fossil

CT and 3D printing combined to reproduce fossilized dinosaur bones

Most fossils are very fragile, difficult to handle and transport Researchers conducted CT scans on fossils still trapped in sedimentary material, creating 3D models The models were then 3D printed – an accurate, non invasive method to replicate fossils for schools, museums and other researchers Doctors and dinosaurs Being a paleontologist and working […]

Dinosaurs lived in low-oxygen world, amber shows

An international team of researchers led by Ralf Tappert, from the University of Innsbruck, reconstructed the composition of Earth’s atmosphere of the last 220 million years by analyzing modern and fossil plant resins. Their results indicate that atmospheric oxygen was considerably lower in Earth’s geological past than previously assumed – providing valuable information about current […]

Fossilized insects trapped in the act of mating for 165 million years [SFW]

Fossils that capture a kinetic moment are truly fascinating because they surprise a scene or picture from millions of years ago, effectively acting as a time capsule. Paleontologists have found along the years all sorts of such scenes, be them dinosaurs engaged in battle before an unlikely event engulfed and preserved them or some other […]

Fossilized footprints reveal a clumsy dinosaur

Crossing the riverbed of Carrizo Creek in Oklahoma, a series of tracks made by a two-legged dinosaur have been preserved in time for 150 million years. The tracks reveal a most clumsy scene, as the dinosaur in question slipped for a second before going back to his beaten path. When first analyzedin the 1980s, paleontologists […]

'Platypus-zilla' fossil unearthed in Australia

A giant platypus fossil, measuring more than 1m long (3ft) was discovered in Queensland, Australia. The animal lived 5-15 million years ago, as paleontologists explain in the journal Vertebrate Paleontology. Until now, the oldest fossil was dated 100.000 years ago. As if the evolutionary status of the platypus wasn’t extraordinarily complicated as it is, this […]

First fossilized mosquito is still full of blood

Finding mosquitoes trapped in amber is truly exciting, but it’s not really unique – there have been several reported cases all around the world, and some people are even selling such samples (which I don’t think is a good thing, but that’s another discussion). But finding a fossilized mosquito in sediment… now that’s unique! It […]

Thousands of dinosaur tracks found in Alaska

Paleontologists have scratched the surface of what appears to be a very promising dinosaur site near the Arctic circle, in Alaska. When these dinosaurs roamed the Earth, they stepped in mud; their footprints quickly filled with sand, and were preserved in the form we see them today, like blubs with toes. In July, the scientists […]

The oldest building in the world: Wyoming cabin made mostly from dinosaur fossils

Though built in 1933, the Fossil Cabin near the dinosaur graveyard at Como Bluff is, in a way, the oldest building in the world: the walls of the building were built out of 5,796 mortared-together dinosaur bones, dug from nearby areas. Initially, the building was part of a gasoline filling station along US 30 by […]

America's invasive species - 450 million years ago

Land clearing and human habitation put significant pressure on local species – combine this with globalization and a general recklessness of the population, and you get a big, negative impact (both environmental and economic) from invasive plants. But invasive plants aren’t something new – they’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years. Scientists have […]

Nasutoceratops: 'Big-nose, horn-face' dinosaur

A new, unusual species of dinosaur has been discovered in the deserts of Utah. The 5m-long is a member of the triceratops family, and as fierce as they may look, this dinosaur was a herbivore. The huge ‘nose’ and exceptionally long horns are unlike any other dinosaurs previously described, which explains its name – Nasutoceratops […]

Bird like fossil is older than Archaeopterix

The fossil, which still retains impressions of feathers, is 160 million years old, predating the oldest Archaeopterix fossil found by 10 million years. Scientits have named it Aurornis, which means “dawn bird”. Aurornis and Archaeopteryx Aurornis enables us not only to better understand the emergence of birds, but also to understand how powerful flight originated. […]

25 million year old primate fossil found

Paleontologists working at Ohio University have unearthed evidence of two new species of ancient primates, named Rukwapithecus fleaglei and Nsungwepithecus gunnellifa, which offer solid evidence of a split between Old World monkeys and apes. Geological and paleontological analysis have shown that the fossils are approximately 25 million years old, which puts them in the late […]

New crow sized pterosaur discovered by 5-year-old

While taking a walk with her parents on U.K.’s Isle of Wight (map) in 2008, Daisy Morris, who was then no more than 5 years old, came across blackened “bones sticking out of the sand”. Her family took the bones to paleontologist Martin Simpson at the University of Southampton, who, with the help of colleagues, […]

A word about the Cretaceous hot period

Almost always I happen to discuss global warming, something that often comes up. Still, the Earth was hotter in its history, like say right after the Cretaceous, so what’s the problem? In this article, we’re gonna clarify the aspects that differentiate those geologic periods from nowadays. Some sixty million years ago, there was virtually no […]

