Tag: paleontology
-
pteros.com – New resource on all things Pterosaur
A new website www.pteros.com is chock full with information on pterosaurs. There’s a good explanation on “What is a pterosaur”, information of the various families and individual species, and many, many, colorful pictures. The website will feature 30 pterosaurs and release at least one new pterosaur per week until all 150 groups are represented. Earth…
-
American Museum of Natural History: Trilobite of the Week 01/12/2016
The trilobite of the week from the American Museum of Natural History is Nanolichas parvus. It’s from the Upper Fezouata Formation of the lower Ordovician of Morocco. This guy was found in the Dra Valley, new Zagora, Morrocco. It measures about 6 cm.
-
PBS NOVA: “Life’s Rocky Start”
The next episode of PBS’s Nova is “Life’s Rocky Start”. It starts airing on January 13, 2016 at 9 PM on PBS. There’s a preview on the web and like their other shows, full episodes should be available online. Sounds like a good one, enjoy! Program Description: Four and a half billion years ago, the…
-
myFOSSIL Project Newsletter for December 2015
The myFOSSIL Project has their December 2015 issue up on their website. It has some interesting stories. Enjoy!
-
New dinosaur likened to ‘a turkey from hell’
This sketch drawn by Robert DePalma, curator of vertabrate paleontology at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History, depicts the newly discovered species of raptor, Dakotaraptor.(Robert Depalma/The Associated Press) The Albuquerque Journal has a story about a new dinosaur described as a “turkey from hell”. The animal has been named Dakotaraptor steini. It was 6 feet tall at…
-
FOUND: A Tennis Ball-Sized Diamond, the Largest Discovered in a Century
Atlas Obscura has a post about the the largest diamond found in the last century. It weighs 1,111 carats and measures 2.6 by 2.2 by 1.6 inches. It was found in a mine owned by the Lucara Diamond Corporation. Previously, the largest diamond discovered in this century was a measly 603 carats. That diamond was…
-
American Museum of Natural History: Trilobite of the Week
The American Museum of Natural History has a new page on their website. The “Trilobite of the Week” for this week is Probolichas of the Ordovician of the Bromide Formation of Oklahoma in the USA. Check back each week for something new…
-
Ancient fossil forest unearthed in Arctic Norway
Reconstructed drawing of fossil forest in Svalbard. Credit: Image courtesy of Cardiff University ScienceDaily has a post about a Devonian forest discovered in Norway. The fossil forest was found in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It dates to the late Devonian Period, 380 million years ago. At that time, Svalbard was at…
-
Palaeocast Episode 55: Pterosaurs!
Palaeocast has a new episode up. It’s called Pterosaurs. There is quite a bit of information on their evolution, anatomy, and even behaviour. A previous episode covered the aerodynamics of their flight. Enjoy! Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, and lived in the skies above the dinosaurs during the Mesozoic. They’re often…
-
Found: A 2,250 Foot Long Crack in Wyoming
In early October 2015, a hunter was out walking the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming. He discovered a small crack in the countryside. A few weeks later, when someone else had a chance to check it out, it had grown to nearly a half a mile long (2250 feet) and 150 feet…
-
How to Fossilize a Brain
Smithsonian’s blog has a post about fossilized brains. The brains belonged to a Cambrian arthropod called Fuxianhuia protensa from the famous Chenjiang fossil beds in south western China. The paper appeared in the journal Cell Current Biology. Interestingly, this study was a follow up to a paper that appeared in Nature in October of 2012. …
-
CBC Quirks & Quarks – A Ptoothy Pterosaur With Fangs
An artist’s interpretation of the newfangled pterosaur snacking on a primitive crocodylomorph known as a sphenosuchian.Credit: Josh Cotton CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks has a segment on a new Triassic pterosaur. The pterosaur has yet to be named. It was found in north eastern Utah, not far from Dinosaur National Monument. It dates to the…
-
100-Year-Old Box of Negatives Discovered Frozen In Block of Antarctica’s Ice
Bored Panda has a post about 100 year old negatives that were discovered frozen in Antarctica. The negatives were discovered in a box during restoration work of an exploration hut, which was carried out by the Conservators of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust. The box contained 22 never before seen cellulose nitrate negatives that…
-
New species of ostrich-like dinosaur discovered in Mexico
Laelaps has a post about an new ornithomimid dinosaur that was found in Mexico. Dubbed Tototlmimus packardensis, Mexico’s “bird mimic”, the animal lived about 72 million years ago. It was similar in size to Gallimimus, which could measure 2 m tall at the hip and 8 m long. Currently, it is known from pieces of its…
-
Greenland Is Melting Away
