Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Fossils
Published

New insights into the origin of the Indo-European languages      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of linguists and geneticists has achieved a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the origins of Indo-European, a family of languages spoken by nearly half of the world's population.

Archaeology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Missing island explains how endemic species on the Miyako Islands emerged      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Miyako Islands are home to various native species of snake and lizards. How these species came to call these islands home has long puzzled scientists. A group of researchers have compiled the latest geological and biological data, proposing that an island once facilitated migration between Okinawa and Miyako Islands.

Ecology: Endangered Species Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Spurge purge: Plant fossils reveal ancient South America-to-Asia 'escape route'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Newly identified plant fossils found in Argentina suggest that a group of spurges long thought to have Asian origins may have first appeared in Gondwanan South America.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Wormlike animals are first amphibians shown to pass microbes to their offspring      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Caecilians are an illusive type of snakelike amphibian that live in aquatic and subterranean environments. In some species, mothers produce a special type of nutrient-rich skin that juveniles consume, similar to the way in which humans breastfeed their children. A new study shows this behavior passes on microbes to juvenile caecilians, inoculating them to jump-start a healthy microbiome.

Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Paleontology: Fossils
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.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

All about the Benjamins: Researchers decipher the secrets of Benjamin Franklin's paper money      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

During his career, Benjamin Franklin printed nearly 2,500,000 money notes for the American Colonies using what the researchers have identified as highly original techniques.

Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Archaeology: General Paleontology: Fossils
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.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Ecology: Invasive Species Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Ecology: Endangered Species Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Climate
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.

Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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.

Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: General
Published

Apex predator of the Cambrian likely sought soft over crunchy prey      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Biomechanical studies on the arachnid-like front 'legs' of an extinct apex predator show that the 2-foot (60-centimeter) marine animal Anomalocaris canadensis was likely much weaker than once assumed. One of the largest animals to live during the Cambrian, it was probably agile and fast, darting after soft prey in the open water rather than pursuing hard-shelled creatures on the ocean floor.