The chamber of the UN Human Rights Council (Wikimedia)

If there were an ounce of doubt that the UN is fundamentally anti-Israel, the publication yesterday of a blacklist of 112 mostly Israeli companies erased it.

We say this not because the concept of a blacklist or boycott is fundamentally wrong. We say this because this database doesnt actually call for a boycott, instead it tars Israeli commerce and those who engage with it. You may be thinking: Well, isnt that better than an out-and-out boycott? No. Because besmirching Israel doesnt require evidence, as it would if any actual action were called for.

Basically, the UN Human Rights Council, which mandated this database, wants to get everyone thinking: Its bad to do business with Israel. Sow enough doubt, cast enough stones, and who needs a formal boycott?

Heres how Prof. Yuval Shany, vice president of the Israel Democracy Institute, sums it up:

While the list does not entail specific assignment of responsibility for human rights violations and does not impose sanctions on companies or countries, it can have long term implications, such as a chilling effect on entities considering investing or operating in the West Bank, for fear of the stigma of being branded as human rights violators if they were to appear in this official UN database.

Due process? Doesnt exist at the UN. But then, no one is really surprised about that.

The most shameful thing about this blacklist, however, is that it will harm the very people whom the Human Rights Council is claiming to support: Palestinians. Regardless of ones views on settlements and doing business in the West Bank, it is undeniable that commerce in the West Bank brings jobs to the West Bank. If commerce leaves the West Bank, so will the jobs.

One particularly egregious inclusion is that of Rami Levy, a grocery store chain known not only for employing Palestinians, but it has been deeply engaged with Breaking the Impasse, a World Bank-supported effort to facilitate peace through business.

For long-time UN observers, none of this comes as a surprise. UN efforts, whether through the General Assembly, UNRWA or UNHCR, appear to be about outsized criticism of Israel and cementing Palestinian identity as permanent refugee. Harming the West Bank economy seems proof positive of that.

For further information, UN Watch has an excellent Myths and Facts on the database.

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The anatomy of a blacklist - IJN - Intermountain Jewish News

INTRODUCTION

Since the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, the northern Neotropics have harbored now-extinct vertebrates that have been at the extreme of large size within their respective clades (1). Among them are the largest snake (2), caimanine crocodile (3), gharial (4), and some of the largest rodents (5). One of the most iconic of these species is the gigantic turtle Stupendemys geographicus, as it is the largest nonmarine turtle ever known from a complete shell (until now rivaled only by the extinct marine turtle Archelon ischyros from the Late Cretaceous). It was first described in 1976 from the Urumaco Formation in northwestern Venezuela (6), but our knowledge of this animal has been based on partial specimens that have resulted in a problematic taxonomy, especially due to a lack of specimens with associated skull and shell elements. The species diversity of the giant turtles inhabiting northern South America during the Miocene is thus unclear (7, 8), with several forms having been proposed: the postcrania-based S. geographicus from the late Miocene, Urumaco region (6, 912); the skull-based Caninemys tridentata from the late Miocene, Acre region, Brazil (8); the controversial postcrania-based S. souzai, also from the late Miocene of Acre, Brazil (8, 13), currently attributed as Podocnemididae incertae sedis (14); and the skull-based Podocnemis bassleri from the late Miocene, Acre region (Loretto), Peru (15). The fossil record of large-sized littoral-freshwater Podocnemididae turtles of South America also includes the skull-based Carbonemys cofrinii, and the shell-based Pelomedusoides indet., from the middle to late Paleocene of Colombia (12).

We here describe several new shells and the first lower jaw specimens from discoveries made during regular fieldwork in the Urumaco region since 1994 (10, 16) and recent finds from La Tatacoa Desert in Colombia. Together, these fossils shed new light on the biology, past distribution, and phylogenetic position of giant neotropical turtles. First, we report a new size record for the largest known complete turtle shell. Second, our findings support the existence of a sole giant erymnochelyin taxon, S. geographicus, with an extensive geographical distribution in what were the Pebas and Acre systems (pan-Amazonia during the middle Miocene to late Miocene in northern South America). Third, we hypothesize that S. geographicus exhibited sexual dimorphism in shell morphology, with horns in males and hornless females.

Testudines Batsch, 1788.

Pleurodira Cope, 1864 sensu Joyce et al., 2004.

Podocnemididae Cope, 1868.

Eymnochelyinae sensu Ferreira et al., 2018.

Stupendemys geographicus Wood, 1976.

Caninemys tridentata (8)

Stupendemys souzai (7, 13)

Stupendemys sp. (17)

Podocnemididae indet. (17)

Holotype. MCNC-244, medial portion of the carapace with associated left femur, fragments of scapulocoracoid and a cervical 8? (6).

Hypodigms. Specimens described in Wood (6): MCZ(P)-4376, much of the carapace, fragments of plastron, cervical 7?, both scapula-coracoids and a caudal vertebra; MCNC-245, a plastron lacking the epiplastra and entoplastron, two nearly complete costals, several peripherals, and one neural; MCZ(P)-4378, a right humerus. Specimen described as C. tridentata (8): DNPM-MCT-1496-R, nearly complete skull (Fig. 4, A to D). Specimens referred to as S. souzai (13): UFAC-1764, incomplete right humerus; UFAC-1163, cervical vertebra; UFAC-1294, left peripheral 1; UFAC-1544, left costal 2; UFAC-1547, right xiphiplastron; UFAC-1553, cervical vertebra; UFAC-1554, cervical vertebra; UFAC-4370, pelvic girdle; UFAC-5275, cervical vertebra; UFAC-5508, anterior margin of the carapace and left hypoplastron, and LACM-131946, nuchal bone, originally attributed to Stupendemys sp. (17). Specimens referred to as Podocnemididae ind. (17): LACM-141498, left lower jaw ramus, and Stupendemys sp. (17): LACM-138028, right scapula. New specimens described here: CIAAP-2002-01 (allotype), nearly complete carapace (Fig. 1, A to E); AMU-CURS-85, nearly complete carapace, left humerus, and right scapula-coracoid (Figs. 2, B and C, and 3, A to D); AMU-CURS-1098, plastron and anterior portion of carapace (Fig. 2, D and E); MPV-0001, nearly complete carapace and complete plastron (Fig. 2, F to M); OL-1820, left humerus (Fig. 3, E to H); AMU-CURS-233, fragment of femur (Fig. 3, I to P); AMU-CURS-706, lower jaw (see fig. S6); VPPLT-979, lower jaw (Fig. 4, E to L).

(A and B) CIAAP-2002-01 carapace in dorsal view. (C) Close-up of the left horn in CIAAP-2002-01 [see red square in (B)]. (D) Medial-right view of the left horn showing its ventral projection. (E and F) Close-up of one of bone surface of the carapace showing the pitted sculpture [see red circle in (B)]. (G) General reconstruction of CIAAP-2002-01 including the horns covered with keratinous sheath (light gray). co, costal bone; M, marginal scute; P, pleural scute; pe, peripheral bone; py, pygal bone; sp., suprapygal; V, vertebral scute. Blue lines indicate sulci. Photo credit: Edwin-Alberto Cadena, Universidad del Rosario.

(A) Reconstruction of S. geographicus male (front) and female (middle-left), together with the giant caimanine Purussaurus mirandai and the large catfish Phractocephalus nassi. (B and C) AMU-CURS-85 nearly complete carapace in ventral view. (D and E) AMU-CURS-1098 nearly complete plastron in ventral view. (F to N) Female shell anatomy of S. geographicus MPV-0001 from Colombia. (F and G) Carapace in dorsal view. (H and I) Plastron in ventral view. (J and K) Close-up of the right anterior portion of the carapace in dorsoposterior view, showing bite marks and punctured bone [(J) and rectangle in (G)]. (L and M) Nuchal-anterior peripheral in dorsomedial view, showing thickened and moderately to strongly upturned (arrows) [(L) and circle in (G)]. (N) Close-up of the bone surface of one of the costal bones [(N) and circle in (G)], exhibiting microvermiculation sculpturing pattern. Abd, abdominal scute; Ana, anal scute; bm, bite mark; bp, bridge peripheral; co, costal bone; ent, entoplastron; epi, epiplastron; Ext, extragular scute; Fem, femoral scute; Hum, humeral scute; hyo, hyoplastron; hyp, hypoplastron; Int, intergular scute; isc, ischium scar; Lpg, left pelvic girdle; M, marginal scute; mes, mesoplastron; ne, neural bone; nu, nuchal bone; pe, peripheral bone; Pec, pectoral scute; pub, pubis bone; py, pygal bone; Rco, right coracoid; Rpg, right pelvic girdle; Rsc, right scapula; sp., suprapygal; tv, thoracic vertebra; V, vertebral scute; xip, xiphiplastron. Blue lines indicate sulci. Art: Jaime Chirinos. Photo credit: Edwin-Alberto Cadena, Universidad del Rosario.

(A to D) AMU-CURS-85 left humerus in ventral (A), medial (B), dorsal (C), and proximal (D) views. (E to H) OL-1820 left humerus in ventral (E), lateral (F), dorsal (G), and proximal (H) views. (I and J) AMU-CURS-233 partial femur in ventral (I) and dorsal (J) views. (K) Outline of the femur indicating the region where the thin section was elaborated. (L) Thin section of the partial femur, indicating the close-up presented in (M) to (P). (M) Close-up of the cortical region of the bone. (N) Close-up of the deeper part of the cortex. (O) Close-up of the central region of the bone. (P) Close-up of the transitional region of the bone. Outlines of the largest extant and extinct turtles ever, indicating their maximum carapace length (see table S2): (Q) S. geographicus. (R) A. ischyros. (S) D. coriacea (extant). (T) M. cf. sivalensis. (U) R. swinhoei (extant). (V) C. niger (extant). pco, primary cortex; SO, secondary osteon. Photo credit (A to H): Edwin-Alberto Cadena, Universidad del Rosario; (I to P): Torsten Scheyer, University of Zurich.

(A to D) DNPM-MCT-1496 skull described by Meylan et al. (8), from Acre, Brazil in dorsal (A), ventral (B), and right lateral (C) views. (D) Composite skull and lower jaw (not a scale) of S. geographicus using relief images of DNPM-MCT-1496 skull and VPPLT-979 lower jaw. (E to L) VPPLT-979 lower jaw from La Tatacoa Desert, Colom
bia in dorsal (E and F), ventral (G and H), and right-lateral (I and J) views. (K and L) VPPLT-979 articular bone and facet in posterior view, exhibiting the foramen posterius chorda tympani. (M to T) Right articular region of the lower jaw, Podocnemis expansa NHMW-137 (M and N), S. geographicus VPPLT-979 (O and P), S. geographicus AMU-CURS-706 (Q and R), P. dumerilianus AMNH-1886 (S and T). (U) Lower jaw of P. dumerilianus AMNH-1886 in dorsal view. (V) P. expansa NHMW-137 lower jaw in dorsal view. ang, angular; arf, articular facet; art, articular; cor, coronoid; den, dentary; fm, fossa Meckelii; fna, foramen nervi auriculotemporalis; fos, fossa articularis mandibularis; fpc, foramen posterius chorda tympani; pra, processus retroarticularis; pre, prearticular; sr, symphisis ridge; sur, surangular. Photo credit (A to C): Orangel Aguilera-Socorro, Universidade Federal Fluminense; (E to V): Edwin-Alberto Cadena, Universidad del Rosario.