The New York Times has a neat interactive story about the melting ice of Greenland. If all of Greenland’s ice melts, the world’s oceans could rise about 20 feet. That would be devastating to say the least. It’s hard to be a climate skeptic when you see this happening. Check it out for a sobering…
-
Top predator wannabe is just another T. rex
Thomas D. Carr. Study of this 3D reconstruction of the dinosaur called “Jane” indicates it is Tyrannosaurus rex and not a close but smaller cousin. ScienceMagazine has a story about a new study which shows that Nanotyrannus was just a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. The study, which was presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Dallas,…
-
Palaeocast Episode 52: Melanin
Melanin is a pigment that has a distinct atomic structure. There are two types: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is found in black, dark brown, grey and blonde integuments, while pheomelanin is found in red integuments. Melanosomes are the organelles that contain melanin and there is a correlation between the shape of the melanosome and the…
-
When T. Rex Meets Triceratops in the New Dino Hall, It Will Be a Violent Affair
Brian Switek has an interesting post over at Smithonian.com. In it, he describes the new dinosaur display in the Natural History Museum. The renovated dinosaur and fossil hall is slated to reopen in 2019. One of the main scenes will feature a Tyrannosaurus rex and an Triceratops locked in grim pose. Most museum-bound dinosaurs are reconstructed…
-
10 Terrific Facts About Trilobites
Mental Floss has a post about trilobites. Trilobites were arthropods. they existed on earth from the lower Cambrian to the Permian mass extinction, that’s about 300 million years. Over 20,000 species have been described. And more new ones are added to the list every year. Ohio (Isotelus), Wisconsin (Calymene celebra), and Pennsylvannia (Phacops rana) have…
-
Tiny ancient fossil from Spain shows birds flew over the heads of dinosaurs
ScienceDaily has a piece 125 million year old birds. The new discovery from central Spain is an exceptionally preserved wing from a bird that flew over the heads of dinosaurs during the Cretaceous. Besides the bones, the wing fossil preserves details of the complex network of muscles that allow modern birds to control their flight. …
-
myFOSSIL Project Newsletter for September 2015
The September issue of myFOSSIL Project Newsletter is available here. It includes: The Paleontological Society Would Like to Hear from You by Arnold Miller Featured Paleontologist: Anthony Martin Club Corner: Dallas Paleontological Society by Roger Farish, Lee Higgenbotham, & Rocky Manning Featured Fossil: Mesohippus Mandible by Rachel Narducci & Megan Higbee Hendrickson 5th Annual National…
-
Paleontology Study Group: Show and Tell!
Tonight at 7:30 College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) – Topic: “Show and Tell” Come on out, bring your fossils and your stories!
-
Speaker Change for the September 2015 Meeting, Jamie Fearon, Wheaton College on Burrowing Dinosaurs
There is a speaker change for the September General Meeting. The new speaker will be Jamie Fearon of Wheaton College. He will be speaking on a new find of burrowing dinosaurs.
-
Jurassic World: High Heels Edition (Parody)
There have been quite a few criticisms about Jurassic World. Here’s a parody that exploits one for a few laughs. Good for a hot summer afternoon…
-
Four-legged snake fossil found
CNN has an interesting video about a 110-million-year-old snake fossil. The was discovered in Brazil and dates to the Cretaceous period. Its most interesting feature… the snake had 4 legs! Scientists hope it sheds light on how and why snakes lost their legs.
-
myFOSSIL Project Newsletter for June 2015
A new issue of the myFOSSIL Project newsletter is available for your enjoyment. You will also find links to past issues on that web page. myFOSSIL is an effort to link fossil clubs from around the country to educate the general public. Fostering Opportunities for Synergistic STEM with Informal Learners Throughout the U.S., more than 60 fossil clubs and societies hold…
-
Dinomania: the story of our obsession with dinosaurs
The Guardian has a story about our ongoing obsession with dinosaurs. It’s all there from the beginning in the 1840s to the present. Enjoy! Deep in the bowels of the world’s greatest palaeontological museum, a hitherto unknown species of dinosaur has been waiting to be unveiled. Concealed behind a black cloth, it has spent the…
-
Paleontology on National Geographic Channel this weekend
The National Geographic Channel has a paleontology theme this weekend. From dinosaurs, to mammoths, and even a T.rex Autopsy, there’s quite a bit of content. Here’s the schedule: Saturday, June 6: 4:00 p.m.: Mammoth: Back From the Dead (cloning mammoths) 5:00 p.m.: Bizarre Dinosaurs 6:00 p.m.: Waking the Baby Mammoth (about Lyuba!;…
-
Reminder: General Meeting in June Will Be Held the Friday, on June 5th, 2015
Due to a scheduling conflict, June's general meeting will be held on the first Friday of the month, June 5th, 2015. The speaker will be Adam Smith of the Field Museum. His topic is a good one, "The Evolution of Birds". See you there!
