Paleontology
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Paleontology
Major eruption cooled the climate but went unnoticed
Ice-core records suggest that a major 1809 eruption cooled Earth even before the Tambora eruption and ‘the year without a summer’.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Small ancestor of giant sauropods unearthed
Fossils suggest that the bipedal dinosaur occasionally walked on all fours and could open its mouth wide to gather foliage.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Pollination in the pre-flower-power era
Scorpionflies with long-reaching mouthparts may have helped plants procreate long before blossoms evolved.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Fungi thrived during mass extinction
Fossil analyses hint that several species thrived during the world’s largest mass extinction.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Parasite may have felled a mighty T. rex
An infection known to afflict modern birds may have led to starvation in several dinosaurs.
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Paleontology
Fish death, mammal extinction and tiny dino footprints
Paleontologists in Bristol, England, at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology report on fish fossils in Wyoming, the loss of Australia’s megafauna and the smallest dinosaur tracks.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Feather-covered dinosaur fossils found
Scientists have uncovered a feather-laden, peacock-sized dinosaur that predates the oldest known bird.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
King of the ancient seas
Paleontologists discover fossilized skeleton of bus-sized marine reptile that had teeth with serrated edges.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Tiny T. rex-like tyrants
Fossils of new species suggest peculiar features weren’t limited to the biggest dinosaurs
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Life
Dino-era delivery at sea
Genetic determination of gender is linked to live birth and evolutionary success of ancient marine reptiles, study finds.
By Sid Perkins -
Animals
Oops, missed that fossil iridescence
Nanostructures on a preserved feather offer the first fossil evidence of bird colors not from pigments, a new study says.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Back off, extinct moa
A New Zealand tree’s peculiar leaves may have served as defenses against long-gone giant birds.
By Susan Milius