Range and distribution. Middle to late Miocene, Tatacoa Desert, Villavieja, Departamento del Huila, Colombia; late Miocene, Urumaco, Falcn State, Venezuela; late Miocene, Acre region, Brazil; Loretto region, Peru (Fig. 5).

(A) The phylogeny is based on the single MPT, resulting from the analysis of 245 characters [L = 1180, consistency index (CI) = 0.319, and retention index (RI) = 0.748]. Bremer support indices are indicated next to the internodes. (B) A time-calibrated cladogram of South American Erymnochelyinae; the bars indicate the stratigraphic occurrence of taxa; internode length is hypothetical. (C) Paleogeographic reconstruction of northern South America during the late Miocene (10 Ma), including the localities with fossil record of S. geographicus and extension of the Pebas system, modified from Hoorn (44). (D) General stratigraphic column of Urumaco Formation, including the four localities where the new fossils of S. geographicus described here were found. (E) Excavation of AMU-CURS-85 carapace from To Gregorio locality. H, Holocene; L, tree length; Oligo, Oligocene; Paleo, Paleocene; Pleisto, Pleistocene; Plio, Pliocene. Pr, present.

Diagnosis. S. geographicus is recognized as a pleurodire based on (i) sutural articulation of pelvis with shell, (ii) loss of medial contact of mesoplastra, (iii) well-developed anal notch, (iv) fusion of gulars, (v) formed central articulations of cervical vertebrae, (vi) a well-developed processus trochlearis pterygoidei, and (vii) quadrate-basioccipital contact. It is a podocnemidid based on (i) a fully developed, medially extensive cavum pterygoidei with a completely developed pterygoid flange; (ii) an incisura columellae auris enclosing stapes and eustachian tube; (iii) an exoccipital-quadrate contact absent; and (iv) a cervical centra with saddle-shaped posterior condyles. It shares with Peltocephalus dumerilianus and Erymnochelys madagascariensis (i) a long parietal-quadratojugal contact; (iii) large postorbital bones; (iii) cheek emargination potentially reduced or absent; (iv) potentially advanced posterior roofing of the skull (reduced temporal emargination); (v) an articular with a processus retroarticularis posteroventromedially projected, differing from the ventrally projected Podocnemis spp. (Fig. 4, M to T, and fig. S6) acute tip of dentary at symphysis; and (vii) foramen chorda tympani enclosed in processus retroarticularis.

Further description and dimensions. Detailed anatomical descriptions, comparisons, and measurements of the fossilized bones and body mass estimation for S. geographicus and other fossil and extant giant turtles are presented in Fig. 3 (Q to V) and in the Supplementary Materials (text, figs. S1 to S6, tables S1 and S2, and data files S1 and S2).

Remarks. Skull: Unique among podocnemidids (and all other pleurodires, the side-necked turtles) in having greatly inflated maxillae, each with a ventral, tooth-like process, which, together with a single process formed on the midline of the premaxillae, form a tridentate condition in the upper triturating surfaces. Lower jaw: Triturating surface deep, forming an oval concavity, deeper than in any known living or extinct podocnemidid, labial ridge curved anteriorly ending in acute tip; lingual ridge is a blunt margin forming an accessory ridge that increases in height and width anteriorly and runs as a narrow ridge at the medial symphysis; high coronoid process; large dorsal opening of fossa Meckelii; the fossa Meckelii fills the posterior end of the jaw to such an extent that the area articularis mandibularis forms part of the posterior margin, and the fossa opens posterolaterally next to the jaw articulation. Shell: Carapace 2 m straight midline length, carapace low-arched, with irregular nodular contours on external surface and deep median notch at front; anterior border of nuchal-peripheral bones thickened and moderately to strongly upturned; carapace with massive anterolateral horns slightly projected ventrally in forms attributed as male; carapace dorsal bone surface smooth to striated or slightly pitted; posterior peripheral bones moderately scalloped along margins; thickness of carapace relatively thin at the costals. Shell (plastron): Pectoral-abdominal sulcus very anterior to mesoplastra, reaching almost the hyoplastra lateral notch level. Neck: Cervical vertebrae (probably 7 and 8) with neural arches relatively high in relation to anteroposterior lengths of centra, and articular facets of postzygapophyses forming acute angle of less than 90; cervical 8? neural arch with large horizontal plane, prezygapophyses directed perpendicularly, thin bladelike spine on anterior face of neural arch and no ventral keel on centrum. Humerus: Humerus squat, massive; deep bicipital fossa between lateral and medial articular facets on ventral surface; prominent ridge traversing ventral surface of shaft from medial process to distal end, terminating just above lateral condyle; medial condyle broadest at anterior end; medial and lateral condyles facing very ventrally; straight to slightly slender shaft and triangular in cross section than circular. Femur: Femur squat, massive, greatly flattened dorsoventrally; breadth of tibial condyle approximately one-third total length of bone. Scapula: A dorsal strongly bowed scapular process with a flattened flange projecting laterally from the main axis.

The first analysis (all taxa separated) produced 156,070 most parsimonious trees [MPTs; length = 1154, consistency index (CI) = 0.326, and retention index (RI) = 0.749]. The strict consensus tree (fig. S7) shows the lower jaws from Acre, Urumaco, and La Tatacoa in polytomy at the base of the Stereogenyini clade, sensu Ferreira et al. (18), with the same position for C. tridentata and S. geographicus as presented in Ferreira et al. (18). The second analysis [C. tridentata + Acre jaw and S. geographicus + (Urumaco, La Tatacoa jaws)] produced 1157 MPT (length = 1157, CI = 0.325, and RI = 0.748). Here, the strict consensus tree (fig. S7) shows C. tridentata and S. geographicus forming a monophyletic clade inside the Erymnochelyinae clade sensu Ferreira et al. (18), suggesting them to be closely related or potentially the same taxon. We favor the latter monospecific scenario based on the following considerations: (i) the three lower jaws from Urumaco, La Tatacoa, and Acre resemble each other in all morphological aspects, varying only in size and in preservation; (ii) the lower jaws from Urumaco, La Tatacoa, and Acre were found in localities and/or formations where shell material of S. geographicus was also found; and (iii) as Meylan et al. (8) stated, there is a higher probability that the lower jaw, LACM-141498, does belong to Caninemys, and they are sufficiently complementary to suggest that they are from closely related taxa. This scenario receives additional support from the third phylogenetic analysis, which produced 36 MPTs (length = 1180, CI = 0.319, and RI = 0.748). The strict consensus tree (Fig. 5A) and the time-calibrated cladogram pruned to the South American Erymnochelyinae clade (Fig. 5B) show S. geographicus at the base, as sister taxon to all remaining erymnoche
lyin turtles. This position is in agreement with the hypothesis presented by Meylan et al. (8) for C. tridentata (now S. geographicus), based on a relatively different character-taxon matrix. Jointly considering all these lines of evidence, we hypothesize that the skull of C. tridentata and the lower jaws described here together correspond to the skull of S. geographicus. It is thus both telling and fitting that turtle expert Eugene Gaffney, when supervising the exhibit of the reconstructed skeleton of S. geographicus at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, provided the skull of Caninemys for that model.

The measurements of the new specimens are given in fig. S2 and table S2. Of particular interest is the new S. geographicus specimen CIAAP-2002-01 that we describe here. With its 286 cm parasagittal straight carapace length, it is not only the largest known specimen for this taxon but also the largest turtle shell found to date, considering that the hitherto largest known specimen is the so-called Vienna specimen of the turtle A. ischyros (NHMW-1977/1902/0001) with a shell length of 220 cm (19). Among Asian trionychids, giant forms have been reported from the Eocene of Pakistan, some reaching up to 2 m in shell length (20). Badam (21) reported on giant tortoises from the Pliocene of India that, based on reconstructed shell fragments, may have been larger than 3 m in carapace length.

We estimated the body mass using the straight carapace length method (see data file S1) (22). For the largest specimen, CIAAP-2002-01, we obtained an estimate of 871 kg [compared to the 744 kg obtained by Iverson (22) for MCZ(P)-4376, previously the largest and most complete specimen]. However, in the case of S. geographicus, to compensate for the effect of the large nuchal embayment, calculating the body mass estimate as the average between estimations based on the carapace midline and parasagittal lengths likely yields a more precise body mass estimate. Doing this results in a body mass estimate of 1145 kg for the CIAAP-2002-01 specimen.

The thin section of AMU-CURS-233 (Fig. 3, L to P) reveals an overall dense microanatomy with a central medullary region completely filled by cancellous bone, surrounded by a transitional zone with regular formed smaller spaces, which leads into a compact, external cortex. Because of erosion of the femur surface, the external-most layers of the bone are visible only in a few places.

The cortical tissue is increasingly dense toward the outer bone surface (Fig. 3M). The deeper parts of the cortex show a dense Haversian bone (Fig. 3N), consisting mostly of longitudinally arranged or slightly angled secondary osteons. In the more surficial parts of the cortex, remodeling into dense Haversian bone is prominent, but remnants of primary parallel-fibered bone matrix with numerous longitudinally arranged primary osteons are still present. In these remnants, cell lacunae are more irregular or of a roundish shape. The cortex also does not reveal growth marks that could be counted, with the exception of a single spot in the external-most cortical fragment that splits off from the main section due to delamination processes and gypsum growth. In this outermost-cortical layer, a few closely spaced lines (five lines?), interpreted as lines of arrested growth (LAGs), form an outer circumferential layer.

The cancellous bone in the center of the section (Fig. 3O) consists of short bone trabeculae and few irregular larger intertrabecular spaces. The trabeculae are secondarily remodeled and consist of lamellar bone.

The transitional bone (Fig. 3P) does not have distinct margins but is a zone of decreasing size of individual extravascular spaces and increasing bone compactness. Vascularization of the tissue is found in the form of longitudinally arranged osteons and only few circumferentially oriented ones. Remodeling by secondary osteons is extensive so that only interstitial pockets of primary parallel-fibered bone tissue are discernible. The overall bone compactness is 0.873, with modeled values at the center of 0.543 and at the periphery of 0.97 (see data file S2).

