Ancient ocean mystery deepens as long-misidentified fossil is finally revealed by researchers

More than two decades after scientists identified a fossil as the world's oldest octopus — officials now say it wasn't one at all.

A recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that the fossil Pohlsepia mazonensis — a 300-million-year-old sea creature found in the Mazon Creek fossil beds of northeastern Illinois — was closer to a nautilus than an octopus.

Researchers now believe the creature was a relative of the nautilus, which is a shell-covered cephalopod with tentacles.

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Cephalopods are a class of marine animals that includes octopuses, squids and cuttlefish, and are known for their tentacles and advanced nervous systems — and for lacking rigid skeletons.

The fossil was identified as the world's oldest octopus in 2000 — but is now considered the oldest soft-tissue nautilus in the world.

University of Reading zoologist Thomas Clements, the lead researcher of the new study, told The Associated Press the fossil is a "very difficult [one] to interpret."

He added, "To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush."

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"If you look at it, and you are a cephalopod researcher, and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus."

The determining factor, Clements said, was its teeth — which researchers examined using a synchrotron to peer inside the fossil.

They found that each row had 11 teeth — more than the seven or nine typically found in octopuses.

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"This has too many teeth, so it can’t be an octopus," Clements said.

"And that’s how we realized that the world’s oldest octopus is actually a fossil nautilus, not an octopus."

The fossil had the same teeth as a nautiloid called Paleocadmus pohli, an ancient creature found in the same area.

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Researchers say the mix-up likely occurred because the creature decomposed and lost its shell before it was fossilized.

The next oldest-known octopus fossil is about 90 million years old — around 210 million years younger than the fossil Pohlsepia mazonensis.

"It’s a huge gap," Clements said, noting it had long raised questions.

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"And so that big gap got researchers sort of questioning, ‘Is this thing actually an octopus?'"

The fossil is currently held in the Field Museum in Chicago. 

Paul Mayer, who manages the museum's fossil invertebrate collections, said he was "a little surprised" by the new classification, but acknowledged that scientists have questioned the finding for years.

"People have been questioning whether it was an octopus ever since the original paper was first published in 2000," Mayer told the AP.

He added that the news "is great for our collections, and hopefully new discoveries will be made and new stories will be revealed."

The Associated Press contributed reporting. 

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Hillary Clinton warns US in 'very weak position' with Iran, 'lost the leverage' in negotiations

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the U.S. was in a weak position regarding negotiations with Iran.

"I worry that the United States is now in a very weak position vis-à-vis Iran, which should be the outlier, should be on the back foot and should be the one held to account," Clinton told MS NOW's "Morning Joe" on Monday.

Clinton told MS NOW that the U.S. would have to wipe the slate clean for negotiations with Iran and said they would "have to bring in people who actually know something about nuclear weapons."

Peace talks between the U.S. and Iran collapsed over the weekend, with Vice President JD Vance departing Pakistan empty-handed.

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"So we’re in a situation now where we are weak, where we essentially have lost the leverage and initiative that we had," Clinton added. "I supported Trump bombing the nuclear sites back in June. I thought that was an appropriate and limited strategic objective. I opposed his incoherent attack on Iran."

Clinton said the administration needed to get back to hard negotiations with the "right people at the table."

"And I also know from personal experience how [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has tried to get every American president to agree to have an open-ended war with Iran, because I had many, many long hourslong conversations with him and his war cabinet about this and refusing to go along with a very inchoate desire to do something to Iran that, you know, with no real end state that could be described as sufficiently," she said.

"So now here we are. I think you’ve got to get back into hard negotiations with the right people at the table who know what they are doing," Clinton added.

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to blockade Iran's ports in the Strait of Hormuz beginning Monday.

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The U.S. began enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.

Trump ordered the blockade after peace talks with Tehran collapsed this weekend. A map of U.S. vessels in the region showed at least 17 ships deployed as of Monday morning.

U.S. Central Command announced plans to enforce the blockade earlier Monday in a notice to seafarers.

"Any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, ​diversion, and capture," the note said.

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The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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Utah Valley University faces backlash over commencement speaker choice after Charlie Kirk's assassination

Utah Valley University (UVU) is facing backlash over its choice of commencement speaker as critics object to her past comments about Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk following his assassination on the same campus.

