This week, Governor Josh Stein and NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Paleontologist Eric Lund hosted a press conference for a contingent of kid correspondents and aspiring scientists from area grade schools on the discovery of a new tyrannosaur species – the Nanotyrannus. With research conducted by North Carolina scientists, the groundbreaking announcement has turned decades of dinosaur debate on its head.  

“This exciting news is the perfect catalyst to keep kids interested in science,” said Governor Josh Stein. “Student engagement with science begins to decline in eighth grade, so opportunities like these give us a chance to nurture their passion. North Carolina has long been a top state for research and discovery. I am committed to strengthening STEM education in our public schools and supporting our teachers so that we can equip the next generation to be tomorrow’s discovers and innovators.”  

Last Thursday, Governor Stein celebrated the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University’s announcement of the most important dinosaur discovery of the decade – definitive proof of a new tyrannosaur species coexisting with T. rex, a speedy and agile creature called Nanotyrannus.

Paleontologists in the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ SECU DinoLab — the world’s only paleontology preparation lab regularly open to the public — have been studying the pair of exquisitely preserved, 67-million-year-old specimens called the “Dueling Dinosaurs” since the museum acquired them in 2020. Controversy over whether the Nanotyrannus was a new species of dinosaur divided the paleontology community for 40 years – until North Carolina scientists produced definitive proof.