September 23, 2025
The Mouth-Gut-Brain Highway: How Your Dental Bacteria Might Be Hijacking Your Neurons
Imagine hiking the rugged badlands of Montana, brush in hand, dreaming of Jurassic Park glory. Suddenly, a fossil jawbone stares back, whispering secrets from 95 million years ago. That’s exactly how Harrison Allen, a fresh-faced Montana State University grad, struck paleontological gold. His find? A never-before-seen croc relative named Thikarisuchus xenodentes, or “Elton” to his digging buddies. At just 3 feet long, this land-loving lizard was no swamp monster. It was a bug-crunching, leaf-nibbling oddball that could upend how we see the Cretaceous world.
