Fossils & Ruins News

April 24, 2020

Top Headlines

Common raven (stock image). | Credit: (c) tom / stock.adobe.com

How Birds Evolved Big Brains

Apr. 23, 2020 Evolutionary biologists and paleontologists have reconstructed the evolution of the avian brain using a massive dataset of brain volumes from dinosaurs, extinct birds like ... read more

The word 'hello' in different languages (stock image). | Credit: (c) JJAVA / stock.adobe.com

Origins of Human Language Pathway in the Brain at Least 25 Million Years Old

Apr. 20, 2020 The human language pathway in the brain has been identified by scientists as being at least 25 million years old -- 20 ... read more

Volcanic eruption (stock image). | Credit: (c) Fotos 593 / stock.adobe.com

Volcanic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Helped Trigger Triassic Climate Change

Apr. 14, 2020 A new study finds volcanic activity played a direct role in triggering extreme climate change at the end of the Triassic period 201 million year ago, wiping out almost half ... read more

Marmoset (stock image). Ucayalipithecus perdita would have been very small, similar in size to a modern-day marmoset. | Credit: (c) Clement Horvath / stock.adobe.com

Ancient Teeth from Peru Hint Now-Extinct Monkeys Crossed Atlantic from Africa

Apr. 9, 2020 Four fossilized monkey teeth discovered deep in the Peruvian Amazon provide new evidence that more than one group of ancient ... read more

Latest Headlines

updated 2:38pm EDT

New Study Takes the Pulse of a Sleeping Supervolcano

Apr. 23, 2020 Under the volcanoes in the Andes where Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet, there is a gigantic reservoir of molten magma. For several million years, it has been there without fully solidifying or ... read more

Tectonic Plates Started Shifting Earlier Than Previously Thought

Apr. 22, 2020 Scientists examining rocks older than 3 billion years discovered that the Earth's tectonic plates move around today much as they did between 2 and 4 billion years ago. The findings suggest that the ... read more

'Jurassic Park' in Eastern Morocco: Paleontology of the Kem Kem Group

Apr. 23, 2020 The Kem Kem beds in Morocco are famous for the spectacular fossils found there, including at least four large-bodied non-avian theropods, several large-bodied pterosaurs and ... read more

Icelandic DNA Jigsaw-Puzzle Brings New Knowledge About Neanderthals

Apr. 23, 2020 An international team of researchers has put together a new image of Neanderthals based on the genes Neanderthals left in the DNA of modern humans when they had children with them about 50,000 years ... read more

Archaeologists Verify Florida's Mound Key as Location of Elusive Spanish Fort

Apr. 23, 2020 Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antón de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North ... read more

Giant Teenage Shark from the Dinosaur Era

Apr. 23, 2020 Scientists examined parts of a vertebral column, which was found in northern Spain in 1996, and assigned it to the extinct shark group Ptychodontidae. In contrast to teeth, shark vertebrae bear ... read more

Study Sheds Light on Unique Culinary Traditions of Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers

Apr. 22, 2020 A new study suggests the culinary tastes of ancient people were not solely dictated by the foods available in a particular area, but also influenced ... read more

Promiscuity in the Paleozoic: Researchers Uncover Clues About Vertebrate Evolution

Apr. 20, 2020 By looking at the DNA of living animals, researchers have revealed early events in vertebrate evolution, including how jawed vertebrates arose from ... read more

Neolithic Genomes from Modern-Day Switzerland Indicate Parallel Ancient Societies

Apr. 20, 2020 Genetic research throughout Europe shows evidence of drastic population changes near the end of the Neolithic period, as shown by the arrival of ... read more

The Origin of Feces: coproID Reliably Predicts Sources of Ancient Scat

Apr. 17, 2020 The archaeological record is littered with feces, a potential goldmine for insights into ancient health and diet, parasite evolution, and the ecology and evolution of the microbiome. The main problem ... read more

Earlier Headlines

Palaeontologists Reveal 'the Most Dangerous Place in the History of Planet Earth'

Apr. 24, 2020 100 million years ago, ferocious predators, including flying reptiles and crocodile-like hunters, made the Sahara the most dangerous place on ... read more

Papua New Guinea Highland Research Redates Neolithic Period

Apr. 17, 2020 A new report on the emergence of agriculture in highland Papua New Guinea shows advancements often associated with a later Neolithic period occurred about 1,000 years' earlier than previously ... read more

Genomics Used to Estimate Samoan Population Dynamics Over 3,000 Years

Apr. 17, 2020 A new study estimating the size of the Samoan population using contemporary genomic data found that the founding population remained low for the first 1,500 years of human settlement, contributing to ... read more