In vertebrates, different body parts have independently evolved into protruding structures that are associated with a wide variety of purposes, e.g., defense or attack, mating, display, communication, or thermoregulation. Some of the most remarkable of these structures include horns, antlers, spikes, spurs, plates, tail clubs, and tusks (2325). In turtles, a notable example is the posterolateral horns of the skull of the extinct meiolaniids (26, 27). Most examples, though, are connected to their shell, covering a diversity of types. Knobby ridges can be found on the carapaces of the extant matamata Chelus fimbriatus (28) and the alligator snapping turtle Macrochelys temminckii (29) and the extinct stem turtle Proganochelys quenstedti possessed serrations along the posterior shell margin (30). Among other examples, the extant spiny turtle Heosemys spinosa has peripherals with marginal spines (31) that disappear ontogenetically, and many groups of testudinid tortoises have highly lobulated and protruded anterior and posterior peripherals or anterior plastron edges (32). Horn-like structures at the anterolateral margin of the carapace, such as those we report here for S. geographicus, have previously only been documented in the Cretaceous nanhsiungchelyid Anomalochelys angulata (see fig. S8) (33). For this medium-sized (~65-cm straight parasagittal carapace length) extinct terrestrial turtle, one interpretation of the horns purpose was proposed as the protection of a large skull.

This hypothesis may also apply for S. geographicus, considering that we here interpret the massive skull DNPM-MCT-1496-R as its head. This specimen was previously described as C. tridentata, and it had lower jaws, which in several morphological aspects resemble the lower jaw of the extant South American big-headed turtle P. dumerilianus (Fig. 5 and the Supplementary Materials), including an acute symphyseal tip. Another feature that supports the robustness of the head of S. geographicus is the posterolateral opening of the fossa Meckelii in the newly recovered lower jaws described here (AMU-CURS-706 and VPPLT-979), implying a large main adductor tendon and associated musculature (17).

The occurrence of deep grooves in the massive horns of all three new specimens of S. geographicus from Urumaco described here (Fig. 1, C and D, and the Supplementary Materials) indicates that they were true horns with a bony core covered by a keratinous sheath that was strongly attached via the grooves, similar to horns of extant artiodactyl bovid mammals (34), and has been argued for meiolanid horns (26).

If the horns were for protection, then why do several S. geographicus specimens lack horns? The anteroventrally facing orientation of the horns is a distinct feature, suggesting that potentially they were exclusively used not only for protection but also for combat. We therefore hypothesize that the horned shells from Venezuela described here represent males of S. geographicus and that the horns served the main purpose of weapons in male-male combat behaviors. This hypothesis is consistent with the occurrence of similar structures in males of other groups of vertebrates, for example, in artiodactyl mammals (23, 34). In addition, in snapping turtles (Chelydridae), some of the largest extant freshwater turtles, males that occupy overlapping areas often establish dominance through fights (35). The elongated and deep scar in the left horn of CIAAP-2002-01 (see the Supplementary Materials) could be interpreted as a mark resulting from combat between males. Many extant tortoises use their protruding epiplastral horns for combat, often with the goal of flipping the opponent (3638).

The putative S. geographicus males would also have been larger than females (see table S1), a pattern similar to that documented in the closely related extant taxon P. dumerilianus, which exhibits a male-biased sexual size dimorphism (39). Other sexually dimorphic traits of t
he turtle shell, such as a xiphiplastral concavity in males, or a deeper anal notch in males than in females (40, 41), are not distinct in S. geographicus, at least from a comparison between the specimens AMU-CURS-1098 (attributed to a male) and MPV-0001 (attributed to a female).

The climate and the productivity of the environment, habitat size, and predation-competition interactions are some of the factors usually considered as triggers or in favor of gigantism (42, 43). We hypothesize that in the case of S. geographicus, a combination of several factors favored the evolution of its large size.

Habitat size, both in terms of individuals (home ranges large enough to sustain giant body sizes) and in terms of populations (species distribution ranges that can sustain long-term viable populations), was surely a major determinant. During the Paleogene and until the late Miocene [~66 to 5 million years (Ma)], after the retreat of the dominant marine conditions of the Cretaceous, northern South America harbored the most extensive freshwater and littoral ecosystems in its geological history. The coverage reached a particular peak during the Miocene, with the development of a large wetland and lake system known as the Pebas system (44), which offered not only increased connectivity between habitats but also the opportunity for the diversification and migration of faunas, including turtles. It seems that the size of these wetland habitats in northern South America during the Miocene facilitated the occurrence of gigantism not only in turtles (this study) but also in several vertebrate lineages such as crocodylians (Fig. 6 and table S3) and rodents (35).

Deep-sea benthic foraminifer oxygen isotope curve for 0 to 23 Ma, redraw from Zachos et al. (46), showing major global climatic events (left). Major geological and geographical events for northern South America (light brown bars). Maximum skull or lower jaw (green values) and carapace (black values) for turtles and crocodylians from northern South American fossil sites. Formations are represented by yellow stars: 1, Barzalosa Fm., early Miocene, Colombia; 2, Castillo Fm., early Miocene, Venezuela; 3, Castilletes Fm., early-middle Miocene, Colombia; 4, La Victoria and Villavieja Fms., middle-late Miocene, Colombia; 5, Pebas Fm., middle Miocen, Peru; 6, Urumaco Fm., late Miocne, Venezuela; 7, Madre de Dios and Ipururo Fms., late Miocene, Brazil; 8, Pisco Fm., late Miocene, Peru; 9, Solimes Fm., late Miocene-Pliocene, Brazil; 10, San Gregorio Fm., early Pliocene, Venezuela; 11, Ware Fm., Pliocene-Pleistocene, Colombia; 12, Mesa Fm., Pleistocene, Venezuela. Carap, carapace; MMCO, middle Miocene climatic optimum; MMCT, middle Miocene climatic transition; Magda, Magdalena; Pleist; Pleistocene. Detailed information on localities, specimens, and sources are in table S3.

Predation interactions could have also been involved in the evolution of large body size in S. geographicus, as it shared its habitat with gigantic crocodylians, including Purussaurus spp. and Gryposuchus spp., which could reach up to 10 m or more in body length. There is direct evidence of interactions between S. geographicus and large South American crocodylians, in the form of bite marks in Colombian and Venezuelan specimens, and an isolated tooth attached on the ventral surface of the carapace in the CIAAP-2002-01 specimen (see fig. S3).

Climate, particularly warmer temperatures, could have been a potential factor favoring the evolution of large body size in Miocene South American reptiles. For example, this causal link has been inferred for the Paleocene fauna of Cerrejn, Colombia, which includes the largest snake ever, Titanoboa cerrejonensis (2), and the largest Paleogene pelomedusoid turtles and crocodylians (12, 45). Although less warm than the Paleocene and the Eocene, the Miocene was also an epoch with notable climatic events that could have affected the body size of neotropical animal species, for example, the warm middle Miocene climatic optimum (MMCO) (46, 47), the global cooling between ~15 and 13 Ma known as middle Miocene climatic transition (MMCT), and continuous decreasing of global temperature during the late Miocene (48). The time range so far known for S. geographicus (middle Miocene to late Miocene) (this study) indicates that this taxon overcame the MMCT event. It exhibited a gigantic (and potentially its maximum) size during global cooling times (late Miocene) (Fig. 6). The latter rules out a direct and rather unlikely simple effect of climate on gigantism in neotropical Miocene reptiles. Thermally imposed upper limits to body mass are more likely than a simple tracking of changing temperature in body size evolution (49). Unfortunately, the climatic conditions of terrestrial ecosystems during the Miocene in tropical South America are still poorly known, and better reconstructions of climatic conditions await information from geochemical analyses of paleosols and carbonate isotopes. In addition, for neotropical faunas in general and reptiles in particular, the considerable gap in the South American Eocene and Oligocene fossil record is a major obstacle to a clear understanding of the effect of these climatic events on body size trends through time. It is therefore currently impossible to track the evolutionary path of evolution of body size that started during the Paleocene in detail or to establish whether body sizes of late Eocene and Oligocene neotropical reptiles remained large or decreased due, in part, to other cooling events such as the late Eocene-Oligocene transition from greenhouse to icehouse. To test the existence of a passive or driven trend in body size evolution (50), better sampling of the neotropical fossil record is needed. Both internal or external factors could be associated with such trends (51), and discoveries such as that reported here provide the primary evidence with which to start to understand the range of possibilities in morphospace occupation.

Turtles are a particularly challenging group when it comes to the identification of potential causal correlates in body size evolution, given the atypical patterns in relation to latitude they show in body size and in geographic range (52), as opposed to major tendencies identified for other vertebrate groups.

Last, the phylogenetic framework is likely an additional important factor, given the association of biological attributes such as body size and physiology to clades. Teasing out the relative importance of physiological boundaries related to clades is currently equally limited by the Eocene and Oligocene gap in neotropical faunas. For example, the large body size of S. geographicus could be an inherited ancestral trait, rooted in the Paleocene forms from Cerrejn, Colombia [Carbonemys cofrinii and its potential shell, Pelomedusoides indet. (12)]. Our phylogenetic analysis (Fig. 5) supports the view that S. geographicus and Ca. cofrinii both belong to the Erymnochelyinae clade but not as closely related taxa. What is clear is that at least two separate clades inside Podocnemididae exhibited large body size during the Miocene: one including S. geographicus and another with P. bassleri (15) (15.7-cm skull length, potentially 2 m carapace length) in the line of Podocnemis group. In other turtle clades of the neotropics, this trend is represented by Chelonoidis sp. (1 m carapace length estimate) inside the terrestrial Testudinidae and Chelus colombianus (70 cm carapace length estimate) within the freshwater-inhabitant Chelidae (Fig. 6).

Adding to the previously known records of S. geographicus from Urumaco and Acre (68, 13, 17), we here report the first occurrence of this taxon in the well-known fauna of La Venta, Tatacoa Desert. This notably expands the known distribution of S. geographicus, highlighting that it likely was a common taxon throughout the entire Pebas system, well adapted to both fluvial conditions (La Venta and Acre) and fluvial-littoral conditions (Urumaco) (Fig. 5C). It is likely that the changes in the configuration of the Pebas and the posterior Acre systems due to the uplifting
of the Andes starting in the middle Miocene (ca. 12.5 Ma) (53) (Fig. 6) had a deep impact on the populations of S. geographicus, considerably reducing their habitat size and leading to its final extinction, probably during the early Pliocene.

Taking into account the morphology of the massive skull elements (skull and lower jaws, Fig. 4D) of S. geographicus, Meylan et al. (8) interpreted this turtle as a pleurodiran snapping turtle, involving a vacuum feeding system and capable of capturing and holding prey of very large size, including fish, small caimanines, and snakes. In this questionable interpretation, it was a carnivore much like the extant cryptodires Macrochelys, Claudius, and Staurotypus, which also exhibit a depression in the upper triturating surface and have lower jaws with a well-developed symphyseal hook (8). The very acute symphysial end and wider anteromedial triturating surface of the well-preserved jaw (VPPLT 979 specimen) from La Tatacoa described here indicate that S. geographicus may have had a diet much broader than one consisting of the abovementioned vertebrate preys. It could have had a more diverse diet. For example, it could have had a generally durophagous diet, crushing hard-shelled prey such as mollusks with the help of its large triturating surface and facilitated by its large main adductor tendon and associated musculature. Increasing the diet niche breadth would have favored maintaining a very large body size in this turtle, resulting in a body sizeenvironment productivity correspondence (42).

