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Categories: Offbeat: Earth and Climate, Paleontology: Fossils
Published Miocene period fossil forest of Wataria found in Japan
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch.
Published Paleontologists identify two new species of sabertooth cat
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Sabertooth cats make up a diverse group of long-toothed predators that roamed Africa around 6-7 million years ago, around the time that hominins -- the group that includes modern humans -- began to evolve. By examining one of the largest global Pliocene collections of fossils in Langebaanweg, north of Cape Town in South Africa, researchers present two new sabertooth species and the first family tree of the region's ancient sabertooths. Their results suggest that the distribution of sabertooths throughout ancient Africa might have been different than previously assumed, and the study provides important information about Africa's paleoenvironment.
Published Unusual fossil shows rare evidence of a mammal attacking a dinosaur
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have described an unusual fossil from around 125 million years ago in China that shows a dramatic moment in time when a carnivorous mammal attacked a larger plant-eating dinosaur. The two animals are locked in mortal combat, and it's among the first evidence to show actual predatory behavior by a mammal on a dinosaur. The fossil's presence challenges the view that dinosaurs had few threats from their mammal contemporaries during the Cretaceous, when dinosaurs were the dominant animals.
Published It's sewage, not fertilizer fueling nitrogen surge in Florida's Indian River Lagoon
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fertilizer restrictions along Florida's 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon were intended to reduce nutrient inputs from urban and agricultural land uses. The hope was that water quality would improve by reducing the nitrogen load. While these restrictions were well-intended, a study finds fertilizer use is not the root cause of the lagoon's environmental issues. It's sewage. For decades, fertilizer use was implicated for about 71 percent of the lagoon's environmental impairments. In fact, current estimates show 79 percent of nitrogen loading is from septic systems; 21 percent is from residential fertilizer use.
Published Life on Earth didn't arise as described in textbooks
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source No, oxygen didn't catalyze the swift blossoming of Earth's first multicellular organisms. The result defies a 70-year-old assumption about what caused an explosion of oceanic fauna hundreds of millions of years ago.
Published New fossil flying reptile 'Elvis' takes flight
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In an exciting scientific development, an international team of researchers have officially named a newly discovered 145-million-year-old pterosaur. The animal had enormous 2-meter wingspan and was nicknamed 'Elvis' when the fossil was first unearthed in Bavaria, Germany because of the giant pompadour-like bony crest on its skull. Now the animal has been given a formal scientific name of Petrodactyle wellnhoferi. The name translates as 'Wellnhofer's stone-finger' honouring legendary German palaeontologist Peter Wellnhofer who spent his career working on German pterosaurs. Petrodactyle is a very complete skeleton with nearly every bone preserved and in remarkable detail.
Published Fungi blaze a trail to fireproof cladding
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have shown it's possible to grow fungi in thin sheets that could be used for fire-retardant cladding or even a new kind of fungal fashion.
Published Hidden details of Egyptian paintings revealed by chemical imaging
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Portable chemical imaging technology can reveal hidden details in ancient Egyptian paintings, according to new research.
Published Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves suffered from diseased joints
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to new research.
Published Sex lives of orchids reads like science fiction
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have created a global database of pollination data for almost 3000 orchid species.
Published Marine fossils are a reliable benchmark for degrading and collapsing ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans began altering environments long before records were kept of the things that lived in them, making it difficult for scientists to determine what healthy ecosystems should look like. Researchers show the recent fossil record preserves a reliable snapshot of marine environments as they existed before humans.
Published Scientists discover 36-million-year geological cycle that drives biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Movement in the Earth's tectonic plates indirectly triggers bursts of biodiversity in 36 million-year cycles by forcing sea levels to rise and fall, new research has shown.
Published Why there are no kangaroos in Bali (and no tigers in Australia)
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers are using a new model to clarify why millions of years ago more animal species from Asia made the leap to the Australian continent than vice versa. The climate in which the species evolved played an important role.
Published Discovery of 500-million-year-old fossil reveals astonishing secrets of tunicate origins
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers describe a 500 million-year-old tunicate fossil species. The study suggests that the modern tunicate body plan was already established soon after the Cambrian Explosion.
Published Fossils reveal how ancient birds molted their feathers -- which could help explain why ancestors of modern birds survived when all the other dinosaurs died
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the asteroid-induced mass extinction 66 million years ago. But not all the birds alive at the time made it. Why the ancestors of modern birds lived while so many of their relatives died has been a mystery that paleontologists have been trying to solve for decades. Two new studies point to one possible factor: the differences between how modern birds and their ancient cousins molt their feathers.
Published Turning old maps into 3D digital models of lost neighborhoods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Imagine strapping on a virtual reality headset and 'walking' through a long-gone neighborhood in your city -- seeing the streets and buildings as they appeared decades ago. That's a very real possibility now that researchers have developed a method to create 3D digital models of historic neighborhoods using machine learning and historic Sanborn Fire Insurance maps.
Published Squash bugs are attracted to and eat each other's poop to stock their microbiome
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Squash bugs, a common and difficult-to-control agricultural pest, need healthy bacteria in their gut to grow and stay alive. However, they do not acquire any bacteria from their parents when they are first born, leaving them vulnerable until their microbiome can be stocked. Researchers report that, to acquire these healthy bacteria, young bugs innately seek out and eat the poop from older squash bugs.
Published How urea may have been the gateway to life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Urea reacts extremely quickly under the conditions that existed when our planet was newly formed. This new insight furthers our understanding of how life on Earth might have begun.
Published Newly discovered Jurassic fossils in Texas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have filled a major gap in the state's fossil record -- describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas. The weathered bone fragments are from the limbs and backbone of a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile.
Published Orangutans can make two sounds at the same time, similar to human beatboxing, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a new study.