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Paleontology & Fossils news
Sea level changes shaped early life on Earth, fossils show
A newly developed timeline of early animal fossils reveals a link between sea levels, changes in marine oxygen, and the appearance of the earliest ancestors of present-day animals.
Evolution
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New insights into one of Europe's oldest dinosaurs
A comprehensive new description of Plateosaurus trossingensis provides valuable information on the evolution, lifestyle and family tree of early dinosaurs. During this analysis, bone injuries were discovered, which paleontologists ...
Paleontology & Fossils
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Penguin wing fossil shows importance of Zealandia in penguin evolution
Three small fossil penguin bones, collected in South Canterbury in 1987, are now shedding new light on how penguin wings have evolved. A new study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, describes a ...
Evolution
1 hour ago
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Mass extinction 66 million years ago triggered rapid evolution of bird genomes, study finds
Shortly after an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, life for non-avian dinosaurs ended, but the evolutionary story for the early ancestors of birds began.
Evolution
19 hours ago
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520-million-year-old worm fossil solves mystery of how modern insects, spiders and crabs evolved
A new study led by researchers at Durham University have uncovered an incredibly rare and detailed fossil, named Youti yuanshi, that gives a peek inside one of the earliest ancestors of modern insects, spiders, crabs and ...
Evolution
22 hours ago
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The first farmers often made landscapes more biodiverse, providing lessons for rewilding today
You don't need to read the news or scroll through Instagram for long to stumble across the latest example of a rare and beautiful species that has gone extinct. Since AD1500, at least 705 vertebrate species and 571 plant ...
Ecology
Jul 29, 2024
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New species of tyrannosaurid dinosaur identified in China
A team of paleontologists at the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in China reports a new species of tyrannosaurid dinosaur. Their find is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Complex life on Earth began around 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought, new study claims
Environmental evidence of the very first experiments in the evolution of complex life on Earth, has been uncovered by an international team of scientists.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 29, 2024
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Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth to rip apart their prey, researchers find
Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. Led by researchers from King's College London, the study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 27, 2024
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3D models show dolphins already used narrow-band sound waves for orientation 5 million years ago
Senckenberg researcher Dr. Rachel Racicot and her former student Joyce Sanks from Vanderbilt University have examined the inner ear of the extinct dolphin genus Parapontoporia. In their study, published in the journal The ...
Evolution
Jul 26, 2024
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A soft needle in an oceanic haystack: Scientists discover a new species of chordate
The Cambrian fossil record indicates that most animal phyla had diversified and inhabited the Earth's oceans approximately 518 million years ago. But even though chordates—the group that includes vertebrates like humans—were ...
Evolution
Jul 25, 2024
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AI-assisted analysis suggests elephant-like species extinction rates grew when humans arrived
A pair of paleobiologists at the University of Fribourg and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, in Switzerland, working with a colleague from Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, in Spain, has found evidence suggesting that ...
Isle of Skye discovery suggests ancient mammals had longer lifespans than modern counterparts
A team of paleontologists and natural science specialists from the U.K., the U.S. and France reports that ancient fossil evidence uncovered on Scotland's Isle of Skye suggests small mammals living millions of years ago may ...
Ancient marine animal had inventive past despite being represented by few species, new study finds
Brachiopods were evolving in new directions but this did not become an evolutionary success in terms of the numbers of species, researchers at the University of Bristol, the Open University, and the China University of Geosciences ...
Evolution
Jul 25, 2024
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Scientists assess how large dinosaurs could really get
A new study by Dr. Jordan Mallon of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada and Dr. David Hone of Queen Mary University of London, U.K., looks at the maximum possible sizes of dinosaurs. It is published in the journal ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 24, 2024
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Taco-shaped arthropod fossils give new insights into the history of the first mandibulates
A new study, led by paleontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period.
Evolution
Jul 23, 2024
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Nanoscopic imaging aids in understanding protein, tissue preservation in ancient bones
A pilot study from North Carolina State University shows that nanoscopic 3D imaging of ancient bone not only provides further insight into the changes soft tissues undergo during fossilization, it also has potential as a ...
Biotechnology
Jul 22, 2024
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Museum collections indicate Central Europe was a global biodiversity hotspot 15 million years ago
The collections of natural history museums are unique archives of evolution. They allow us to look far into the geological past. Shells of marine snails are particularly common fossils and are well suited to reconstructing ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 22, 2024
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New fossil snake species provides insight into reptile social behavior and development
A newly discovered snake species, Hibernophis breithaupti, provides rare insight into the social behavior of snakes and fills some gaps in our knowledge of the evolution of boas, or boidae. The quartet of fossilized snakes ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 18, 2024
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Stegosaurus fossil fetches nearly $45M, setting record for dinosaur auctions
The nearly complete fossilized remains of a stegosaurus fetched $44.6 million at auction Wednesday, Sotheby's said. The buyer's name was not disclosed.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 18, 2024
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More news
Evidence for butchery of giant armadillo-like mammals in Argentina 21,000 years ago
Brazilian researchers discover dinosaur fossil after heavy rains in Rio Grande do Sul
How old are South African fossils like the Taung Child? Study offers an answer
Gnatalie is the only green-boned dinosaur found on the planet. She will be on display in LA
3D genome extracted from 'freeze-dried' woolly mammoth
First ever 3D reconstruction of 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth chromosomes thanks to serendipitously freeze-dried skin
Stegosaurus skeleton to fetch millions at New York auction
A new species of extinct crocodile relative rewrites life on the Triassic coastline
Research reveals the most complete dinosaur discovered in the UK in a century
Australian amber has revealed 'living fossils' traced back to Gondwana 42 million years ago
Life underground suited newly discovered dinosaur, study finds
Fossils show huge salamanderlike predator with sharp fangs existed before the dinosaurs
Giant salamander-like creature was a top predator in the ice age before the dinosaurs
Team plans 3D modeling project for France's natural history collections
Other news
How duplicated genomes helped grasses diversify and thrive
Uniquely precise: New value for the half-life of samarium-146
New perspectives for using corals in climate research
Scientists using new sound tech to save animals from extinction
New technique measures superconductivity at very high pressures
An Arizona museum tells the stories of ancient animals through their fossilized poop
Fossil insects help to reconstruct the past—how I ended up studying them (and you can too)
Ammonites' fate sealed by meteor strike that wiped out dinosaurs
Last surviving woolly mammoths were inbred but not doomed to extinction, genomic analysis suggests
Earliest evidence of cave lions in southern Europe discovered
Scientists solve mystery of DNA damage detection and repair caused by sunlight, alcohol, and pollution
