Feature Channels: Paleontology

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Released: 2-May-2023 5:55 PM EDT
“Golden” fossils reveal origins of exceptional preservation
University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)

A recent study by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators found that many of the fossils from Germany’s Posidonia shale do not get their gleam from pyrite, commonly known as fool’s gold, which was long thought to be the source of the shine. Instead, the golden hue is from a mix of minerals that hints at the conditions in which the fossils formed.

Released: 27-Apr-2023 7:35 PM EDT
Twilight zone at risk from climate change
University of Exeter

Life in the ocean’s “twilight zone” could decline dramatically due to climate change, new research suggests.

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Released: 26-Apr-2023 9:35 AM EDT
First ever sturgeon to be found in Africa
University of Portsmouth

A fossil of a ‘royal fish’ - estimated to be over 66 million years old - is the first ever to be found in Africa.

Released: 24-Apr-2023 4:05 AM EDT
Neuroptera: Greater insect diversity in the Cretaceous period
Ludwig Maximilians Universität München (Munich)

Human activity is currently driving a loss of natural diversity that some experts describe as the sixth major mass extinction event in the history of the Earth.

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Released: 21-Apr-2023 3:10 PM EDT
TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO AVAILABLE Live Event for April 21: Sleeping pill reduces levels of Alzheimer’s proteins
Newswise

Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

       
Newswise: Swimming secrets of prehistoric reptiles unlocked by new study
Released: 18-Apr-2023 5:05 AM EDT
Swimming secrets of prehistoric reptiles unlocked by new study
University of Bristol

The diverse swimming techniques of the ancient reptiles that ruled the Mesozoic seas have been revealed for the first time by scientists at the University of Bristol.

Newswise: Fossils reveal the long-term relationship between feathered dinosaurs and feather-feeding beetles
Released: 17-Apr-2023 7:40 PM EDT
Fossils reveal the long-term relationship between feathered dinosaurs and feather-feeding beetles
University of Oxford

New fossils in amber have revealed that beetles fed on the feathers of dinosaurs about 105 million years ago, showing a symbiotic relationship of one-sided or mutual benefit.

Newswise: New details of Tully monster revealed
Released: 17-Apr-2023 12:40 PM EDT
New details of Tully monster revealed
University of Tokyo

For more than half a century, the Tully monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium), an enigmatic animal that lived about 300 million years ago, has confounded paleontologists, with its strange anatomy making it difficult to classify.

Newswise: New studies push back evidence for open habitats in Africa by more than 10 million years
Released: 13-Apr-2023 4:10 PM EDT
New studies push back evidence for open habitats in Africa by more than 10 million years
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering

Using rigorous and detailed collection methods, a University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led research team was able to place the remains of fossil apes, such as Morotopithecus, within detailed habitat reconstructions.

Newswise: Oldest bat skeletons ever found described from Wyoming fossils
Released: 13-Apr-2023 3:15 PM EDT
Oldest bat skeletons ever found described from Wyoming fossils
American Museum of Natural History

Scientists have described a new species of bat based on the oldest bat skeletons ever recovered. The study on the extinct bat, which lived in Wyoming about 52 million years ago, supports the idea that bats diversified rapidly on multiple continents during this time.

Newswise: Starting small and simple - key to success for evolution of mammals
Released: 12-Apr-2023 12:50 PM EDT
Starting small and simple - key to success for evolution of mammals
University of Birmingham

The ancestors of modern mammals managed to evolve into one of the most successful animal lineages – the key was to start out small and simple, a new study reveals.

Newswise: Woolly mammoths evolved smaller ears and woolier coats over the 700,000 years that they roamed the Siberian steppes
Released: 7-Apr-2023 4:15 PM EDT
Woolly mammoths evolved smaller ears and woolier coats over the 700,000 years that they roamed the Siberian steppes
Cell Press

A team of researchers compared the genomes of woolly mammoths with modern day elephants to find out what made woolly mammoths unique, both as individuals and as a species. The investigators report April 7 in the journal Current Biology that many of the woolly mammoth’s trademark features—including their woolly coats and large fat deposits—were already genetically encoded in the earliest woolly mammoths, but these and other traits became more defined over the species’ 700,000+ year existence.

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This news release is embargoed until 30-Mar-2023 3:00 PM EDT Released to reporters: 28-Mar-2023 8:05 AM EDT

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Released: 30-Mar-2023 8:05 AM EDT
“Exquisite” sabertooth skull offers clues about Ice Age predator
Iowa State University

The recent discovery of a complete sabertooth cat skull from southwest Iowa provides the first evidence of this animal in the state. It also offers clues about an iconic Ice Age predator before the species went extinct roughly 12-13,000 years ago. Researchers believe the skull belonged to a subadult male that may have preyed on giant ground sloths.

Released: 28-Mar-2023 5:40 PM EDT
Extinction of steam locomotives derails assumptions about biological evolution
University of Kansas

Bruce Lieberman, professor of ecology & evolutionary biology and senior curator of invertebrate paleontology at the KU Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum, sought to use steam-engine history to test the merits of “competitive exclusion,” a long-held idea in paleontology that species can drive other species to extinction through competition.

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Released: 21-Mar-2023 2:10 PM EDT
How the "marsupial sabertooth" thylacosmilus saw its world
American Museum of Natural History

A new study investigates how an extinct, carnivorous marsupial relative with canines so large they extended across the top of its skull could hunt effectively despite having wide-set eyes, like a cow or a horse.

Released: 20-Mar-2023 1:45 PM EDT
New eyes discovered in trilobites
University of Cologne

Trilobites, prehistoric sea creatures, had so-called median eyes, single eyes on their foreheads, in addition to their compound eyes, research conducted by Dr Brigitte Schoenemann at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology and Professor Dr Euan Clarkson at the University of Edinburgh has now found out.

Newswise: Australia’s largest eagle discovered at last
Released: 16-Mar-2023 2:30 PM EDT
Australia’s largest eagle discovered at last
Flinders University

An eagle twice the size of the modern-day apex predator the wedge-tailed eagle, which soared over southern Australia more than 60,000 years ago, had a wingspan up to 3m wide and powerful talons wide enough to grab a small kangaroo or koala.

Newswise: New Fossil Analysis Reveals Dinosaur with Record-Holding 15-Meter-Long Neck
13-Mar-2023 9:00 AM EDT
New Fossil Analysis Reveals Dinosaur with Record-Holding 15-Meter-Long Neck
Stony Brook University

An international scientific team led by Stony Brook University paleontologist Andrew J. Moore, PhD, has revealed that a Late Jurassic Chinese sauropod known as Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum sported a 15-meter-long neck. The details will be published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology and provide fresh insights on the evolution of the iconic sauropod body.

Newswise: Discovery of oldest known fossil gnat shows how insects adapted to a postapocalyptic world
Released: 10-Mar-2023 11:05 AM EST
Discovery of oldest known fossil gnat shows how insects adapted to a postapocalyptic world
University of Oxford

A new fossil discovery dating from ‘just’ a few million years after the greatest mass extinction provides the earliest evidence of the insect group that includes mosquitoes and flies



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