Showing 20 articles starting at article 481

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Paleontology: Climate, Paleontology: Fossils

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Years of research show that climate change signals are amplified in the Arctic, and that sea ice in this region is sensitive to increases in Arctic warming. Sea ice greatly modifies the exchanges of heat, momentum and mass between the atmosphere and the ocean. So, the timings of the sea ice melt and freeze onsets, as well as the length of the melt and freeze seasons, play a key role in the 'heat budget' of the atmosphere-ice-ocean system.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A specimen retrieved from a cupboard of the Natural History Museum in London has shown that modern lizards originated in the Late Triassic and not the Middle Jurassic as previously thought.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new analysis of more than 20,000 trees on five continents shows that old-growth trees are more drought tolerant than younger trees in the forest canopy and may be better able to withstand future climate extremes. The findings highlight the importance of preserving the world's remaining old-growth forests, which are biodiversity strongholds that store vast amounts of planet-warming carbon, according to forest ecologists.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Extracting ancient DNA from teeth, an international group of scientists peered into the lives of a once-thriving medieval Ashkenazi Jewish community in Erfurt, Germany. The findings show that the Erfurt Jewish community was more genetically diverse than modern day Ashkenazi Jews.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Fossilized fragments of a skeleton, hidden within a rock the size of a grapefruit, have helped upend one of the longest-standing assumptions about the origins of modern birds.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Paleontologists say environmental DNA is not always helpful in identifying when animals like mammoths went extinct because genetic material found in sediment could have come from animals that died thousands of years earlier.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The 1930s Dust Bowl affected heat extremes across much of North America and as far away as Europe and East Asia, according to new research. The study found that the extreme heating of the Great Plains triggered motions of air around the Northern Hemisphere in ways that suppressed cloud formation in some regions and contributed to record heat thousands of miles away.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new article discusses vital methodological issues for humanities-based historical inquiry and argues that the challenges of the Anthropocene demand interdisciplinary research informed by a variety of historical narratives.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The oldest Pterodactylus specimen was found near Painten, Germany. The fossil is about one million years older than other Pterodactylus specimens. The specimen is a complete, well-preserved skeleton of a small-sized individual. With a 5-cm-long skull, it represents a rare 'sub-adult' individual.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Have humans wreaked too much havoc on marine life to halt damage? A new analysis challenges the idea that ocean ecosystems have barely changed over millions of years, pointing scientists down a new path on conservation efforts and policy.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study compiles data on more than 3,000 species to show how climate and geologic changes across Asia over the last 66 million years have shaped the evolution of the continent's mammals.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

According to a new study, fossils of a tiny sea creature with a delicately preserved nervous system solve a century-old debate over how the brain evolved in arthropods, the most species-rich group in the animal kingdom. Combining detailed anatomical studies of the fossilized nervous system with analyses of gene expression patterns in living descendants, they conclude that a shared blueprint of brain organization has been maintained from the Cambrian until today.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A decline in the element molybdenum across the planet's oceans preceded a significant extinction event approximately 183 million years ago, new research shows.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

The contents of the last meal consumed by the earliest animals known to inhabit Earth more than 550 million years ago has unearthed new clues about the physiology of our earliest animal ancestors, according to scientists.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Earth is currently in the midst of a mass extinction, losing thousands of species each year. New research suggests environmental changes caused the first such event in history, which occurred millions of years earlier than scientists previously realized.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The complete skeletal remains of a spider monkey -- seen as an exotic curiosity in pre-Hispanic Mexico -- grants researchers new evidence regarding social-political ties between two ancient powerhouses: Teotihuacán and Maya Indigenous rulers. The remains of other animals were also discovered, as well as thousands of Maya-style mural fragments and over 14,000 ceramic sherds from a grand feast. These pieces are more than 1,700 years old.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have calculated the body mass of two ancient amphibians.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Rapid changes in marine oxygen levels may have played a significant role in driving Earth's first mass extinction, according to a new study.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Ray-finned fish, now the most diverse group of backboned animals, were not as hard hit by a mass extinction event 360 million years ago as scientists previously thought.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Ancient seawater pockets offer a new source of clues to climate change in vanished oceans and our own.