Category Archives: Paleontology
Newfoundland populated multiple times by distinct groups, DNA evidence shows
Researchers who’ve examined genetic evidence from mitochondrial DNA provide evidence that two groups of indigenous people in Canada, known as the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk, brought different matrilines to the island, adding further support to the notion that those groups … Continue reading
Posted in Paleontology
Tagged distinct, evidence, groups, Newfoundland, shows, times
Leave a comment
Formation of coal almost turned our planet into a snowball
While burning coal today causes Earth to overheat, about 300 million years ago the formation of that same coal brought our planet close to global glaciation. For the first time, scientists show the massive effect in a new study. Paleontology … Continue reading
Last common ancestor of humans and apes weighed about five kilograms
New research suggests that the last common ancestor of apes — including great apes and humans — was much smaller than previously thought, about the size of a gibbon. The findings, published today in the journal Nature Communications, are fundamental … Continue reading
Geologic evidence is the forerunner of ominous prospects for a warming earth
While strong seasonal hurricanes have devastated many of the Caribbean and Bahamian islands this year, geologic studies on several of these islands illustrate that more extreme conditions existed in the past. A new analysis shows that the limestone islands of … Continue reading
One of planet’s largest volcanic eruptions
Researchers have determined that the Pacific Northwest was home to one of the Earth’s largest known volcanic eruptions, a millennia-long spewing of sulfuric gas that blocked out the sun and cooled the planet. Only two other eruptions — the basalt … Continue reading
‘Obscure’ stalked filter feeder lived in Utah some 500 million years ago
The only fossilized specimen of a species previously unknown to science — an ‘obscure’ stalked filter feeder — has just been detailed for the first time. Paleontology News — ScienceDaily
Posted in Paleontology
Tagged 'Obscure', feeder, filter, million, some, stalked, years
Leave a comment
Dinosaur blood? New research urges caution regarding fossilized soft tissue
Scientists have conducted experiments to accelerate degradation in keratinous tissues such as feathers, scales and hair in order to simulate the processes that occur over deep time as something becomes a fossil. Paleontology News — ScienceDaily
Mass extinctions led to low species diversity, dinosaur rule
Two of Earth’s five mass extinction events — times when more than half of the world’s species died — resulted in the survival of a low number of so-called ‘weedy’ species that spread their sameness across the world as the … Continue reading
Meet Madagascar’s oldest animal lineage, a whirligig beetle with 206-million-year-old origins
A new study suggests the Malagasy striped whirligig beetle Heterogyrus milloti boasts a genetic pedigree stretching back to the late Triassic period. Paleontology News — ScienceDaily
Monstrous crocodile fossil points to early rise of ancient reptiles
A newly identified prehistoric marine predator has shed light on the origins of the distant relatives of modern crocodiles. Paleontology News — ScienceDaily