Scientists seeking to understand the forces at work beneath the surface of Earth have used seismic waves to detect previously unknown “fingers” of heat, some of them thousands of miles long, in Earth’s upper mantle. Their discovery, published Sept. 5 in Science Express, helps explain the “hotspot volcanoes” that give birth to island chains such […]
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Feathery Four-Winged Dinosaur Fossil Found In China Bridges Transition To Birds
September 7th, 2013 
Riffin A fossil of a bird-like dinosaur with four wings has been discovered in northeastern China. The specimen bridges a critical gap in the transition from dinosaurs to birds, and reveals new insights into the origin evolution of feathers. The transition from dinosaurs to birds is poorly understood because of the lack of well-preserved fossils, and […]
525 Million Years Old Fossil Of Sea Creature –Shows Soft Parts of Body Including Tentacles
September 7th, 2013 Riffin Researchers from China, Leicester and Oxford have discovered a remarkable fossil which sheds new light on an important group of primitive sea creatures. The 525-million-year-old fossil belongs to a group of tentacle-bearing creatures which lived inside hard tubes. Previously only the tubes have been seen in detail but this new specimen clearly shows the soft […]
Study Reveals Terror Bird “Gastornis” Was Probably a Herbivore
September 6th, 2013 Riffin It’s a fiercely debated question amongst palaeontologists: was the giant ‘terror bird’, which lived in Europe between 55 to 40 million years ago, really a terrifying predator or just a gentle herbivore? New research presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Florence today (Thursday 29th August) may finally provide an answer. A team of German researchers […]
Prehistoric Climate Shift Linked to Cosmic Impact
September 5th, 2013 Riffin For the first time, a dramatic climate shift that has long fascinated scientists has been linked to the impact in Quebec of an asteroid or comet, Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues report in a new study funded by the National Science Foundation. The event took place about 12,900 years ago, at the beginning of the […]
Fossil Fishes from China Provide First Evidence of Dermal Pelvic Girdles in Osteichthyans
September 4th, 2013 Riffin The pectoral and pelvic girdles support paired fins and limbs, and have transformed significantly in the diversification of gnathostomes or jawed vertebrates (including osteichthyans, chondrichthyans, acanthodians and placoderms). For instance, changes in the pectoral and pelvic girdles accompanied the transition of fins to limbs as some osteichthyans (a clade that contains the vast majority of […]
Acoustic Waves Warn of Tsunami
September 2nd, 2013 Riffin An early warning system against tsunamis has been developed and tailored for the need of the Mediterranean, but preparedness on the ground is paramount to ensuring peoples’ safety. When a coastal area is about to be hit by the waves of a tsunami, time is everything. The earlier we know where and when it is […]
Implications of Diet for the Extinction of Saber-Toothed Cats and American Lions
September 1st, 2013 Riffin The saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, and American lion, Panthera atrox, were among the largest terrestrial carnivores that lived during the Pleistocene, going extinct along with other megafauna ~12,000 years ago. Previous work suggests that times were difficult at La Brea (California) during the late Pleistocene, as nearly all carnivores have greater incidences of tooth breakage […]
Earthquakes and Tectonics: First Direct Observation of Subducting Continental Crust During the Collision of Two Continents
August 31st, 2013 Riffin Earthquake damage to buildings is mainly due to the existing shear waves which transfer their energy during an earthquake to the houses. These shear waves are significantly influenced by the underground and the topography of the surrounding area. Detailed knowledge of the landform and the near-surface underground structure is, therefore, an important prerequisite for a […]
First Known Feeding Trace of the Eocene Bottom-Dwelling Fish Notogoneus osculus and Its Paleontological Significance
August 30th, 2013 Riffin The Green River Formation (early Eocene, about 42–53 Ma) at and near Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming, USA, is world famous for its exquisitely preserved freshwater teleost fish in the former Fossil Lake. Nonetheless, trace fossils attributed to fish interacting with the lake bottom are apparently rare, and have not been associated directly with […]
