Incisivosaurus:
A Strange New Dinosaur From China
9/21 If you had a hunch weird- looking creatures roamed the earth
128 million years ago, your suspicions have just been confirmed. The
evidence is a newly discovered dinosaur called Incisivosaurus
gauthieri, the oldest known oviraptorosaur. [MORE]
Out
of the Arctic: 375 Million Year Old Fish
8/19 It seems the harshest places on the planet are not immune
from fossil collection. Brave crews from Chicago and Philly have
recently uncovered a six foot long lobed-finned fish from Devonian
age rocks. The big marine predator likely fed on smaller
armor-plated fish, common at this time. [more]
Cretaceous
Meteor Baked the Dinosaurs
6/23
Global warming, it seems, was big problem for late- Cretaceous
animals like the dinosaurs. A study of rocks at the K-T boundary
(the period which marked...[more]
DNA
Relics
5/29
Researchers
believe they have found traces of 425 - million - year - old
bacterial DNA in rock salt of the same vintage. The problems of
dating ancient DNA mean that previous studies have struggled to work
out whether or not microorganisms had been incorporated into such
rocks at a later date. [Source: Nature]
Paleontologist
Author Stephen J. Gould Dies
5/20 The noted science author died at his home this afternoon at
the end of a long struggle with cancer. His writings delivered
complex natural history topics...[more]
Early Tree-Climbing Mammal from China
4/30
"A mouse-sized fossil from 125 million years ago is the
earliest known member of the mammal group that includes humans,
say researchers." [more: nature]
Zimbabwe
Dinosaur Tracks Like Small Meteor Craters
4/3 Three-foot-long prints from a huge Brachiosaur-like dinosaur
have been discovered in the African country of Zimbabwe. The tracks
are some of the best preserved dinosaur footprints to date and
suggest the 80 ton dinosaurs that made them stepped with tremendous
force. In making the tracks, hard soil was pressed up around the
outside of each print forming a ridge "exactly like the ridge
surrounding a meteorite crater." Tracks from several large
meat-eaters were found as well. These pathways suggest the dinosaurs
hunted in packs as the trails from these different predatory
dinosaurs followed one another closely.
[More: Guardian]
Evolution
Starts Small: A Triceratops Ancestor from China
3/28 In life, it stood barely a foot tall, but it's skeleton is
giving important insight into the evolution of one of the most
popular of all dinosaurs: Triceratops. The fossil find was made
recently in China by a team of paleontologists from China, Chicago,
and New York. Liaoceratops yanzigouensis, as it has
been named, appears similar in form to Triceratops, though the characteristic neck frill is
notably smaller in Liaoceratops.
[more: Yahoo]
Jurassic
Jog: Evidence That T. rex May Not Have Been So Poky
2/13 From
Oxfordshire, UK comes word of an unusual find: a set
of dinosaur footprints in which the meat-eater who left them appears
to have gone from walking to running. The tracks start out spaced
closely together, and somewhat to the sides, as if the animal was
lumbering along at a slow pace. Then, after a few steps, the space
between tracks lengthens and the prints draw closer to the
centerline- very similar to the way living animals like birds lay
tracks as they move from a walk to a run. Based on the measurements
from the unique trackway, it is guessed the dinosaur was traveling
at somewhere around 20 miles
an hour. The track-maker was likely a relative of the
infamous T. rex. [more: Nature
ABCNews]
1.6
Billion Year Old Raindrops
1/11 Indian Geologist Chirananda De has found a peculiar rock in
his native country which may shed light on the atmosphere of ancient
earth. Millions of years before mammals, dinosaurs, reptiles or even
fish, tiny drops of rain made there mark in the mud. These
impressions later hardened and eventually were preserved in the
Vindhyan mountain range. The earth's climate and weather so long ago
is largely a mystery. But at least we know it rained. [More: BBC]
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