Paleo in the News

Half a billion-year-old spiny slug reveals the origins of mollusks

Science Daily - Fossils - Thu, 08/01/2024 - 13:21
Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest mollusks were flat, armored slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata, was covered with hollow, organic, cone-shaped spines. The fossils preserve exceptionally rare detailed features which reveal that these spines were produced using a sophisticated secretion system that is shared with annelids (earthworms and relatives).
Categories: Fossils

Donald Johanson: Unearthing Lucy changed my life and the world

New Scientist - Thu, 08/01/2024 - 10:01
This year marks half a century since the discovery of Lucy, a hominid fossil that would go on to drastically alter our understanding of human evolution. The man who unearthed her, Donald Johanson, shares more about the momentous excavation and the legacy it has left.
Categories: Fossils

Algae transformed into a 'biofactory' for green fuel and plastics

New Scientist - Thu, 08/01/2024 - 08:00
A strain of green algae has been artificially evolved to turn carbon dioxide into sustainable fuel and plastic
Categories: Fossils

The inside story of heroic efforts to save three bird species

New Scientist - Wed, 07/31/2024 - 13:00
The graft involved in trying to bring the peregrine falcon, Hawaiian crow and California condor back from the brink in the US makes for compelling reading in Feather Trails by Sophie Osborn
Categories: Fossils

We have discovered an entirely new kind of wood

New Scientist - Tue, 07/30/2024 - 20:00
Tulip trees have a structure that is somewhere between hardwood and softwood – called "midwood" – which could increase their ability to store carbon
Categories: Fossils

Oldest rocks on Earth may contain strange and ancient life forms

New Scientist - Tue, 07/30/2024 - 05:00
Fossils in rocks that are 3.8 billion years old have puzzled biologists as they look nothing like modern cells, but now it seems they may be an ancient precursor life form that was unable to control its structure
Categories: Fossils

Scientists untangle interactions between the Earth's early life forms and the environment over 500 million years

Science Daily - Paleontology - Mon, 07/29/2024 - 16:33
The atmosphere, the ocean and life on Earth interacted over the past 500-plus million years in ways that improved conditions for early organisms to thrive. Now, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has produced a perspective article of this co-evolutionary history.
Categories: Fossils

Scientists untangle interactions between the Earth's early life forms and the environment over 500 million years

Science Daily - Fossils - Mon, 07/29/2024 - 16:33
The atmosphere, the ocean and life on Earth interacted over the past 500-plus million years in ways that improved conditions for early organisms to thrive. Now, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has produced a perspective article of this co-evolutionary history.
Categories: Fossils

The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers

Science Daily - Paleontology - Fri, 07/26/2024 - 10:33
Birds tend to be more colorful in the tropics, and scientists wanted to find out how they got there: if colorful feathers evolved in the tropics, or if tropical birds have brightly-colored ancestors that came to the region from somwhere else. Scientists built a database of 9,409 birds to explore the spread of color across the globe. They found that iridescent, colorful feathers originated 415 times across the bird tree of life, and in most cases, arose outside of the tropics -- and that the ancestor of all modern birds likely had iridescent feathers, too.
Categories: Fossils

Early humans began wiping out elephant relatives 1.8 million years ago

New Scientist - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 14:00
Elephant-like species started going extinct faster when early humans evolved, and the rate of extinction rose even higher when modern humans appeared
Categories: Fossils

Ants are incredible navigators - let's celebrate their brilliance

New Scientist - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 13:00
Ants and other insects are capable of astounding navigational feats. Perhaps an appreciation of this could aid conservation efforts, says Robert Barrie
Categories: Fossils

Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth to rip apart their prey

Science Daily - Paleontology - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 11:30
Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. The study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to how dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex killed and ate their prey.
Categories: Fossils

Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth to rip apart their prey

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 11:30
Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. The study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to how dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex killed and ate their prey.
Categories: Fossils

Scientists assess how large dinosaurs could really get

Science Daily - Paleontology - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 11:30
A study looks at the maximum possible sizes of dinosaurs, using the carnivore, Tyrannosaurus rex, as an example. Using computer modelling, experts produced estimates that T. Rex might have been 70% heavier than what the fossil evidence suggests.
Categories: Fossils

Scientists assess how large dinosaurs could really get

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 11:30
A study looks at the maximum possible sizes of dinosaurs, using the carnivore, Tyrannosaurus rex, as an example. Using computer modelling, experts produced estimates that T. Rex might have been 70% heavier than what the fossil evidence suggests.
Categories: Fossils

Scientists assess how large dinosaurs could really get

Science Daily - Fossils - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 11:30
A study looks at the maximum possible sizes of dinosaurs, using the carnivore, Tyrannosaurus rex, as an example. Using computer modelling, experts produced estimates that T. Rex might have been 70% heavier than what the fossil evidence suggests.
Categories: Fossils

Jurassic fossils show modern mammals grow faster than ancient ones

New Scientist - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 11:00
The 166-million-year-old fossils of an adult and a juvenile of the same extinct mammal species reveal that they had longer "childhoods" and lifespans than similar species today
Categories: Fossils

Komodo dragons have teeth capped with a layer of iron

New Scientist - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 06:55
An orange layer on the tips of Komodo dragons’ teeth may give the enamel extra strength for ripping apart their prey
Categories: Fossils

Collision between boat and basking shark captured by camera tag

New Scientist - Wed, 07/24/2024 - 03:00
Researchers are calling for greater protection for basking sharks after a camera on a tagged shark recorded a collision for the first time
Categories: Fossils

Taco-shaped arthropod fossils gives new insights into the history of the first mandibulates

Science Daily - Paleontology - Tue, 07/23/2024 - 19:47
Palaeontologists are helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils reveal Odaraia had mandibles. Palaeontologists are finally able to place it as belonging to the mandibulates, ending its long enigmatic classification among the arthropods since it was first discovered in the Burgess Shale over 100 years ago and revealing more about early evolution and diversification.
Categories: Fossils

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