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Old December 18th, 2017 #101
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High Arctic fossils reveal ancient bear's weakness for sweets

Ellesmere Island fossil site yields bear teeth with cavities and remains of berry plants



An artist’s reconstruction shows Protarctos abstrusus in the Beaver Pond site area during the late summer. An extinct beaver, Dipoides, is shown carrying a tree branch in water. Plants include black crowberry with ripened berries, dwarf birch in foreground, sedges in water margins, and larch trees in background

Two bears living in a boreal forest in Canada's High Arctic millions of years ago munched on too many sweets and didn't brush their teeth, fossil evidence suggests.

As you might imagine, those bears ended up with cavities — something that paleontologists were very excited to see.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/be...ctic-1.4451466
 
Old December 18th, 2017 #102
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Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago


Researchers at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have confirmed that microscopic fossils discovered in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock in Western Australia are the oldest fossils ever found and indeed the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.

https://phys.org/news/2017-12-oldest...began.html#jCp
 
Old December 21st, 2017 #103
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A 508-million-year-old sea predator with a 'jackknife' head



Artistic reconstruction of Habelia optata. Habelia is thought to have been an active predator, eating small animals with hard carapaces -- such as trilobites.

Paleontologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto have entirely revisited a tiny yet exceptionally fierce ancient sea creature called Habelia optata that has confounded scientists since it was first discovered more than a century ago.

https://phys.org/news/2017-12-millio...knife.html#jCp
 
Old December 22nd, 2017 #104
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150-Million-Year Old Giant Meat-Eating Sea Reptile Unearthed In Antarctica


Scientists from Argentina have uncovered fossil remains of an enormous sea reptile that inhabited Antarctica 150 million years ago.

The reptile is believed to be the most ancient creature ever found in Antarctica.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/21...antarctica.htm
 
Old January 10th, 2018 #105
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Meet the butterflies from 200 million years ago


Newly discovered fossils show that moths and butterflies have been on the planet for at least 200 million years.

Scientists found fossilised butterfly scales the size of a speck of dust inside ancient rock from Germany.

The find pushes back the date for the origins of the Lepidoptera, one of the most prized and studied insect groups.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42636275
 
Old January 11th, 2018 #106
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New turkey-sized dinosaur from Australia preserved in an ancient log-jam


The partial skeleton of a new species of turkey-sized herbivorous dinosaur has been discovered in 113 million year old rocks in southeastern Australia. As reported in open access journal PeerJ, the fossilized tail and foot bones give new insight into the diversity of the small, bipedal herbivorous dinosaurs called ornithopods that roamed the great rift valley that once existed between Australia and Antarctica. The new dinosaur has been named Diluvicursor pickeringi, which means Pickering's Flood-Running dinosaur.

https://phys.org/news/2018-01-turkey...t-log-jam.html
 
Old January 15th, 2018 #107
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Feathered Dinosaur Shimmered Like a Rainbow, Fossil Reveals


Three years ago, a farmer in the Hebei province of China uncovered a mysterious fossil and brought it to the the Paleontological Museum of Liaoning. Now, after studying the find, scientists have announced that the fossil is of a new, duck-sized dinosaur—and when it lived it had an incredible feather display that shined like a living rainbow.

An international team of scientists studying the dinosaur, called Caihong juji, made the discovery by carefully analyzing tiny melanosomes, the part of the cells that contain pigment, in the fossil, which turned up dramatic evidence of the dinosaur’s flamboyant plumage.

Their research was published by the journal Nature Communications on Monday.

http://www.newsweek.com/fossil-revea...rainbow-781516
 
Old January 22nd, 2018 #108
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More than 500 fossils of new ancient worm species found in B.C.

Discovery sheds light on worms found in oceans around world


Roughly 508 million years ago, this bristly worm roamed the waters of what is now British Columbia. Now, the newly identified species of ancient worm is helping researchers unravel an ancient mystery.

Meet Kootenayscolex barbarensis, a new species of bristle worm. It belongs to a richly diverse group of animals called annelids.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ne...hale-1.4494977
 
Old January 26th, 2018 #109
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150-Million-Year-Old Feathered Dinosaur Fossil Proves Prehistoric Birds Lived Longer Than Previously Believed


A pristine fossil unearthed in northern Bavaria has now been determined to be the oldest fossil bird ever discovered. The fossil belongs to a type of Archaeopteryx, winged animals with dinosaur traits, like sharp teeth and a long tail. The newly discovered fossil reveals that these bird-like dinosaurs lived on several islands—though whether they flew there is still anyone’s guess.

http://www.newsweek.com/150-million-...s-lived-791424
 
Old February 5th, 2018 #110
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Spider with a 'whippy' tail found preserved in amber


100 million years ago, spider-like critters had fancy long tails to go with their fangs and spinnerets.

Thanks to Mother Nature’s great freeze-frame device known as amber, scientists have just discovered a remarkable new species of arachnid from 100 million years ago.

https://www.treehugger.com/animals/s...ved-amber.html
 
Old February 18th, 2018 #111
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A mineral signature for finding Burgess Shale-type fossils


Various scientists have suggested that the earliest life on Earth originates from the natural stays of life forms without hard parts. However, by far most of the fossils depend on hard tissue, for example, shells, teeth, and bones for their conservation.

Soft tissue parts, for example, eyes and inside organs, tend to decay before they can fossilize. This additionally is valid for living beings made up totally of soft tissue, for example, worms.

https://www.techexplorist.com/minera...fossils/11893/
 
Old February 28th, 2018 #112
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Artist resurrects obscure fossils in gorgeous living colour

Normally depicted as lunch for other animals, illustrator Franz Anthony brings a diverse range of fossil cephalopods to life


Although the coiled shells of ammonites are a familiar fossil when it comes to reconstructing past environments through art, invertebrates like cephalopods (the group that includes octopuses, nautiluses, “squids” and their relatives, as well as fossil forms ammonites, belemnites and lesser known ancestral groups) normally only feature in the jaws of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...-franz-anthony
 
Old March 5th, 2018 #113
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Baby bird fossil is 'rarest of the rare'


Scientists have unveiled one of the smallest bird fossils ever discovered.

The chick lived 127 million years ago and belonged to a group of primitive birds that shared the planet with the dinosaurs.

Fossils of birds from this time period are rare, with baby fossils seen as "the rarest of the rare".

Scientists say the discovery gives a peek into the lives of the ancient, long-extinct birds that lived between 250 and 66 million years ago.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43249509
 
Old March 17th, 2018 #114
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Found: Fossilized Pterodactyls With 30-Foot Wingspans


University of Bath researchers have unearthed a 66-million-year-old pterodactyl with a 30-foot wingspan in Northern Morocco. Including this winged reptile, the research team uncovered six new species of pterodactyls, also known as pterosaurs, from three different taxonomic families. Their wingspans ranged from 6 feet to 30 feet.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...dactyl-fossils
 
Old March 17th, 2018 #115
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Fossilized Brains of Ancient 'Sea Monster' Discovered in Greenland


The discovery of not just one, but 15 fossilized brains from a 520-million-year-old marine predator is helping scientists understand how ancient brains evolved into the complex command centers they are today.

The creature in question, Kerygmachela kierkegaardi — a bizarre, oval-shaped water beast that had two long appendages on its head, 11 swimming flaps on each side and a skinny tail — isn't new to science, but its brain is, said study co-lead researcher Jakob Vinther, a United Kingdom-based paleontologist.

https://www.livescience.com/62029-on...st-brains.html
 
Old April 11th, 2018 #116
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Researchers suggest ancient preserved circulatory and nervous systems in China are actually biofilms


A small team of researchers from Germany and China has found evidence that suggests ancient preserved circulatory and nervous systems found in Chengjiang, China, are actually the remains of biofilms. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes their study of hundreds of fossils collected from the Chengjiang site and what they found.

https://phys.org/news/2018-04-ancien...films.html#jCp
 
Old April 11th, 2018 #117
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Colorful moth wings date back to the dinosaur era


Tiny light-scattering structures that give today’s butterflies and moths their brilliant hues date back to the days of the dinosaurs.

Fossilized mothlike insects from the Jurassic Period bear textured scales on their forewings that could display iridescent colors, researchers report April 11 in Science Advances.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/...k-dinosaur-era
 
Old May 13th, 2018 #118
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Jurassic Fossil Tail Could Be Missing Link In Crocodile Family Tree


Paleontologists have discovered a Jurassic fossil tail, which could be the missing link in the family tree of crocodiles.

Intermediary Species

During the Jurassic period between 200 to 145 million years ago, ancient crocodiles had two basic forms. One group had dino-like armor and used limbs for walking on land. The other group was more dolphin-like, having tail fins and flippers and no armors.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/22...amily-tree.htm
 
Old May 23rd, 2018 #119
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Utah fossil reveals global exodus of mammals' near relatives to major continents



A nearly 130-million-year-old fossilized skull found in Utah is an Earth-shattering discovery in one respect.

The small fossil is evidence that the super-continental split likely occurred more recently than scientists previously thought and that a group of reptile-like mammals that bridge the reptile and mammal transition experienced an unsuspected burst of evolution across several continents.

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-utah-f...xodus.html#jCp
 
Old May 30th, 2018 #120
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The mother of all lizards found in Italian Alps


Scientists said Wednesday they had tracked down the oldest known lizard, a tiny creature that lived about 240 million years ago when Earth had a single continent and dinosaurs were brand new.

Scans of the fossilised skeleton of Megachirella revealed the chameleon-sized reptile was an ancestor of today's lizards and snakes, which belong to a group called squamates, an international team wrote in the science journal Nature.

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-mother...-alps.html#jCp
 
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