Via MSNBC: Furrows preserved in 565-million-year-old rocks are now the first evidence that some of Earth’s earliest and mysterious living things had muscles to move themselves — and so were truly animals. That means muscles may have evolved earlier and been part of a long evolutionary fuse that led to the so-called “Cambrian Explosion,”

Via Geology.com: Petra Diamonds plans to sell a 507-carat uncut diamond from their Cullinan mine in an auction on Friday. It could sell for about $25 million.

Photographs from the Tuscon Gem show via geology.com.

From Yahoo News/AP: Fossils of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur have been found in slabs of Utah sandstone that were so hard that explosives had to be used to free some of the remains, scientists said Tuesday. The bones found at Dinosaur National Monument belonged to a type of sauropod — long-necked plant-eaters that were said to be the largest animal ever to roam land.

Researchers Recover a 35 Million-Year Record of Sea Level Change

The Burke Museum offers a number of online resources: podcasts, photos and videos and information about their new exhibition, Cruisin’ The Fossil Freeway. 

From Monash University: …the research explained how mitochondria — the power house of human and other cells, which provide complex eukaryotic cells with energy and ability to produce, divide and move — were thought to have evolved about 2000 million years ago from primitive bacteria.

The Amateur Geologist site seems to offer many items. I’ve never used it, cannot guarantee it, but it looks interesting.