Fossils & Ruins News

November 7, 2016

Giant Predatory Lizard Swam in Antarctic Seas

False Biosignatures Complicate Search for Life?

'Cyclops' Beetles Inform 'Chicken-And-Egg' ...

Bronze Age City Discovered in Northern Iraq

Latest Headlines

updated 5:10pm EST

'Blind Dates' in the Amber World

Oct. 5, 2016 — "Old" doesn't always have to mean "primitive." Paleontologists have discovered a tiny biting midge no larger than one millimeter in 54 million-year-old amber. The insect ... read more

13th Century Maya Codex, Long Shrouded in Controversy, Proves Genuine

Sep. 7, 2016 — The Grolier Codex, an ancient document that is among the rarest books in the world, has been regarded with skepticism since it was reportedly unearthed by looters from a cave ... read more

Akko Tower Ship Wreck Probably Dates to the Nineteenth Century and Is Not Connected to Napoleon

Nov. 3, 2016 — The shipwreck found at the foot of the Tower of Flies in Akko harbor is beginning to share its secrets. In a new study ... read more

On the Origin of Life: Studying How the First Biomolecule Self-Replicated

Nov. 2, 2016 — It's the ultimate chicken-or-egg conundrum: What was the "mother" molecule that led to the formation of life? And how did it replicate itself? One prominent school of thought ... read more

Plumage Evolution: Explaining the Vivid Colors of Birds

Nov. 4, 2016 — Tropical birds are well known for their colorful appearance: vibrantly colored macaws, parakeets and parrots are widely considered to be the quintessential birds of this ... read more

Herbivorous Mammals Have Bigger Bellies

Nov. 4, 2016 — Herbivorous mammals have bigger bellies than their usually slim carnivorous counterparts, an international study based on 3D reconstructions of animal skeletons reveals for ... read more

How the Chicken Crossed the Red Sea

Nov. 3, 2016 — The discarded bone of a chicken leg, still etched with teeth marks from a dinner thousands of years ago, provides some of the oldest known physical evidence for the ... read more

Hurricanes from Three Million Years Ago Give Us Clues About Present Storms

Nov. 1, 2016 — Studying hurricane and tropical storm development from three million years ago might give today's forecasters a good blueprint for 21st century storms, says a team of ... read more

When Corals Met Algae: Symbiotic Relationship Crucial to Reef Survival Dates to the Triassic

Nov. 2, 2016 — The mutually beneficial relationship between algae and modern corals -- which provides algae with shelter, gives coral reefs ... read more

Archaeological Evidence at Major Risk in Wetlands

Nov. 2, 2016 — Important archaeological remains at wetland sites across the world could be at immediate risk, ... read more

Dinosaur Brain Tissue Identified for First Time

This Discovered Fossil Could Be The First Of Its Kind

3D Solution to Syrian Cultural Destruction

Capuchins Put A Monkey Wrench In Our Knowledge Of Early Human Tool Use

Middle Stone Age Ochre Processing Tools Reveal Cultural and Behavioural Complexity

Nov. 2, 2016 — Middle Stone Age humans in East Africa may have employed varied techniques to process ochre for functional and symbolic uses, according to a ... read more

Wild Cat Brains: An Evolutionary Curveball

Oct. 31, 2016 — The brains of wild cats don’t necessarily respond to the same evolutionary pressures as those of their fellow mammals, humans and primates, indicates a surprising new ... read more

Early Pacific Seafarers Likely Latched Onto El Nino, Other Climate Patterns

Oct. 28, 2016 — Researchers employed computer simulations and climatic data to help them explore the travels that led to the settlement of islands in Remote ... read more

Fossilized Dinosaur Brain Tissue Identified for the First Time

Oct. 27, 2016 — Researchers have identified the first known example of fossilized brain tissue in a dinosaur from Sussex. The tissues resemble those seen in modern crocodiles and ... read more

