The climate after the largest mass extinction so far 252 million years ago was cool, later very warm and then cool again. Thanks to the cooler temperatures, the diversity of marine fauna ballooned, as paleontologists from the University of Zurich have reconstructed. The warmer climate, coupled with a high CO2 level in the atmosphere, initially […]
Archive for January, 2013
Poisonous prehistoric ‘raptor’ discovered by research team from Kansas and China
January 30th, 2013 
Riffin A group of University of Kansas researchers working with Chinese colleagues have discovered a venomous, birdlike raptor that thrived some 128 million years ago in China. This is the first report of venom in the lineage that leads to modern birds. “This thing is a venomous bird for all intents and purposes,” said Larry Martin, […]
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Tags: dinosaurs, dromaeosaur, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, Sinornithosaurus, theropods, WFS, world fossil society 
1 Comment »Extinction Rates Not as Bad as Feared … for Now: Scientists Challenge Common Belief
January 28th, 2013 Riffin Concerns that many animals are becoming extinct, before scientists even have time to identify them, are greatly overstated, according Griffith University researcher, Professor Nigel Stork. Professor Stork has taken part in an international study, the findings of which have been detailed in “Can we name Earth’s species before they go extinct?” published in the journal […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Extinction Rates, Riffin T Sajeev.Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Prehistoric Ghosts Revealing New Details: Synchrotron Helps Identify Previously Unseen Anatomy Preserved in Fossils
January 27th, 2013 Riffin Scientists at The University of Manchester have used synchrotron-based imaging techniques to identify previously unseen anatomy preserved in fossils. Their work on a 50-million-year-old lizard skin identified the presence of teeth (invisible to visible light), demonstrating for the first time that this fossil animal was more than just a skin moult. This was only possible […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Bahndwivici ammoskius, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »New Dinosaur Fossil Challenges Bird Flight Origins Theories
January 26th, 2013 Riffin The discovery of a new bird-like dinosaur from the Jurassic period challenges widely accepted theories on the origin of flight. Co-authored by Dr Gareth Dyke, Senior Lecturer in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Southampton, the paper describes a new feathered dinosaur about 30 cm in length which pre-dates bird-like dinosaurs that birds were long […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Eosinopteryx, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Sex of Early Birds Suggests Dinosaur Reproductive Style
January 23rd, 2013 Riffin In a paper published in Nature Communications on January 22, 2013, a team of paleontologists including Dr. Luis Chiappe, Director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s (NHM) Dinosaur Institute, has discovered a way to determine the sex of a prehistoric bird species. Reconstruction of Confuciusornis sanctus. (Credit: Stephanie Abramowicz, NHM Dinosaur Institute) […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Confuciusornis sanctus, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society 1 Comment »How dinosaurs measure up with laser imaging
January 22nd, 2013 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 […]
Mars May Have Supported Life: Martian Underground Could Contain Clues to Life’s Origins
January 21st, 2013 Riffin Minerals found in the subsurface of Mars, a zone of more than three miles below ground, make for the strongest evidence yet that the red planet may have supported life, according to research “Groundwater activity on Mars and implications for a deep biosphere,” published in Nature Geoscience on January 20, 2013. Up to half of […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Mars Rock, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Insect plugs gap in fossil record
January 20th, 2013 Riffin One day 370 million years ago, a tiny larva plunged into a shrimp-infested swamp and drowned. Unearthed in modern-day Belgium, the humble bug could plug a giant gap in the fossil record. Named Strudiella devonica, the eight-millimetre invertebrate – while in far from mint condition – is thought by researchers who published their findings in […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, Strudiella devonica, WFS, world fossil society 1 Comment »India’s first dinosaur fossil rediscovered
January 19th, 2013 Riffin More than a century after it went missing, the fossil of what has been regarded as India’s first recorded dinosaur has been rediscovered in Kolkata, according to a top scientific journal. The recovery of Titanosaurus Indicus, or the Indian Tital reptile, was possible due to a collaborative programme between the Geological Survey of India (GSI) […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, Titanosaurus Indicus, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »
