Tropical ants in Europe “Imagine I could send an ecologist to Europe back tens of millions of years ago. Then, ask them to look at the ants and to tell me where they think they have landed… They would say South East Asia,” explains Prof. Evan Economo of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology […]
Posts Tagged ‘WFS’
125-million-year-old bird discovered
October 11th, 2015
Riffin Birds have an enormously long evolutionary history: The earliest of them, the famed Archaeopteryx, lived 150 million years ago in what is today southern Germany. However, whether these early birds were capable of flying — and if so, how well — has remained shrouded in scientific controversy. A new discovery published in the journal Scientific […]
48-million-year-old uteroplacenta found
October 8th, 2015
Riffin A 48 million year-old horse-like equoid fetus has been discovered at the Messel pit near Frankfurt, Germany according to a study published October 7, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jens Lorenz Franzen from Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany, and Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues. The authors of this study completed their […]
molecular analysis clarifying dino color claims
October 6th, 2015
Riffin The color of dinosaurs is a fascinating topic, and in recent years the discovery of melanosomes — small, pigment-filled sacs — associated with fossilized dinosaur feathers has given rise to all sorts of speculation about our prehistoric pals, from the hue of their plumage to color’s impact on behavior. It all sounds wonderful — but […]
Mammoth fossil unearthed
October 5th, 2015
Riffin While digging in his field on Monday, Michigan farmer James Bristle found what he thought was ordinary debris in his field. After digging further, he discovered that what he had found wasn’t a fence post, but bones from a Woolly Mammoth. After the discovery, Bristle contacted the University of Michigan, who arrived to excavate the […]
Odaraia alata: 500 Million Old
October 3rd, 2015
Riffin A 500-million-year-old fossilized arthropod found in the Burgess Shale, a fossil field in the Canadian Rockies, may provide clues to how heads evolved in early animals. The fossil is a submarine-shaped arthropod, Odaraia alata, of the Middle Cambrian Period. A paper in Current Biology reports that both Odaraia alata, originally found about 100 years ago, […]
More oxygen in the core of Earth
September 30th, 2015
Riffin There is more oxygen in the core of Earth than originally thought. Lawrence Livermore geologist Rick Ryerson and international colleagues discovered some new findings about Earth’s core and mantle by considering their geophysical and geochemical signatures together. This research provides insight into the origins of Earth’s formation. Based on the higher oxygen concentration of the […]
Marrellomorph redefine evolutionary timelines
September 27th, 2015
Riffin Some of the oldest marine animals on the planet, including armoured worm-like forms and giant, lobster like sea creatures, survived millions of years longer than previously thought, according to a spectacularly preserved fossil formation from southeastern Morocco. The Lower Fezouata formation has been revealing exciting discoveries about life in the Ordovician — around 485 — […]
fossils formation unlocked
September 22nd, 2015
Riffin Fossils tell amazing stories and inspire them, too — just think of this summer’s “Jurassic World” blockbuster. But because some of the processes that preserve fossils are not well understood, there’s still more information that they could reveal. Now scientists report in ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry a new way to probe fossils to find out […]
Bunostegos akokanensis: A Pre reptile
September 19th, 2015
Riffin A newly published analysis of the bones of Bunostegos akokanensis, a 260-million-year-old pre-reptile, finds that it likely stood upright on all-fours, like a cow or a hippo, making it the earliest known creature to do so. To date all of the known pareiasaurs who roved the supercontinent of Pangea in the Permian era a quarter […]



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