Jeff Benca is an admitted über-geek when it comes to prehistoric plants, so it was no surprise that, when he submitted a paper describing a new species of long-extinct lycopod for publication, he ditched the standard line drawing and insisted on a detailed and beautifully rendered color reconstruction of the plant. This piece earned the […]
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500 million years old fossilized embryos found
April 11th, 2014 
Riffin The Cambrian Period is a time when most phyla of marine invertebrates first appeared in the fossil record. Also dubbed the “Cambrian explosion,” fossilized records from this time provide glimpses into evolutionary biology when the world’s ecosystems rapidly changed and diversified. Most fossils show the organisms’ skeletal structure, which may or may not give researchers […]
First image of protein residue in 50-million-year-old reptile skin
April 10th, 2014 Riffin The organic compounds surviving in 50-million-year-old fossilized reptile skin can be seen for the first time, thanks to a stunning infrared image produced by University of Manchester palaeontologists and geochemists. Published in the journal Royal Society Proceedings B: Biology, the brightly-coloured image shows the presence of amides — organic compounds that serve as building blocks […]
WFS Profiles: Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
April 9th, 2014 Riffin Georges Cuvier was one of the most influential figures in science during the early nineteenth century. A self-appointed referee of proper science from his stronghold in the elite Académie des Sciences, Cuvier was as successful in creating his own image as a great man of science as he was in the many areas of science […]
More Earthquakes for Chile? Seismic gap has not been closed
April 6th, 2014 Riffin After the strong earthquake that struck Chile on April 2 (CEST), numerous aftershocks, some of them of a considerable magnitude, have struck the region around Iquique. Seismologists from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences doubt that the strong earthquake closed the local seismic gap and decreased the risk of a large earthquake. On the […]
Extinctions reduce speciation
April 5th, 2014 Riffin The same factors that increase the risk of species extinctions also reduce the chance that new species are formed. This is concluded by two biologists at Umeå University. Their findings are published in the April issue of the scientific journal Evolution. We often see alarming reports about the global biodiversity crisis through the extinction of […]
Dinosaur ‘Chase’ Reconstructed in 3D
April 4th, 2014 Riffin About 112 million years ago, a long-necked sauropod dinosaur traversed some intertidal flats near what is now Glen Rose, Texas. Coming after it — perhaps hours or days later, or perhaps hot on its tail in a dinosaur chase scene — a meat-eating theropod followed, overlaying some of the sauropod’s footprints with its own. This […]
Great earthquakes, water under pressure, high risk: Research reveals interactions between plate tectonics, fluids and quakes
April 3rd, 2014 Riffin The largest earthquakes occur where oceanic plates move beneath continents. Obviously, water trapped in the boundary between both plates has a dominant influence on the earthquake rupture process. Analyzing the great Chile earthquake of February, 27th, 2010, a group of scientists from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and from Liverpool University found that […]
Earthquake 8.2 mag.strikes off Chile, Tsunami warning ….
April 2nd, 2014 Riffin A powerful earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale struck off northern Chile Tuesday night, setting off a small tsunami that forced evacuations along the country’s entire Pacific coast and much of Latin America. Chile’s interior minister has confirmed five people are dead after the earthquake, which struck at 8.46pm local time and several others […]
world’s smallest fossil, is an ancient mite less than two tenths of a millimetre long
March 29th, 2014 Riffin Scientists at the University of Manchester have discovered what is believed to be the smallest fossil ever found. A 50-million-year-old parasite – hitching a ride on a not-much-bigger spider – was discovered during a scan of Baltic amber. Published in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters, the find was made using a computed tomography (CT) scan, […]