Another previously underestimated aspect of paleodiet is the potential of large extinct turtles having acted as seed dispersers for many plant species. A recent review of frugivory and seed dispersal in extant turtles (54) highlighted that many species consume fruits, and thus potentially disperse the seeds, even if fruits are not considered part of their standard diet. Seasonally, high-energy fruits from, e.g., palms (Araceae) can even form the major part of Amazonian turtles diets. This is the case for the closest extant relative of S. geographicus, the big-headed Amazon river turtle, P. dumerilianus, where (55) found that fruits and seeds formed the most diverse component of its stomach contents and that palm seeds were the most common item (55).

Because of its huge gape size, S. geographicus could have swallowed even the largest South American fruits and thus qualify as a megafaunal frugivore and seed disperser [sensu (56)]. In general, larger turtles also include more fruits in their diet than do smaller ones; for example, in the extant Asian big-headed turtle, Platysternon megacephalum, there is a positive relationship between body size and amount of fruit in their diet (57). Overall, S. geographicus could thus have been a highly efficient seed disperser [sensu (58)].

As with the previously analyzed shell bones of S. geographicus (from CIAAP-2002-01) (59), our histological analysis of the femur did not reveal anything unusual about Stupendemys growth, only that it is overall comparable to the microanatomical build and the histology of smaller turtles. The high amount of Haversian bone in the femur fragment might be related to the giant size as pointed out by Foote (60) or by advanced age of a skeletally mature specimen, as is tentatively indicated by the tightly spaced LAGs in the outer circumferential layer. The estimated compactness values of AMU-CURS-233 are comparable to those of other aquatic, nonmarine turtles (61).

We see the almost universal conserved arrangement of scutes of turtles in the gigantic specimen described here, emphasizing how the developmental program of turtles (62) results in early differentiation in which prolonged growth does not result in changes in epidermal structures. S. geographicus probably lived for at least 110 years to be able to reach the largest recorded size we report here, assuming a growth rate similar to that of extant, large turtles (59).

The fossils referred here are in the collections of American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA; Alcada Bolivariana de Urumaco, Urumaco, Falcn State, Venezuela (AMU-CURS); Centro de Investigaciones Antropolgicas, Arqueolgicas y Palentolgicas (CIAAP) of the Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda, Coro, Falcn State, Venezuela; Departmento Nacional de Produa Mineral, Divisa de Geologia e Mineralogia, Cincias da Terra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (DNPM-MCT); The Geological Museum, Geology Survey Institute, Bandung, Indonesia (K); Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA (LACM); Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela (MCNC); Museum of Comparative Zoology-Harvard University, Cambridge, USA [MCZ(P)]; Museo Paleontolgico de Villavieja, Villavieja, Huila Department, Colombia (MPV); Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria (NHMW); Universidad Simn Bolvar, Caracas, Venezuela (OL; specimens housed in the Museo Paleontgico de Urumaco); and Museo de Historia Natural La Tatacoa, La Victoria, Huila Department, Colombia (VPPLT).

To explore the phylogenetic position of S. geographicus, three separate maximum parsimony analyses were run using PAUP 4.0 (63) and using the character-taxon matrix of Ferreira et al. (18) as the original template with some modifications (see the Supplementary Materials). For all the analyses, Pr. quenstedti, Notoemys laticentralis, and Platychelys oberndorferi comprised the outgroup taxa; all the 245 characters were considered equally weighted, and multistate states were treated as polymorphic. Heuristic search, random search for 10,000 replicates, and tree-bisection reconnection option were performed, seed 1000, holding one tree per replicate and collapse branches if minimum length is zero. Strict consensus trees and their decay index (Bremer support) were also obtained. For the first analysis, we considered each of the three giant lower jaws from Acre (17), Urumaco, and La Venta (described here) as separate taxa, as well as C. tridentata (8) and S. geographicus, with the addition of information from previous and the new specimens described here. A second analysis considering the lower jaw LACM-141498 from Acre as belonging to C. tridentata as considered originally by Meylan et al. (8) and the lower jaws AMU-CURS-706 from Urumaco and VPPLT-979 from La Tatacoa as belonging to S. geographicus was performed. For the third analysis, we considered a single taxon, S. geographicus, formed by the new and previously described S. geographicus shells and postcrania; the three lower jaws from Acre, Urumaco, and La Tatacoa; and the skull of C. tridentata (see fig. S7). Twelve morphocline characters were treated as ordered characters (14, 18, 19, 71, 95, 96, 99, 101, 119, 129, 174, and 175) following Ferreira et al. (18). Results are also presented in a time-calibrated cladogram of South American Erymnochelyinae turtles (Fig. 5B) based on this and previous studies (12, 64).

Body mass estimation of S. geographicus and some other taxa mentioned in table S1 was obtained using the correspondence between carapace length and body mass reported by Iverson (22) in extant representative of all lineages of turtles. Specifically, we used the general allometric equation y = axb, where y is the body mass (in grams), x is the carapace length (in centimeters), and a and b are the correlation coefficients established for each of the taxa (see the Supplementary Materials) (22). Considering that none of the taxa included in this study were part of Iversons study, we used the coefficients of the closest phylogenetic and/or similar lifestyle representative, for example, in the case of S. geographicus as it was also used by Iverson (22), we used the coefficients established for Podocnemis unifilis; for A. ischyros and D. coriacea (both marine turtles), we used the coefficients of Chelonia mydas; for Megalochelys sivalensis and Chelonoidis niger (both tortoises), we used the coefficients of Geochelone elegans; and for Rafetus swinhoei (freshwater soft-shelled turtle), we used the coeficientes of Apalone (Trionyx) spinifera.

We sectioned a shaft fra
gment of a femur of S. geographicus (AMU-CURS-233) recovered from a site next to the gas pipeline at El Mamn locality, Urumaco, Falcn state, Venezuela (11131.46N; 701651.2W). The shaft section was roughly oval shaped, with the longest axis of 8 cm and a perpendicular shorter axis of 6.2 cm. The bone was cut with an iron hand saw and processed afterward, following standard petrographic thin-sectioning procedures (65). The thin section was studied and analyzed using a compound microscope (DM 2500M, Leica) with a digital camera (DFC 420C, Leica). Comparative material of S. geographicus included already published shell bone sections (59), and overall bone compactness was calculated using Bone Profiler software (66).

We plotted the largest as-preserved or estimated length of skull, lower jaw, and/or carapace of turtles and crocodylians from each of the neotropical Neogene to Quaternary fossil sites, putting them in context with the global climatic curve of Zachos et al. (46) and the major geological and geographical events of northern South America. We included the following lineages of turtles: Erymnochelyinae, Podocnemidinae, Chelidae, and Testudinidae, and for the crocodylians: Alligatoridae, Gavialidae, and Crocodylidae (Fig. 6, fig. S9, and table S3), adding also the largest reported extant representatives. We excluded from this plot very recently immigrant lineages of turtles: Geoemydidae, Kinosternidae, Emydidae, and Chelydridae, and turtles that occasionally reached South America, for example, Trionychidae, as well as sea turtles and the extant Galpagos tortoises (gigantism due to phylogenetic history and island isolation). The extremely fragmentary Charactosuchus spp. were also excluded considering that they are still controversial if they are truly members of Crocodylidae (67).

Supplementary material for this article is available at http://advances.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/6/7/eaay4593/DC1

Supplementary Text

Fig. S1. S. geographicus CIAAP-2002-01 details.

Fig. S2. Outlines and indication of the measurements of the new specimens described here and reported in tables S1 and S2.

Fig. S3. S. geographicus CIAAP-2002-01 carapace.

Fig. S4. AMU-CURS-85 carapace of S. geographicus from Venezuela.

Fig. S5. Details of S. geographicus AMU-CURS-1098 from Venezuela.

Fig. S6. Lower jaws of S. geographicus from Venezuela, Colombia, and extant podocnemidids.

Fig. S7. Additional strict consensus trees.

Fig. S8. A. angulata from the Cretaceous of Japan.

Fig. S9. Phylogeny versus skulllower jaw length for Miocene neotropical crocodylians.

Table S1. Measurements and body mass estimation for S. geographicus and other extant and extinct giant turtles as preserved in centimeters and kilograms.

Table S2. Specific measurements and thickness (see fig. S2) of new specimens of S. geographicus.

Table S3. Data on size for the Neogene to extant neotropical turtles and crocodylians.

Data file S1. Body mass estimation calculations.

Data file S2. Bone compactness calculations using Bone Profiler.

Data file S3. Character-taxon matrix Nexus file raw data.

Data file S4. Character-taxon matrix Nexus file final version.

Movie S1. Video of CIAAP-2002-01 specimen.

Movie S2. Video of the excavation of AMU-CURS-85 specimen.

References (6893)

Acknowledgments: We are indebted to D. Gutirrez and F. Parra for helping with the preparation of fossil specimens and collaboration in fieldwork. We thank R. Hirayama for color photos of Anomalochelys; M. Clauss for discussion on the early stages of this work; and editors J. Jackson and D. Erwin, reviewer W. Joyce, and an anonymous reviewer for input to improve this paper. We thank the curators and museum staff of the following institutions for permits and access to collections and specimens: American Museum of Natural History; Alcada Bolivariana de Urumaco; Chelonian Research Institute; Instituto de Ciencias Naturales Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de Venezuela; Museo Paleontolgico de Urumaco; Centro de Investigaciones Antropolgicas, Arqueolgicas y Paleontolgicas de la Universidad Experimental Francisco de Miranda; Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Caracas; Museum of Comparative Zoology-Harvard University; Museo Paleontolgico de Villavieja; Museo de Historia Natural La Tatacoa; Naturhistorisches Museum Wien; Servicio Geolgico Colombiano; Divisa de Geologia e Mineralogia Museu de Cincias da Terra do Rio de Janeiro; Smithsonian Natural History Museum Collections; and University of Florida Herpetology Collection. We thank H. Moreno, C. Morn, G. Ojeda, A. Blanco, A. Reyes-Cespedes, J. Hernndez, and the communities of Urumaco and La Victoria for their valuable assistance. We thank the Brazilian Council of Science and Technological Development (productivity researches 305269/2017-8). We thank J. Moreno for information on some fossil crocodylians. Funding: This research was funded by grant 40215 from the National Geographic SocietyWaitt Foundation Grants Program and the Vicerrectora Universidad del Rosario. Author contributions: R.S., O.A.A.-S., M.P., A.V., M.R.S.-V., J.D.C.-B., and E.-A.C. collected the fossils. E.-A.C. and T.M.S. designed the study. E.-A.C., T.M.S., M.R.S.-V., and J.D.C.-B., collected data, made comparisons, and wrote the paper. All authors gave final approval for publication. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the authors.

