sea creature named Urokodia shows the earliest known pincer-like chelicerae, the structures that later evolved into spider fangs and scorpion pincers. Researchers used X-ray tomography to find these appendages preserved in rock from China's Chengjiang fossil site.

Health workers distributing insecticide-treated bed nets in a rural Timor-Leste community

WHO certifies Timor-Leste malaria-free after two decades of effort

Timor-Leste has been officially certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization, becoming the third country in the South-East Asia region to achieve the status after reducing cases from over 223,000 in 2006 to zero indigenous cases since 2021.