Paleontology

Wolf Bones More Accurate Environmental Marker Than Tree Rings- Study

To track atmospheric change caused by human activity, researchers have long studied a variety of materials, from tree rings to air trapped in glacial ice. A problem has been "noise"- natural variability caused by sampling and random events that a ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 17 2008 - 9:27pm

Neaderthals with their big mouths were no rellies of mine

Scientists have determined that Neandertals had big mouths that they were able to open unusually wide. No great surprise given their large craniums and strong facial musculature, but what is more interesting is that we have now sequenced their DNA and det ...

Blog Post - Heidi Henderson - Feb 18 2009 - 2:11pm

Oetzi The Neolithic Iceman Had Some Pretty Good Clothing

A famous Neolithic Iceman is dressed in clothes made from sheep and cattle hair, a new study shows. The researchers say their findings support the idea that the Iceman was a herdsman. The social and cultural background of the Iceman, dubbed Oetzi, has been ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 20 2008 - 7:12pm

Anthropology Fight- Micronesian 'Dwarfs' Were Not Hobbits, Says Study

Misinterpreted fragments of leg bones, teeth and brow ridges found in Palau appear to be an archaeologist's undoing, according to researchers at three institutions. They say that the so-called dwarfs of these Micronesian islands actually were modern, ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 26 2008 - 9:15pm

Badlands Fossil Discovery- First Prehistoric Pregnant Turtle (And Some Eggs)

A 75-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant turtle and a nest of fossilized eggs that were discovered in the badlands of southeastern Alberta by scientists and staff from the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology are yielding n ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 27 2008 - 6:12pm

Discovery- Oldest Gecko Fossil Ever

Scientists from Oregon State University and the Natural History Museum in London have announced the discovery of the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in life-like form after 100 million years of being entombed in a ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 2 2008 - 10:51pm

Last Woolly Mammoths Were Immigrants, Says Study

The largest study ever conducted of DNA evidence extracted from long-dead woolly mammoths points to a rockier past for the iconic Ice Age giants than many had suspected. The last mammoths left in Siberia 50,000 to 5,000 years ago weren't natives, they ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 4 2008 - 12:22pm

Dinosaurs Are Not The Only Fossils, Mr. Spielberg

We can thank Mr. Spielberg and popular culture for the fact that most people think of dinosaurs when they think of fossils. The bone record is actually far less abundant that the plant record. ...

Blog Post - Heidi Henderson - Feb 18 2009 - 2:25pm

Dinosaurs Are Overrated- Crocs Could Just As Easily Have Been Kings

Depending on if you are pro- or con- on the dinosaur issue, you have good or bad things to say. While dinosaurs dominated land for well over 100 million years and evolved into numerous species, they still got snuffed out rather suddenly 65 million years ag ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2008 - 1:42pm

Kryostega Collinsoni- Salamander Ancestor Had Huge Teeth Up Top

When the world's land was congealed in one supercontinent 240 million years ago, Antarctica wasn't the forbiddingly icy place it is now. But paleontologists have found a previously unknown amphibious predator species that probably still made it ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2008 - 9:39pm