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The anatomy, paleobiology, and evolutionary relationships of the largest extinct side-necked turtle - Science Advances

A new episode of Greys Anatomy might give a look as to who is the father of Amelias baby.

The 13th episode of Season 16, titled Save the Last Dance for Me, airs at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, Feb. 13 on ABC.

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Here is tonights synopsis, according to ABC: DeLuca cant figure out whats going on with his incurable patient Suzanne and he turns to a diagnostics genius, Dr. Riley from UCSF, for help. Bailey checks in on Joey, a foster kid that Ben brought into Grey Sloan. Meanwhile, Amelia is getting the results of her paternity test and Jo confronts her about how she is treating Link.

You can watch Greys Anatomy even if you dont have cable by signing up for a free trial of Hulu Live TV. If youve missed an episode, you can watch previous episodes on demand through its service.

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Greys Anatomy live stream (2/13/20): How to watch, time, channel - PennLive

By "Sunday Morning" contributing videographer Judy Lehmberg.

I come from a pretty small family, so when my father married a South African woman with a large extended family, I was delighted. They are an interesting bunch: Russian Jews, some of whom survived the German concentration camps during World War II, and some like my step-mother's father, who fought in that war and lived to be 98 years old. Not long after I first met him, he asked me about the animals in Yellowstone National Park which they had visited on one of their trips to the U.S. He knew I was a biologist, so he asked where all the large animals were in the park.

I had to think a minute. Didn't he see the bison, elk, moose, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, two species of bears and the wolves? Yes, he said he say them, but where were the rest of them?

Then it hit me. Those are the only large animals in Yellowstone, and he was comparing them to his experiences in Kruger National Park and other African parks and reserves.

He was right. The continental U.S. has a measly 490 species of mammals, while Africa has 4,700. Granted the continent of Africa is huge by comparison, but that is almost ten times the number of mammal species than are in the U.S.

Africa has 90 species of antelope; the U.S. has zero. (Contrary to their name, American pronghorn are not true antelope.) We fair better in the bird department with a little more than 2,000 species in all of North America, which is similar to the total number in all of Africa. But Kenya alone has over 1,100 species, and Africa has the Sahara Desert where very few birds live full time. And then there are the strange-looking animals like elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes animals that are pretty difficult to explain strictly from an evolutionary standpoint. They all look like they were made by committees that couldn't agree on anything.

The giraffes are the most graceful of the "committee" species. They move almost as if they are trying to hold an invisible stack of books on their head. They aren't all that graceful-looking when they lean down to get a drink of water, but even just standing still and eating Acacia leaves, they seem to emit a graceful, peaceful air. How they eat those leaves is hard to understand when you notice the plant's three-inch-long thorns, but they don't seem to bother the giraffes a bit. They must have really tough tongues.

Their general anatomy is a study in superlatives. They are the tallest terrestrial animals on Earth. Even though they only have seven neck, or cervical, vertebra (the same as humans), their neck is six feet long and weighs 600 pounds. Their legs are six feet long, and their feet are 12 inches across, which along with strong leg bones helps them support their immense weight (in males, that's up to 3,000 pounds). Their heart is about two feet long and weighs around 25 pounds, and their lungs can hold up to 12 gallons of air.

Although males can be aggressive towards each other (more on that in a minute), they don't defend a territory or even live in consistent family groups. Sometimes a group of giraffes is all females and their young, sometimes they are all male, and sometimes the group is a mix of ages and both sexes. They are more fluid than many species, as group members tend to come and go from one group to another. No one seems to know what triggers them to move, or to return.

No one really knows why a giraffe's neck is so long. Before Charles Darwin proposed his theory of organisms inheriting characteristics (what we now know as genes) from their parents, some people thought animals acquired characteristics during their lifetimes and then passed those characteristics to their offspring. For several thousand years, that theory was believed by everyone from Hippocrates and Aristotle to, most famously, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and became known as "Lamarckian evolution." Lamarck used giraffes as an example. He believed they stretched their necks to reach higher leaves, and passed those stretched necks to their offspring. He was wrong. For many years biology teachers have taught that giraffes who happened to be born with slightly-longer necks could reach higher leaves, thereby outcompeting their shorter-necked friends and relatives and successfully pass those genes on to the next generation.

That may very well be true, as the fossil record shows giraffe necks have elongated, especially in the last seven million years. But it is virtually impossible to say why their necks got longer. Maybe it was because longer-necked individuals could reach higher leaves. But there could be at least one other explanation.

Male giraffes sometimes fight to win the right to mate with a female. They all fight the same way, by swinging their necks and hitting the other giraffe, usually trying to knock it off balance, causing it to fall, which can result in their death. They can also do a good bit of damage with their horns if a blow lands hard enough. I've never seen them fight to the death, but I have seen fights that lasted several minutes and didn't always have an obvious winner. Maybe males with longer, thicker necks are more successful at mating, and therefore pass those genes on to their offspring?

My favorite thing about giraffes is that they attract oxpeckers, birds that land on giraffes and other herbivorous animals in Africa, and pick parasites off them. I have no idea why, but oxpeckers seem particularly attracted to giraffes. I love to watch them run their beaks systematically through a giraffe's fur like a single-tinged comb, feeling for ticks and other parasites. Sometimes the giraffe will twitch its skin and the oxpeckers fly off, but sometimes they will hold their ears really still so an oxpecker can go in and grab whatever parasites are in there.

Judy Lehmberg is a former college biology teacher who now shoots nature videos.

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Nature up close: A giraffe's anatomy is a study in superlatives - the tallest terrestrial animals on Earth, with a neck six feet long, and strong legs...

When Greys Anatomy introduces Dr. Lauren Riley in its Feb. 13 episode, Save the Last Dance for Me, it marks more than just Shoshannah Sterns debut on the long-running drama: Dr. Riley is also the first recurring deaf doctor on a primetime network series.

To tackle the groundbreaking character, Stern teamed up with Greys Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff, who initially didnt realize this would be a historic first.

I didnt know until we were on set shooting it, Vernoff tells Variety, calling the vibe on set electric. And that is the power of Shoshannah: I fell in love with her as a human, as a communicator, as an actress. I thought she was incredible and I wanted to put her on my show. I did not even know it had never been done before. Thats wild to me. And so to learn that on the day that she was working that this was the first deaf doctor whos ever appeared on network television? How is that possible?

Stern met Vernoff on a 2019 Television Academy Foundation panel about representing disabilities in storytelling. We just got to talking backstage, and she was talking about the lack of work, even though shes put her own incredible show on the air, Vernoff recalls. And I was so smitten with her.

Vernoff suggested on the spot that Stern come play a doctor on Greys Anatomy. I dont know if Ive ever invented a character because I fell in love with an actor, Vernoff admits.

The guest spot is also a literal dream come true for Stern, who had a recurring dream about being on the medical series a decade ago. It was always just me walking around in scrubs with the other doctors like I was one of them, Stern recalls. I remember always having trouble adjusting when I woke up from these dreams, because they always felt so vividly real.

The first day on set felt almost dreamlike because she felt super calm, like you do when youre dreaming, she explains. Everyone was unbelievably welcoming and nice to the point that I kind of felt like Id been there before. Members of the cast who I didnt even have scenes with still went out of their way to come and say hello to me.

Prior to meeting Vernoff, the path to joining the show was bumpy, as Stern was let go by a manager a decade ago when they couldnt understand why she declined to audition to play a patient on the hit drama. It made no logical sense for me to turn down something real for something that wasnt, she says. But something inside me was telling me not to.

Now, with Vernoff on her side, Stern was invited to the writers room to discuss coming on to the series, and the actress came prepped with her own research on deaf doctors.

Ive always been fascinated with all the deaf doctors out there in the wild, Stern says. Theyre all very different, but a commonality they share is that they seem to bring a special touch to their job. Some have actually invented medical technology to allow them more access, some of which youre going to see in Rileys episodes.

When Stern told the writers that deaf doctors traditionally make better diagnosticians than the average hearing doctor, the final pieces clicked into place. The writers then crafted a longer-term patient (Sarah Raffertys Suzanne), whose mysterious case would prompt DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) to call in outside assistance.

Although Sterns characters in the past have been primarily English-dominant (using a combination of lip-reading and Stern speaking) and many deaf doctors also utilize that way of communicating the collaboration with the writers led to taking Dr. Riley in a different direction.

For Riley, I really wanted her to sign, Stern says. She deals with peoples bodies, and you use your entire body to sign, so I just thought it would carry a special kind of weight. My deaf cousin [who is also named Lauren] is a nurse that uses an interpreter at work, and my husband does a lot of video relay interpreting in the medical field, so the inspiration for me for how Riley would communicate was cross-bred between my cousin and my husband.

Working with Vernoff, episode writer Tameson Duffy, and director Jesse Williams, the quartet utilized technology to allow for Rileys interpreter to communicate via an iPad, which was used in scenes with multiple characters. However, when she was one-on-one with someone (and when there were mobility concerns about being tied to the video screen), Riley would switch to lip-reading and English with her new colleagues.

The team at Greys also reached out to some deaf doctors on their own to ensure what they were writing about was accurate, Stern says. It was just an absolute spectacular example of the magic that collaboration can bring, and Im so grateful to Krista and everyone at Greys for their commitment to that.

In portraying this trailblazing character, it was most important to me that Riley was the best at what she did because, not in spite, of the fact that shes deaf, Stern says. It was also important that being deaf isnt something that defines Riley, it just adds a unique layer to her. I loved how it was executed on the page, too, because Riley does eventually kind of touch on how her being deaf has actually helped her be as good as she is, but shes kind of an enigma in that you never really know what shes thinking or why shes saying what she is.

Off-screen, the response has just been so profound, even before the episodes officially air, Stern admits. Ive gotten tweets from other deaf doctors and deaf people in the medical field. One mentioned that they dropped out of medical school because stuff like face masks prevented them from being able to read lips. I remember freaking out on the table in the OR when I had an emergency C-section because I understood nothing anyone was saying because of these face masks too. I think thats why some people will drive hundreds of miles to where there is a deaf doctor so they can be understood.

Stern also relied on her cousin Lauren to help her with the medical signs on the show. There arent even existing signs for a lot of the medical stuff, or really science based signs in general, because the incidence of it being used is so low, she says. Thats a huge detriment in deaf people access to science and medicine, but we have people working on that now. Its such an incredible feat and hopefully the more its utilized, the more it will spread and become normalized because that will provide more access and understanding for deaf patients when they go to the doctor. I hope that people will see Riley and realize that it can be a reality for them, too. So hopefully Greys can also change lives in that particular sense.

