http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/fossils/ Paleontology and fossil records. Read about fossil finds over the last 10 years starting with the most recent research. Full text, photos. en-us Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:05:01 EDT Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/fossils/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902163920.htm Scientists have discovered the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in life-like form after 100 million years of being entombed in amber. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902163920.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172419.htm Molecular and evolutionary biologists have produced the full genome sequence of Trichoplax, one of nature's most primitive multicellular organisms, providing a new insight into the evolution of all higher animals. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080903172419.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080827152614.htm A 75-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant turtle and a nest of fossilized eggs that were discovered in the badlands of southeastern Alberta are yielding new ideas on the evolution of egg-laying and reproduction in turtles and tortoises. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080827152614.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080815101317.htm The largest Stone Age graveyard found in the Sahara, which provides an unparalleled record of life when the region was green, has been discovered in Niger by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and University of Chicago Professor Paul Sereno, whose team first happened on the site during a dinosaur-hunting expedition. Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080815101317.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805124052.htm Scientists working in an ice-free region of Antarctica have discovered the last traces of tundra -- in the form of fossilized plants and insects -- on the interior of the southernmost continent before temperatures began a relentless drop millions of years ago. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805124052.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804190705.htm Tiny fossilized teeth excavated from an Indian open-pit coal mine could be the oldest Asian remains ever found of anthropoids, the primate lineage of today's monkeys, apes and humans. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804190705.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140227.htm Geoscientists have long presumed that, like today, the tropics remained warm throughout Earth's last major glaciation 300 million years ago. New evidence, however, indicates that cold temperatures in fact episodically gripped these equatorial latitudes at that time. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140227.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729234142.htm Contrary to previous evidence, a new University of Florida study shows the Isthmus of Panama was most likely formed by a Central American Peninsula colliding slowly with the South American continent through tectonic plate movement over millions of years. Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729234142.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729133618.htm A new study of DNA from ancient and modern chickens has shed light on the controversy about the extent of prehistoric Polynesian contact with the Americas. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729133618.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080728192653.htm Researchers have used computed tomography technology to virtually glue newly-discovered skull fragments of a rare extinct lemur back into its partial skull, discovered over a century ago. The skull fragments are separated by thousands of miles, with the partial skull in Vienna and the pieces of frontal bone in the United States. The result of the digital manipulation is a nearly complete skull, which is one of only two known skulls for its species. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080728192653.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080727225420.htm A global change in climate could explain the explosion in marine biodiversity that took place 460 million years ago. Researchers have now found evidence of a progressive ocean cooling of about 15°C over a period of 40 million years during the Ordovician. Until now, this geologic period had been associated with a "super greenhouse effect" on our planet. Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080727225420.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080723101956.htm A small but significant find made during a geological survey provides evidence of the oldest human presence yet discovered along the northernmost margin of Egypt's Nile delta. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080723101956.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722192345.htm A new fossil discovery -- the first of its kind from the whole of the Antarctic continent -- provides new evidence to support the theory that the polar region was once much warmer. Scientists made the new fossil discovery in the Dry Valleys of the East Antarctic region. The fossils (ostracods) come from an ancient lake -- 14 million years old -- and are exceptionally well preserved, with all of their soft anatomy in 3-dimensions. This rare find has implications for tracking the polar ice cap. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722192345.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721112616.htm Human ancestors fought back against an ancient retrovirus with a defense mechanism that our bodies still use today. Evidence of this battle has been preserved in our DNA for millions of years. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721112616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716085125.htm High-resolution industrial computed tomography was used to scan the Homo Liujiang cranium fossil, and the three-dimensional virtual brain image was reconstructed. The brain morphology of Liujiang is assigned to Late Homo sapiens. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716085125.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716140918.htm In the remote desert highlands of southern Yemen, a team of archaeologists have discovered new evidence of ancient transitions from hunting and herding to irrigation agriculture 5,200 years ago. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716140918.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717140459.htm Some bacterial cells can swim, morph into new forms and even become dangerously virulent -- all without initial involvement of DNA. Researchers describe how bacteria accomplish this amazing feat in the journal Science -- and in doing so provide a glimpse of what the earliest forms of life on Earth may have looked like. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717140459.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715204741.htm Some 40,000 years ago, Cro-Magnons -- the first people who had a skeleton that looked anatomically modern -- entered Europe, coming from Africa. Geneticists now show that a Cro-Magnoid individual who lived in Southern Italy 28,000 years ago was a modern European, genetically as well as anatomically. They conclude that the Neandertal people, who lived in Europe for nearly 300,000 years, are not the ancestors of modern Europeans. