Paleo in the News

Maggots may have been on the Neandertal menu

Science News - Fri, 07/25/2025 - 13:00
Maggots on rotting meat may have given Neandertals’ a fatty, nitrogen-rich boost, a study of their bones suggests.
Categories: Fossils

This desert beetle runs to cool off

Science News - Fri, 07/25/2025 - 08:00
After a sprint, the temperature of the beetle Onymacris plana drops. Efficient running, a body built for cooling and a little bit of lift all help.
Categories: Fossils

AI is designing proteins that could help treat cancer

Science News - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 13:00
A team used generative AI to enhance T cells’ ability to fight melanoma. The immunotherapy approach needs more testing before use in cancer patients.
Categories: Fossils

Thousands of seadragons are dying in Australia's toxic algal bloom

New Scientist - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 10:00
An algal bloom in South Australia has caused mass deaths of many species since March - now researchers warn that leafy and weedy seadragons could be facing the threat of extinction
Categories: Fossils

An injected gel could make drugs like Ozempic last longer

Science News - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 08:00
GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss are difficult for some people to inject weekly. A new slow-release gel, tested in rats, could help.
Categories: Fossils

A dusty fossil drawer held a 300-million-year-old evolutionary game-changer

Science Daily - Paleontology - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 06:59
A century-old fossil long mislabeled as a caterpillar has been reidentified as the first-known nonmarine lobopodian—rewriting what we know about ancient life. Discovered in Harvard’s museum drawers, Palaeocampa anthrax predates even the famous Cambrian lobopodians and reveals that these soft-bodied ancestors of arthropods once lived not only in oceans, but in freshwater environments too.
Categories: Fossils

A dusty fossil drawer held a 300-million-year-old evolutionary game-changer

Science Daily - Fossils - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 06:59
A century-old fossil long mislabeled as a caterpillar has been reidentified as the first-known nonmarine lobopodian—rewriting what we know about ancient life. Discovered in Harvard’s museum drawers, Palaeocampa anthrax predates even the famous Cambrian lobopodians and reveals that these soft-bodied ancestors of arthropods once lived not only in oceans, but in freshwater environments too.
Categories: Fossils

A tiny dinosaur bone just rewrote the origin of bird flight

Science Daily - Paleontology - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 03:05
A tiny, overlooked wrist bone called the pisiform may have played a pivotal role in bird flight and it turns out it evolved far earlier than scientists thought. Fossils from bird-like dinosaurs in Mongolia reveal that this bone, once thought to vanish and reappear, was actually hiding in plain sight. Thanks to pristine preservation and 3D scans, researchers connected the dots between ancient theropods and modern birds, uncovering a deeper, more intricate story of how dinosaurs evolved the tools for powered flight.
Categories: Fossils

A tiny dinosaur bone just rewrote the origin of bird flight

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 03:05
A tiny, overlooked wrist bone called the pisiform may have played a pivotal role in bird flight and it turns out it evolved far earlier than scientists thought. Fossils from bird-like dinosaurs in Mongolia reveal that this bone, once thought to vanish and reappear, was actually hiding in plain sight. Thanks to pristine preservation and 3D scans, researchers connected the dots between ancient theropods and modern birds, uncovering a deeper, more intricate story of how dinosaurs evolved the tools for powered flight.
Categories: Fossils

A tiny dinosaur bone just rewrote the origin of bird flight

Science Daily - Fossils - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 03:05
A tiny, overlooked wrist bone called the pisiform may have played a pivotal role in bird flight and it turns out it evolved far earlier than scientists thought. Fossils from bird-like dinosaurs in Mongolia reveal that this bone, once thought to vanish and reappear, was actually hiding in plain sight. Thanks to pristine preservation and 3D scans, researchers connected the dots between ancient theropods and modern birds, uncovering a deeper, more intricate story of how dinosaurs evolved the tools for powered flight.
Categories: Fossils

A 500-million-year-old fossil just rewrote the spider origin story

Science Daily - Paleontology - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 01:35
Half a billion years ago, a strange sea-dwelling creature called Mollisonia symmetrica may have paved the way for modern spiders. Using detailed fossil brain analysis, researchers uncovered neural patterns strikingly similar to today's arachnids—suggesting spiders evolved in the ocean, not on land as previously believed. This brain structure even hints at a critical evolutionary leap that allowed spiders their infamous speed, dexterity, and web-spinning prowess. The findings challenge long-held assumptions about arachnid origins and may even explain why insects took to the skies: to escape their relentless, silk-spinning predators.
Categories: Fossils

A 500-million-year-old fossil just rewrote the spider origin story

Science Daily - Fossils - Thu, 07/24/2025 - 01:35
Half a billion years ago, a strange sea-dwelling creature called Mollisonia symmetrica may have paved the way for modern spiders. Using detailed fossil brain analysis, researchers uncovered neural patterns strikingly similar to today's arachnids—suggesting spiders evolved in the ocean, not on land as previously believed. This brain structure even hints at a critical evolutionary leap that allowed spiders their infamous speed, dexterity, and web-spinning prowess. The findings challenge long-held assumptions about arachnid origins and may even explain why insects took to the skies: to escape their relentless, silk-spinning predators.
Categories: Fossils

How many steps a day do you really need to take?

Science News - Wed, 07/23/2025 - 17:30
An analysis of 57 studies shows that people who walked a certain number of steps were less likely to die from any cause compared with those who walked less.
Categories: Fossils

Remarkable set of tracks suggests different dinosaurs herded together

New Scientist - Wed, 07/23/2025 - 14:00
Late Cretaceous dinosaur tracks found in Canada might have been made by different species walking together, but the evidence is far from conclusive
Categories: Fossils

The secret to what makes colours pop on dazzling songbirds

New Scientist - Wed, 07/23/2025 - 14:00
Hidden layers of colour in the plumage of tanagers and some other songbirds explain what makes them so eye-catching
Categories: Fossils

Climate change may be pushing fungal allergy season earlier

Science News - Wed, 07/23/2025 - 12:00
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may be lengthening fungal allergy season, which starts 3 weeks earlier than it did two decades ago.
Categories: Fossils

Spectacular Triassic reptile had an early kind of feathers

New Scientist - Wed, 07/23/2025 - 11:00
A 247-million-year-old fossil reptile boasted an enormous crest on its back made from feather-like appendages, long before the appearance of feathered dinosaurs
Categories: Fossils

AI reveals new details about a famous Latin inscription

Science News - Wed, 07/23/2025 - 10:00
An analysis of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti using AI reveals its legal tone and imperial messaging, offering new insights missed by historians.
Categories: Fossils

Ancient ‘terror birds’ may have been no match for hungry giant caimans

New Scientist - Tue, 07/22/2025 - 19:01
A 13-million-year-old leg bone from an enormous flightless bird carries crocodilian tooth marks, showing South America was once a predator-eat-predator world
Categories: Fossils

Forget discrete droplets. This is how sweat really forms

Science News - Tue, 07/22/2025 - 18:01
The most-detailed look yet at how we perspire reveals that beads of sweat are out, puddling is in.
Categories: Fossils

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