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Categories: Offbeat: Earth and Climate, Paleontology: Fossils
Published A fossil fruit from California shows ancestors of coffee and potatoes survived cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs



The discovery of an 80-million-year-old fossil plant pushes back the known origins of lamiids to the Cretaceous, extending the record of nearly 40,000 species of flowering plants including modern-day staple crops like coffee, tomatoes, potatoes and mint.
Published Why icicles are rippled


Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that they show a characteristic pattern of ripples -- always around one centimetre wide. What causes these ripples? Using an icicle machine of their own design, physicists and chemists investigated this question, and discovered that salt plays an important part in the formation process of the ripples.
Published Nematodes can help us detect indoor air impurities


Good quality indoor air is crucial to our well-being, while impurities in the air can compromise our working capacity and health. Researchers have developed a new method for measuring indoor air quality, making use of fluorescent strains of nematodes.
Published Mistaken fossil rewrites history of Indian subcontinent for second time


Scientists discovered the first-ever Dickinsonia fossil in India two years ago, changing our understanding of how the continent came to be. Now, new research shows the 'fossil' was just a beehive all along, changing our understanding for a second time, and the original scientists now support the new findings.
Published 319-million-year-old fish preserves the earliest fossilized brain of a backboned animal


The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.
Published Far-off storms fuel sneaker waves along Pacific Northwest coast, new research suggests


Sneaker waves are likely fueled by a specific type of wave condition generated by far-off storms and paired with just the right conditions closer to shore, a new study has found.
Published Fishing in synchrony brings mutual benefits for dolphins and people in Brazil, research shows


By working together, dolphins and net-casting fishers in Brazil each catch more fish, a rare example of an interaction by two top predators that is beneficial to both parties, researchers have concluded following 15 years of study of the practice.
Published New ancient 'marine crocodile' discovered on UK's Jurassic Coast -- and it's one of the oldest specimens of its type ever found


A new study has uncovered a new thalattosuchian -- an ancient 'sister' of modern-day crocodiles' ancestors.
Published A fairy-like robot flies by the power of wind and light


The loss of pollinators, such as bees, is a huge challenge for global biodiversity and affects humanity by causing problems in food production. Researchers have now developed the first passively flying robot equipped with artificial muscle. Could this artificial fairy be utilized in pollination?
Published New geosciences study shows Triassic fossils that reveal origins of living amphibians


A team of paleontologists have discovered the first 'unmistakable' Triassic-era caecilian fossil -- the oldest-known caecilian fossils -- thus extending the record of this small, burrowing animal by roughly 35 million years. The find also fills a gap of at least 87 million years in the known historical fossil record of the amphibian-like creature.
Published What crocodile DNA reveals about the Ice Age


What drives crocodile evolution? Is climate a major factor or changes in sea levels? Determined to find answers to these questions, researchers discovered that while changing temperatures and rainfall had little impact on the crocodiles' gene flow over the past three million years, changes to sea levels during the Ice Age had a different effect.
Published Plague trackers: Researchers cover thousands of years in a quest to understand the elusive origins of the Black Death


Seeking to better understand more about the origins and movement of bubonic plague, in ancient and contemporary times, researchers have completed a painstaking granular examination of hundreds of modern and ancient genome sequences, creating the largest analysis of its kind.
Published Mummified crocodiles provide insights into mummy-making over time


Crocodiles were mummified in a unique way at the Egyptian site of Qubbat al-Hawa during the 5th Century BC, according to a new study.
Published 17-pound meteorite discovered in Antarctica


Antarctica is a tough place to work, for obvious reasons -- it's bitterly cold, remote, and wild. However, it's one of the best places in the world to hunt for meteorites. That's partly because Antarctica is a desert, and its dry climate limits the degree of weathering the meteorites experience. On top of the dry conditions, the landscape is ideal for meteorite hunting: the black space rocks stand out clearly against snowy fields.
Published Blowing bubbles among echidna's tricks to beat the heat



Research into how echidnas might respond to a warming climate has found clever techniques used by the animal to cope with heat, including blowing bubbles to wet its nose tip, with the moisture then evaporating and cooling its blood.
Published Marriage in Minoan Crete


An international team of researchers achieves completely new insights into Bronze Age marriage rules and family structures in Greece. Analyses of ancient genomes show that the choice of marriage partners was determined by one's own kinship.
Published When migrating birds go astray, disturbances in magnetic field may be partly to blame


Disturbances to Earth's magnetic field can lead birds astray -- a phenomenon scientists call 'vagrancy' -- even in perfect weather, and especially during fall migration. While other factors such as weather likely play bigger roles in causing vagrancy, researchers found a strong correlation between birds that were captured far outside of their expected range and the geomagnetic disturbances that occurred during both fall and spring migrations.
Published Fossils reveal dinosaurs of prehistoric Patagonia



A study is providing a glimpse into dinosaur and bird diversity in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous, just before the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. The fossils represent the first record of theropods -- a dinosaur group that includes both modern birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives -- from the Chilean portion of Patagonia. The researchers' finds include giant megaraptors with large sickle-like claws and birds similar to todays ducks and geese.
Published Noise from urban environments affects the color of songbirds' beaks


A study examined the effects of anthropogenic noise on cognition, beak color, and growth in the zebra finch. Researchers first tested adult zebra finches on a battery of cognition assays while they were exposed to playbacks of urban noise versus birds tested without noise. Urban noises caused the birds to take longer to learn a novel foraging task and to learn an association-learning task. Urban noise exposure also resulted in treated males to develop less bright beak coloration, and females developed beaks with brighter orange coloration, respectively, than untreated birds. Findings suggest that urban noise exposure may affect morphological traits, such as beak color, which influence social interactions and mate choice.
Published Ethical ancient DNA research must involve descendant communities, say researchers


The analysis of ancient DNA allows scientists to trace human evolution and make important discoveries about modern populations. The data revealed by ancient DNA sampling can be valuable, but the human remains that carry this ancient DNA are often those of the ancestors of modern Indigenous groups, and some communities have expressed concerns about the ethics of sampling by outside parties. A group of scientists make the case for involvement of descendant communities in all aspects of the research process.