Yellowstone National Park (stock image). | Credit: (c) Lane Erickson / stock.adobe.com

New Geochemical Tool Reveals Origin of Earth's Nitrogen

Apr. 16, 2020 Researchers have used a new geochemical tool to shed light on the origin of nitrogen and other volatile elements on Earth, which may also prove useful as a way to monitor the activity of ... read more

Mahogany Tree Family Dates Back to Last Hurrah of the Dinosaurs

Apr. 15, 2020 A new article shows the mahogany family goes back to the last hurrah of the dinosaurs, the ... read more

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Apr. 15, 2020 In an effort to investigate conditions found at the Earth's molten outer core, researchers successfully determined the density of liquid iron and sound propagation speed through it at extremely ... read more

Researchers Challenge Accuracy of Methods That Analyze Trees of Life

Apr. 15, 2020 When species under a taxonomic umbrella have faced forks in the road, leading to extinction or adaptation, the path taken has been difficult to follow. Scientists now argue that long-used approaches ... read more

Pterosaurs and Other Fossil Flyers to Better Engineer Human-Made Flight

Apr. 15, 2020 Pterosaurs were the largest animals ever to fly. They soared the skies for 160 million years -- much longer than any species of modern bird. Despite their aeronautic excellence, these ancient flyers ... read more

Fossil Record Analysis Hints at Evolutionary Origins of Insects' Structural Colors

Apr. 14, 2020 Researchers have analyzed preserved scales from wing cases of two fossil weevils from the Late Pleistocene era to better understand the origin of light-scattering nanostructures present in ... read more

Timing of Large Earthquakes Follows a 'Devil's Staircase' Pattern

Apr. 14, 2020 At the regional level and worldwide, the occurrence of large shallow earthquakes appears to follow a mathematical pattern called the Devil's Staircase, where clusters of earthquake events are ... read more

Molecular and Isotopic Evidence of Milk, Meat and Plants in Prehistoric Food Systems

Apr. 13, 2020 Scientists have provided the first evidence for diet and subsistence practices of ancient East African ... read more

40,000 Year Old Evidence That Neanderthals Wove String

Apr. 9, 2020 Researchers have discovered the first evidence of cord making by Neanderthals, dating back more than 40,000 years, on a flint fragment from the prehistoric site of Abri du Maras in the south of ... read more

Dinosaur egg concept (stock image). | Credit: (c) Esa Riutta / stock.adobe.com

Synchrotron X-Ray Sheds Light on Some of the World's Oldest Dinosaur Eggs

Apr. 9, 2020 Scientists have reconstructed the skulls of some of the world's oldest known dinosaur embryos in 3D, using powerful and non-destructive synchrotron techniques. They found that the skulls develop ... read more

Ostrich with eggs (stock image). | Credit: (c) Hummingbird Art / stock.adobe.com

Archaeologists on a 5,000-Year-Old Egg Hunt

Apr. 8, 2020 Scientists are closer to cracking a 5,000-year-old mystery surrounding the ancient trade and production of decorated ostrich eggs. Long before Fabergé, ornate ostrich eggs were highly prized by the ... read more

Origins of Earth's Magnetic Field Remain a Mystery

Apr. 8, 2020 The existence of a magnetic field beyond 3.5 billion years ago is still up for ... read more

New Fossil from Brazil Hints at the Origins of the Mysterious Tanystropheid Reptiles

Apr. 8, 2020 A new species of Triassic reptile from Brazil is a close cousin of a mysterious group called ... read more

Advance in Understanding Actin Sheds Light on Cell Function

Apr. 8, 2020 A tiny chemical modification on one of the most abundant and important proteins in cells, actin, has long been somewhat mysterious, its function not fully understood, but scientists have now taken a ... read more

Ancient pottery (stock image). | Credit: (c) Tanes / stock.adobe.com

Revolutionary New Method for Dating Pottery Sheds New Light on Prehistoric Past

Apr. 8, 2020 A team has developed a new method to date archaeological pottery using fat residues remaining in the pot wall from cooking. The method means prehistoric pottery can be dated with remarkable accuracy, ... read more

Earliest Humans in the Amazon Created Thousands of 'Forest Islands' as They Tamed Wild Plants

Apr. 8, 2020 The earliest human inhabitants of the Amazon created thousands of artificial forest islands as they tamed wild plants to grow food, a new study ... read more

Coquí Fossil from Puerto Rico Takes Title of Oldest Caribbean Frog

Apr. 7, 2020 The bright chirp of the coquí frog, the national symbol of Puerto Rico, has likely resounded through Caribbean forests for at least 29 million years. A fossil arm bone from a frog in the genus ... read more

Friday, April 24, 2020