June 2, 2012 – 9 AM, North Coast Fossil Society, Cleveland, OH, members to visit Penn Dixie.  June 3, 2012 – 1 PM to 4 PM Children’s Day. Celebrate Children’s Day at Penn Dixie! Special fun events for children and their families, prizes for children’s contests, viewing sunspots and other astronomy activities, fossil identification, and […]

Continents moving around over millions of years in the slow-motion geologic jigsaw puzzle known as plate tectonics could trigger the occasional swapping of the north and south magnetic poles. Assumed to be caused by random fluctuations in the circulation of the molten iron core, the flips may actually be tied to what’s going on at […]

For decades, scientists believed that a spine with multiple segments was an exclusive feature of land-dwelling animals. But the discovery of the same anatomical feature in a 345-million-year-old eel suggests that this complex anatomy arose separately from — and perhaps before — the first species to walk on land. Tarrasius problematicus was an eel-like fish that […]

Paleontologists have been lifting fossil bones out of Texas’ rock beds since the late 19th century. Now, after years of exporting these bones to some of the world’s best museums, the state is getting two huge new paleontology halls of its own, both of which offer a visual feast spanning millions of years. “There are […]

Paleontologists say they’ve found fossilized remains of an ancient turtle with a shell the size of a small car that lived 60 million years ago in South America. Dubbed Carbonemys cofrinii, or “coal turtle,” the fossil was discovered in a coal mine in Colombia, researchers from North Carolina State University reported Thursday. The fossilized shell […]

Amber from Cretaceous deposits (110-105 my) in Northern Spain has revealed the first ever record of insect pollination. Scientists have discovered in two pieces of amber several specimens of tiny insects covered with pollen grains, revealing the first record of pollen transport and social behavior in this group of animals.   Today, more than 80% […]

Scientists have unearthed what they believe are the fossils of the world’s smallest known dwarf mammoth that stood about one meter high at the shoulders and roamed the Greek island of Crete thousands of years ago. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, could help yield insights as to how giant […]

A new species of photosynthetic bacterium has come to light: it is able to control the formation of minerals (calcium, magnesium, barium and strontium carbonates) within its own organism. Published in Science on April 27, 2012, a study by French researchers[1] reveals the existence of this new type of biomineralization, whose mechanism is still unknown. This finding […]

Here’s an anatomical packing list for making that historic trip from water to land circa 370 million years ago: Lungs? Check. Legs? Check. Patches of highly vascular bone in the skin? In a new paper, scientists propose why many of the earliest four-legged creatures that dared breathe on land carried bony skin features. The “dermal […]

Coelacanths, an ancient group of fishes that were once thought to exist only in fossils, made headlines in 1938 when one of their modern relatives was pulled alive from the ocean. Now coelacanths are making another splash — and University of Alberta researchers are responsible for the discovery.   Lead U of A researcher Andrew […]