Paleontology

Life On Earth Still Favors Evolution Over Creationism

Evolution is still the favored theory, according to fossil records. Credit: Flickr/Brent Danley, CC BY-NC-SA By John Long, Flinders University ...

Article - The Conversation - Sep 11 2014 - 7:30am

Spinosaurus: The First Semi-Aquatic Dinosaur

The first truly semi-aquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, has been announced. New fossils of the massive Cretaceous-era predator reveal it adapted to life in the water some 95 million years ago, providing the most compelling evidence to date of a di ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2014 - 2:39pm

Myrmecophily: Beetle Trapped In Amber For 52 Million Years And Social Parasitism

A 52-million-year old beetle was able to live alongside ants—preying on their eggs and usurping resources—within the comfort of their nest. Somehow. The fossil, encased in a piece of amber from India, is the oldest-known example of this kind of social par ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 5 2014 - 9:30am

Fossilized Bite Marks Show How Ancient Reptiles Battled Across Land And Water

Phytosaur: still got it. Credit: BFS Man, CC BY By Stephanie Drumheller, University of Tennessee; Michelle Stocker, Virginia Tech, and Sterling Nesbitt, Virginia Tech ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 2 2014 - 9:06pm

Jurassic Dining: How Giant Dinosaurs Shared Space

Sauropods,  large, long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus, are the largest animals to have ever walked the Earth, with the biggest weighing 80 tons. Clearly, a single creature the size of 11 elephants would have needed vas ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2014 - 7:30am

Warm Oceans Had Less Oxygen, Show Microfossils

By pairing chemical analyses with micropaleontology, the study of tiny fossilized organisms, researchers believe they can decipher how global marine life was affected by a rapid warming event more than 55 million years ago.   The work revolves around the ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 16 2014 - 7:30am

Deinocheirus Mirificus Puzzle Solved, Revealing The Weirdest-Looking Creature To Walk The Planet

Deinocheirus mirificus. Credit: Yuong-Nam Lee By Stephen Brusatte, University of Edinburgh Everywhere scientists look it seems like they are finding dinosaurs. A new species is emerging at the astounding pace of one per week. And this continues with the a ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 23 2014 - 2:37pm

Oldest Modern Genome From Human Bone Reveals When We Bred With Neanderthals

The femur that led to the oldest modern human genome. Credit: Bence Viola, MPI EVA By Daniel Zadik, University of Leicester When a human bone was found on a gravelly riverbank by a bone-carver who was searching for mammoth ivory, little did he know it wou ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 24 2014 - 11:00am

Ancient Horse Fossil Contains Unborn Foal

A fossil of the ancient horse Eurohippus messelensis found in Germany contains a fetus as well as parts of the uterus and associated tissues. Eurohippus messelensis had four toes on each forefoot and three toes on each the hind foot, and it was about the ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 6 2014 - 12:35pm

Complete Frozen Bison Mummy From 7,000 B.C. Found In Siberia

Many large mammals went extinct at the end of the most recent Ice Age (about 11,000 years ago), including the Steppe bison, Bison priscus. Recently an intact one was found, literally frozen in time. This most complete frozen mummy of the Steppe bison yet ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 6 2014 - 2:25pm