The university chose author and educator Sharon McMahon to address the graduating class. Days after Kirk was killed, McMahon wrote on X, "Millions of people feel they were harmed, and the murder that was horrific and should never have happened does not magically erase what was said or done."

"To many Americans, especially if you are Black, LGBTQ or Muslim, Charlie Kirk was not a person who simply engaged in good-faith debates on college campuses."

Turning Point USA chapter president at Utah Valley University Caleb Chilcutt called the selection of McMahon a "slap to the face" Monday on "Fox & Friends."

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"They could have brought any other speaker. If they liked Charlie, didn't like Charlie — I honestly don't really care. But the fact they brought someone who was so critical, literally days after the assassination on my campus, is just shameful for me," he said.

Chilcutt said attitudes were divided on campus, with conservative students generally upset while some liberal students chose to "celebrate."

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Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz also joined the program and labeled McMahon a "horrific choice" of speaker just months after Kirk's death, calling her a "liberal hack."

He said Utah's largest university should know better, but that there is still time to change course.

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Scottie Scheffler takes issue with Masters' course conditions after second-place finish

Scottie Scheffler finished just behind Rory McIlroy at the Masters this weekend, finishing just a stroke behind the back-to-back green jacket winner.

Scheffler took issue with the conditions at Augusta National Golf Course and expressed as much after wrapping up the fourth round of the tournament on Sunday evening, telling reporters he wasn’t "in charge of the course setup."

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"I would’ve liked it to have been a little bit more equal in terms of the firmness on Thursday and Friday. I was a bit surprised at how soft things were on Friday afternoon, especially as it got late in the day. But the weather also changes, like it was a bit windy on Thursday," he said, via Golf.com.

"So who knows, it’s just that’s part of the game. We play an outdoor sport, and you don’t know how conditions are gonna change — especially course conditions. Overall, like I said, just Friday for me, going out early, not being able to shoot an under-par round, that definitely hurt my chances. I think I started the weekend maybe 12 back, so to get within one was a pretty good run."

Scheffler said his second round "probably hurt" his chances of winning the tournament the most. He shot a 74 that day with four bogeys before storming back into contention.

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"We went out on Thursday, Thursday afternoon were some of the most challenging conditions we had all week," he said. "I didn’t see many birdies out there Thursday afternoon, so going out on Friday, whatever they did to the greens to soften them up, they did some stuff, and I just wasn’t able to take advantage of that going on early on Friday.

"And then you saw the barrage of birdies that Rory made and Cam Young and a bunch of guys made on Friday late in the day, and I think I finished maybe two over par on Friday. So that day probably hurt the most in terms of my chances to win."

Scheffler made 12 birdies and two eagles in the tournament. But he also settled for five bogeys over the four rounds.

He was 11-under par for the tournament.

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‘I Dream of Jeannie’ star Barbara Eden turns heads at 94 in new photo with husband

Barbara Eden turned heads after sharing a new photo that left fans doing a double take.

Eden, 94, stunned in a photo shared on the "I Dream of Jeannie" star's Instagram page.

The actress and her husband, Jon Eicholtz, donned matching bunny ears as they celebrated the Easter holiday together.

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"She looks amazing. I want to know her secret," one of her followers commented.

"Still gorgeous and ageless!!!" another person wrote. "Ageless beauty for sure," read a third comment.

Eden has enjoyed a decades-long career in Hollywood, though many best remember her from the beloved 1960s sitcom. "I Dream of Jeannie" tells the tale of astronaut Major Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman), who finds a magic bottle with a 2,000-year-old genie (Eden) inside. The two fall in love and build a life together.

The series premiered on Sept. 18, 1965, catapulting Eden to superstardom. It aired for five seasons before ending in 1970.

These days, Eden enjoys a quieter life with her husband and their dog, Bentley.

"I didn’t realize how popular ‘Jeannie’ was until several years after, and it still amazes me," Eden told People in 2025. "I can’t believe it. I have mail from Russia. Can you imagine? I have fan mail from Russia, China, Japan, Poland, Italy, Germany, South America and the U.K. If you had told me that when we were shooting, I wouldn’t have believed it."

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Eden told the outlet that fans often ask her to make Jeannie’s signature arm-folding motion to "cast a spell" for them — and sometimes, they do it back.

