Paleontology

  1. Paleontology

    Calling all orthodontists. . .

    Researchers have unearthed fossils of a theropod dinosaur whose front teeth grew almost directly forward, which sets it apart from all other related species.

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  2. Paleontology

    Allosaurus as a Jurassic headbanger

    The skull of the carnivorous dinosaur Allosaurus fragilis can resist levels of stress much higher than those expected from chewing, which may provide insight into the animal's method of attacking its prey.

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  3. Paleontology

    The last ice age wasn’t totally icy

    Radiocarbon dating of fossils taken from caves on islands along Alaska's southeastern coast suggest that at least a portion of the area remained ice-free during the last ice age.

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  4. Paleontology

    Did ancient wildfire end in barbecue?

    Small pieces of large bones and petrified wood that show distinct signs of being burned may be evidence of a 74-million-year-old wildfire in central Wyoming.

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  5. Paleontology

    Fossil Fingerprints: Rare earths tie bones to burial ground

    The soil in which fossilization occurs leaves a chemical imprint on the bones, suggesting that scientists can use this soil signature to identify more precisely a fossil's original home.

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  6. Paleontology

    Crawling through Time: Fish bones reveal past climate change

    The timing of ancient migrations of snakehead fish from the Indian subcontinent into Europe, Asia, and Africa tells scientists about temperature and humidity changes in those locations.

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  7. Paleontology

    Rare English bits are oldest known charcoal

    Analyses of small black chunks of material extracted from 420-million-year-old rocks found along the England-Wales border suggest that they're remnants of the earliest known wildfire.

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  8. Paleontology

    Fossil confirms that early arthropods molted

    A 505-million-year-old fossil provides hard proof of that ancient arthropods shed their exoskeletons during growth, just as their modern relatives do.

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  9. Paleontology

    Ancient Buzzing: German site yields early hummingbird fossils

    Excavations in Germany have yielded the only known fossils of hummingbirds from the Old World and by far the oldest such fossils unearthed anywhere.

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  10. Paleontology

    A Makeover for an Old Friend

    Time and technology revamp a dinosaur classic.

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  11. Paleontology

    Early Biped Fossil Pops Up in Europe

    A newly described, nearly complete 290-million-year-old fossil of an ancient reptile pushes back the evidence for terrestrial bipedalism by 60 million years.

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  12. Paleontology

    Listening to fish for extinction clues

    Tiny fossils from fish that survived worldwide extinctions about 34 million years ago may reveal that cooler winters caused the die-off.

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