The mode and tempo of extinctions and extirpations after the first contact phase of human settlements is a widely debated topic. As the last major landmass to be settled by humans, New Zealand offers a unique lens through which to study interactions of people and biota. By analyzing ancient DNA …
A team of British scientists analysed what has generally been accepted as the world's oldest fossils of bacteria, embedded in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks from western Australia, and they concluded that the rocks had never been more than non-living rocks. "None of the structures we see there we would interpret as fossils,' …
Six eggs containing the fossils of baby dinosaurs were recently found in Argentina. The fossils, which are remarkably well preserved, were found at Auca Mahuevo
Recent discovery of animal bones and stone tools has raised speculations that humans lived in the Arctic Circle during the Ice Age and the region then may not have been covered by ice. An international team of scientists has discovered stone artifacts; reindeer, wolf and horse bones; and a mammoth …
imagine a whale running to catch a prey, instead of swimming in the ocean to gulp one? The picture may be unimaginable today, but it was a reality about 50 million years ago. Scientists have found that the primitive hoofed mammals were actually predecessors to the whale family. The evidence …
The fossil of a small flying reptile cloaked in feathers has put the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs under scrutiny. The lizard-like feathered reptile lived about 220 million years ago. The fossil, called Longisquama, suggests that feathered animals lived prior to dinosaurs. The finding casts doubt about theories advocating …
Fossil hunters have found the bones and teeth of forest-dwelling creatures who are said to have lived more than 5.8 million years ago. The creatures are believed to have walked upright. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, usa , along with his colleagues found the fossils …
Sturgeon is a fish species that has been swimming in the Earth's rivers ever since the days of the dinosaur. Regarded as living fossils, they can live up to 150 years and reach a size of six metres, weighing over 1.65 tonnes
Change in a species' territory can bring on rapid morphological, or structural, evolutionary changes. This has been revealed by a study of genetic data and fossil records of a common California snail, conducted by biologists from Louisiana State University and the University of California, San Diego, USA. By studying different …
Researchers have discovered the fossil of a new species of dinosaur in Egypt. Paralititan stromeri, the dinosaur, is believed to be one of the most massive to survive on the Earth, weighing 60-70 tonnes. Experts say the find is significant because very little is known about African dinosaurs. The period …
researchers are convinced that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. This theory gets credence from the recent discovery of fossil that has clear traces of feathers from head to tail. The fossil also supports the theory that some dinosaurs developed feathers not to fly but to keep themselves warm. The …
after coming upon countless dinosaur fossils, paleontologists say they have finally discovered something they had never believed they would ever come upon: the heart of a dinosaur. The dinosaur fossil skeleton
Scientists working in China discovered 45-million-year-old bones from the foot of an extinct primate which fills in a missing branch of the evolutionary tree. Dan Gebo, paleontologist with the Northern Illinois University in the us said that the three-dwelling, mouse-sized animal called Eosimias could solve the hotly debated issue of …
SPECULATION as to whether the modern human race has any blood link with the Neanderthals may now be put to rest. There is none. Possibility of the Neanderthals - people who inhabited Europe more than 28,000 years ago - having mingled with the human race as we know it now …
In a novel scheme to keep Delhi roads free of litter, the municipal corporation has decided to levy a penalty of Rs 50 on those found spitting, dumping vegetable, groundnut skins and cigarette buds in public places. Over four tonnes of fish died in the Railadevi Lake in Thane, Mumbai, …
The National Geographic magazine suddenly finds itself in an embarrassing situation with the discovery that the "missing-link" dinosaur-bird featured by it in November is a fake. The fossil is two animals put together either mistakenly by its discoverers in China or as an artful forgery. Archaeoraptor, on display at the …
a team of palaeontologists in southern Patagonia, usa , has discovered the fossils of the largest dinosaur ever found. Measuring 48-51 metres (m) in length, the herbivore, which lived during the Cretaceous period about 105 million years ago, is around 8 m longer than Seismosaurus, till recently the largest dinosaur. …
Many anthropologists believe that our direct ancestors, Homo sapiens , originated in Africa and left the continent about 100,000 years ago. This is popularly known as the "Out of Africa' theory. Others, however, say that H sapiens evolved independently in separate locations. A new analysis of an ancient Australian skeleton …
it was during a geological field study in February that K Satyanarayana of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Regional Geology Laboratory came upon the fossils of a dinosaur in the Kuar Bet island in Kutch, the west coast of India, which is controlled by the Indian Army. It was …
imprints of a bygone era left on rocks indicate that life on Earth was disturbed five times. They also suggest that all was well and then, suddenly, half or more of the species that were around simply vanished. However, after a million years or two, new creatures evolved to fill …
the history of Australia is closely linked to the fires that have engulfed the continent for centuries. Captain James Cook who reached the Australian shores in 1770 described it as a "continent of smoke'. Some describe it as a land shaped by smoke ( New Scientist , Vol 162, No …
