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Got nectar? To hawkmoths, humidity is a cue

(Phys.org) -- Humidity emanating from a flower's nectar stores tells a moth if the flower is worth a visit, research led by a UA entomologist has discovered.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 12 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study

At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Dinosaur with tiny arms unearthed in Argentina

Argentine experts have discovered the near-complete remains of a new species of Jurassic-era dinosaur that stood on its rear legs and had tiny arms, according to a leading paleontologist.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Did ancient Mars have a runaway greenhouse?

Cosmic impacts that once bombed Mars might have sent temperatures skyrocketing upward on the Red Planet in ancient times, enough to set warming of the surface on a runaway course, researchers say.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The killer dinosaurs of south-eastern Australia

(Phys.org) -- At least seven different killer dinosaurs once lived in what is now south-eastern Australia, a new study has found.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Ancient sea reptile with gammy jaw suggests dinosaurs got arthritis too

Imagine having arthritis in your jaw bones... if they're over two meters long! A new study by scientists at the University of Bristol has found signs of a degenerative condition similar to human arthritis ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gaseous emissions from dinosaurs may have warmed prehistoric earth

Sauropod dinosaurs could in principle have produced enough of the greenhouse gas methane to warm the climate many millions of years ago, at a time when the Earth was warm and wet. That's according to calculations ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 07, 2012 | popularity 2.6 / 5 (15) | comments 252 | with audio podcast

Re-evaluation of Wulagasaurus indicates Basal Hadrosaurine dinosaurs originated in Asia

Several hundred disarticulated bones have been recovered from a large dinosaur quarry of the Upper Cretaceous Yuliangzi Formation at the base of the Wulaga outcrop of Heilongjiang Province near the Sino-Russian ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 07, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Australia had 'globe-trotting' dinosaurs: study

Scientists said Monday a new fossil discovery suggested Australia's dinosaurs were cosmopolitan globe-trotters, unlike the "unique weirdos" of its current wildlife.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 07, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Jurassic pain: Giant 'flea-like' insects plagued dinosaurs 165 million years ago

(Phys.org) -- It takes a gutsy insect to sneak up on a huge dinosaur while it sleeps, crawl onto its soft underbelly and give it a bite that might have felt like a needle going in – but giant “flea-like” ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 01, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Were dinosaurs undergoing long-term decline before mass extinction?

Despite years of intensive research about the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs about 65.5 million years ago, a fundamental question remains: were dinosaurs already undergoing a long-term decline before an ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 01, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Egg-laying beginning of the end for dinosaurs

Their reproductive strategy spelled the beginning of the end: The fact that dinosaurs laid eggs put them at a considerable disadvantage compared to viviparous mammals. Together with colleagues from the Zoological ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Chechnya claims world's largest dinosaur eggs

A university in Russia's Chechnya claimed on Tuesday to have found an unprecedented stash of giant fossilised dinosaur eggs in a remote mountainous area of the North Caucasus region.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Duck-billed dinosaurs endured long, dark polar winters

Duck-billed dinosaurs that lived within Arctic latitudes approximately 70 million years ago likely endured long, dark polar winters instead of migrating to more southern latitudes, a recent study by researchers ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Could 'advanced' dinosaurs rule other planets?

New scientific research raises the possibility that advanced versions of T. rex and other dinosaurs — monstrous creatures with the intelligence and cunning of humans — may be the life forms that e ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (27) | comments 35 | with audio podcast

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs (Greek: δεινόσαυρος, deinosauros) were the dominant vertebrate animals of terrestrial ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. The 10000 living species of birds may be classified as dinosaurs.

The term "dinosaur" was coined in 1842 by Sir Richard Owen and derives from Greek δεινός (deinos) "terrible, powerful, wondrous" + σαῦρος (sauros) "lizard". It is sometimes used informally to describe other prehistoric reptiles, such as the pelycosaur Dimetrodon, the winged pterosaurs, and the aquatic ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, although none of these animals were dinosaurs. Through the first half of the 20th century, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been slow, unintelligent cold-blooded animals. Most research conducted since the 1970s, however, has supported the view that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction. The resulting transformation in the scientific understanding of dinosaurs has gradually filtered into popular consciousness.

The 1861 discovery of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx first suggested a close relationship between dinosaurs and birds. Aside from the presence of fossilized feather impressions, Archaeopteryx was very similar to the contemporary small predatory dinosaur Compsognathus. Research has since identified theropod dinosaurs as the most likely direct ancestors of birds; most paleontologists today regard birds as the only surviving dinosaurs, and some suggest that dinosaurs and birds should be grouped into one biological class. Aside from birds, crocodilians are the only other close relatives of dinosaurs to have survived until the present day. Like dinosaurs and birds, crocodilians are members of Archosauria, a group of reptiles that first appeared in the very late Permian and came to predominate in the mid-Triassic.

Since the first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early nineteenth century, mounted dinosaur skeletons have become major attractions at museums around the world. Dinosaurs have become a part of world culture and remain consistently popular. They have been featured in best-selling books and films (notably Jurassic Park), and new discoveries are regularly covered by the media.

For more information about Dinosaur, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: fossil , birds , skeleton , mass extinction , plos one