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archive: Jul-Sep 2006
Paleo-news archive: July-September 2006
'Lucy's baby' found in Ethiopia
(Sep 21, 2006)
The 3.3-million-year-old fossilised remains of a human-like child
have been unearthed in Ethiopia's Dikika region. The female Australopithecus
afarensis bones are from the same species as an adult skeleton found
in 1974 which was nicknamed "Lucy". Scientists are thrilled with the
find, reported in the journal Nature.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Neanderthals' 'last rock refuge'
(Sep 14, 2006)
Our evolutionary cousin the Neanderthal may have survived in Europe
much longer than previously thought. A study in Nature magazine suggests
the species may have lived in Gorham's Cave on Gibraltar up to 24,000
years ago. The Neanderthal people were believed to have died out about
35,000 years ago, at a time when modern humans were advancing across
the continent.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Fossils suggest chaotic recovery from mass
extinction
(Sep 5, 2006)
Insect bite marks in ancient leaf fossils are shedding new light on
how nature bounced back after an asteroid impact killed off the dinosaurs
and much of life on Earth 65 million years ago. Plant and insect biodiversity
is strongly linked today: Where there are many types of plants, there
are many insects to eat them. But after the mass extinction, the devastated
plant and insect populations might not have been so in sync, according
to a new study.
Read
more. Source: LiveScience.com |
Ancient whale 'truly weird'
(Aug 16, 2006)
A 25-million-year-old whale fossil from southeastern Australia has
revealed a bizarre early type of 'baleen' whale. The creature was
an ancient cousin of our modern blue whales and humpbacks, but it
was hardly a gentle giant of the sea. Instead it was small and predatory,
with enormous eyes and teeth.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Flying reptile mystery 'solved'
(Jul 27, 2006)
UK scientists say they have solved the mystery of why prehistoric
flying reptiles grew crests on their heads. A rare skull specimen
found in Brazil shows the crest appeared at puberty, suggesting it
was used to attract attention from the opposite sex. University of
Portsmouth experts say pterosaurs, which ruled the air during the
time of the dinosaurs, flaunted their headgear in sexual displays.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Fossil frogs yield 'soft tissues'
(Jul 27, 2006)
Scientists have extracted marrow from the bones of frogs and salamanders
that died 10 million years ago in the muddy swamps of north-eastern
Spain. The first fossilised bone marrow known to science provides
a rare insight into the make-up of prehistoric animals.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Geneticists shoot for Neanderthal genome
in two years
(Jul 21, 2006)
We have the modern human genome. Now researchers are set to sequence
the DNA of our extinct cousins: Neanderthal man. The Max Planck Institute
for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in collaboration
with 454 Life Sciences Corporation, in Branford, Connecticut, today
announce a plan to have a first draft of the Homo neanderthalensis
genome within two years.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
The bigger the dinosaur, the hotter its blood
(Jul 11, 2006)
The debate over whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded like modern reptiles,
or warm-blooded like us, may finally have been settled. According
to some elegant biophysics, they were both – depending on how
big they were. Dinosaurs were built like reptiles, so scientists originally
assumed they were “cold-blooded”, seeking or avoiding sunlight to
control their temperature as modern reptiles do.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Newfound reptile swam in dinosaur era
(Jul 10, 2006)
Scientists have identified a new species of ancient aquatic reptile
that swam the seas when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth. Dubbed Umoonasaurus,
the creature lived in waters off the coast of what is now Australia
115 million years ago, when the continent was located much closer
to Antarctica than it is now.
Read
more. Source: LiveScience.com |
Gene reveals mammoth coat colour
(Jul 6, 2006)
The coat colour of mammoths that roamed the Earth thousands of years
ago has been determined by scientists. Some of the curly tusked animals
would have sported dark brown coats, while other had pale ginger or
blond hair. The information was extracted from a 43,000-year-old woolly
mammoth bone from Siberia using the latest genetic techniques.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
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