Showing posts with label fossils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fossils. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

A reason to celebrate: National Fossil Day

Fig. 1. Fossilized bee's nests. (Credit: Parker, et. al, 2016)

Today, Oct. 12, marks National Fossil Day, an annual event put on by the National Parks Service to raise awareness of how fossils contribute to science. So you think you want to be a paleontologist, or perhaps you just want to learn of fossils' capabilities? Here’s a bit of a primer to help you decide:

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Fossils and our Future Climate

Fig.1. 40 million year old fossil planktonic foraminifera from Tanzania 
(Credit: Paul Pearson/Cardiff University)

According to a study published this week in the journal Nature, tiny fossils from 53 million to 36 million years ago may help to predict the future of climate change. This research, led by scientists from the University of Southampton and partners around the United Kingdom, sheds light on the relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and climate during an ancient period in Earth’s history known as the Eocene Epoch.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The Fossil Hunter of Lyme Regis

Fig.1. Portrait of Mary Anning with her dog, Tray
(
Credit: NHM London, Public Domain

In 1799, Mary Anning was born to Richard and Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, a quiet town on the southern tip of England. Despite a lack of formal schooling and financial struggles, Anning would become one of England's most prolific fossil collectors. Her finds - including the first two plesiosaur skeletons ever found, the first pterosaur skeleton found outside of Germany, and the first ichthyosaur to be recognized - wound up in private collections and museums around Europe, laying the foundation for the emerging fields of geology and paleontology.

Friday, February 5, 2016

In the News: Mammoth for Dinner?

Fig.1. Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) in late Pleistocene landscape
(
Credit: Mauricio Antón, 2004)

From ices cores to mammoth meat, this week is full of curiosities frozen in time. A return to these specimens reveals an important software error, a lesson in evolution, an answer to a decades-old question, and more:

Friday, January 15, 2016

In the News: What We Leave Behind

Fig.1. Colosseum in Rome, Italy
(
Credit: David Iliff, 2007. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Although Ɩtzi the Iceman offers scientists an unprecedented view of early European life, such direct physical evidence is not always available. This week, researchers used parasites to track Romans, mammoth bones to study Arctic dwellers, and more to overturn previously held assumptions about the ancient world.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Dawn of Birds

Fig.1. A green-naped lorikeet, a little owl, an AdĆ©lie penguin, and a northern cardinal show only a fraction of the remarkable diversity of birds (Credit: Benjamint, 2009Trebol-a, 2011Reinhard Jahn, 2007; & Stephen Wolfe, 2011)

Around 65 million years ago, one of the largest mass extinction events in Earth’s history occurred. An estimated 75 percent of all species went extinct, from non-avian dinosaurs to types of mollusks, plankton, insects, and plants. With extinction, however, came the chance for animals like birds to diversify and expand into empty ecological niches in a process called adaptive radiation. Although the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg) may have enabled the rapid evolution of new species of birds, research published last Friday in the journal Science Advances suggests that birds have a much longer and more complicated history than previously thought.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Bones of Coral Reefs

Fig.1. Coral depends upon algae for survival (Credit:via GIPHY)

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just off the small island of Kiritimati, corals are dying off at an astonishing rate. The small atoll, also called Christmas Island, suffers from high water temperatures caused by the current El NiƱo that have reached 4℃ above normal. Although these temperatures might be nice for a beachgoer, they do not bode well for the survival of the atoll’s extensive coral reefs.

Friday, November 20, 2015

In the News: Bones of Blue Whales

Fig.1. Blue whale from above
(
Credit: NOAA Fisheries, 2007)

What happens when a blue whale washes up on shore? This week in the news, scientists and students had the chance of a lifetime to study rare animals from around the world, from blue whales in Oregon to mysterious arachnids near the Dead Sea.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

The Mystery of European Ancestry

Fig.1.  DNA was extracted from molar teeth of this skeleton dating almost
10,000 years ago, found in Western Georgia (
Credit: Eppie Jones)

Between 4,800 and 5,000 years ago, nomadic herders swept through Europe from the vast steppe in modern-day Russia and Ukraine. These herders, part of the Yamnaya culture, made up one of three ancestral populations that formed the genetic structure of contemporary European populations. Yet findings published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications provide new details to this history and suggest that a previously unknown “fourth strand” of ancient European ancestry existed.

Friday, November 13, 2015

In the News: Around the World and Back in Time

Fig.1. Charles Darwin in 1868 (Credit: Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868)

Instead of sailing to the other side of the world like Darwin, modern evolutionary biologists can scope collections for insight into ancient changes. Online digitized records, hands-on staining, and teeth hidden in collections are being used to rewrite the evolutionary history of animals:

Friday, November 6, 2015

In the News: The Terror of the Midwest

Fig.1. Artist illustration of Dakotaraptor steini, DePalma et al 2015
(
Credit: Emily Willoughby, 2015

The recently described Dakotaraptor, found in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota, is only one of several species in the news this week who give a glimpse into ancient history. Read to learn about a baby Pentaceratops, fire-frogs, sea urchins, and more!

Friday, October 16, 2015

In the News: A Celebration of Bones

Fig.1 chalicothere in a Miocene grassland
(
Credit: National Fossil Day™ 2015)

In honor of National Fossil Day this week, learn about exciting finds in paleontology and paleoanthropology. From human migration to climate change, these bones open a new window into ancient history:

Friday, September 25, 2015

In the News: Filter-Feeders and Whale Drones


Fig.1. This basking shark is one of several species that independently evolved the ability to filter feed (Credit: Greg Skormal/NOAA Fisheries Service, 2011)

Breathalyzer tests for whales and climate change-fighting sea creatures are part of ongoing research in marine animal science. Read to learn more about checking the health of whales, the unusual octopus genome, plankton-feeding sharks, and more!

Friday, August 14, 2015

In the News: To the Moon and Back


Fig.1. Full Moon photo taken from Madison, Alabama, USA (Credit: Gregory H. Revera, 2010)

These special collections contain over 400,000 bumblebees, around 5,000 marine mammals, 350 varieties of blueberries, and samples that are out of this world. Read about exciting research coming out of museum halls and herbaria for this week’s Follow Friday: