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Keyword: fossil

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  • Climate change: Fossil record points to future mass extinctions

    10/23/2007 8:07:09 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 46 replies · 61+ views
    AFP on Yahoo ^ | 10/23/07 | AFP
    PARIS (AFP) - Global warming could cut a swathe through the planet's species over the coming centuries, warns a study released Wednesday that shows a link between rising temperatures and mass extinctions reaching back half a billion years. Each of five major eras of declining biodiversity -- including one in which 95 percent of the Earth's species disappeared -- correspond to cycles of severe warming over the 520-million-year period for which there are fossil records. If emissions of greenhouse gas rise unchecked, the predicted increase in global temperature over the next several hundred years could fall within a similar range...
  • Fossils Reveal Clues on Human Ancestor (transitional fossil alert)

    09/20/2007 7:51:35 AM PDT · by Alter Kaker · 87 replies · 275+ views
    New York Times ^ | 20 September 2007 | John Noble Wilford
    The discovery of four fossil skeletons of early human ancestors in Georgia, the former Soviet republic, has given scientists a revealing glimpse of a species in transition, primitive in its skull and upper body but with more advanced spines and lower limbs for greater mobility. The findings, being reported today in the journal Nature, are considered a significant step toward understanding who were some of the first ancestors to migrate out of Africa some 1.8 million years ago. They may also yield insights into the first members of the human genus, Homo.Until now, scientists had found only the skulls of...
  • Famous fossil Lucy leaves Ethiopia (on a U.S. tour)

    08/06/2007 7:10:14 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 58 replies · 3,296+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/6/07 | Anita Powell - ap
    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - After 3.2 million years in East Africa, one of the world's most famous set of fossils was quietly flown out of Ethiopia overnight for a U.S. tour that some experts say is a dangerous gamble with an irreplaceable relic. Although the fossil known as Lucy had been expected to leave the Ethiopian Natural History Museum this month, some in the nation's capital were surprised the departure took place under cover of darkness with no fanfare Sunday. "This is a national treasure," said Kine Arega, a 29-year-old attorney in Addis Ababa. "How come the public has no...
  • Rare fossilized cypress trees found in Hungary

    08/02/2007 8:29:50 PM PDT · by Fred Nerks · 29 replies · 4,460+ views
    Reuters ^ | Tue Jul 31, 9:19 AM ET | U/A
    BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered a group of fossilized swamp cypress trees preserved from 8 million years ago which could provide clues about the climate of pre-historic times. Instead of petrifying -- turning to stone -- the wood of 16 Taxodium trees was preserved in an open-cast coal mine allowing geologists to study samples as if they were sections cut from a piece of living wood. "The importance of the findings is that so many trees got preserved in their original position in one place," Alfred Dulai, geologist at the Hungarian Natural History Museum...
  • Fossils Older Than Dinosaurs Reveal Pattern Of Early Animal Evolution On Earth (Darwin wrong again)

    07/31/2007 10:18:52 AM PDT · by GodGunsGuts · 233 replies · 4,077+ views
    Science Daily ^ | July 26, 2007
    ...His findings: Overall, approximately 35 percent of the 982 trilobite species exhibited some variation in some aspect of their appearance that was evolving. But more than 70 percent of early and middle Cambrian species exhibited variation, while only 13 percent of later trilobite species did so. "There's hardly any variation in the post-Cambrian," he said. "Even the presence or absence or the kind of ornamentation on the head shield varies within these Cambrian trilobites and doesn't vary in the post-Cambrian trilobites."...
  • Ancient fossil forest found by accident (potential major out of order problem for Darwinists)

    07/30/2007 2:01:00 PM PDT · by GodGunsGuts · 375 replies · 6,149+ views
    news@nature.com (via BioEd online) ^ | April 23, 2007 | Katharine Sanderson
    Geologists have found the remains of a huge underground rainforest hidden in a coal mine in Illinois. The fossil forest, buried by an earthquake 300 million years ago, contains giant versions of several plant types alive today. ... Also surprising is the presence of remains from mangrove-like plants. "It was always assumed that mangrove plants had evolved fairly recently," says Falcon-Lang.
  • Fossil DNA Proves Greenland Once Had Lush Forests; Ice Sheet Is Surprisingly Stable

    07/05/2007 5:14:09 PM PDT · by blam · 33 replies · 983+ views
    Science Daily ^ | 7-5-2007 | University Of Copenhagen
    Source: University of Copenhagen Date: July 5, 2007 Fossil DNA Proves Greenland Once Had Lush Forests; Ice Sheet Is Surprisingly Stable Science Daily — Ancient Greenland was green. New Danish research has shown that it was covered in conifer forest and, like southern Sweden today, had a relatively mild climate. Eske Willerslev, a professor at Copenhagen University, has analysed the world's oldest DNA, preserved under the kilometre-thick icecap. The DNA is likely close to half a million years old, and the research is painting a picture which is overturning all previous assumptions about biological life and the climate in Greenland....
  • UWO Researcher Finds What May Be Oldest Fossil On Earth

    05/30/2007 4:46:22 PM PDT · by blam · 25 replies · 841+ views
    The London Free Press ^ | 5-29-2007 | John Miner
    UWO researcher finds what may be oldest fossil on Earth Tue, May 29, 2007 By JOHN MINER, SUN MEDIA A team led by a University of Western Ontario scientist has discovered direct evidence there was life on Earth 3.35 billion years ago UWO geologist Neil Banerjee and his team found fossilized tunnels of microbes in ancient rock from Australia. The find was dated by scientists at the University of Alberta using a newly developed laser-dating method. “This is very strong evidence,” Banerjee said. The discovery pushes the fossil evidence of life back to the early period of the Earth’s development....
  • Oldest lobster fossil uncovered in Mexico

    05/04/2007 9:08:32 AM PDT · by DogByte6RER · 34 replies · 1,474+ views
    SignOnSanDiego.com ^ | May 4, 2007 | REUTERS
    Oldest lobster fossil uncovered in Mexico REUTERS May 4, 2007 MEXICO CITY – Mexican scientists said they have identified the world's oldest lobster fossil, that of a creature alive when Africa was only just breaking apart from the Americas about 120 million years ago. The fossil is 4.7 inches long, and its shell and legs are immaculately preserved by the mud in the southern state of Chiapas, where it was found. It is dated as 120 million years old, about 20 million years older than previous lobster fossils. “This lobster that we found in Chiapas belongs to the genus that...
  • Fossil Arctic animal tracks point to climate risks (hippopotamus-like creature on an Arctic island)

    04/25/2007 7:58:21 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 38 replies · 1,249+ views
    Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 4/24/07 | Alister Doyle
    COAL MINE SEVEN, Svalbard, Norway (Reuters) - Fossils of a hippopotamus-like creature on an Arctic island show the climate was once like that of Florida, giving clues to risks from modern global warming, a scientist said. Fossil footprints of a pantodont, a plant-eating creature weighing about 400 kg (880 lb), add to evidence of sequoia-type trees and crocodile-like beasts in the Arctic millions of years ago when greenhouse gas concentrations in the air were high. "The climate here about 55 million years ago was more like that of Florida," Appy Sluijs, an expert in ancient ecology at Utrecht University in...
  • Green Energy Enthusiasts Are Also Betting on Fossil Fuels

    03/18/2007 1:25:45 PM PDT · by george76 · 11 replies · 653+ views
    the new york times ^ | March 16, 2007 | MATT RICHTEL
    Silicon Valley’s technology investors have taken to the ramparts, threatening to tear down the oil and gas industries’ dominance with innovations that use ethanol, solar and wind. A chief champion of the cause has been Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the marquee venture capital firms. Its principals, John Doerr in particular, have passionately advocated development of alternative energies as a way to create energy independence and clean up the carbon-saturated atmosphere. But Kleiner has also poured millions of dollars into Terralliance, a company that makes technology to enable more efficient drilling of oil and gas. The investment underscores...
  • Fossil Meat Found in 380-Million-Year-Old Fish

    02/12/2007 3:05:44 PM PST · by LibWhacker · 142 replies · 2,466+ views
    National Geographic News ^ | 2/12/07 | Sean Markey
    Australian scientists say they have found morsels of fossilized muscle—the oldest vertebrate tissue ever known—in the remains of two fish that lived 380 to 384 million years ago. Unearthed in western Australia 20 years ago, the specimens belong to two species of an extinct group of primitive, armored fish known as placoderms (map of Australia). The fish's remarkably well-preserved soft tissues include bundles of muscle cells, blood vessels, and nerve cells. They were found during recent electron microscope scans, the research team reported last week in the British journal Biology Letters. Fossilized muscle is quite rare, and the new finds...
  • Mastodon Tooth Fossil Remains a Mystery

    02/03/2007 5:57:20 PM PST · by xcamel · 6 replies · 343+ views
    ap/myway ^ | Feb 3 | BLAKE NICHOLSON
    BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A mastodon tooth fossil found in an Ontario, Canada, attic remains a mystery, after a paleontologist concluded it does not belong with a skeleton here that is one of the world's most complete. John Hoganson with the North Dakota Geological Survey climbed a ladder about 10 feet this week to take measurements inside the jaw of the skeleton in the North Dakota Heritage Center on the state Capitol grounds. "The tooth at (the University of) Waterloo was larger than the ones ... here," he said. "The bottom line is it just would not fit." The Earth...
  • Tiny Bones Rewrite Texbooks: First New Zealand Land Mammal Fossil

    12/15/2006 10:39:34 AM PST · by blam · 27 replies · 922+ views
    TINY BONES REWRITE TEXTBOOKS: first New Zealand land mammal fossil Part of the fossilised jaw< Part of the fossilised femur Small but remarkable fossils found in New Zealand will prompt a major rewrite of prehistory textbooks, showing for the first time that the so-called "land of birds" was once home to mammals as well. The tiny fossilised bones - part of a jaw and hip - belonged to a unique, mouse-sized land animal unlike any other mammal known and were unearthed from the rich St Bathans fossil bed, in the Otago region of South Island. But the real shock to...
  • Did The Air Belong To Mammals First?

