Trapped in amber: Fossilized dinosaur-era crab bridges evolutionary gap
Discovery pushes back when crabs came to land, freshwater to 100 million years ago. Enlarge Once upon a time, during the Cretaceous period, a tiny crab wandered out of the water onto land and somehow got trapped in amber, whi.....»»
Killer instinct drove evolution of mammals" predatory ancestors, scientists suggest
The evolutionary success of the first large predators on land was driven by their need to improve as killers, researchers at the University of Bristol and the Open University suggest......»»
Snakes do it faster, better: How a group of scaly, legless lizards hit the evolutionary jackpot
More than 100 million years ago, the ancestors of the first snakes were small lizards that lived alongside other small, nondescript lizards in the shadow of the dinosaurs......»»
Scout Motors SUV, pickup design won"t be trapped in the "70s, CEO Scott Keogh says
EV startup Scout Motors has fully embraced the heritage of International Harvester's vehicles. But that doesn't mean the upcoming designs will be overtly retro......»»
What does Lake Washington"s warming mean for its future?
The region's cold, watery heart is nestled between Seattle and the Eastside. It uniquely supports two major roadways atop floating bridges, has offered beachgoers a summertime respite for decades and is central to the identity of the Seattle area's c.....»»
An evolutionarily conserved pathway that achieves a peaceful co-existence with genomic parasites
Transposable elements are mobile genetic elements that can relocate within the genome and disrupt the normal function of genes, but are at the same time a source of evolutionary diversity. The lab of Tugce Aktas at the Max Planck Institute for Molecu.....»»
How great fossil sites shape our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups
A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE explores the weight great fossil sites have on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups—the lagerstätten effect—and for the first time, has quantified the power these sit.....»»
Cold-water coral found to trap itself on mountains in the deep sea
Corals searching for food in the cold and dark waters of the deep sea are building higher and higher mountains to get closer to the source of their food. But in doing so, they may find themselves trapped when the climate changes......»»
Imperfect mimicry in spiders and insects mainly shaped by adaptive processes rather than constraints, finds study
Two natural scientists at Macquarie University, working with an evolutionary specialist at the University of New South Wales, all in Australia, have found that imperfect mimicry in spiders and insects is likely mainly shaped by adaptive processes rat.....»»
New study suggests birds began diversifying long before dinosaurs went extinct
A multi-institutional, international team of evolutionary biologists, genetics specialists and phylogenomicists has found evidence that bird species began diversifying long before the dinosaurs went extinct......»»
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.....»»
A pod of killer whales trapped in drift ice off northern Japan has apparently safely escaped
A pod of killer whales that was trapped in drift ice off Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido, prompting concern from environmental groups, has apparently safely escaped, officials said Wednesday......»»
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.....»»
New findings explain how soil traps plant-based carbon
When carbon molecules from plants enter the soil, they hit a definitive fork in the road. Either the carbon gets trapped in the soil for days or even years, where it is effectively sequestered from immediately entering the atmosphere. Or it feeds mic.....»»
Threat actor used Vimeo, Ars Technica to serve second-stage malware
A financially motivated threat actor tracked as UNC4990 is using booby-trapped USB storage devices and malicious payloads hosted on popular websites such as Ars Technica, Vimeo, GitHub and GitLab to surreptitiously deliver malware. Another interestin.....»»
Plant receptors that control immunity and development share a common origin, study finds
Plants are continuously evolving new immune receptors to ever-changing pathogens. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) have traced the origin and evolutionary trajectory of plant immune receptors. Their discovery wi.....»»
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?.....»»
Ars Technica used in malware campaign with never-before-seen obfuscation
Vimeo also used by legitimate user who posted booby-trapped content. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Ars Technica was recently used to serve second-stage malware in a campaign that used a never-before-seen attack chain to.....»»
Emerging trends and strategies in digital forensics
In this Help Net Security interview, Amber Schroader, CEO at Paraben Corporation, discusses the challenges posed by the complexity of modern computer systems and networks on digital evidence collection. Schroader talks about the impact of exponential.....»»
Scientists propose an updated time scale scheme of the Earth"s moon
The moon's evolutionary history is divided into three distinct phases based on the temporal interplay of exogenic and endogenic processes in altering the moon. These phases are defined as Eon-level time scale units, which provide insights into the te.....»»
The emergence of JN.1 is an evolutionary "step change" in the COVID pandemic: Why this is significant
Since it was detected in August 2023, the JN.1 variant of COVID has spread widely. It has become dominant in Australia and around the world, driving the biggest COVID wave seen in many jurisdictions for at least the past year......»»