/ en-us Â鶹ŇůÔş internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ŇůÔşics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. In a first for Canadian paleontology, a Cretaceous fossilized dragonfly wing, uncovered in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park, has been identified as a new species. It's also the first known dragonfly fossil from Canada's dinosaur-aged rocks. The find, led by McGill University researchers, sheds light on a 30-million-year gap in the evolutionary history of dragonflies. /news/2025-08-canada-dinosaur-era-dragonfly-fossil.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:06:04 EDT news674391961 Remarkable new fossil discoveries in New Zealand are driving a significant reassessment of our understanding of the early evolution of penguins. /news/2025-08-dagger-beaks-strong-wings-fossils.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 13 Aug 2025 11:09:39 EDT news674302174 Scientists have discovered the fossil of a tiny mouse-sized mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in Chilean Patagonia. /news/2025-08-scientists-million-year-mammal-fossil.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 12 Aug 2025 03:30:17 EDT news674188206 An international team of paleontologists has spent more than 15 years excavating and studying fossils from Africa to expand our understanding of the Permian, a period of Earth's history that began 299 million years ago and ended 252 million years ago with our planet's largest and most devastating mass extinction. /news/2025-08-fresh-fossil-africa-era-earth.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 11 Aug 2025 14:05:36 EDT news674139933 The endangered South African cycad Encephalartos horridus may resemble a relic from the Jurassic age, but the species itself evolved long after dinosaurs disappeared. Still, it carries a biochemical legacy inherited from its distant ancestors—plants that once thrived alongside Jurassic fauna. A team led by Hiroshima University (HU) researchers found that its spiky, silvery-blue leaves owe their color not to pigment, but to a wax-based optical effect produced by a lipid compound that may date back to the dawn of land plants. /news/2025-08-rare-cycad-wax-crystals-conjure.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 08 Aug 2025 11:15:32 EDT news673870526 Millions of years before jazz filled New Orleans streets or fishing boats were harvesting shrimp in the Gulf, Louisiana was home to terrifying sea monsters, a tenacious mammal and a seismic cataclysm that reshaped life on Earth. /news/2025-08-louisiana-fossils-reveal-mosasaur-life.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:10:01 EDT news673790419 A "shiny" fossil found in an Alabama creek has been identified as the tooth of a large dinosaur that doesn't quite belong at the site, experts say. /news/2025-08-oddity-alabama-creek-tooth-dinosaur.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 06 Aug 2025 06:51:51 EDT news673681906 A previously unexploited source of information is now throwing new light on Earth's climate during the age of dinosaurs. Fossilized dinosaur teeth show that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the Mesozoic Era, i.e., 252 to 66 million years ago, were far higher than they are today. This has been determined by researchers at the universities in Göttingen, Mainz, and Bochum following the analysis of oxygen isotopes in the dental enamel of dinosaur teeth. /news/2025-08-dinosaur-teeth-climate-capsules-secrets.html Earth Sciences Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:45:22 EDT news673616711 About 56 million years ago, when Earth experienced a dramatic rise in global temperatures, one meat-eating mammal responded in a surprising way: It started eating more bones. /news/2025-08-ancient-predator-bone-crunching-diet.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 05 Aug 2025 09:12:04 EDT news673603921 A new analysis of the bite strength of 18 species of carnivorous dinosaurs shows that while the Tyrannosaurus rex skull was optimized for quick, strong bites like a crocodile, other giant, predatory dinosaurs that walked on two legs—including spinosaurs and allosaurs—had much weaker bites and instead specialized in slashing and ripping flesh. /news/2025-07-gigantic-meat-dinosaurs-didnt-strong.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 04 Aug 2025 11:00:07 EDT news673170301 An international group of paleontologists led by the University of Poitiers, France, report that a recently recovered velociraptorine fossil, Shri rapax, brandished unusually large, powerful clawed hands. Findings point to an evolutionary niche within Mongolia's Late Cretaceous desert fauna. /news/2025-08-velociraptorine-fossil-unusually-strong-predatory.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:54:19 EDT news673523653 Paleontologists have identified a new species of ancient marine reptile from Germany's world-renowned Posidonia Shale fossil beds, expanding our understanding of prehistoric ocean ecosystems that existed nearly 183 million years ago. /news/2025-07-necked-marine-reptile-species-germany.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 04 Aug 2025 07:00:01 EDT news673172221 The coelacanth is known as a "living fossil" because its anatomy has changed little in the last 65 million years. Despite being one of the most studied fish in history, it continues to reveal new information that could transform our understanding of vertebrate evolution. This is revealed in a study published in the journal Science Advances by researchers from the University of SĂŁo Paulo (USP) in Brazil and the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. /news/2025-07-fossil-fish-anatomy-reshaping-view.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:01:02 EDT news672937255 You are what you eat, it turns out—even if your last meal was 150 million years ago. /news/2025-07-clues-dinosaurs-diets-chemistry-fossil.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:20:02 EDT news672592341 Footprints of a multispecies herd of dinosaurs discovered in Canada demonstrate the social interaction between different dinosaur species 76 million years ago, according to findings in a new study published in the journal PLOS One. /news/2025-07-dinosaur-tracks-reveal-evidence-species.