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Categories: Geoscience: Earth Science, Paleontology: Fossils
Published Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves suffered from diseased joints
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to new research.
Published Marine fossils are a reliable benchmark for degrading and collapsing ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans began altering environments long before records were kept of the things that lived in them, making it difficult for scientists to determine what healthy ecosystems should look like. Researchers show the recent fossil record preserves a reliable snapshot of marine environments as they existed before humans.
Published Scientists discover 36-million-year geological cycle that drives biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Movement in the Earth's tectonic plates indirectly triggers bursts of biodiversity in 36 million-year cycles by forcing sea levels to rise and fall, new research has shown.
Published Discovery of 500-million-year-old fossil reveals astonishing secrets of tunicate origins
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers describe a 500 million-year-old tunicate fossil species. The study suggests that the modern tunicate body plan was already established soon after the Cambrian Explosion.
Published Fossils reveal how ancient birds molted their feathers -- which could help explain why ancestors of modern birds survived when all the other dinosaurs died
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the asteroid-induced mass extinction 66 million years ago. But not all the birds alive at the time made it. Why the ancestors of modern birds lived while so many of their relatives died has been a mystery that paleontologists have been trying to solve for decades. Two new studies point to one possible factor: the differences between how modern birds and their ancient cousins molt their feathers.
Published How urea may have been the gateway to life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Urea reacts extremely quickly under the conditions that existed when our planet was newly formed. This new insight furthers our understanding of how life on Earth might have begun.
Published There may be good news about the oceans in a globally warmed world
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An analysis of oxygen levels in Earth's oceans may provide some rare, good news about the health of the seas in a future, globally warmed world. A study analyzing ocean sediment shows that ocean oxygen levels in a key area were higher during the Miocene warm period, some 16 million years ago when the Earth's temperature was hotter than it is today.
Published This self-driving boat maps underwater terrain
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Engineers concoct an easier way for scientists to study underwater topography.
Published Newly discovered Jurassic fossils in Texas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have filled a major gap in the state's fossil record -- describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas. The weathered bone fragments are from the limbs and backbone of a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile.
Published Freely available risk model for hurricanes, tropical cyclones
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As human-driven climate change amplifies natural disasters, hurricanes and typhoons stand to increase in intensity. Until now, there existed very few freely available computer models designed to estimate the economic costs of such events, but a team of researchers has recently announced the completion of an open-source model that stands to help countries with high tropical cyclone risks better calculate just how much those storms will impact their people and their economies.
Published New study sheds light on the evolution of animals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have been mystified as to why animals are missing in much of the fossil record. Researchers have now developed a new method to determine if animals really were absent during certain geological eras, or if they were present but too fragile to be preserved.
Published Humans' ancestors survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A Cretaceous origin for placental mammals, the group that includes humans, dogs and bats, has been revealed by in-depth analysis of the fossil record, showing they co-existed with dinosaurs for a short time before the dinosaurs went extinct.
Published 50-million-year-old katydid fossil reveals muscles, digestive tract, glands and a testicle
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 50 million years ago in what is now northwestern Colorado, a katydid died, sank to the bottom of a lake and was quickly buried in fine sediments, where it remained until its compressed fossil was recovered in recent years. When researchers examined the fossil under a microscope, they saw that not only had many of the insect's hard structures been preserved in the compressed shale, so had several internal organs and tissues, which are not normally fossilized.
Published Research in a place where geological processes happen before your eyes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Taiwan experiences some of the world's fastest rates of mountain building -- they are growing at a faster rate than our fingernails grow in a year. The mountains also see frequent and significant earthquakes, the region experiences about four typhoons per year on average, and in some places, it receives upwards of several meters of rain annually.
Published Study of Earth's stratosphere reduces uncertainty in future climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research reduces uncertainty in future climate change linked to the stratosphere, with important implications for life on Earth. A significant source of uncertainty relates to future changes to water vapor in the stratosphere, an extremely dry region of the atmosphere 15--50 km above the Earth's surface. Future increases in water vapor here risk amplifying climate change and slowing down the recovery of the ozone layer, which protects life on Earth from harmful solar ultraviolet radiation.
Published Study of deep-sea corals reveals ocean currents have not fuelled rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Pioneering analysis of deep-sea corals has overturned the idea that ocean currents contributed to increasing global levels of carbon dioxide in the air over the past 11,000 years.
Published Investing in nature improves equity, boosts economy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study shows that current trends in environmental degradation will lead to large economic losses in the coming decades, hitting the poorest countries hardest. But there is hope: investing in nature can turn those losses into gains.
Published Megalodon was no cold-blooded killer
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source How the megalodon, a shark that went extinct 3.6 million years ago, stayed warm was a matter of speculation among scientists. Using an analysis of tooth fossils from the megalodon and other sharks of the same period, a study suggests the animal was able to maintain a body temperature well above the temperature of the water in which it lived. The finding could help explain why the megalodon went extinct during the Pliocene Epoch.
Published How coral reefs can survive climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Similar to the expeditions of a hundred or two hundred years ago, the Tara Pacific expedition lasted over two years. The goal: to research the conditions for life and survival of corals. The ship crossed the entire Pacific Ocean, assembling the largest genetic inventory conducted in any marine system to date. The team's 70 scientists from eight countries took around 58,000 samples from the hundred coral reefs studied.
Published Humans' evolutionary relatives butchered one another 1.45 million years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified the oldest decisive evidence of humans' close evolutionary relatives butchering and likely eating one another.