Paleo in the News
Human activity is making it harder for scientists to interpret oceans' past
New research shows human activity is significantly altering the ways in which marine organisms are preserved, with lasting effects that can both improve and impair the fossil record.
Categories: Fossils
Human activity is making it harder for scientists to interpret oceans' past
New research shows human activity is significantly altering the ways in which marine organisms are preserved, with lasting effects that can both improve and impair the fossil record.
Categories: Fossils
Can genetically modifying a rare marsupial save it from extinction?
Researchers are aiming to make the northern quoll resistant to the toxic cane toads wiping it out in Australia, but little progress has been made
Categories: Fossils
Longest-living cat breeds revealed by life expectancy study
Birman and Burmese cats typically live for more than 14 years while sphynxes live less than half as long on average, finds a study of pet cats in the UK
Categories: Fossils
Sperm whale clicks could be the closest thing to a human language yet
Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet - into longer sequences
Categories: Fossils
Zebras bob their heads at each other to signal cooperation
Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities
Categories: Fossils
Stink bugs grow a fungal garden on their legs to fight parasitic wasps
A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading it on their eggs
Categories: Fossils
Jurassic Park to The Martian: 5 movies that get botany (mostly) wrong
From Jurassic Park to The Martian, botanist James Wong explores the major science fiction films that get botany spectacularly wrong
Categories: Fossils
Did a magnetic field collapse trigger the emergence of animals?
Researchers uncovered compelling evidence that Earth's magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when the macroscopic animals of the Ediacaran Period -- 635 to 541 million years ago -- diversified and thrived. Their study raises the question of whether these fluctuations in Earth's ancient magnetic field led to shifts in oxygen levels that may have been crucial to the proliferation of life forms millions of years ago.
Categories: Fossils
Red squirrels were hosts for leprosy in medieval England
DNA analysis of remains found at medieval sites has identified closely related strains of leprosy-causing bacteria in the bones of humans and a red squirrel
Categories: Fossils
Protocells on early Earth may have been formed by squeezing geysers
Simulations of the crust of early Earth show that cycles of pressure caused by geysers or tidal forces could have generated cell-like structures and even very simple proteins
Categories: Fossils
Flies undertake epic migrations that may be vital for pollination
Migrating flies can carry pollen hundreds or thousands of kilometres, and this could help plants adapt to climate change
Categories: Fossils
Seven surprising things you may not know about roots
Plants are often celebrated for the parts that are easy to see – flower, leaves, fruit – but scientists are uncovering the secrets of their more mysterious underground networks
Categories: Fossils
Rising temperatures are cooking bumblebee nests and killing larvae
Climate change could be fueling bumblebee population loss by making hives too hot to handle
Categories: Fossils
Orangutan is first non-human seen treating wounds with medicinal plant
A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face
Categories: Fossils