Paleontology

Paleontology

Ancient wood points to arctic greenhouse

Chemical analyses of wood that grew in an ancient arctic forest suggest that the air there once was about twice as humid as it is now.

Paleontology

Winging South: Finally, a fly fossil from Antarctica

A tiny fossil collected about 500 kilometers from the South Pole indicates that Antarctica was once home to a type of fly that scientists long thought had never inhabited the now-icy, almost insectfree continent.

Paleontology

First Family’s last stand

New evidence indicates that about 3.2 million years ago, at least 17 Australopithecus afarensis individuals were killed at the same time by large predators at an eastern African site.

Paleontology

Ancestors Go South

A group of new and previously excavated fossils in South Africa represents 4-million-year-old members of the human evolutionary family, according to an analysis of the sediment that covered the finds.

Paleontology

Feathered fossil still stirs debate

More than 2 years after scientists first described 120-million-year-old fossils of a feathered animal, a new analysis seems to bolster the view that the turkey-size species was a bird has-been and not a bird wanna-be.

Paleontology

Fertile Ground: Snippets of DNA persist in soil for millennia

Minuscule samples of sediment from New Zealand and Siberia have yielded bits of DNA from dozens of animals and plants, including the oldest DNA sequences yet found that can be traced to a specific organism.

Paleontology

Family Meal: Cannibal dinosaur known by its bones

Analyses of the gnaw marks on bones of Majungatholus atopus, a carnivorous dinosaur from Madagascar, indicate that the creatures routinely fed on members of their own species.

Paleontology

Fossils of early salamanders found

A recent discovery of fossilized salamanders pushes back a milestone in amphibian evolution by more than 100 million years.

Paleontology

Fine Toothcomb: New fossils add to primate-origins debate

The discovery of 40-million-year-old teeth and jaw fragments belonging to ancient forms of lorises and bushbabies doubles the age of the fossil record for a major primate group.

Paleontology

Was T. rex just a big freeloader?

A new study suggests that an ecosystem like today’s African savanna could provide sufficient carrion to nourish a scavenger the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Paleontology

Pretty Pollen

The pinup of the pollen grain of the month is just one of several intriguing features at this University of Arizona Web site devoted to palynology–the study of the microscopic, decay-resistant remains of plants and animals. The site provides definitions, illustrations, a brief history, a section for kids, and examples of applications in archaeology, paleoecology, […]

Paleontology

Was it sudden death for the Permian period?

The massive extinctions that came at the end of the Permian period could have occurred within a mere 8,000 years, which suggests a catastrophic cause for the die-offs.