A Triceratops may have been the last dinosaur standing, according to a new study that determined a fossil from Montana’s Hell Creek Formation is “the youngest dinosaur known to science.” The Triceratops, described in the latest Royal Society Biology Letters, dates to 65 million years ago, the critical period of time associated with the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction event that […]

A study by researchers at the University of Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum sheds new light on a previously unclassifiable 500 million-year-old squid-like carnivore known as Nectocaris pteryx. “We think that this extremely rare creature is an early ancestor of squids, octopuses, and other cephalopods”, says Martin Smith of U of T’s Department of Ecology […]

The powerful magnitude-8.6 earthquake that shook Sumatra on April 11, 2012, was a seismic standout for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was larger than scientists thought an earthquake of its type — an intraplate strike-slip quake — could ever be. Now, as Caltech researchers report on their findings from the […]

Tyrannosaurus rex was still making a nice living, paleontologists report, but some other dinosaurs declined in numbers long before the asteroid hit 65.5 million years ago . In the journal Nature Communications, a team led by Stephen Brusatte of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, look at seven major dinosaur sub-groups, ranging from T. […]

Scientists from Russia’s Chechen State University claim to have unearthed at least 40 of the world’s largest “dinosaur eggs,” measuring up to 3 ft. (1 m) in diameter and dating back roughly 60 million years. Apparently, while blasting through rocks to build a road in southern Russia’s turbulent Chechnya republic, workers found a cluster of […]

Geologist unearths ancient rocks from ocean floor dating back two billion years Uncovering a rare, two-billion-year-old window into the Earth’s mantle, a University of Houston professor and his team have found our planet’s geological history is more complex than previously thought. Jonathan Snow, assistant professor of geosciences at UH, led a team of researchers in […]

Bryozoan discovered by Stan Martin in June 2012 from Penn dixie . August 6-10, 2012 – 9 AM- 3 PM Science Adventure Summer Day Camp for 8-12 year olds. Discount for Penn Dixie Members, visit www.penndixie.org for information and registration form. Hands-on science activities “Where Science Comes Alive!” August 11, 2012 5 PM to ?. Mid-Summer’s Night […]

Scientists from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt have investigated the extensive collection of fruits and seeds from the Messel pit. They found 140 different plant species, 65 of which were previously unknown. The results were published July 27 in the series “Abhandlungen der Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung.” They show that Messel had one of […]

Australian cavers have stumbled upon a vast network of tunnels containing fossils that could offer key insights into species’ adaptation to climate change, scientists have confirmed. The limestone caves in Australia’s far north contained what University of Queensland paleontologist Gilbert Price described as a “fossil goldmine” of species ranging from minute rodents and frogs to […]

A gintic oyster fossil that was trawled up by fisherman has been MRI scanned to reveal what could be a pearl as large as a golf ball. The mollusk was given to agan aquarium where experts used growth rings to determine how old it was, and were keen to discover if there was a rare […]