Greys Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

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Krista Vernoff and Shoshannah Stern Break Down Bringing the First Deaf Doctor to Greys Anatomy - Variety

Carla Gugino has seen the headlines, too: femme fatale, screen siren, bombshell. I dont really relate to that much, she says, on a recent morning at a Manhattan cafe. Maybe an emotional bombshell.

Gugino, 48, has three decades of film, television and theatre under the belt of her high-waisted jeans. An actor of variety and intellect, who often channels sexuality like some high-voltage current, she is currently starring in Alice Birchs Anatomy of a Suicide at the Atlantic Theater. She is described in the play originally staged at the Royal Court in London in 2017 as the most beautiful thing Ive ever seen. In the cafe, in a stripy turtleneck and yesterdays mascara, her hair pulled into a funny sort of pompadour, bent over a cup of herbal tea (isnt that what all bombshells drink?), she arguably is.

If you know Gugino from childrens flicks (Spy Kids) or comic-book adaptations (Sin City, Watchmen) or disaster movies (San Andreas), you could be forgiven for wondering what she is doing in an avant garde off-Broadway drama. So here is what you should also know: in 2004, she made her Broadway debut, in Arthur Millers After the Fall, playing Maggie, the turbulent, unforgiving Marilyn Monroe-inspired role. I felt like I was home, she says. And from that moment, I realised, Oh, this is a huge. This has to be something I do for the rest of my life. She has returned to theatre every few years including in Eugene ONeills Desire Under the Elms, and in Athol Fugards The Road to Mecca. Seven years ago, she and her partner, the writer and director Sebastian Gutierrez, relocated to Manhattan. So when she does a play, she can usually walk to work.

Anatomy of a Suicide spoke to her, Gugino says, viscerally and intellectually. It simultaneously tracks three generations of women in three time periods (roughly: the 1970s, the 2000s, the 2030s), with many lines spoken in unison, which means that it demands extreme technical rigour. Playing a woman who wants to die makes emotional claims, too.

Its a really tricky place to live in, she says. Because it costs you, this play. And it should. She has been reading accounts of suicidal ideation and listening to podcast interviews, working toward someone who is always trying to crack life. She just cant. And I relate to that. Life is really hard, she says. All of us have those moments when you just dont know what your value is here and what the value of staying is, she says. So for me, there were personal elements. She just spoke to me, this woman.

Her character, Carol, has a perilous kind of magnetism. She fascinates people even or especially when she doesnt mean to. God we were all so in love with you in school, another character says. I know literally three girls who started smoking because you used to smoke. Guginos other current roles capitalise on that allure like Daisy, the thief she plays on the cable noir Jett (in televisual limbo now that Cinemax has killed its original programming division), or Stella, which she will act opposite Audra McDonalds Blanche and Bobby Cannavales Stanley in a Streetcar Named Desire revival this summer.

She calls sexuality a primal part of who we are and part and parcel of who I am and shes interested in exploring it in her work, she says, because as a woman, I find it to be a huge centre of our power that has been misused and misrepresented a lot of the time. (She doesnt quite put a movie like Sin City in that category, but she recognises that its sex scenes didnt come from character.) Still, she wished she werent asked about it quite so often because it speaks to a certain American puritanism. I find it so interesting that you can see a nipple shot off, but you cant see a woman walking from the bed to the bathroom naked without being commented on.

The violence in Anatomy of a Suicide is psychological, self-inflicted. Before each show, she prepares by running lines and listening to a piece of music that moves her closer to Carol, a lullaby of death, basically, she says. She and the rest of the cast take three breaths together, a ritual the director Lileana Blain-Cruz developed. After the show, the cast take three more breaths and then she plays a song that kind of brings me joy or makes me laugh or makes me want to dance, something to help her shake it off.

Every day, as she walks to work, she thinks about what she needs to accomplish that day, what her character will undergo. And I can feel, she says, that part of me thats like, Dont make me go there. But to know that she can? Exhilaration.

At the Atlantic theater, New York, until 15 March.

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.

Read more here:
Carla Gugino: 'Sexuality is a primal part of who we are but it's been misused' - The Guardian

In Anatomy of a Scene, we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series each Friday. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Roller skating in an action scene? Difficult. Roller skating in an action scene while on a rotating carousel? Good luck with that.

Margot Robbie pulls off the stunt as Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey. Though the climactic moment, which takes place in a funhouse, wasnt just a challenging set piece for Robbie. Other cast members, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco and Rosie Perez, performed many of their own stunts in a sequence that required months of training and preparation. That included leaping on bouncy props and executing complex fight choreography on that rotating set.

In this video, the director Cathy Yan further discusses the scenes levels of difficulty and how the shots were organized. For one, she and her team came up with a clever way to maintain continuity when shooting on a spinning set with a wildly colorful background.

Read the Birds of Prey review.

Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics Picks and more.

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Inside the Funhouse Action Scene From Birds of Prey - The New York Times

You wont find a Best TV Dialogue category on tonights broadcast of the Oscars (how rude!), but you will find the winners right here, in our latest Quotes of the Week gallery. (We couldnt choose just one victor, though, so its a 21-way tie. Rules, schmules.)

Unfortunately, our awards dont have a red carpet or shiny trophies. But theydo include some of the most memorable TV moments from the past seven days, hailing from dramas, comedies and unscripted series.

This time around, weve got Larrys controversial eating habits onCurb Your Enthusiasm, aBold Type nickname that any self-respecting 12-year-old would laugh at, Josies (slightly worrying) shout-out to her former stomping ground on Katy Keene and a perfectly timed political joke onLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Also featured in this weeks roundup: double doses ofGreys Anatomy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Bachelor andThe Flash, plus sound bites from The Masked Singer, Legends of Tomorrow, Station 19 and more.

Check out the attached gallery or click here for direct access then hit the comments and tell us if we missed any of your faves!

Original post:
'Grey's Anatomy': I Killed Him With My Gayness Best TV Quotes - TVLine

In many ways, its hard to believe that Greys Anatomy is still on the air. Its been running for 16 seasons, with at least one more still to go. For millions, the show has become habit-forming. For some fans it has also become a habit to complain about it a lot.

Often its the unexpected exits of actors like Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw, and now one of the originals, Justin Chambers has departed as well. But now the problem is that Greys Anatomy has spun off a show called Station 19, people dont like being forced to watch it to keep up with Greys.

Many shows that have been on the air for more than nine seasons produced spin-offs. Sometimes they work out, like Cheers leading to Frasier. Other times they dont, with Happy Days spawning Joanie Loves Chachi. So far, both of Greys broadcast spinoffs have had decent runs.

The first, Private Practice, ran from 2007 to 2013 and focused on Kate Walshs character, Addison Montgomery, who left Seattle Grace to form her own practice. Although the move allegedly displeased some other Greys cast members, the show hung around for a solid run until season six, when Walsh decided to move on.

Station 19, which started in 2018, focuses on a fire station in, of course, Seattle. Since fire departments and hospitals commonly work together, the spinoff made sense thematically, but gauging fans reactions, the Greys Anatomy habit has stuck while Station 19 has not.

Fans generally prefer not towatch a show they skip to understand a show that they do watch. With an overabundance of viewing options out there, fans feel like they dont have time to keep up with everything, and some resent having to do homework to follow their favorite show.

A topic starter on Reddit groused, Im just incredibly angry that Im being manipulated to watch Station 19 to find out whats happening with the Greys characters and storyline. I should have DVRd this crap so I could fast forward thru the boring firehouse stuff.

Another fan concurred, saying Its more of the fact that were being forced to watch (Station 19) that makes it suck. A third commenter said, I dont have two consecutive hours to dedicate to TV, especially when I have no interest in half of it. Or more than half of it-at this point.

How well crossovers fare can depend on how theyre framed. The CWs superhero shows make an event out of it, with one week of shows per year where the heroes and villains of the different programs visit each others worlds.

Sometimes the story in the crossover had little to do with the main episodes, but more recently, Crisis on Infinite Earths had dramatic impacts on the individual series, because, one of them, Arrow, is going away.

Either way, the CW has gotten people to watch the crossovers by making them an event. Fans feel the showrunners have not done that with the medical/fire dramas.

This is hardly the first time Greys Anatomy has tried crossovers it was done while Private Practice was still running. The difference now seems to be that fans feel that watching Greys Anatomy is becoming less fun because its turning fun into work.

Companies like to boast that viewers have to watch one show to understand another. Disney has been saying that fans will need Disney+ to keep up with the Marvel movies because the Marvel TV shows will feed into them. It will be interesting to see how fans take a crossover when it moves from the theater to the TV, or vice versa.

See more here:
'Grey's Anatomy' Fans Are Threatening to Quit the Show For 1 Frustrating Reason - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

If youre looking to make a big splash in the bedroom this Valentines Day, Jackie Walters, PhD, has a few tips to consider before diving headfirst into romance.

I describe the man as the King P, the Married to Medicine star says. We have the Queen V. We have the King P and there are things about the King P that all women need to know before the two connect, she adds.

An OB-GYN for over 20 years, Walters recently published The Queen V: Everything You Need to Know About Sex, Intimacy, and Down There Health Care a book that breaks down how to plan a trip to his nether-regions and which must-see sights to take in once you arrive.

In honor of Valentines Day, Yahoo Lifestyle talks to Walters about what to know before meeting the King P.

It is important to know whether your male has been circumcised or not, because men who have not been circumcised still have that skin on the glans, Walters explains.An uncircumcised man must pull back the foreskin to clean properly; otherwise, bacteria, cells, and oil can build up and cause odor and inflammation.

A lot of things can hide behind that covering, so you really want to know that theres not a herpetic lesion or genital wart or anything that you may miss, she adds.

The penis may look small when its not stimulated and erect, but it grows, assures Walters. You can certainly get creative if its not as endowed as you want it to be. There are certain positions and things you can do to still enjoy your partner if its not the biggest king youve ever seen.When encountering a King P with less length, she suggests having sex doggie style with a deep curve in your back or reverse cowgirl for maximum penetration.

If theres a concern over too much length, she recommends cowgirl or facing each other on your sides, both of which put the woman in control.

While Walters recommends doing a thorough investigation of the King P using sight, touch, and smell before having sex, the one sense she leaves out is taste.Do not put your mouth on it until you have all of the STIs back, Walters warns, Touch but dont taste.

Gonorrhea, syphilis, HPV and other STIs can be transmitted orally.

When planning a trip to his nether regions, it helps to have a map of where you want to go.

The scrotum is different from the testicle. The scrotum is the sac that holds the testicles, Dr. Walters breaks it down. The glans is the head of the penis while the shaft is the rest of the length, and the frenulum is where the foreskin meets the underside of the penis.

If you see something, say something. Know your mans anatomy, know if it doesnt look right or smell right, ask questions, she urges.

The penis has a brain too. Now we sometimes think its located there, Walters laughs. But men have feelings just like women, so be careful what we say. A little praise can go a long way.