"It’s magic," she said. "They always want magic. Magic is good."

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In recent years, Eden has uncorked the truth about why the 1960s sitcom was first shot in black and white before switching to color. "I was going to have a baby," she explained in an interview with People. "And, so, they started fast. I think they thought I was going to die or something. They didn't want to invest the money in color."

It had long been assumed that showrunners worried about how the show’s special effects would look in color, prompting them to play it safe, People reported. However, they were actually more concerned about hiding Eden’s growing baby bump.

"The same day that ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ sold, the doctor told me I was pregnant," Eden previously told the outlet. "I was thrilled. I was so happy, but I knew they'd have to replace me. Well, God love [‘I Dream of Jeannie’ creator] Sidney Sheldon. He got to work, and we did the first 13 shows with me pregnant."

Fox News Digital's Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

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Iran talks done in by Tehran's delusions over leverage they don't have, US official says

Peace negotiations with Iran fell apart after Tehran severely misjudged what kind of leverage the regime believed it held, a U.S. official told Fox News Digital on Sunday.

While Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad, Pakistan, without a deal between the U.S. and Iran, the official said Vance used the talks to measure the Iranians own assessment of their position in the negotiations.

Vance found that Tehran thought they held a strong hand going into negotiations, according to the official, who added that no deal can be achieved when one party deludes itself into believing they have leverage that, in reality, they do not have.

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The U.S. official described the talks to Fox News Digital as starting out tough, though developing into a more friendly and productive dialogue over the duration of the 21-hour-long negotiations.

The high-stakes talks between the U.S. and Iran ended without a deal after Iranian officials refused to accept American terms, Vance said earlier Sunday during a press conference from the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.

"So we go back to the United States, having not come to an agreement. We've made very clear what our red lines are, what things we're willing to accommodate them on and what things we're not willing to accommodate them on," Vance said at the time. "And we've made that as clear as we possibly could, and they have chosen not to accept our terms."

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The U.S. official said that over the course of the discussions, the Washington delegation determined it was clear that the Iranians did not comprehend that the core of any peace deal hinges on Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon.

While that point remains the main objective of any potential peace deal, the U.S. has other red lines that it will not compromise on.

The official said the U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement on all of Washington’s red lines, which include: Iran ending all uranium enrichment; the dismantling of all Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facilities; the retrieval of highly enriched uranium; the acceptance of a broader peace, security and de-escalation framework that includes regional allies; an end to the funding of Iran’s terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis; and Iran fully opening the Strait of Hormuz with no tolls for passage.

The official added that Vance has underscored that while a deal remains on the table, it is up to Tehran to accept the terms.

"And we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer," Vance said during the earlier press conference before departing Pakistan. "We'll see if the Iranians accept it."

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Tiger Woods 'ashamed' after second DUI arrest amid seeking treatment: report

After his second DUI arrest in under a decade, it is apparent that Tiger Woods is doing some looking in the mirror.

The 15-time major winner was arrested on March 27 after getting into a car crash in which his Range Rover turned onto its driver's side.

Woods put up all zeroes on a breathalyzer but was given field sobriety tests after being "lethargic." He was eventually handcuffed, and it is now speculated that he is in Switzerland for treatment.

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People magazine said Woods, 50, is "ashamed" of his latest drama, citing a source.

"Tiger can be defensive at times but he was embarrassed and ashamed at the latest accident. He wants to fix his problems," the source told People. "There is nobody more interested in seeing Tiger come out a winner again than Tiger. He doesn’t do well with defeat and embarrassing public situations."

A court filing shows that a subpoena will be issued later this month for Woods' prescription drug records from Jan. 1 through his arrest.

Woods told law enforcement prior to the field sobriety tests that he underwent seven back surgeries and "over 20 operations on his leg." He told law enforcement that "I take a few" prescription medications. In 2021, he got into a wreck that resulted in serious leg injuries that kept him off the golf course for the entire year.

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He also mentioned that his ankle was fused and he walks with a limp due to the injuries. Due to the nature of his injuries, authorities made him do the exercises sitting down.

Woods announced days after the arrest that he would "seek treatment," and he was given permission to travel out of the country in order to do so.

"I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today. I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery," Woods said in a statement posted to social media.

"I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time."

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