Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
Published

Stackable 'holobricks' can make giant 3D images      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a new method to display highly realistic holographic images using 'holobricks' that can be stacked together to generate large-scale holograms.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Mathematics: General
Published

Are conferences worth the time and money?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists who interact with others during assigned sessions at conferences are more likely to form productive collaborations than scientists who do not, researchers found. And the kicker? It doesn't matter whether the conference is in person or virtual.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
Published

Chemical reaction design goes virtual      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers aim to streamline the time- and resource-intensive process of screening ligands during catalyst design by using virtual ligands.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

How new bird species arise      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Much of a centuries-old debate over where and how new bird species form has now been resolved. Researchers have provided evidence that birds in mountainous areas -- where the vast majority of the planet's species live -- have left lowland habitats for higher and higher mountain elevations throughout their evolution. Millions of years of climatic fluctuations have contributed to pushing bird species upslope -- as is probably happening now.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Forget mammoths: These researchers are exploring bringing back the extinct Christmas Island rat      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, mammoths 4,000 years ago, and the Christmas Island Rat 119 years ago. Since becoming a popular concept in the 1990s, de-extinction efforts have focused on grand animals with mythical stature, but now a team of paleogeneticists has turned their attention to Rattus macleari, and their findings provide insights into the limitations of de-extinction across all species.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Early killer whales ate fish -- not other marine mammals      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study provides vital clues on when killer whales began feeding on other marine mammals.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Mammoths, meet the metaverse      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Paleontologists from La Brea Tar Pits develop a whole herd of scientifically accurate extinct animals to use in AR and VR.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Gradual evolution is back: Darwinian theory of gradual process explained in new research      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Abrupt shifts in the evolution of animals -- short periods of time when an organism rapidly changes size or form -- have long been a challenge for theorists including Darwin. Now a newly published research paper supports the idea that even these abrupt changes are underpinned by a gradual directional process of successive incremental changes, as Darwin's theory of evolution assumes.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Fight or flight? How birds are helping to reveal the mysteries of evolution      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research uncovers the negative link between flight-worthiness and fight-worthiness in birds. Evolutionary pressure demanded that birds could either fly or arm themselves -- but not both. Furthermore, the new research suggests that developing wings and not bony spurs involved both sexual and natural selection. This insight helps us better understand how the enormous diversity of life and earth came to be.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Balkanatolia: The forgotten continent that sheds light on the evolution of mammals      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of geologists and palaeontologists has discovered that, some 50 million years ago, there was a low-lying continent separating Europe from Asia that they have named Balkanatolia. At the time, it was inhabited by an endemic fauna that was very different from those of Europe and Asia. Geographical changes 40 to 34 million years ago connected this continent to its two neighbors, paving the way for the replacement of European mammals by Asian mammals.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

New fossil birds discovered near China’s Great Wall – one had a movable, sensitive 'chin'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Two new species of fossil birds that lived alongside the dinosaurs have ben discovered near the Great Wall of China. One of the new species had a sensitive, movable bony appendage at the tip of its lower jaw that it might have used to find food.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

First evidence indicating dinosaur respiratory infection      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have discovered the first evidence of a unique respiratory infection in the fossilized remains of a dinosaur that lived nearly 150 million years ago. Researchers examined the remains of an immature diplodocid -- a long-necked herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, like 'Brontosaurus' - dating back to the Late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. The dinosaur nicknamed 'Dolly,' discovered in southwest Montana, had evidence of an infection in the area of its neck vertebrae.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Genome of Steller’s sea cow decoded      (via sciencedaily.com) 

During the Ice Age, giant mammals such as mammoths, sabre-toothed cats and woolly rhinoceroses once roamed Northern Europe and America. The cold oceans of the northern hemisphere were also home to giants like Steller's sea cow, which grew up to eight meters long and weighed up to ten tons, and has been extinct for around 250 years. Now an international research team has succeeded in deciphering the genome of this ice-age species from fossil bones. They also found an answer to the question of what the genome of this extinct species of sea cow reveals about present-day skin diseases.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

New fossil reveals origin of arthropod breathing system      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have discovered a new fossil that reveals the origin of gills in arthropods.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

New research bites holes into theories about Megalodons      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study leaves large tooth marks in previous conclusions about the body shape of the Megalodon, one of the largest sharks that ever lived.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Researchers discover fossil of new species of pangolin in Europe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Deeper analysis of fossils from one of Eastern Europe's most significant paleontological sites has led to the discovery of a new species of pangolin, previously thought to have existed in Europe during the early Pleistocene but not confirmed until now.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Venoms in snakes and salivary protein in mammals share a common origin      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study has found that a class of toxins found in snake and mammalian venom evolved from the same ancestral gene.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

New insights into the timeline of mammal evolution      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study has provided the most detailed timeline of mammal evolution to date.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Exquisitely preserved embryo found inside fossilized dinosaur egg      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A 72 to 66-million-year-old embryo found inside a fossilized dinosaur egg sheds new light on the link between the behavior of modern birds and dinosaurs, according to a new study.

Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Extinct reptile discovery reveals earliest origins of human teeth, study finds      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new extinct reptile species has shed light on how our earliest ancestors became top predators by modifying their teeth in response to environmental instability around 300 million years ago.