paleontology

Pterodactyl-inspired robot to master air, ground and sea

harminka — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:44:30 -0500

Paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University, aeronautical engineer Rick Lind of the University of Florida, and their students, Andy Gedeon and Brian Roberts, have reached back in time 115 million years to one of the most successful flying creatures in Earth’s history, the pterodactyl, to conjure a robotic spy plane with next-generation capabilities.

New research challenges notion that dinosaur soft tissues still survive

harminka — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:35:07 -0500

Paleontologists in 2005 hailed research that apparently showed that soft, pliable tissues had been recovered from dissolved dinosaur bones, a major finding that would substantially widen the known range of preserved biomolecules.

Earth's earliest animal ecosystem was complex, included sexual reproduction

harminka — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:52:53 -0500

Two paleontologists studying ancient fossils they excavated in the South Australian outback argue that Earth’s ecosystem has been complex for hundreds of millions of years – at least since around 565 million years ago, which is included in a period in Earth’s history called the Neoproterozoic era.

Mongolian paleontologists with dream come to Montana State University

harminka — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:14:38 -0600

Jack Horner has flown to Mongolia the past three summers to search for dinosaur bones. Now three members of his field crew have joined him at Montana State University to start developing a new generation of Mongolian paleontologists.

New light on 150-year-old paleontological mystery

harminka — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:27:57 -0600

Discovery of an exceptional fossil specimen in southeastern Morocco that preserves evidence of the animal’s soft tissues has solved a paleontological puzzle about the origins of an extinct group of bizarre slug-like animals with rows of mineralized armor plates on their backs, according to a paper in Nature.

Fossils reveal pattern of early animal evolution on Earth

harminka — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:07:37 -0500

The abundant diversity of characteristics within species likely helped fuel the proliferation and evolution of an odd-looking creature that emerged from an unprecedented explosion of life on Earth more than 500 million years ago. University of Chicago paleontologist Mark Webster reports this finding in the July 27 issue of the journal Science.

Rise of dinosaurs in Late Triassic more gradual

harminka — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:49:05 -0500

Fossils discovered in the oft-painted arroyos of northern New Mexico show for the first time that dinosaurs and their non-dinosaur ancestors lived side by side for tens of millions of years, disproving the notion that dinosaurs rapidly replaced their supposedly outmoded predecessors.

Giant Penguins Once Flourished Near Equator

Dinka — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:19:24 -0500

Clarke was also amazed by the size of one of the species, Icadyptes salasi. This prehistoric penguin would have stood around 5 feet tall, or just over one and a half meters. The fossils also included the skull of the giant penguin, the first that paleontologists had ever found.

Prehistoric equatorial penguins reached 5 feet in height

harminka — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:36:20 -0500

Giant prehistoric penguins? In Peru? It sounds more like something out of Hollywood than science, but a researcher from North Carolina State University along with U.S., Peruvian and Argentine collaborators has shown that two heretofore undiscovered penguin species reached equatorial regions tens of millions of years earlier than expected and during a period when the earth was much warmer than it is now.

Caribbean extinctions occurred 2M years after apparent cause

harminka — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:15:18 -0500

Paleontologists discover most primitive primate skeleton

harminka — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:04:37 -0600

'Terror bird' arrived in North America before land bridge

harminka — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:01:31 -0600