A study led by researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich throws new light on the evolution of the so-called rock sponges, and reveals that conventional, morphology-based taxonomies do not accurately reflect the true genealogical relationships within the group. Modern approaches to biological systematics have demonstrated that the evolutionary relationships between organisms can best be teased […]
Archive for January, 2015
Geophysicists find reason for sudden tectonic plate movements
January 24th, 2015 
Riffin Yale-led research may have solved one of the biggest mysteries in geology — namely, why do tectonic plates beneath the Earth’s surface, which normally shift over the course of tens to hundreds of millions of years, sometimes move abruptly? A new study published Jan. 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences […]
Dino-killing asteroid generated global firestorm ?
January 22nd, 2015 Riffin Pioneering new research has debunked the theory that the asteroid that is thought to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs also caused vast global firestorms that ravaged planet Earth. A team of researchers from the University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London recreated the immense energy released from an extra-terrestrial collision […]
Nundasuchus: A reptiles lived before dinosaurs
January 21st, 2015 Riffin Finding a new species of dinosaur is pretty rare. Getting a hand in the discovery and naming of one — that’s rarer still. Or it would be for anyone other than 32-year-old Sterling Nesbitt, an assistant professor of geological sciences in the College of Science and the newest addition to Virginia Tech’s paleontology team. Nesbitt […]
Posted in Featured Post 
Tags: dinosaurs, Nundasuchus, Reptiles, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society 
No Comments »Purgatorius, an early primate
January 20th, 2015 Riffin Earth’s earliest primates have taken a step up in the world, now that researchers have gotten a good look at their ankles. A new study has found that Purgatorius, a small mammal that lived on a diet of fruit and insects, was a tree dweller. Paleontologists made the discovery by analyzing 65-million-year-old ankle bones collected […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: an early primate, Purgatorius, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Ancient fossils reveal rise in parasitic infections due to climate change
January 18th, 2015 Riffin When seeking clues about the future effects of possible climate change, sometimes scientists look to the past. Now, a paleobiologist from the University of Missouri has found indications of a greater risk of parasitic infection due to climate change in ancient mollusk fossils. His study of clams from the Holocene Epoch (that began 11,700 years […]
Fossil found by boy fills gap in reptile evolution
January 14th, 2015 Riffin A fossil of a lizard-like creature found by a boy on a Prince Edward Island beach is a new species and the only reptile in the world ever found from its time, 300 million years ago, a new study shows. The fossilized species has been named Erpetonyx arsenaultorum after the family of Michael Arsenault of Prince […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: fossil, reptile evolution, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »WFS Archive : Only second Jurassic dinosaur ever found in Antarctica
January 11th, 2015 Riffin A new genus and species of dinosaur from the Early Jurassic has been discovered in Antarctica. The massive plant-eating primitive sauropodomorph is called Glacialisaurus hammeri and lived about 190 million years ago. The recently published description of the new dinosaur is based on partial foot, leg and ankle bones found on Mt. Kirkpatrick near the […]
WFS Dinosaur Diary: “Eotyrannus”
January 4th, 2015 Riffin Eotyrannus (meaning “dawn tyrant”) was a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur hailing from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation beds, included in Wealden Group, located in the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The remains (MIWG1997.550), consisting of assorted skull, axial skeleton and appendicular skeleton elements, from a juvenile or subadult, found in […]
