Mineral evolution posits that Earth’s near-surface mineral diversity gradually increased through an array of chemical and biological processes. A dozen different species in interstellar dust particles that formed the solar system have evolved to more than 4500 species today. Previous work from Carnegie’s Bob Hazen demonstrated that up to two thirds of the known types […]
Archive for August, 2012
Supercontinent and Mercury mineral evolution
August 12th, 2012 
Riffin 
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Tags: mercury mineral, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, supercontinent, WFS, world fossil society 
No Comments »Albertonectes Was an Extreme Elasmosaur
August 11th, 2012 Riffin Giraffes, with their beautifully elongated necks, have only seven cervical vertebrae. So do you, and, for that matter, most mammals. (Sloths and manatees are among the few oddballs that differ.) Short or long, mammal necks are typically supported by just seven bones. But other creatures played by different anatomical rules. The fantastic sauropod dinosaurs – such […]
Populations Survive Despite Many Deleterious Mutations: Evolutionary Model of Muller’s Ratchet Explored
August 11th, 2012 Riffin From protozoans to mammals, evolution has created more and more complex structures and better-adapted organisms. This is all the more astonishing as most genetic mutations are deleterious. Especially in small asexual populations that do not recombine their genes, unfavourable mutations can accumulate. This process is known as Muller’s ratchet in evolutionary biology. The ratchet, proposed […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Equilibrium of mutation, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »New human species fossil found in Africa?
August 9th, 2012 riffin Until recently, it was believed that modern humans’ ancestors, of the species Homo erectus, shared the ancient African plains with Homo habilis. But a recent discovery by paleontologist Meave Leakey suggests that they may have been joined by yet another close relative, dubbed Homo rudolfensis. Between 2007 and 2009, Paleontologist Mauve Leakey and her team found the facial […]
Giant Moa Had Climate Change Figured out
August 8th, 2012 riffin The population size of the giant moa remained stable over the past 40,000 years until the arrival of humans in New Zealand around 1280 AD. The study was undertaken by researchers from the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, the University of Colorado, and the University of Waikato and Landcare Research in New […]
Volcanoes Deliver Two Flavors of Water
August 7th, 2012 riffin Seawater circulation pumps hydrogen and boron into the oceanic plates that make up the seafloor, and some of this seawater remains trapped as the plates descend into the mantle at areas called subduction zones. By analyzing samples of submarine volcanic glass near one of these areas, scientists found unexpected changes in isotopes of hydrogen and […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: dinosaurs, Fossilized tracks, Migration, riffin, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »How dinosaurs measure up with laser imaging
August 6th, 2012 riffin Karl Bates and his colleagues in the palaeontology and biomechanics research group have reconstructed the bodies of five dinosaurs, two T. rex (Stan at the Manchester Museum and the Museum of the Rockies cast MOR555), an Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, a Strutiomimum sedens and an Edmontosaurus annectens. The team, whose findings are published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE today (19th February […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Fossilized tracks, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Nautilus survives 500 million years — until humans fancy it
August 6th, 2012 riffin No matter how well adapted an animal may be, it can spell evolutionary doom to have feathers or even shells that become coveted by human beings. Take the nautilus, a creature that pulled easily through the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. It now hangs on the brink of extinction thanks to the misfortune […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: dinosaurs, fossils, nautilus, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Albertonykus borealis: America’s Smallest Dinosaur
August 5th, 2012 riffin An unusual breed of dinosaur that was the size of a chicken, ran on two legs and scoured the ancient forest floor for termites is the smallest dinosaur species found in North America, according to a University of Calgary researcher who analyzed bones found during the excavation of an ancient bone bed near Red Deer, […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Albertonykus, dinosaurs, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Scientific understanding of T. rex revised by a decade of new research and discovery
August 5th, 2012 riffin We’ve all heard this story: the Late Cretaceous of Asia and North America-about 65 million years ago-was dominated by several large-headed, bipedal predatory dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and Tarbosaurus that had tiny arms. But a decade of new fossil discoveries that have more than doubled the number of known tyrannosaur species has changed this tale. Older and smaller tyrannosaurs […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »
