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......»»
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.....»»
How citizen science is saving our seas
Ocean adventurers teaming up with scientists can improve the health of our seas, claims new research from the University of Portsmouth......»»
Key moment in the evolution of life on Earth captured in fossils
Curtin-led research has for the first time precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life in the world, helping to track a pivotal moment in the history of Earth when the seas began teeming with new lifeforms—after 4 billi.....»»
Even the oldest eukaryote fossils show dazzling diversity and complexity
The sun has just set on a quiet mudflat in Australia's Northern Territory; it'll set again in another 19 hours. A young moon looms large over the desolate landscape. No animals scurry in the waning light. No leaves rustle in the breeze. No lichens en.....»»
Fossil birds: Surfaces of cervical vertebrae show conspicuous tubercles that may have served as "internal bony armor"
An international research team has examined unusual skeletal structures of various European bird fossils from the Eocene. The bone surfaces of the approximately 40- to 50-million-year-old cervical vertebrae show conspicuous tubercles, whose origin as.....»»
Fossil evidence of photosynthesis gets a billion years older
Remains of cells from two sites show structures similar to those in present cells. Enlarge / At left, one of the fossils, with stacks of thylakoids highlighted using yellow bars; at right, a higher magnification of the end of the.....»»
"Giant" predator worms more than half a billion years old discovered in North Greenland
Fossils of a new group of animal predators have been located in the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in North Greenland. These large worms may be some of the earliest carnivorous animals to have colonized the water column more than 518 mi.....»»
New research shows "juvenile" T. rex fossils are a distinct species of small tyrannosaur
A new analysis of fossils believed to be juveniles of T. rex now shows they were adults of a small tyrannosaur, with narrower jaws, longer legs, and bigger arms than T. rex. The species, Nanotyrannus lancensis, was first named decades ago but later r.....»»
3D preservation of trilobite soft tissues sheds light on convergent evolution of defensive enrollment
They'd been in the collections of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) since the 1870s when they were first discovered. Nestled in among the largest collection of trilobites, the unique fossils rested in drawers until 145 years later when.....»»
Mysterious fruit found to be the oldest known fossils of the Frankincense and Myrrh family
Early in the 1970s, a paleontologist working on the outskirts of an Indian village found small, bead-like fossils embedded in the gray chert dotting the surrounding fields. The site was notorious for turning up plant fossils that were difficult to id.....»»
Better fossil dating could help to clear up human evolution
Timing is crucial when it comes to understanding the origins of humanity. Developing better dating techniques to discover the ages of key fossils will help scientists to discover how Homo sapiens and our relatives evolved......»»
Molecular fossils study sheds light on feeding strategy shift in ancient life
Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals. Research published in Nature Communications combines geology and genetics, showing how change.....»»
It turns out, this plant fossil is really a baby turtle fossil
From the 1950s to the 1970s, a Colombian priest named Padre Gustavo Huertas collected rocks and fossils near a town called Villa de Levya. Two of the specimens he found were small, round rocks patterned with lines that looked like leaves; he classifi.....»»
Rains pound southern India ahead of cyclone
Rains lashed southern India's city of Chennai on Monday ahead of the landfall of a powerful cyclone, with a crocodile spotted swimming the streets and cars floating away......»»