A new species of pterosaur from specimens found on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, has been announced by scientists from the Natural History Museum, University of Bristol, University of Leicester, and University of Liverpool.
A team of scientists has discovered a new fossil shark species from Alabama. The shark is a new species of Palaeohypotodus, which means "ancient small-eared tooth," in reference to the small needle-like fangs present on the sides of the teeth.
It has been named Palaeohypotodus bizzocoi, for the late Dr. Bruce Bizzoco (1949–2022) of Birmingham, Alabama. Bizzoco served as a Dean at Shelton State Community College, archaeologist, and was a longtime volunteer at McWane Science Center. The naming of this species honors Dr. Bizzoco's lifelong commitment to education and the preservation of Alabama's history.
A research team has picked a side in the "Snowball Earth" debate over the possible cause of planet-wide deep freeze events that occurred in the distant past. According to their new study, these so-called "Snowball" Earth periods, in which the planet's surface was covered in ice for thousands or even millions of years, could have been triggered abruptly by large asteroids that slammed into the Earth.
A multi-institutional team of archaeologists and paleontologists has unearthed and identified a new species of mammal from the Maastrichtian age. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers note that the mammal was much larger than any other known examples of its kind.
The fossil consists of a femur, tibia, hip and hip socket—enough for the team to identify it as belonging to a group known as Theria, which comprises non-egg-laying mammals. It also was enough to show that the animal was large compared to other mammals of its time. The team named the new creature, Patagomaia chainko. It was excavated in southern Patagonia.
A research team has picked a side in the "Snowball Earth" debate over the possible cause of planet-wide deep freeze events that occurred in the distant past. According to their new study, these so-called "Snowball" Earth periods, in which the planet's surface was covered in ice for thousands or even millions of years, could have been triggered abruptly by large asteroids that slammed into the Earth.
An international team of scientists from China, the U.S. and Europe has studied new fossils of the marine reptile Dinocephalosaurus orientalis. This research has made it possible to fully describe the bizarre, very impressive animal for the first time.
Dinocephalosaurus orientalis had an unusually long neck and reminded the researchers of the snake-like representation of dragons in Chinese mythology. The research findings on Dinocephalosaurus orientalis have now been published in the journal Earth and Environmental Science: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh—just in time for the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
New species of ancient vampire squid unearthed in Luxembourg
FEBRUARY 27, 2024
A trio of paleontologists in Germany has found a fossilized vampire squid that they dated to 183 million years ago. In their paper published in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, Robert Weis, Ben Thuy and Dirk Fuchs describe where the fossil was found, its condition, and how it compares to modern vampire squids.
Vampire squid (vampyromorphs) are a type of cephalopod—they most resemble squid but are actually related more closely to octopi. Several species of vampyromorphs have been discovered, including several that are extinct. They are known for their bioluminescent organs and long, retractable filaments, a feature that distinguishes them from other squid and octopi.
For this new study, the research team further investigated the fossilized remains of a vampyromorph found at a dig site in Bascharage in 2022 and dated it back to the Early Jurassic. They named the new species Simoniteuthis michaelyi.
The researchers found the fossil to be in excellent condition, and it was a complete specimen, which allowed for a detailed study. They also found that the creature had died while in the middle of consuming two small fish—a rare find for any fossil. It measured 38 centimeters long. They describe the find as exceptional due to its quality of preservation. They were able to study what had once been soft tissue structures, such as eyeballs, and muscle tissue, all in great detail.
Prior research suggests that the vampyromorph lived in the shallows off an island that once existed in what is now the heart of the European mainland. The research team believes that the remarkable degree of preservation of this squid is due to unique conditions at the moment of the creature's death. Water at the bottom of the sea where it ventured would have been poorly oxygenated, causing the creature to suffocate. In addition to killing the squid, it would have prevented other creatures from feeding on its remains, allowing it to become buried in the seafloor, wholly intact.
What ended the 'dark ages' in the early universe? New Webb data just brought us closer to solving the mystery
Mar 2, 2024
About 400,000 years after the Big Bang, the cosmos was a very dark place. The glow of the universe's explosive birth had cooled, and space was filled with dense gas —mostly hydrogen—with no sources of light.
Slowly, over hundreds of millions of years, the gas was drawn into clumps by gravity, and eventually, the clumps grew big enough to ignite. These were the first stars.
At first their light didn't travel far, as much of it was absorbed by a fog of hydrogen gas. However, as more and more stars formed, they produced enough light to burn away the fog by "reionizing" the gas—creating the transparent universe dotted with brilliant points of light we see today.
But exactly which stars produced the light that ended the dark ages and triggered this so-called "epoch of reionization"? In research published in Nature, we used a gigantic cluster of galaxies as a magnifying glass to gaze at faint relics of this time—and discovered that stars in small, faint dwarf galaxies were likely responsible for this cosmic-scale transformation.
What ended the dark ages?
Most astronomers already agreed that galaxies were the main force in reionizing the universe, but it wasn't clear how they did it. We know that stars in galaxies should make a lot of ionizing photons, but these photons need to escape the dust and gas inside their own galaxy to ionize hydrogen out in the space between galaxies.
‘Nightmarish’ sea lizard ruled the oceans during time of the dinosaurs
1 hour ago
Scientists have discovered remains of a “nightmarish” new sea lizard species with dagger-like teeth that dominated the oceans 66 million years ago.
Khinjaria acuta would have lived alongside dinosaurs, co-existing with behemoths such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.
Around eight metres long – about the same length as an orca – Khinjaria had powerful jaws and long, dagger-like teeth to munch prey, giving it a “nightmarish appearance”, according to researchers.
The team said the creature’s elongated skull and jaw musculature suggests it had “a terrible biting force”.
Khinjaria belongs to a family of giant marine lizards known as mosasaurs, the ancient relatives of today’s Komodo dragons and anacondas.
World's earliest forest discovered, scientists say
1 hour ago
Scientists have found what they believe to be the world's earliest known fossilised forest in cliffs on the coast of South West England.
It was discovered in high sandstone cliffs near Minehead, Somerset, close to a Butlin's holiday camp.
Researchers from Cambridge and Cardiff Universities say they are the oldest fossilised trees ever found in Britain and the oldest known forest on Earth.
The trees, known as calamophyton, resemble palm trees.
Described as a kind of 'prototype' of today's trees, the largest were between two and four metres tall.
