A new series of radiocarbon measurements from Japan’s Lake Suigetsu will give scientists a more accurate benchmark for dating materials, especially for older objects, according to a research team that included Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The research team extracted cores of beautifully preserved layers of sediment, containing organic material (such as tree leaf and […]
Archive for October, 2012
‘Time-Capsule’ Japanese Lake Sediment Advances Radiocarbon Dating for Older Objects
October 19th, 2012 
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Tags: Radiocarbon Dating, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society 
No Comments »SEA MONSTER ‘PREDATOR X’ GETS OFFICIAL NAME
October 19th, 2012 riffin It’s official: A giant, marine reptile that roamed the seas roughly 150 million years ago is a new species, researchers say. The animal, now named Pliosaurus funkei, spanned about 40 feet (12 meters) and had a massive 6.5-foot-long (2 m) skull with a bite four times as powerful as Tyrannosaurus rex. “They were the top predators of the […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Pliosaurus funkei, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Mayfly With Springtail Hitchhiker: Amber Specimen — 16 Million Years Old — Reveals Unknown Animal Behaviors
October 18th, 2012 riffin Stunning images, including video footage, from a CT scan of amber have revealed the first evidence of any creature using an adult mayfly for transport. Researchers at the University of Manchester say this 16-million-year-old hitchhiker most likely demonstrates activity that is taking place today but has never previously been recorded. Entombed in amber the tiny […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Mayfly in Amber Specimen, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »The Science Behind Those Eye-Popping Northern Lights
October 17th, 2012 riffin Northern night skies have recently been alive with light. Those shimmering curtains get their start about 93 million miles away, on the sun. An aurora borealis (aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere) is precipitated by explosions on the surface of the sun, sometimes starting as solar flares, said Robert Nemiroff, an astrophysicist at Michigan Technological […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Northern lights, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeevr, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Rare Evidence Of Dinosaur Cannibalism: Meat-Eater Tooth Found In Gorgosaurus Jawbone
October 16th, 2012 riffin University of Alberta researcher Phil Bell has found 70 million year old evidence of dinosaur cannibalism. The jawbone of what appears to be a Gorgosaurus was found in 1996 in southern Alberta. A technician at the Royal Tyrell Museum found something unusual embedded in the jaw. It was the tip of a tooth from another meat-eating dinosaur. […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Gorgosaurus, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Cambrian fossil pushes back evolution of complex brains
October 15th, 2012 Riffin The remarkably well-preserved fossil of an extinct arthropod shows that anatomically complex brains evolved earlier than previously thought and have changed little over the course of evolution. According to University of Arizona neurobiologist Nicholas Strausfeld, who co-authored the study describing the specimen, the fossil is the earliest known to show a brain. The discovery will […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Fuxianhuia protensa, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Quantifying Rates of Evolutionary Adaptation in Response to Ocean Acidification
October 14th, 2012 riffin The global acidification of the earth’s oceans is predicted to impact biodiversity via physiological effects impacting growth, survival, reproduction, and immunology, leading to changes in species abundances and global distributions. However, the degree to which these changes will play out critically depends on the evolutionary rate at which populations will respond to natural selection imposed […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Evolutionary Adaptation, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »“Thunder Thighs” Dinosaur Thrashed Predators to Death?
October 13th, 2012 riffin A newfound dinosaur species that used its “exceptionally powerful” thighs to kick predators likely had a bad temper to boot, one expert says. The 46-foot-long (14-meter-long) Brontomerus mcintoshi had an immense blade on its hipbones where strong muscles would have attached, according to a new study. “These things don’t happen by accident—this is something that’s clearly functional,” […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Brontomerus, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Paleotemperature Proxies from Leaf Fossils Reinterpreted in Light of Evolutionary History
October 12th, 2012 riffin Present-day correlations between leaf physiognomic traits (shape and size) and climate are widely used to estimate paleoclimate using fossil floras. For example, leaf-margin analysis estimates paleotemperature using the modern relation of mean annual temperature (MAT) and the site-proportion of untoothed-leaf species (NT). This uniformitarian approach should provide accurate paleoclimate reconstructions under the core assumption that […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Paleotemperature, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »New Fossils Suggest Ancient Origins of Modern-Day Deep-Sea Animals
October 11th, 2012 riffin A collection of fossil animals discovered off the coast of Florida suggests that present day deep-sea fauna like sea urchins, starfish and sea cucumbers may have evolved earlier than previously believed and survived periods of mass extinctions similar to those that wiped out the dinosaurs. The full results are published Oct. 10 in the open […]