This Valentines Day, mind these five rules and the King P and the Queen V can have their own happy, healthy ever after.

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'Married to Medicine' star Dr. Jackie Walters reveals what every woman should know about the male anatomy - Yahoo Lifestyle

It was another one of those bottle episodes when Grey's Anatomy Season 16 Episode 12gave us insight on Levi and his background and family.

The hour also led to the dissolution of Catherine and Richard's marriage.

Join TV Fanatics Meaghan Frey,Paul Dailly, Jasmine Blu, and Grey's Fanatic Berea Orange as they discuss the hour.

Do you like these bottle episodes where they focus on a select few characters?

Meaghan: I don't hate them, but they usually aren't my favorite.

Levi's storyline surrounding his uncle Saul's death was touching and exactly what he needed. It made me so much more invested in his character.

The Webber-Fox dinner, while entertaining, was far too much time spent with Catherine.

Paul: They're hit or miss episodes. I enjoy some of them, but others feel like they don't belong in the narrative.

Berea: I usually always enjoy bottle episodes where we get to delve further into certain characters and their backstories. Learning more about Levi was good, and the family dinner was extremely entertaining.

Jasmine: They can be hit or miss for me. I liked half of this one and was uninterested in the other half.

What were your thoughts on Levi's storyline involving the death of his uncle Saul?

Meaghan: I loved it! Levi thinking he killed Saul with his confession was equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking.

I killed him with my gayness.

The fact that Saul knew all along that Levi is gay, but never pushed him to talk about it shows just how much he loved and accepted him.

I am also so proud that it gave him the courage to stand up for himself and for the acceptance he deserves from his mom.

Paul: It was intriguing, and giving backstory to one of the better characters on the show was needed. Grey's Anatomy excels in character development, and I could watch more episodes about Levi's past.

Berea: Levi is very sweet, and so was this story. It was so nice knowing his Uncle Saul showed him favoritism because he knew him better than he knew himself at the time.

Jasmine: I love Levi, and his portion of the hour was my favorite. I kind of wish the entire episode was just about him and his family, he could have carried it just fine.

I loved that the show explored his faith in addition to showing how far he has come in embracing who he is. I was proud of Levi, and I loved Daniel.

Did you feel Mrs. Schmitt's homophobia came out of nowhere or do you think they covered it well?

Meaghan: It did come out of nowhere in some senses, but I think it was handled well. Not all homophobia is in your face and loud. Some of it is more quiet, like not accepting your son's sexuality enough to tell your family about it, or making your brother feel as if he needed to hide his sexuality his whole life.

Paul: I agree with Meaghan here. It felt thrown in to amp up the conflict and didn't actually serve the story well.

Berea: I actually feel like this was just another contrived storyline (as has become the norm for this season). It was an interesting story, but I dont remember this ever being discussed before now, so it seemed to have come out of nowhere.

When he introduced Nico to his mom as his boyfriend last season, I was under the impression that she accepted it.

Jasmine: I think the issue is how they eased it in. Because there were at least two instances where Levi was shown having tense conversations with his mom on the phone and speaking about her behavior, but they weren't memorable scenes.

They were so small and blink and you miss them type of scenes, and since those were the only breadcrumbs we had to go on, it does feel like it came out of nowhere.

Mrs. Schmitt: One day with Saul and you're super Jewish? Levi: No, but I am super gay.

So I can understand the confusion or annoyance with that, but aside from it, I was proud of Levi for how he approached it, and I did appreciate that if they had to go in that direction, they showed how subtle homophobia can appear because it isn't always the extreme type.

What are your thoughts on the "anniversary" dinner?

Meaghan: It felt a bit forced to me. I understand that they felt like Maggie and Jackson deserved an explanation, but they know the two of them aren't on good terms, and they thought the best way to deliver that type of news was together?

Also, while Vic's set up came from a good place, it was bizarre that she would think it is okay to try to fix up your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend without her permission, and bring that date to an event he wasn't invited to.

Paul: While I agree that it felt forced, it was bursting at the seams with drama. Grey's knows how to do dinner parties, and this was a great way to get the wheels moving on some of the storylines that had stalled.

Berea: This dinner was a hot mess, and I enjoyed every second of it. The shade being thrown by everyone was too funny. I was cracking up at every turn.

First, I would like to say I dont appreciate how theyve dumbed down Vics character for this storyline. How tacky are you as a plus one to invite another plus one to a dinner party?

Maggie: I thought we were celebrating. I brought chocolates. Richard: At least you didn't bring a date.

Jackson was out of line, too, for inviting her (making Maggie a 5th wheel) and not even telling his mother. Theyve made Vic extremely insecure to where she takes it upon herself to try and set Dean up with Maggie.

How she thought that was her place is a mystery to me. The entire dinner you see Maggie and Jackson bickering back and forth (obviously still into each other), and shes just smiling there like an idiot.

He wasnt even going to let her sit next to him at first (Oh my mom usually sits here), meanwhile Maggie was already seated on the other side of him.

I liked her character on the first two seasons of Station 19, but they are ruining her for the sake of this intershow romance drama.

This episode would have been the perfect opportunity for Vic to tell Jackson:

Hey, Ryans funeral [on Station 19 Season 3 Episode 3] made me realize Im still reeling from Ripleys death. And tonight has made it very clear youre not over your ex, so I think we should end this.

But of course, they want to continue this intershow romance for the sake of having some drama.

Additionally, the Catherine/Richard drama is ridiculous. He is being a petulant child. He took it upon himself to protect Meredith (once again) doing something both stupid and illegal. Bailey was completely in her right to fire all three of them.

Catherine: Richard, I am sorry but, Richard: Apologies don't have the word "but" after them. I'm sorry "But." I'm sorry, it's too late.

For him to be holding a grudge because she didnt support him is a joke.

Catherine herself has told Jackson before that nepotism is for the weak. Why would she go out of her way to stop Bailey firing him?

He didnt for a second think about how his actions would reflect on her in the first place. He is too old not to understand that actions have consequences.

The two of them and their lack of communication is mind-blowing. They need to just go to counseling and talk through this foolishness.

And this notion that Catherine would buy Pac North just to close it down is petty and out of character. But then again, she wouldnt be the first one out of character this season.

Jasmine: I thought it was mildly entertaining at times but mostly dumb AF. I didn't understand why they needed to have a formal dinner to announce their separation when all of them have been out of the loop with one another for ages.

Jackson inviting his new girlfriend to a family dinner without telling anyone was ignorant, and how does a plus one invite a plus one? I do agree that Vic is so out of character throughout all of this. It's maddening.

Dean was the saving grace of the dinner party.

Should Maggie work at Pac-North?

Meaghan: I think it is going to be triggering for her, but s
he will get past it eventually.

I am so confused why the writers would move yet another character over to Pac-North, where Alex is in charge when they don't have Justin Chambers anymore. His absence is going to be even more glaring the longer we spend at Pac-North.

Maggie: Um, Alex thinks I'm worth this much? Richard: Not just Alex, Maggie. Maggie: Then I guess I have a new job.

Paul: I'm on the fence. She will miss out on seeing a lot of her friends and family, but this could be a big opportunity for her, even if she sticks it out for a year. The experience will be valuable.

Berea: Eh. If Alex was still at Pac-North, and we got to see him and Maggie working together, I would be looking forward to it. But knowing thats not happening is not making me excited about it.

However, she should go ahead and take the offer since Tom wants to play games and not give her her job back at Grey-Sloan (which is another thing I take issue with). Maggie better get her job back as Chief of Cardio and NOT working under Teddy.

Jasmine: Meh. Why not?

I would've enjoyed it more if Alex was still there because of how close they used to be, and I'm assuming this was done before the abrupt departure, so there's that. Maybe she needs the break.

Her sisters are preoccupied with their lives to pay attention to what's happening in hers, and maybe a new place will do her some good.

Richard called it quits with Catherine and now she's buying Pac-North in retaliation. React.

Meaghan: Wow, that woman is a piece of work. That was such a spoiled brat move and yet so Catherine. Who buys a whole hospital just to get back at their estranged husband?

It is amazing that Jackson turned out as good as he did with Catherine raising him. I really wish they would just write her off the show. With such a huge cast, there is no room for someone as loathsome as her.

Paul: Catherine has been a frustrating character for some time now. She likes to control people, and I love that Richard is finally snapping back at her. Catherine does not love Richard, she likes the idea of him following her like a lemming. Richard's troubles are far from over, but this is a logical move for him.

Maggie: Jackson mentioned that he thought you two might be off but I had no idea. Richard: Catherine and I tend to keep our problems to ourselves. It was quite a show, huh?

Berea: I guess Im an outlier in that I dont find Catherine loathsome or frustrating. She loves Richard and Maggie as much as she loves Jackson. She very clearly wants Maggie back at Grey-Sloan because she is undoubtedly the best.

Her buying Pac-North is a complete boss move, and Im not mad at it.

This separation is getting messy, but I dont think shell close down the hospital. Richard is being petty and she tried to make amends, but he wanted to try and force her to apologize (which she does NOT need to do).

I find this interesting and am looking forward to seeing what will happen with Pac-North.

Big picture, I honestly sort of see it as a way for them to bring everyone back to Grey-Sloan, much like when Seattle Grace merged with Mercy West. No way were they going to keep the cast separated between the hospitals forever.

Jasmine: I hated it. If they call it quits, then so be it. I'm not that invested in them enough either way to care, but I'm confused with when they got to the point of being irreconcilable.

They've been on different pages for a bit. I hated Catherine's boss move. They have both done some messed up things in their relationship, and Richard expecting her to apologize when he was in the wrong is a whole other thing.

But buying Pac-North instead of letting him go was too petty for me. If the roles were reversed, I wouldn't hesitate to call it an abusive move.

The exertion of power, control, and financial flexing over a spouse in a relationship, regardless of the situation generally disturbs me.

Who was the MVP of the hour? What was your favorite scene and/or quote?

Meaghan: Levi is no doubt my MVP. Him meeting the love of his uncle's life and learning he and his uncle were more alike than he ever imagined was fantastic!

Paul: Levi, for sure. I was fascinated by the way Levi wanted to know more about his uncle's life, and how his lover was the one to reveal all the details.

Berea: My MVP is Maggie and all the shade that was thrown at dinner. You say actually a lot really cracked me up. I hadnt noticed, but he does!

Jasmine: Dean is my MVP. I have never related to him more than when he kept accidentally stirring up drama and sat there stuffing his face and watching all the drama and tension. It's me at every family gathering.

Saul loved men, he loved me for decades. But there was something inside of him that wouldn't let him. I would have married him. I would have built a life with him. But I couldn't allow myself to live a life with someone who hated himself for loving me.

I loved everything that involved Daniel, including him explaining how different the times were. It was something about him advising the younger generation in not just life, but life as a gay man that had a nice passing the torch sort of, "we put up with all of this so that you wouldn't have to" vibe; I found it touching.

Over to you Grey's Fanatics.

Hit the comments below with your responses. And if you missed it, watch Grey's Anatomy online to get caught up!

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays on ABC.

Edit Delete

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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Grey's Anatomy Round Table: Levi Owns the Hour! - TV Fanatic

With yet another unofficial crossover tonight, Greys Anatomy fans are getting confused. Many fans were not sure if they were supposed to watch Station 19 before Greys Anatomy tonight. Lets take a look at how fans feel about the crossovers between the two shows.

Station 19 began as a spin-off to Greys Anatomy in March 2018. Originally only Ben Warren (Jason George) left the medical drama to become a firefighter at Station 19. A few crossovers were in the works, and some characters would appear on both shows every so often.

We dont want to do it every week, we dont want to create a mold, we dont want to fall into any kind of pattern, we dont want people to ever know what to expect, showrunner KristaVernoff told Deadline.

On Jan. 23, 2020, the two shows collided for a massive crossover as Greys Anatomys midseason premiere with Station 19s Season 3 premiere. ABC dominated ratings that Thursday night with the two shows. Since the ratings are doing so well, more crossovers are in the works.

Some fans feel forced to watch the spinoff and arent happy about it. Others view the crossover events but do not watch Station 19 on the regular. In those cases, they rely on other fans to fill them in on why certain things are happening.

Is there tension between the two S19 people? one fan asked on Reddit. This is why crossover sucks, Im lost on a potential relationship.

Another fan of both shows filled in the lost Greys Anatomy fan about what happened. This weeks episodes wasnt a crossover, so most fans only watched the later evening show.

I know its hard to find a storyline after 16 seasons, but please stop trying to make Station 19 happen, wrote another fan. I have enough trouble caring about the actual Greys cast; I dont need a new group of extras with lines to not care about.

Others are downright mad that they now have more new characters to worry about.

Although many viewers are confused about whether or not they should watch both shows every week, some do watch and love both. A few fans even like Station 19 more than Greys Anatomy.

Wow, this show is incredible, wrote onefan on Twitter. It was expected since its a spinoff of Greys Anatomy but being honest? Its way better than Greys, I mean, in character development and rep. Its so emotional, funny, well written!

However, other viewers cannot get on board with both shows.

OMG, another crossover,another Greys Anatomy fan tweeted. Really.really.how many more crossovers do we have to sit through before they realize we dont want them. If Station 19 cant stand on its own, then bye, but stop bringing#GreysAnatomy, and its characters down with it.

The bottom line is that you might miss out on some back story with your Greys Anatomy characters if you do not watch both shows. Station 19 airs at 8 pm ET on Thursday nights, with Greys Anatomy, immediately following at 9 pm ET.

We do have weekly updates for Greys fans who do not want to watch Station 19 right here: Greys Anatomys Ben Warren Just Solidified Endless Crossovers with Station 19 Heres What Happened Tonight to the Greys Characters on Station 19

Read more: Greys Anatomy: The Shocking Reason Ben Warren Runs Into FiresStraight From Station 19

Read more:
'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Station 19': Do Fans Love or Hate the Excessive Crossovers? - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

The stress has been mounting at the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital as of late with the ongoing trauma from the car crashing into Joes Bar and personal problems with many of the surgeons on the ABC medical drama. The pressure does also seem to be taking its toll on Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo) and boyfriend Andrew Deluca (Giacomo Gianniotti). So are the pair going to call it a day on their relationship?

At the end of season 15, fans were delighted when Meredith and Deluca had their first kiss.

After ongoing fears she would lose her license, Deluca decided to surprise Meredith with champagne on the roof.

Here, the head of general surgery confessed her love for him which officially started the pairs romance on the show.

However, things have not been going as smoothly for the couple as of late.

READ MORE:Greys Anatomy season 16 Netflix release date: When is it on Netflix?

When the show returned for season 16 last year, Meredith was on trial, trying to win back her license after committing insurance fraud.

This put a massive strain on her relationship with Deluca as she told him she wasnt sure if they could still be together if she could no longer be a practicing surgeon as it would be too painful knowing he was doing her dream job.

She recently admitted she missed Deluca after spending some time apart but there could be a new love interest on the horizon which could see the end of their relationship.

In the season 16 midseason finale, fans were introduced to a new character in the shape of Dr. Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood) who has been nicknamed McWidow.

Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) messaged Meredith to let her know she had sent over a welcome back to work package but it wasnt an item but rather Dr Hayes who she had sent to Grey Sloan Memorial from her own hospital in Switzerland.

Cristina has also nicknamed him McWidow, hinting not only that his other half had died like Merediths husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) did, but that he could be the new McDreamy in her life, the playful nickname given to Derek.

DON'T MISS...

Grey's Anatomy: Why did Patrick Dempsey leave the series?[EXPLANATION]Greys Anatomy season 16 streaming: How to watch online and download[STREAMING]Grey's Anatomy season 16, episode 8 promo: What will happen next?[PROMO]

Dr Hayes is set to become the new head of paediatric surgery, replacing the beloved Dr Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) after the actor announced he was leaving the show.

Already, Hayes and Meredith have been at loggerheads with one another but could this mean a potential romantic connection, especially with things not going exactly to plan with Deluca?

Their turbulent relationship is set to continue in next weeks episode entitled A Diagnosis on Thursday, February 20.

The official synopsis reads: DeLuca is irritated after Meredith takes over his patient Suzanne whose symptoms continue to stump the doctors at Grey Sloan.

Elsewhere in the hospital, Jackson, Owen and Jo work on a couple injured in a bear attack; and Levi is hurt when Nico doesnt want him to meet his parents.

So could this mean the beginning of the end for Meredith and Deluca?

Greys Anatomy continues every Thursday at 9pm on ABC.

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Greys Anatomy season 16: Will Meredith and Deluca break up? - Express

When is Greys Anatomy season 16 on Netflix?

Fans of hit medical drama Greys Anatomy are eagerly awaiting the series being made available on Netflix.

The show is currently airing weekly on US Network ABC as viewers follow Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo) and her colleagues at the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

This airs in its usual time slot of 9pm ET on the network.

The series is expected to land on US Netflix in the summer after the series has finished airing on ABC.

READ MORE:Greys Anatomy season 16: Who are Blake Simms and Hannah Brody?

Season 15 was available to watch on Netflix on June 15, 2019.

Therefore, it seems likely the latest outing will be made available around the same time in 2020.

When it is uploaded to the platform, it is expected all of the episodes will be available to stream at once.

Fans in the UK will not be able to watch the series on Netflix as it will likely only be available to watch on Sky Witness.

However, as of yet, a release date for the new season has not yet been announced.

Fans have been worried about the future of hit medical drama Greys Anatomy after a number of the original cast members have left the show.

The latest to leave was Justin Chambers who played Dr Alex Karev since the Pilot episode.

However, the series was renewed for two more seasons on network back in May 2019.

This includes season 16 and season 17 on ABC but the future of the series after this has not yet been confirmed.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour back in January, ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke addressed the rumours.

When asked if season 17 would be the last, she said: I hope not.

Greys Anatomy will live as long as Ellen is interested in playing Meredith Grey.

According to Deadline, she also confirmed they were currently in talks with Meredith Grey star Ellen Pompeo about the future.

Greys Anatomy currently airs on Thursday evenings on ABC.

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Greys Anatomy season 16 Netflix release date: When is Greys Anatomy on Netflix? - Express

Diehard fans of ABCs hit seriesGreys Anatomy still feels the loss of Dr. Derek McDreamy Shepherd, portrayed by Patrick Dempsey. The character was killed off the show after 11 seasons of playing the handsome neurosurgeon and lifelong love of Meredith Grey (played by series matriarch Ellen Pompeo).

After serving in the role for years and being in countless episodes, theGreysalumselected this one episode as his top pick.

Dempsey became an instant heartthrob when the show launched in 2005, quickly becoming a fan favorite. While he acknowledged the fame the medical drama brought him, Dempsey revealed that there was a downside to the demanding time commitment.

Im very grateful forGreys Anatomy, the father of three told People in 2016. Its given me the opportunity to do everything. But at the same time, there was a cost. I think after a certain period of time, no matter how much money you make, you want control out of your own schedule.

Due to the popularity of his character and the challenge of writing the favorite doctor off the show in an acceptable manner, the end of McDreamy was kept under wraps. It was clear we were both ready. But we kept it very quiet, Dempsey revealed. I knew he was going to be gone, but I didnt know how she was going to handle it. Shonda just said, Im going to do it in a really good way and she did her thing.

Despite being sad to leave his co-stars, the actor knew it was time for a new challenge. It had been long enough. It was time for me to move on with other things and other interests, Dempsey said. I probably should have moved on a couple of years earlier. I stayed a bit longer than I should have.

Dempsey and his wife Jill Fink briefly separated after 15 years together in January 2015. They soon decided to stay together and work on their marriage.

Youve got to keep at it.Youve got to communicate, and stay open and not get lazy, Dempsey said in 2016, according to Cosmopolitan U.K. And not give up And we both wanted to do that work. Thats where it started. Its always destabilizing when youre potentially breaking up a family or you have a big section of your life thats ending.

With the help of marriage counseling, the couple was able to give their relationship the attention it needed. I [learned] to prioritize. Our union has to be the priority. I wasnt prepared to give up on her and she wasnt either. We both wanted to fight for it, the Greys alum said. Jill and I decided it was time to work on our issues and improve. We wanted to be role models for our kids like, okay, if you have differences, you can work them out.

The actor is clearly enjoying his life post-Greys, spending more time with his wife and children. I was so happy to be riding a chair life in a snowstorm with my kids, Dempsey told People of an earlier ski trip in 2016 with his family. I was really grateful to have the time to just sit down and enjoy stuff like that. Im definitely more relaxed now. And happier too.

When promoting his film Bridget Jones Baby in 2016, Dempsey was asked to pick his favorite episode of the long-running medical drama. Thats hard, he saidduring a Facebook Live interviewwithCosmpolitan U.K.There were 250 episodes I was in over 10 years.

Dempsey revealed the very first episode was first in his heart. I have to say my favorite really was the pilot because we didnt know what was going to happen, and then there was that sense of discovery, he said. When I saw it for the first time, I thought the music was incredible and it was fun to be a part of such a strong ensemble. That was special. That first season was really remarkable.

According to Entertainment Weekly, he expressed the same sentiment the prior year right after his last episode on the show. The pilot was great, he said in April 2015. And then just the discovery of what was happening. I couldnt believe how it came together. And the bands that came on, and the emotional impact the music had on the show. Everybody had great moments. You realize how powerful an ensemble can be, and it was the collective that made it successful, not one individual.

After reading Dempseys comments, Greys Anatomy fans may find themselves revisiting the episode that kicked off one of todays hottest shows!

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Patrick Dempsey Says This is His Favorite Episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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