A new study suggests that the common belief that the Earth’s rigid tectonic plates stay strong when they slide under another plate, known as subduction, may not be universal. Typically during subduction, plates slide down at a constant rate into the warmer, less-dense mantle at a fairly steep angle. However, in a process called flat-slab […]
Posts Tagged ‘Russel T Sajeev’
first occurrence of a Dimetrodon fossil in Canada
November 25th, 2015
Riffin A “dinosaur” fossil originally discovered on Prince Edward Island has been shown to have steak knife-like teeth, and researchers from U of T Mississauga, Carleton University and the Royal Ontario Museum have changed its name to Dimetrodon borealis–marking the first occurrence of a Dimetrodon fossil in Canada. “It’s really exciting to discover that the detailed […]
Intermediate Fossil Feathers Found
November 22nd, 2015
Riffin A piece of amber formed of tree sap from 100 million years ago has preserved crucial evidence of feather evolution. Evolution has long predicted the evolution of birds from reptiles, and recent discoveries of feathered dinosaurs has proved that model correct. However, the dinosaurs feathers found to date have been primitive in form, while bird […]
Tyrannosaurus Could Open Jaw Really Wide ?
November 21st, 2015
Riffin Tyrannosaurus rex and at least one other carnivorous dinosaur were capable of opening their jaws up to 90 degrees. Plant-eating dinosaurs, on the other hand, were limited to a narrower jaw gape, suggesting that feeding style and diet of dinosaurs were closely linked to how wide they could open their mouths. Top 10 Largest Dinosaurs […]
Fossil Forests Discovered in the Arctic
November 20th, 2015
Riffin What did some of the first trees on Earth look like? Earth scientists from Cardiff University digging around in Arctic Norway are closing in on an answer. And that answer is: weirdly familiar. Fossilized stumps from a forest dating back 380 million years indicate that these trees must have resembled palm trees covered in fern-like […]
dinosaur-bird link
November 18th, 2015
Riffin In the 19th century, Darwin’s most vocal scientific advocate was Thomas Henry Huxley, who is also remembered as a pioneer of the hypotheses that birds are living dinosaurs. He noticed several similarities of the skeleton of living birds and extinct dinosaurs, among them, a pointed portion of the anklebone projecting upwards onto the shank bone […]
Oceanic microplate formation records the onset of India–Eurasia collision
November 15th, 2015
Riffin An international team of scientists has discovered the first oceanic microplate in the Indian Ocean–helping identify when the initial collision between India and Eurasia occurred, leading to the birth of the Himalayas. Although there are at least seven microplates known in the Pacific Ocean, this is the first ancient Indian Ocean microplate to be discovered. […]
Predatory Functional Morphology in Raptors
November 13th, 2015
Riffin Despite the ubiquity of raptors in terrestrial ecosystems, many aspects of their predatory behaviour remain poorly understood. Surprisingly little is known about the morphology of raptor talons and how they are employed during feeding behaviour. Talon size variation among digits can be used to distinguish families of raptors and is related to different techniques of […]
Rat fossils of largest rat that ever existed
November 9th, 2015
Riffin Archaeologists with The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered fossils of seven giant rat species on East Timor, with the largest up to 10 times the size of modern rats. Dr Julien Louys of the ANU School of Culture, History and Language, who is helping lead the project said these are the largest known rats […]
Eotiaris guadalupensis : The oldest sea urchin
November 5th, 2015
Riffin Researchers have uncovered a fossil sea urchin that pushes back a fork in its family tree by 10 million years, according to a new study. A team from USC found the Eotiaris guadalupensis in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution from the Glass Mountains of west Texas, where it had been buried in a rock […]



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