News tagged with natural history

Warm and fuzzy T. rex? New evidence surprises

The discovery of a giant meat-eating dinosaur sporting a downy coat has some scientists reimagining the look of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 04, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 15

Four-winged dinosaur's feathers were black with iridescent sheen

A team of American and Chinese researchers has revealed the color and detailed feather pattern of Microraptor, a pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur that lived about 130 million years ago. The non-avian dinosaur's ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Mar 08, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (11) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Dinosaurs had fleas too -- giant ones, fossils show

In the Jurassic era, even the flea was a beast, compared to its minuscule modern descendants. These pesky bloodsuckers were nearly an inch long.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 8

Study reveals clues to how humans became sociable

(PhysOrg.com) -- Humans have evolved to become the most flexible of the primates and being able to live in lots of different social settings sets us apart from non-human primates, suggests research by University ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 10, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (9) | comments 33 | with audio podcast

Toothed pterosaur: Tiny fossil fragment reveals giant-but-ugly-truth

New research from the Universities of Portsmouth and Leicester has identified a small fossil fragment at the Natural History Museum, London as being part of a giant pterosaur – setting a new upper limit ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 13, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Darwin's theory of gradual evolution not supported by geological history, scientist concludes

Charles Darwin's theory of gradual evolution is not supported by geological history, New York University Geologist Michael Rampino concludes in an essay in the journal Historical Biology. In fact, Rampino notes that a more ...

Biology / Evolution

created Nov 09, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (38) | comments 477 | with audio podcast

47-million-year-old fossil could shed light on primate family tree

(PhysOrg.com) -- A 47-million-year-old primate fossil, a purported "missing link" between primates and humans, was unveiled this week in New York. The fossil, formally called Darwinius masillae but nicknamed ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 19, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 2

Fossilised pregnant fish was one of the first animals to have sex

(PhysOrg.com) -- A pregnant fossil fish at the Natural History Museum in London has shed light on the possible origin of sex, according to a study published in Nature today by an international team includ ...

Biology /

created Feb 25, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 3

'Great speciators' explained: It's intrinsic

New molecular research shows that birds within the family Zosteropidae—named white eyes for the feathers that frame their eyes—form new species at a faster rate than any other known bird. Remarkably, unlike ...

Biology /

created Jan 26, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Microscopic morphology adds to the scorpion family tree

Modern microscopy technology has allowed two scorpion biologists, Carsten Kamenz of the Humboldt University in Berlin and Lorenzo Prendini of the American Museum of Natural History, to study and document what ...

Biology /

created Jan 12, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Mini-mammoths lived on Crete: scientists (w/ Video)

(Phys.org) -- The smallest mammoth known to have ever lived has been identified by Natural History Museum scientists, and is reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B today.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 09, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | 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

Ammonites found mini oases at ancient methane seeps

Research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History shows that ammonites—an extinct type of shelled mollusk that's closely related to modern-day nautiluses and squids—made homes ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Analytical standards needed for 'reading' Pliocene bones

Researchers studying human origins should develop standards for determining whether markings on fossil bones were made by stone tools or by biting animals, Indiana University faculty member Jackson Njau writes ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 05, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

DNA traces cattle back to a small herd domesticated around 10,500 years ago

All cattle are descended from as few as 80 animals that were domesticated from wild ox in the Near East some 10,500 years ago, according to a new genetic study.

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast