Europe's largest dinosaur unearthed in Spain
(Dec 21, 2006)
The biggest European dinosaur on record died near Riodeva in Spain about 150 million years ago, say palaeontologists who have uncovered its remains. It was a giant plant-eater, now named Turiasaurus. The size of the bones puts Turiasaurus among the largest dinosaurs to walk the Earth, and its skeleton is the most complete of the super-giants, says Paul Upchurch at University College London, who took part in the study.
Mammals took to the skies at least 70 million years earlier than previously thought, scientists say. A fossil uncovered in China suggests mammals were trying out flight at about the same time – or even earlier – than birds, the team reports in Nature. The researchers said the squirrel-sized animal, which lived at least 125 million years ago, used a fur-covered skin membrane to glide through the air.
A prehistoric "Jaws" that roamed the seas 400 million years ago had the most powerful bite of any known fish. The extinct creature, Dunkleosteus terrelli, could bring its jaws together with a remarkable force of 5,000 newtons (1,100lbs-force). This performance surpasses all living fish, including today's great white shark, and puts it up with some of the most powerful bites in all animals.
A genetic breakthrough could help clear up some long-standing mysteries surrounding our closest evolutionary relatives: the Neanderthals. Scientists have reconstructed a chunk of DNA from the genome of a Neanderthal man who lived 38,000 years ago. The genetic information they extracted from a thigh bone has allowed them to identify more than a million building blocks of Neanderthal DNA so far.
After a tantalisingly successful run at sequencing parts of the extinct woolly mammoth's genome, the project is now stalled for lack of funds. Hendrik Poinar of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and his team hope that sequencing the genomes of extinct animals will reveal otherwise inaccessible data on their evolutionary history, population, diversity and other key traits.
Scientists have identified the oldest known bee, a 100 million-year-old specimen preserved in amber. The discovery coincides with the publication of the genetic blueprint of the honeybee, which reveals surprising links with mammals and humans. The ancient insect, trapped in tree sap, is at least 35-45 million years older than any other known bee fossil.
The exact moment when a 550 million year old cell began to divide has been captured in an exquisite 3-D image. The picture is one of a series taken by researchers examining ancient fossil embryos from Guizhou Province, China. The specimens, described in the journal Science, are the oldest known examples of fossil embryos, and shed light on the early evolution of complex life.
Norwegian scientists have discovered a "treasure trove" of fossils belonging to giant sea reptiles that roamed the seas at the time of the dinosaurs. The 150 million-year-old fossils were uncovered on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard – about halfway between Norway and the North Pole. The finds belong to two groups of extinct marine reptiles - the plesiosaurs and the ichthyosaurs. One skeleton has been nicknamed The Monster because of its enormous size.
