Tag Archives: Fossil

For centuries, the Fibonacci sequence has been one of nature’s most recognizable patterns, found in everything from sunflowers to pinecones. But recent research has thrown a curveball into the idea that Fibonacci spirals are an ancient and universal feature of plant evolution. A study on an ancient plant fossil, Asteroxylon mackiei, has uncovered surprising findings that challenge this long-held assumption. …

Newly discovered fossils in Kenya reveal that Paranthropus boisei, once seen as a simple plant-eater, had surprisingly human-like hands and feet—rewriting its place in human evolution. (CREDIT: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 4.0) For decades, Paranthropus boisei, an early hominin that roamed eastern Africa a million years ago, was known for its gigantic jaw and powerfully constructed biting muscles. Its …

Argentinian scientists have found fossilized bones of one of the world’s oldest dinosaur species in the Andes Mountains, the CONICET research agency announced on Wednesday. A paleontological team led by the institute found the almost complete skeleton of the small long-necked reptile, named Huayracursor jaguensis, at an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) in Argentina’s northwest. The team found part …

The Strange 540-Million-Year-Old Fossil Shaking Up Evolutionary History  SciTechDaily Source link

More like this: • How coal-fired power stations can become giant batteries • Where EV batteries go to die – and be reborn • How the concrete in your house could be turned into a giant battery Cetegen makes a final point in favour of liquid air energy storage: it’s cheap. Energy storage technologies are often assessed using a metric called the “levelised …

Humans stand apart from many other primates by taking more time to mature, relying on a supportive network of parents, grandparents, and community members during a long period of childhood. This extended period of growth has long been considered crucial for learning the skills required to thrive in a socially complex environment. For a while, scientists have connected …

Jonah FisherEnvironment correspondent Dean Lomax Ichthyosaur experts Dr Dean Lomax and Professor Judy Massare with the 185m year old skeleton A near-complete skeleton found on Dorset’s Jurassic coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile that once ruled the oceans. The dolphin-sized ichthyosaur has been named Xiphodracon goldencapensis, or the “sword dragon …

In 2006, a study published in the journal Biology Letters described a fossil unlike any ever seen before. It captured a prehistoric reptile that lived around 125 million years ago. That, in itself, wasn’t terribly surprising, but the fact that it had two heads really, really was. Bicephalism describes a quirk in animal development that results in an individual with …

Rock hyraxes, known in southern Africa more often as “dassies”, are furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails. They spend much of their time sunning themselves on rocky outcrops. Another thing they sometimes do is drag their butts along the ground. Dog owners know that this behavior can be a sign of parasitic infections; in hyraxes the …

Scottish reptile fossil showing mix of snake and lizard from dinosaur era baffles scientists  Dawn Enigmatic Jurassic reptile looks like a mix of snake and lizard  Reuters Mosaic anatomy in an early fossil squamate  Nature 167-Million-Year-Old Lizard With Snake-Like Jaws Puzzles Scientists  SciTechDaily New Jurassic Lizard Species Has Confusing Set of Features Seen in Snakes and Geckos  Sci.News Source link