Genome Sequencing Reveals Ancient Interbreeding Between Chimpanzees and Bonobos

Oct. 27, 2016 — For the first time, scientists have revealed ancient gene mixing between chimpanzees and bonobos, humankind's closest relatives, showing parallels with Neanderthal mixing in human ancestry. The ... read more

Neanderthals on Cold Steppes Also Ate Plants

Oct. 27, 2016 — Neanderthals in cold regions probably ate a lot more vegetable food than was previously thought, according to new research on ancient Neanderthal dental ... read more

Upper Paleolithic Humans May Have Hunted Cave Lions for Their Pelts

Oct. 26, 2016 — Upper Paleolithic humans may have hunted cave lions for their pelts, perhaps contributing to their extinction, according to a new ... read more

Why Does Our Planet Experience an Ice Age Every 100,000 Years?

Oct. 26, 2016 — Experts have offered up an explanation as to why our planet began to move in and out of ice ages every 100,000 ... read more

Scientists Trace Plant Hormone Pathway Back 450 Million Years

Oct. 24, 2016 — Scientists got a glimpse into more than 450 million years of evolution by tracing the function of a hormone pathway that has been passed along and co-opted by new species since the first plants came ... read more

Ancient Burials Suggestive of Blood Feuds

Oct. 24, 2016 — There is significant variation in how different cultures over time have dealt with the dead. Yet, at a very basic level, funerals in the Sonoran Desert thousands of years ago were similar to what ... read more

Dinosaurs of a Feather Flock and Die Together?

Oct. 24, 2016 — A new publication on the bird-like dinosaur Avimimus, from the late-Cretaceous suggests they were gregarious, social animals -- evidence that flies in the face of the long-held mysticism surrounding ... read more

From Ancient Fossils to Future Cars

Oct. 21, 2016 — Engineers are developing cheap, energy-efficient lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles from silicon in diatomaceous earth. The research could lead to the development of ultra-high capacity ... read more

Archaeologists Reveal New Findings on the History of the Early-Islamic Caliphate Palace Khirbat Al-Minya

Oct. 21, 2016 — New excavations are underway to investigate the use of the palace Khirbat Al-Minya following the severe earthquake of 749 AD. New findings show that the building lost its palatial function as a ... read more

New Evolutionary Finding: Species Take Different Genetic Paths to Reach Same Trait

Oct. 20, 2016 — Biologists have been contemplating evolutionary change since Charles Darwin first explained it. Using modern molecular tools and fieldwork, biologists have demonstrated for the first time that ... read more

New Cretaceous Dinosaur from Queensland

Oct. 20, 2016 — Researchers have announced the naming of Savannasaurus elliottorum, a new genus and species of dinosaur from western Queensland, Australia. The bones come from the Winton Formation, a geological ... read more

Earliest Evidence in Fossil Record for Right-Handedness

Oct. 20, 2016 — Perhaps the bias against left-handers dates back much further than we thought. By examining striations on teeth of a Homo habilis fossil, researchers have found the earliest evidence for ... read more

Europeans, Africans Have Different Immune Systems, and Neanderthals Are Partly to Thank

Oct. 20, 2016 — It's long been clear that people from different parts of the world differ in their susceptibility to developing infections as well as chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Now, two ... read more

Ancient Human History More Complex Than Previously Thought, Researchers Say

Oct. 20, 2016 — Relationships between the ancestors of modern humans and other archaic populations such as Neanderthals and Denisovans were likely more complex than previously thought, involving interbreeding within ... read more

Early Fossil Fish from China Shows Where Our Jaws Came from

Oct. 20, 2016 — Where did our jaws come from? The question is more complicated than it seems, because not all jaws are the same. In a new article, palaeontologists from China and Sweden trace our jaws back to the ... read more

Early Humans Used Innovative Heating Techniques to Make Stone Blades

Oct. 20, 2016 — Humans living in South Africa in the Middle Stone Age used advanced heating techniques that vastly improved living conditions during the ... read more

Wednesday, November 2, 2016