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 23 Jul 2025 14:00:03 EDT news672478915 Body coverings such as hair and feathers have played a central role in evolution. They enabled warm-bloodedness by insulating the body, and were used for courtship, display, deterrence of enemies and, in the case of feathers, flight. /news/2025-07-feather-crest-triassic-reptile-ideas.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:00:03 EDT news672385926 With each new discovery in paleontology, we are gradually moving away from the Hollywood-inspired image of dinosaurs popularized by the Jurassic Park series. One of the most striking shifts has been in how we envision their appearance. Rather than the tough-skinned reptilian giants depicted on screen, many dinosaurs are now believed to have been covered in feather-like structures similar to modern birds. /news/2025-07-dinosaur-species-china-didnt-roar.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:30:08 EDT news672395402 Beneath the scales of Australia's iconic monitor lizards (commonly known as goannas), scientists have discovered an unexpected secret: a hidden layer of bony skin structures known as osteoderms. These structures, which have been long overlooked, may hold the key to understanding how these ancient reptiles not only survived but thrived in one of the world's harshest environments. /news/2025-07-scientists-uncover-hidden-bone-skin.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Sun, 20 Jul 2025 20:00:01 EDT news672062493 What did long-necked dinosaurs eat—and where did they roam to satisfy their hunger? A team of researchers has reconstructed the feeding behavior of sauropods using cutting-edge dental wear analysis. Their findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, show that microscopic enamel wear marks provide surprising insights into migration, environmental conditions, and niche distribution within ecosystems from 150 million years ago. /news/2025-07-dinosaur-teeth-reveal-life-million.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 18 Jul 2025 09:50:01 EDT news672050311 An ancient leg bone uncovered in Africa might provide a step forward in understanding how dinosaurs and their close relatives evolved. /news/2025-07-dinosaurs-bigger.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:50:10 EDT news671960523 Mammals have developed some unusual eating habits over the past 100 million years, but a new study has uncovered the surprising lengths to which some have gone to satisfy one of the more peculiar—a taste for ants and termites. /news/2025-07-mammals-evolved-ant-eaters-dinosaur.html Evolution Ecology Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:27:09 EDT news671898422 The Mesozoic pterosaur is considered to be the first vertebrate to achieve powered flight and new evidence, also the first of its kind, helps to pin down what exactly this flying reptile ate. Previously, scientists had trouble establishing a consensus on the pterosaur's diet. Some suggested meat-based or fish-based diets, while others believe the pterosaur ate plants, bugs, or even that the pterosaur was a filter-feeder. /news/2025-07-evidence-pterosaur-fossilized-stomach-longstanding.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 15 Jul 2025 06:50:01 EDT news671726479 For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. /news/2025-07-biggest-piece-mars-earth-auction.html Space Exploration Sun, 13 Jul 2025 04:55:52 EDT news671601343 A University of Portsmouth student has discovered a new species of prehistoric mammal dating back 145 million years to the Berriasian age, providing fresh insights into the diversity of early mammals that lived alongside dinosaurs. /news/2025-07-species-tiny-cretaceous-mammal-dorset.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 10 Jul 2025 13:31:59 EDT news671373109 Colossal volcanic eruptions like the kind that may have obliterated the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago are caused by mantle plumes that rise from shifting underground mountains deep within the Earth's mantle, new research led by University of Wollongong (UOW) geophysicists and statistical scientists has revealed. /news/2025-07-blobs-deep-earth-giant-volcanic.html Earth Sciences Thu, 10 Jul 2025 11:07:23 EDT news671364441 A new dinosaur fossil at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science was found buried hundreds of feet under the facility's parking lot in January, making the herbivorous animal's remains the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil ever discovered in the city. /news/2025-07-million-year-dinosaur-fossil-denver.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 10 Jul 2025 08:58:45 EDT news671356714 An analysis of two theropod dinosaur fossils has shown that they had a type of carpal bone (pisiform) in their wrists—a bone considered important to flight in birds. /news/2025-07-dinosaur-wrist-bone-discovery-reshapes.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:56:33 EDT news671295364 Sea level on Earth has been rising and falling ever since there was water on the planet. Scientists were already able to use sediments and fossils to roughly reconstruct how sea levels changed over time steps of a million years or more. /news/2025-07-scientists-reconstruct-million-years-sea.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:25:19 EDT news671120714 A Smithsonian-led team of researchers have discovered North America's oldest known pterosaur, the winged reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight. /news/2025-07-north-america-oldest-pterosaur-unearthed.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:00:01 EDT news671101022 Researchers have found clouds of cold gas embedded deep within larger, superheated gas clouds—or Fermi bubbles—at the Milky Way's center. The finding challenges current models of Fermi bubble formation and reveals that the bubbles are much younger than previously estimated. /news/2025-07-cold-hydrogen-clouds-superheated-fermi.html Astronomy Mon, 07 Jul 2025 14:49:03 EDT news671118541