DNA evidence suggests modern dog is 33,000 years old

New DNA analysis of an ancient dog tooth sample found in Siberia suggests that the modern dog might be as well as 33,000 years old. If indeed the sample comes from a domesticated dog, then it would push back the origin of today’s house pets more than 18,000 years. This significant discovery was made after […]

Fossils of Crocodilian, Hippo-Like Species found in Panama

Paleontologists from the University of Florida have unearthed remarkably well-preserved fossils of two crocodilians and a mammal previously unknown to science during recent Panama excavations that began in 2009. The animals lived during the Miocene, a period that lasted from about 23.03 to 5.332 million years ago; the flora and fauna from the Miocene was […]

Stunning 500 million year fossil unearthed [GeoPicture of the week]

Just one of the many reasons why I love geology – paleontologists have unearthed extraordinarily preserved fossils of a 520-million-year-old sea creature, one of the oldest animal fossils ever found. The animal in case is an arthropod called a fuxhianhuiid – you may remember him from this post, in which I described a lovely book […]

Amazing buzz saw fish mystery finally solved

In 1899 the famous Russian paleontologist Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky published a paper in which he described a peculiar fossil resembling what can only be called today as a “buzz saw”, but whose barer escaped scientists. Many speculations have been made since then, but most recently, using advanced SCAN scans, scientists at Idaho State University have asserted that […]

Jurassic records warn of risk to marine life from global warming

The massive, global risk that global warming poses has once again been highlighted by researchers – this time, by geologists studying fossil records. It’s good to learn from your mistakes, but it’s even better to prevent than treat, and learn from the past (even though it’s not your past) – and paleontology is really good […]

New contender for the oldest dinosaur

Nyasasaurus parringtoni may have not been revered by other dinosaurs, but according to a new study published in Biology Letters, he is the oldest dinosaur to walk the face of the Earth, surpassing the previous record holder by 10-15 million years. It walked on two legs, measured 2-3 m in length, had a large tail […]

New "Sauron" dinosaur found, big as T-Rex

Named after the almost all-powerful dark spirit from the Lord of The Rings, the Sauron dinosaurs roamed Africa some 95 million years ago. The species was named Sauroniops pachytholus, which more or less means “The eye of Sauron”, and it was identified so far from a single fossil found in Morocco. The fossil had only […]

Dracula mammal lived with the dinosaurs in Transylvania

Well it may be a bit of overreaction, but with the Halloween and all, you just have to call it: 70 million year old mammal had long, oversized, blood-red teeth, scurrying at the feet of dinosaurs. The discovery of a new skull now gives new insight into his diet and habits. Barbatodon transylvanicus lived in […]

First feathered dinosaur fossils found in North America

Scientists in Canada have made a remarkable discovery: they have unearthed the first fossils of a feathered dinosaur ever found in the Americas. Their research, which was published in Science, includes 75 million year old specimens, including a juvenile and two adult ostrich-like creatures which go by the name of ornithomimids. Until now, the only […]

Smuggled Tyrannosaur case finally solved - Florida paleontologist charged with smuggling

Remember when, back in May, we told you about a case with a dinosaur skeleton transferred from Mongolia to the US, then auctioned, despite a judge declaring the act illegal? Well… good news! A man from the state of Florida gave an entirely new meaning to ‘grave robbing’ after being lured to the dark side […]

Earliest forest from the dawn of woody plants revealed

Last week we reported about a 300 million year old fossilized forest which was discovered underneath a coal mine in China. A highly remarkable find by all means, fact confirmed by the overwhelming response the story gathered from your part, the reader. If you found that interesting, wait until you learn about the oldest fossilized […]

300 million year old fossilized forest discovered under coal mine in China

There’s some good coming off China’s extensive coal exploitation (the nation holds the top place for most pollutant emissions resulting from burning coal), as recent mining activities around Wuda in Inner Mongolia, China, has uncovered an almost perfectly preserved 298 million year-old forest. The forest, which also features intact trees with leaves, branches, trunk and […]

The oldest animal ever found is 760 million years old

The origins of life is one of the biggest mysteries scientists have been trying to unravel for a very long time. While a lot of effort is being directed to finding alien life, it’s crucial, at least in my opinion, for us to understand how the first signs of life spurred on our own planet. […]

Fossil traces dog domestication back 33,000 years

The bond between man and dog has always been extremely evident, an unconditioned friendship, at least from the dog’s part, which has lead the latter to be rightfully often referred to as man’s best friend. But how, why, and when did dogs become such a significant part of our lives. By domesticating farm animals like cattle, pigs […]

Fossilized moths reveal interesting methods of camouflage

Fossilized moth wings, that are blue after death were yellow-green during lifetime, suggesting a colorful and creative method of camouflage. Camouflage and warning The moths lived in a difficult period, some 47 million years ago, in a period where life was still trying to fill the gaps left behind by the major dinosaur extinction; they […]

Huge whale cemetery discovered in Chilean desert

Paleontologists have unearthed the remains of numerous whale fossils, dating back from seven million years ago, in Northern Chile. On further analysis it was revealed that the site in question is actually home to numerous other specimens, so far no less than 80 fossils have been recovered from the whale graveyard. “In 15 days, we […]

