Genes That Separate Humans From Fruit Flies Found
The Volatile Processes That Shaped the Earth
Oxford University scientists have shed new light on how the Earth was first formed. Based on observations of newly-forming stars, scientists know that the solar system began as a disc of dust and gas surrounding the centrally-growing sun. The gas condensed to solids which accumulated into larger rocky bodies like asteroids and mini-planets. Over a…
Two New Crustacean Species Discovered on Galician Seabed
The fauna of deep seabed tends to be relatively unknown due to the difficulty of collecting samples at great depths. A research team from the A Graña Marine Biology Station in Galicia undertook four oceanographic expeditions in the waters off the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula that have led to the discovery of several…
Asteroid That Killed Dinosaurs Led to Smaller Birds
Could Interstellar Ice Provide the Answer to Birth of DNA?
Researchers at the University of York have shown that molecules brought to earth in meteorite strikes could potentially be converted into the building blocks of DNA. They found that organic compounds, called amino nitriles, the molecular precursors to amino acids, were able to use molecules present in interstellar ice to trigger the formation of the…
Glycan Can Help Trace Human Evolution When DNA is Not Enough
Scientists Track the Brain-Skull Transition From Dinosaurs to Birds
Large-Scale Study of Genetic Data Shows Humans Still Evolving
In a study analyzing the genomes of 210,000 people in the United States and Britain, researchers at Columbia University find that the genetic variants linked to Alzheimer’s disease and heavy smoking are less frequent in people with longer lifespans, suggesting that natural selection is weeding out these unfavorable variants in both populations. Researchers further find…
Fossil Footprints Challenge Established Theories of Human Evolution
Newly discovered human-like footprints from Crete may put the established narrative of early human evolution to the test. The footprints are approximately 5.7 million years old and were made at a time when previous research puts our ancestors in Africa – with ape-like feet. Ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa…
Previously Unrecognized Ancient Sea Reptile Identified in Germany
A new dinosaur bearing a resemblance to the mythical Loch Ness monster has been unearthed in Europe. An internal team of researchers led by Sweden’s Uppsala University identified a fossil found in Northern Germany as a plesiosaur, an extinct species of long-necked aquatic reptiles. The fossil was discovered in 1964 by private fossil collectors, but…
Unique Imaging of a Dinosaur’s Skull Tells Evolutionary Tale
Researchers using Los Alamos’ unique neutron-imaging and high-energy X-ray capabilities have exposed the inner structures of the fossil skull of a 74-million-year-old tyrannosauroid dinosaur nicknamed the Bisti Beast in the highest-resolution scan of tyrannosaur skull ever done. The results add a new piece to the puzzle of how these bone-crushing top predators evolved over millions…
New Ape Species Identified from Ancient Skull
Cretaceous Snails Conceal Themselves in Monuments in Madrid
The fountains standing next to the Museo del Prado are built using a sedimentary rock full of gastropod shells from the time of the dinosaurs. These fossils have revealed the origin of the stone: forgotten quarries in Redueña, in the province of Madrid, where the building material for the Fountain of Apollo and the Palacio…
Scientists ID Tiny Prehistoric Sea Worm With 50 Spines
Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, a bizarre creature with a Venus flytrap-like head swam the seas. Scientists have uncovered fossils of a tiny faceless prehistoric sea worm with 50 spines jutting out of its head. When some unsuspecting critter came too close, its jaw-like spines snapped together and dinner was served. The discovery reported…
What Flowers Looked Like 100 Million Years Ago
Flowering plants with are by far the most diverse group of plants on Earth. Flowering plants arose only about 140 million years ago, but since then have diversified spectacularly. No one knows exactly how this happened, the origin and early evolution of them remains one of the biggest enigmas in biology. A new study in Nature…
Bird With Super Senses Could Inspire Drone Development
New Insight into World’s Greatest Extinction
Genome Sequencing Shows Spiders, Scorpions Share Ancestor
Dinosaur-Era Plant Found Alive in North America for First Time
‘Invasive Species’ Have Been Around Much Longer Than Expected
The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Palaeoscience funded researchers based in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies and in the Evolutionary Studies Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand have used fossil pollen records to solve an on-going debate regarding invasive plant species in eastern Lesotho. Their study, Chrysocoma ciliata L. (Asteraceae)in the Lesotho…
All Dogs May Originate From One Geographic Location
New Research Shows T. Rex Couldn’t Run
Gigantic Crocodile with T. Rex Teeth Was a Top Land Predator of the Jurassic in Madagascar
Little is known about the origin and early evolution of the Notosuchia, hitherto unknown in the Jurassic period. New research on fossils from Madagascar, published in the peer-reviewed journal PeerJ by Italian and French paleontologists, begin to fill the gap in a million-year-long ghost lineage. Deep and massive jaw bones armed with enormous serrated teeth that are…
Ancient Plankton-Like Microfossils Span 2 Continents
Large, robust, lens-shaped microfossils from the approximately 3.4 billion-year-old Kromberg Formation of the Kaapvaal Craton in eastern South Africa are not only among the oldest elaborate microorganisms known, but are also related to other intricate microfossils of the same age found in the Pilbara Craton of Australia, according to an international team of scientists. The…