    12/13/2006 5:17:53 PM PST · by blam · 10 replies · 262+ views
    New Scientist ^ | 12-13-2006
    Did the air belong to mammals first? 13 December 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. Time for some mammalian bragging. It appears, following the discovery of a unique fossil in Inner Mongolia, China, that mammals might have taken to the air before birds. The fossil contains the remains of a small, squirrel-like mammal that was able to glide with the help of a fur-covered membrane like those of modern-day flying squirrels (pictured). At 125 million years old, the fossil is 70 million years older than the most ancient existing fossil of a flying mammal, and roughly the same age as...
  • Viral Fossil Brought Back to Life

    11/07/2006 1:05:54 PM PST · by FLOutdoorsman · 30 replies · 978+ views
    ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 01 Nov 2006 | Martin Enserink
    In a controversial study, researchers have resurrected a retrovirus that infected our ancestors millions of years ago and now sits frozen in the human genome. Published online by Genome Research this week, the study may shed new light on the history of these genomic intruders, as well as their role in tumors. Although this particular virus, dubbed Phoenix, is a wimpy one, some argue that resuscitating any ancient virus is inherently risky and that the study should have undergone stricter reviews. Retroviruses have the ability to make DNA copies of their RNA genomes and incorporate these into the host's genome....
  • Remains of giant camel discovered in Syria

    10/08/2006 7:58:20 AM PDT · by aculeus · 96 replies · 2,150+ views
    Mumbai Mirror ^ | October 8, 2006 | Reuters
    Damascus: Swiss researchers have discovered the 1,00,000-year-old remains of a previously unknown giant camel species in central Syria. “This is a big discovery, a revolution in science,” Professor Jean-Marie Le Tensorer of the University of Basel said. “It was not known that the dromedary was present in the Middle East more than 10,000 years ago.” “Can you imagine? The camel’s shoulders stood three metres high and it was around four metres tall, as big as a giraffe or an elephant. Nobody knew that such a species had existed.” Tensorer, who has been excavating at the desert site in Kowm since...
  • Sumatran Rhinos Are Living Fossils

    09/13/2006 10:29:03 PM PDT · by restornu · 11 replies · 846+ views
    Cryptomundo ^ | Sept 12, 2006 | Darren Naish
    Zoologist Darren Naish has written a thoughtful essay on “Are Sumatran Rhinos Really Living Fossil?” His blog is in response to my comments on the “living fossil” issue, discussed here. I disagree with Naish’s restrictive parameters, of course, as I see this more an issue of educational semantics influenced by zoology, not ruled by it. Darren Naish’s approach is worthy of your attention and he has every right to his very informed point of view. Needless to say, in this case, I was employing the “living fossil” definition that this rhino species is “a living species/clade with many ‘primitive’ characteristics...
  • Small Prehistoric Whale Was Vicious Hunter

    08/31/2006 4:57:28 AM PDT · by Alex1977 · 5 replies · 758+ views
    Live Science ^ | 30 August 2006 | Abigail W. Leonard
    Paleontologists have uncovered a 25-million-year-old whale fossil with a monstrous set of teeth and enormous eyes on the coast of Australia.The discovery has researchers rethinking whales’ evolutionary history.Scientists were surprised to find that the vicious-looking specimen is an ancestor of modern baleen whales, gentle giants of today’s seas. The fossil suggests a creature that grew to a little more than 11 feet with teeth about an inch-and-a-half long. Baleen whales, which include the blue and humpback, feed by filtering plankton and small fish from seawater through hair-like fibers in their jaws. Their ferocious forebears, on the other hand, appear to...
  • Earliest hominid: Not a hominid at all?

    06/19/2006 7:08:06 PM PDT · by Marius3188 · 81 replies · 1,713+ views
    University of Michigan News Service ^ | June 19, 2006 | Laura Bailey
    ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The earliest known hominid fossil, which dates to about 7 million years ago, is actually some kind of ape, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan. The finding, they say, suggests scientists should rethink whether we actually descended from apes resembling chimpanzees, which are considered our closest relatives. U-M anthropologist Milford Wolpoff and colleagues examined images and the original paper published on the discovery of the Toumaï cranium (TM 266) or Sahelanthropus tchadensis, as well as a computer reconstruction of the skull. Two other colleagues were actually able to examine the skull,...