Scientists uncover (new) oldest modern humans in Europe

A fresh look at some already known fossilized remains revealed quite a surprise: they turned out to be the earliest people in Europe. From analyzing stone tools and other such artifacts, researchers have long believed the earliest Homo Sapiens to settle on the continent some 42-44.000 years ago; the only problem is, there were no […]

Zombie worms found in whale fossil

As it turns out, zombies are not really only science fiction. Just a while ago I was telling you about a species of fungus that can turn ants into zombies, and how life on Earth may have actually originated from some ‘zombie aliens‘. Recently, researchers from the Natural History Museum in London have found evidence […]

Fossil trove sheds some light on the 'missing link'

Paleontologists in South Africa have reported finding an extraordinary number of fossils of a species that predated humans, belonging to the prehuman species Australopithecus Sediba that lived almost 2 million years ago. The species had human-like hands and ape-like feet; it was found in a rearkable collection of fossils which includes the most complete early […]

Oldest fossil in the world found, scientists claim

The oldest, up to now, fossil has been found recently by a team of Australian and UK geologists, who claim that they’ve managed to discover micro-organism remnants as old as 3.5 billion years. These tiny living cells were actually sulfur feeding bacteria, which didn’t need any kind of oxygen to survive. The fossils were found […]

Fossil of Cambrian sea predator discovered - with video

Anomalocaridids were extremely weird animals, by today’s standards; but by the standards of the Cambrian, they were the hot guys. They had a long spiny head, powerful limbs which were probably used to snag prey and a series of blade-like filaments in segments across the animal’s back, which could have functioned as gills. During the […]

Amazing 49 million year old spider gets a 3D portrait

An extremely old spider has showed its face for the first time in almost 50 million years; buried in a large chunk of amber, this Huntsman spider has descendants which live in the tropics and Southern Europe today. They can grow up to 30 centimeters, but they’re not aggressive and not poisonous for humans, despite […]

New dinosaur species found bridges evolutionary gap

A team of paleontologists from the Smithsonian Institute have uncovered the fossils of a brand new dinosaur species in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico which posses a particular importance by filling the family tree gap between early predatory species such as Herrerasaurus and later theropod dinosaurs. Researchers named the species Daemonosaurus chauliodus, based on the Greek […]

Texas Boys find fossil gold mine

Fossil hunting is for anybody – no matter how old, or how knowledgeable; all you need is a little information and some basic equipment, and you’re good to go. For Andrew Carroll and Thomas Smith, two North Texas sixth-graders, it required even less. Their adventures started when they found a bone while off playing and […]

New giant dinosaur found in Angola

In a recent remarkable find in the war-torn country of Angola, archeologists have uncovered the fossil of what’s considered a new, up till now unknown, dinosaur. The dinosaur has been appropriately been dubbed Angolatitan adamastor – Angolatitan means ”Angolan giant”, while the adamastor is a sea giant from Portuguese sailing myths. A paper published on […]

NASA scientists find evidence of life in meteorites

Wherever it’s possible, life finds a way; the old saying seems to be more and more actual these days, with NASA and other space agencies reporting interesting discoveries that point towards life existing in many more other places other than our own planet. After rewriting the biology books with the arsenic eating microbe, NASA researchers […]

Carnivorous humpback dinosaur surprises paleontologists

About 125 million years ago, these hunchback dinosaurs roamed today’s central Spain, measuring approximately 6 meters and feasting off of smaller animals of all sorts. However, what’s really surprising about the dinosaurs is its “hump”, a body structure never before seen in dinosaurs. A recently exposed skeletal structure revealed some unique features that has researchers […]

Triceratops and Torosaurus were in fact the same dinosaur

A recent study conducted by a Montana State University doctoral student and one of the world’s top paleontologists shed some new light on more than 100 years of thought regarding the dinosaurs known as Triceratops and Torsaurus. The general belief since the late 1800s was that they were two separate dinosaurs: Triceratops had three horns […]

Missing flying reptile link found

An international team of researchers from the University of Leicester (UK), and the Geological Institute, Beijing (China) managed to identify a new type of a flying reptile that can prove to be a crucial step in understanding evolution, or at least a big part of it. Pterosauria was the general name given for flying or […]

9 amazing displays of fossil art

Art is a relative term, especially in these modern times. In its most accepted term, art is the deliberate process of arranging certain elements in such a way that appeals to the senses, trying to achieve beauty. But what these elements are and how they are arranged is up to the artist. So it shouldn’t […]

Meet the "oldest" Praying Mantis

Well this is a bit of a stretch; the thing is an 87-million-year-old praying mantis was found encased in amber in Japan. Scientists believe it may prove to be very useful in establishing a connection between mantises from the Cretaceous period and modern-day insects.Researchers have been searching for this “missing link” for many […]

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