Crocodile fossils found in Portsmouth seawalls
A group of students who headed to the beach last year for some fresh air amid the gloom of the pandemic, chanced upon a crocodile bone in the old seawall that led to the discovery of other fossils......»»
Biologists use machine learning to classify fossils of extinct pollen
In the quest to decipher the evolutionary relationships of extinct organisms from fossils, researchers often face challenges in discerning key features from weathered fossils, or with prioritizing characteristics of organisms for the most accurate pl.....»»
Crocodile genetics study to inform population management
The results of a long-range genetic study of Queensland's estuarine crocodiles have shown they can be described broadly as six populations living within 12 distinct bioregions......»»
Tanks of the triassic: New crocodile ancestor identified
Dinosaurs get all the glory. But aetosaurs, a heavily armored cousin of modern crocodiles, ruled the world before dinosaurs did. These tanks of the Triassic came in a variety of shapes and sizes before going extinct around 200 million years ago. Toda.....»»
Earth"s earliest forest revealed in Somerset fossils
Scientists have discovered remnants of the Earth's oldest fossil forest on the north coast of Devon and Somerset in the U.K. The trees, which are about 390 million years old, are thought to have grown as part of an extensive forest covering the east.....»»
Fossils of giant sea lizard with dagger-like teeth show how our oceans have fundamentally changed since the dinosaur era
Paleontologists have discovered a strange new species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs. Their findings, published in Cretaceous Research, show a dramatically different ocean ecosystem to what we.....»»
Study of slowly evolving "living fossils" reveals key genetic insights
In 1859, Charles Darwin coined the term "living fossils" to describe organisms that show little species diversity or physical differences from their ancestors in the fossil record. In a new study, Yale researchers provide the first evidence of a biol.....»»
Findings in Australia unveil fossil trove of Cambrian mollusks
A team of researchers led by Alexander Pohle has unveiled a treasure trove of ancient fossils from Queensland, Australia's Black Mountain. The findings, published in PeerJ, shed new light on the complex three-dimensional siphuncle morphology of Plect.....»»
Who owns prehistory? How debate over fossils in China shaped the relationship between science and sovereignty
Many museums and other cultural institutions in the West have faced, in recent years, demands for artistic repatriation. The Elgin Marbles, currently housed in the British Museum, are perhaps the most prominent subject of this charge, with numerous a.....»»
Paleontologists discover a 240-million-year-old "Chinese dragon"
An international team of scientists from China, the U.S. and Europe has studied new fossils of the marine reptile Dinocephalosaurus orientalis. This research has made it possible to fully describe the bizarre, very impressive animal for the first tim.....»»
A botanical Pompeii: Researchers find spectacular Australian plant fossils from 30 million years ago
The Australian continent is now geologically stable. But volcanic rocks, lava flows and a contemporary landscape dotted with extinct volcanoes show this wasn't always the case......»»
Study finds anti-piracy messages backfire, especially for men
Threatening messages aimed to prevent digital piracy have the opposite effect if you're a man, a new study from the University of Portsmouth has found. According to the research, women tend to respond positively to this kind of messaging, but men typ.....»»
A former mine at a fossil-rich site is causing the BLM headaches
Bureau of Land Management's blasting will make the site safe, but may wreck fossils. Enlarge / Blasting taking place at the fossil-rich site. (credit: Bureau of Land Management) Blasting has begun in an area known as “.....»»
A former mine at a fossil-rich site is causing the BLM headaches
Blasting is happening at a former mining site that's also home to unique fossils. Enlarge / Blasting taking place at the fossil-rich site. (credit: Bureau of Land Management) Blasting has begun in an area known as “Com.....»»
Rare 3D fossils show that some early trees had forms unlike any you"ve ever seen
In the fossil record, trees typically are preserved with only their trunks. They don't usually include any leaves to show what their canopies and overall forms may have looked like. But now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology descri.....»»
Scientists pinpoint growth of brain"s cerebellum as key to evolution of bird flight
Evolutionary biologists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have combined PET scans of modern pigeons along with studies of dinosaur fossils to help answer an enduring question in biology: How did the brains of birds evolve to enable them to fly?.....»»
Cognitive archaeology and the psychological assessment of extinct minds
This week, Emiliano Bruner, a paleoneurologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has published a wide-ranging review in the Journal of Comparative Neurology that describes the relationship between fossils a.....»»
North China fossils show that eukaryotes first acquired multicellularity 1.63 billion years ago
In a study published in Science Advances, researchers led by Prof. Zhu Maoyan from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported their recent discovery of 1.63-billion-year-old multicellular fossi.....»»
Student discovers 200-million-year-old flying reptile in Somerset
Gliding winged-reptiles were among the ancient crocodile residents of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, researchers at the University of Bristol have revealed......»»
Early evolution of cicadas revealed by analyses of new fossils
To clarify the early evolutionary history of Cicadoidea fossils, the phylogenetic relationships between Mesozoic fossils and extant Cicadoidea, the macroevolution of body structure adaptations, and their relationship with environmental changes, Dr. J.....»»
Predicting others" preference-based choices is cross-cultural and uniquely human, suggests study
Children across cultures can anticipate other individuals' choices based on their preferences, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by Juliane Kaminski at the University of Portsmouth and colleagues. However, non-human great apes appear to lack.....»»