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715204741.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714092622.htm Six-thousand year old bones excavated in Jericho may help a joint Israeli-Palestinian-German research group combat tuberculosis. The bones, which were all excavated between 50 and 70 years ago, will be tested for tuberculosis, leprosy, leishmania and malaria. However, the primary focus will be tuberculosis. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714092622.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080711090057.htm New research may be disproving much of the conventional wisdom about the diversity of marine fossils and extinction rates. While previous research showed eventual recoveries in the diversity of fossils after periods of extinction, new work shows that the number of species comes back up quickly -- at least on a geological time scale -- and then stays relatively flat. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080711090057.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709144213.htm Hidden away in museums for more that 100 years, some recently rediscovered flatfish fossils have filled a puzzling gap in the story of evolution and answered a question that initially stumped even Charles Darwin. Opponents of evolution have insisted that adult flatfishes, which have both eyes on one side of the head, could not have evolved gradually. A slightly asymmetrical skull offers no advantage. No such fish -- fossil or living -- had ever been discovered, until now. Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709144213.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709110839.htm After taking a fresh look at an old fossil, researchers determined that the brains of the ancestors of modern neotropical primates were as small as those of their early fossil simian counterparts in the Old World. This means one of the hallmarks of primate biology, increased brain size, arose independently in isolated groups -- the platyrrhines of the Americas and the catarrhines of Africa and Eurasia. Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709110839.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708182536.htm The traces of organic material found in fossil feathers are remnants of pigments that once gave birds their color, according to Yale scientists whose paper in Biology Letters opens up the potential to depict the original coloration of fossilized birds and their ancestors, the dinosaurs. Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708182536.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080704122847.htm Scientists have confirmed that an approximately 500 million-year-old stromatolite was recently discovered at the Boxley Blue Ridge Quarry near Roanoke, Virginia. This is the first-ever intact stromatolite head found in Virginia, and is one of the largest complete "heads" in the world, at over 5 feet in diameter and weighing over 2 tons. Stromatolites are among the earliest known life forms, and are important in helping scientists understand more about environments that existed in the past. Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080704122847.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707134402.htm The accepted timeframe for the beginnings of life on Earth is now being questioned, after scientists found a key indicator to the earliest life forms in diamonds from Jack Hills in Western Australia. The 4.2 billion-year-old diamonds found trapped inside the Jack Hills zircon crystals are the oldest-known samples of Earth's carbon. The team's discovery of very high concentrations of carbon 12, or "light carbon" within these crystals is remarkable as it is a feature usually associated with organic life. Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707134402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080628162032.htm The modern Olympic ideals differ dramatically from the way the games were actually played in ancient Greece, says a classicist who has heavily researched the Olympic past. The ancient games featured professionals with a "winning is everything" philosophy. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080628162032.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625140643.htm New exquisitely preserved fossils from Latvia cast light on a key event in our own evolutionary history, when our ancestors left the water and ventured onto land. Scientists have reconstructed parts of the animal and explain the transformation in the new issue of Nature. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625140643.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613111131.htm Researchers is uncovering the truth behind the largest marsupial ever to walk the earth -- the 2.5 tonne wombat-like Diprotodon. Standing 1.8 meters tall and reaching up to 3.5 meters in length, this huge beast lived more than 100,000 years ago, and despite being one of the most celebrated examples of Australia's Pleistocene "megafauna", there is very little known about them. Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613111131.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613111410.htm Australia's links to South America have just gotten a bit closer, but not due to economic forces, rather fossil forces. Palaeontologists working in Australia identified a fossil that had previously only been found in South America. Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613111410.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080612144558.htm A partial dinosaur skeleton unearthed in 1971 from a remote British Columbia site is the first ever found in Canadian mountains and may represent a new species. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080612144558.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611161038.htm A large genetic study of the extinct woolly mammoth has revealed that the species was not one large homogenous group, as scientists previously had assumed, and that it did not have much genetic diversity. The discovery is particularly interesting because it rules out human hunting as a contributing factor, leaving climate change and disease as the most probable causes of extinction. Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611161038.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611144021.htm About 15,000 feet up on Tibet's desolate Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, an international research team was surprised to find thick layers of ancient lake sediment filled with plant, fish and animal fossils typical of far lower elevations and warmer, wetter climates. Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611144021.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080607232647.htm Scientists find evidence of tetrapods living in Antarctica during the early Triassic epoch, about 245 million years ago. The fossils were created when fine sand from an overflowing river poured into the animals' burrows and hardened into casts of the open spaces. The largest preserved piece is about 14 inches long, 6 inches wide and 3 inches deep. The burrows' relatively small size prompted scientists to speculate that their owners might have been small lizardlike reptiles called Procolophonids or an early mammal relative called Thrinaxodon. Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080607232647.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606104814.htm Australian researchers have discovered a remarkable 380-million-year-old fossil placoderm fish with intact embryo and mineralized umbilical cord. The discovery makes the fossil the world's oldest known vertebrate mother. It also provides the earliest evidence of vertebrate sexual reproduction, wherein the males (which possessed clasping organs similar to modern sharks and rays) internally fertilized females. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606104814.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606145623.htm Scientists who dig dinosaurs in Eastern Montana will now be able to chemically analyze fossils the same day they're excavated and before degrading begins. They'll also use cranes to excavate entire skeletons. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606145623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527201804.htm Although "Viking" literally means "pirate," recent research has indicated that the Vikings were also traders to the fishmongers of Europe. Stereotypically, these Norsemen are usually pictured wearing a horned helmet but in a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen, investigated what went under the helmet; the scientists extracted authentic DNA from ancient Viking skeletons, avoiding many of the problems of contamination faced by past researchers. Wed, 28 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527201804.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527201814.htm New research into gigantic flying reptiles has found they weren't all gull-like predators grabbing fish from the water but that some were strongly adapted for life on the ground. Pterosaurs lived during the age of dinosaurs 230 to 65 million years ago. A new study on one particular type of pterosaur, the azhdarchids, claims they were more likely to stalk animals on foot than fly. Wed, 28 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527201814.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163016.htm Two well-known crystal skulls, held in the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, did not come from ancient Mexico as was once thought. Modern scientific techniques suggest that the British skull is of 19th century origin, and the US of 20th century. Sun, 25 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163016.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521131541.htm The description of an ancient amphibian that millions of years ago swam in quiet pools and caught mayflies on the surrounding land in Texas has set to rest one of the greatest current controversies in vertebrate evolution. Wed, 21 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521131541.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520090547.htm Researchers have extracted genes from the extinct Tasmanian tiger, inserted it into a mouse and observed a biological function -- this is a world first for the use of the DNA of an extinct species to induce a functional response in another living organism. Tue, 20 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520090547.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080516123153.htm Palaeontologists have discovered fossil remains in Scandinavia of parrots dating back 55 million years. The fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark. Parrots today live only in the tropics and southern hemisphere, but this new research suggests that they first evolved in the North, much earlier than had been thought. Sat, 17 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080516123153.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505221645.htm Paleontologists have long been perplexed by dinosaur fossils with missing pieces -- sets of teeth without a jaw bone, bones that are pitted and grooved, even bones that are half gone. Now a Brigham Young University study identifies a culprit: ancient insects that munched on dinosaur bones. Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505221645.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm Similarities between half-billion-year-old and recent food webs point to deep principles underpinning the structure of ecological relationships, as shown by researchers from the Santa Fe Institute, Microsoft Research Cambridge and elsewhere. Analyses of food-web data suggest that most, but not all, aspects of the trophic structure of modern ecosystems were in place over a half-billion years ago. Thu, 01 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424140418.htm Putting more meat on the theory that dinosaurs' closest living relatives are modern-day birds, molecular analysis of a shred of 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein -- along with that of 21 modern species -- confirms that dinosaurs share common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators. Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424140418.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080422171449.htm While waiting for colleagues at a small natural history museum in the state of Chiapas, Mexico last year, Cornell paleontologist Greg Dietl chanced upon a discovery that has helped rewrite the evolutionary history of crabs and the shelled mollusks upon which they preyed. Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080422171449.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410140455.htm New geological evidence indicates the Grand Canyon may be so old that dinosaurs once lumbered along its rim. Researchers used a technique known as radiometric dating to show the Grand Canyon may have formed more than 55 million years ago, pushing back its assumed origins by 40 million to 50 million years. The researchers gathered evidence from rocks in the canyon and on surrounding plateaus that were deposited near sea level several hundred million years ago before the region uplifted and eroded to form the canyon. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410140455.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408112112.htm Archaeologists have reconstructed the history of the evolution of human population and answered questions about history, using DNA extracted from skeleton remains at the Aldaieta necropolis. It is clear that the genetic analysis of skeleton remains, despite the labor-intensive work involved and the problem of authenticity of the results, has provided an essential contribution in the reconstruction of the biological history of human populations. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408112112.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404131211.htm The discovery of a new genus of a tiny booklouse from a northern Arizona cave may lead to further protection for cave ecosystems. This is the third new genus of invertebrates found by the same two scientists since 2006. They discovered a new cricket genus and a new millipede genus in Grand Canyon region caves. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404131211.htm