Exquisitely preserved embryo found inside fossilized dinosaur egg
A 72- to 66-million-year-old embryo found inside a fossilized dinosaur egg sheds new light on the link between the behavior of modern birds and dinosaurs, according to a new study......»»
New discovery reveals how the egg controls sperm entry
After the egg has been fertilized by a sperm, the surrounding egg coat tightens, mechanically preventing the entry of additional sperm and the ensuing death of the embryo. This is according to a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet a.....»»
Researchers discover a new species of carnivorous dinosaur in La Rioja, Spain
The first dinosaur to be described in La Rioja, Spain, is a spinosaurid about 7–8 meters long with an estimated body mass of 1.5 metric tons. It is bipedal and had mainly piscivorous habits, although, as a good predator, it would also have been cap.....»»
Alaska dinosaur tracks reveal a lush, wet environment
A large find of dinosaur tracks and fossilized plants and tree stumps in far northwestern Alaska provides new information about the climate and movement of animals near the time when they began traveling between the Asian and North American continent.....»»
New method finds higher carnivorous dinosaur biodiversity in Kem Kem beds of Morocco
An international team of paleontologists from The Netherlands, the UK, Argentina, Germany and Belgium applied recently developed methods to measure theropod (carnivorous) dinosaur species diversity. The newly applied method uses both traditional phyl.....»»
Q&A: How Instagram influencers profit from anti-vaccine misinformation
While Instagram might have a reputation for superficiality—a realm of exquisitely filtered images—it is now eclipsing other social media as a news source. The platform is increasingly filled with information, some of it pernicious and distributed.....»»
Rare access to hammerhead shark embryos reveals secrets of its unique head development
Scientists very rarely get access to most sharks, the development of their young or the nursery grounds where they grow. So seeing a hammerhead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) embryo, halfway through its five-month development, is very unusual......»»
New analysis uncovers major issues with earlier suggestions that Spinosaurus pursued prey underwater
For years, controversy has swirled around how a Cretaceous-era, sail-backed dinosaur—the giant Spinosaurus aegyptiacus—hunted its prey. Spinosaurus was among the largest predators ever to prowl the Earth and one of the most adapted to water, but.....»»
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.....»»
Degree of cell crowding in the early human embryo influences cell identity decision, new culture system finds
Research conducted by Dr. Shota Nakanoh in a collaboration between Dr. Teresa Rayon's lab at the Institute and Professor Ludovic Vallier's lab at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute has determined that the degree of cell crowding in the ea.....»»
Seeing the wood for the trees: How archaeologists use hazelnuts to reconstruct ancient woodlands
If we could stand in a landscape that our Mesolithic ancestors called home, what would we see around us? Scientists have devised a method of analyzing preserved hazelnut shells to tell us whether the microhabitats around archaeological sites were hea.....»»
New species of ancient vampire squid unearthed in Luxembourg
A trio of paleontologists in Germany has found a fossilized vampire squid that they dated to 183 million years ago. In their paper published in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, Robert Weis, Ben Thuy and Dirk Fuchs describe where the fossil was fou.....»»
Fossilized frog with belly full of eggs unearthed in China is oldest of its kind
An international team of Earth scientists, evolutionary biologists and paleontologists has unearthed an ancient frog with a belly full of eggs, the oldest known find of its kind. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the gro.....»»
Robo-dinosaur scares grasshoppers to shed light on why dinos evolved feathers
The feathers may have helped dinosaurs frighten and flush out prey. Enlarge / Grasshoppers, beware! Robopteryx is here to flush you from your hiding place. (credit: Jinseok Park, Piotr Jablonski et al., 2024) Scientists.....»»
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?.....»»
"Everyone can be a naturalist" says the man who preserved more than 150,000 acres
Suburban environs can be dull. Lawns and roads don't offer much biodiversity for curious boys. But Charles Bier, a recently retired senior director of conservation science for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, found a way outside......»»
A rhino got pregnant from embryo transfer, in a success that may help nearly extinct subspecies
Researchers say a rhinoceros was impregnated through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that they say might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies......»»
DNA from preserved feces reveals ancient Japanese gut environment
DNA from ancient feces can offer archaeologists new clues about the life and health of Japanese people who lived thousands of years ago, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by Luca Nishimura and Ituro Inoue from the National Institute of Genet.....»»
A virus that infected animals hundreds of millions of years ago has become essential for the development of the embryo
All animals have evolved thanks to the fact that certain viruses infected primitive organisms hundreds of millions of years ago. Viral genetic material was integrated into the genome of the first multi-cellular beings and is still in our DNA today......»»
New technology for conducting deep-sea research on fragile organisms
A University of Rhode Island professor of Ocean Engineering and Oceanography, along with a multidisciplinary research team from multiple institutions, successfully demonstrated new technologies that can obtain preserved tissue and high-resolution 3D.....»»