Biology: Microbiology Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Fossil site is 'Rosetta Stone' for understanding early life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Leading edge technology has uncovered secrets about a world-renowned fossil hoard that could offer vital clues about early life on Earth. Researchers who analyzed the 400 million-year-old cache, found in rural north-east Scotland, say their findings reveal better preservation of the fossils at a molecular level than was previously anticipated.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral was historical first in using iron reinforcements in the 12th century      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Notre-Dame de Paris is the first known cathedral of Gothic-style architecture to be initially constructed with extensive use of iron to bind stones together. The 2019 fire that significantly damaged the cathedral enabled analyses leading to this discovery.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Earth Science Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossils      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Billions of sea anemones adorn the bottom of the Earth's oceans -- yet they are among the rarest of fossils because their squishy bodies lack easily fossilized hard parts. Now a team of paleontologists has discovered that countless sea anemone fossils have been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years. It turns out that fossils long-interpreted as jellyfish were anemones. To do so, a team of scientists has simply turned the ancient animals upside down.

Archaeology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
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Wisconsin cave holds tantalizing clues to ancient climate changes, future shifts      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A newly published study of a stalagmite found in Cave of the Mounds reveals previously undetected history of the local climate going back thousands of years. Researchers describe evidence for an ice age punctuated by massive and abrupt warming events across much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Paleontology: General
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Waxing and waning of environment influences hominin dispersals across ancient Iran      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A world-first model of paleoclimate and hydrology in Iran has highlighted favourable routes for Neanderthals and modern human expansions eastwards into Asia. The findings reveal that multiple humid periods in ancient Iran led to the expansions of human populations, opening dispersal route across the region, and the possible interactions of species such as Neanderthals and our own Homo sapiens.

Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: General
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Prehistoric sea monster may have been shorter, stouter, than once believed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and maybe a new debate.

Anthropology: General Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.

Ecology: Extinction Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
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Dinosaur claws used for digging and display      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Clues about the Northeast's past and future climate from plant fossils      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of researchers is working to understand the details of the climate for the eastern portion of the United States from the Miocene, which unfortunately is a blank spot on paleo-climate maps. New findings suggest the future climate will be very close to the warmer, wetter, and more homogeneous climate similar to conditions experienced 5 million years ago.

Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Research Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Insect bite marks show first fossil evidence for plants' leaves folding up at night      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Plants can move in ways that might surprise you. Some of them even show 'sleep movements,' folding or raising their leaves each night before opening them again the next day. Now, researchers offer convincing evidence for these nightly movements, also known as foliar nyctinasty, in fossil plants that lived more than 250 million years ago.

Ecology: Extinction Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
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Evolution of dinosaur body size through different developmental mechanisms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The meat-eating dinosaurs known as theropods that roamed the ancient Earth ranged in size from the bus-sized T. rex to the smaller, dog-sized Velociraptor. Scientists puzzling over how such wildly different dinosaur sizes evolved recently found -- to their surprise -- that smaller and larger theropod dinosaurs like these didn't necessarily get that way merely by growing slower or faster.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Early Cretaceous shift in the global carbon cycle affected both land and sea      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Geologists doing fieldwork in southeastern Utah's Cedar Mountain Formation found carbon isotope evidence that the site, though on land, experienced the same early Cretaceous carbon-cycle change recorded in marine sedimentary rocks in Europe. This ancient carbon-cycle phenomenon, known as the 'Weissert Event' was driven by large, sustained volcanic eruptions in the Southern Hemisphere that greatly increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and produced significant greenhouse climate effects over a prolonged time.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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Archaeologists uncover early evidence of brain surgery in Ancient Near East      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A recent excavation in Megiddo, Israel, unearthed the earliest example of a particular type of cranial surgery in the Ancient Near East -- and potentially one of the oldest examples of leprosy in the world.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

Gene variations for immune and metabolic conditions have persisted in humans for more than 700,000 years      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study explores 'balancing selection' by analyzing thousands of modern human genomes alongside ancient hominin groups, such as Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes. The research has 'implications for understanding human diversity, the origin of diseases, and biological trade-offs that may have shaped our evolution,' says evolutionary biologists.

Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
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Climate: Lessons from the latest global warming      (via sciencedaily.com) 

56 million years ago, the Earth experienced one of the largest and most rapid climate warming events in its history: the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which has similarities to current and future warming. This episode saw global temperatures rise by 5-8°C. It was marked by an increase in the seasonality of rainfalls, which led to the movement of large quantities of clay into the ocean, making it uninhabitable for certain living species. This scenario could be repeated today.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Scientists find world's oldest European hedgehog      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The world's oldest scientifically-confirmed European hedgehog has been found in Denmark by a citizen science project involving hundreds of volunteers. The hedgehog lived for 16 years, 7 years longer than the previous record holder.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
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Oldest spinosaur brains revealed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have reconstructed the brains and inner ears of two British spinosaurs, helping uncover how these large predatory dinosaurs interacted with their environment.

Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Researchers solve a 150-year-old mystery: Aetosaur find involves juveniles      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Aetosaurs had a small head and a crocodile-like body. The land dwellers were up to six meters long and widely distributed geographically. They died out about 204 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic. In Germany, an assemblage of 24 Aetosaurus ferratus individuals, only between 20 and 82 centimeters long, was discovered in 1877. Since then, scientists have been puzzling over whether they were juveniles or small adults. A team has now solved the mystery: Bone examination of two specimens shows that they are juveniles.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Record low sea ice cover in the Antarctic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There is currently less sea ice in the Antarctic than at any time in the forty years since the beginning of satellite observation: in early February 2023, only 2.20 million square kilometers of the Southern Ocean were covered with sea ice.