Category: Paleontology
To answer that question briefly, it is really really old if you mean "how old are the oldest rocks that are exposed by the Grand Canyon," and it is probably just a few million years old (5 or 6 by some estimates) if you mean...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 1:23 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Paleontology
A new investigation of the sedimentology and ichnology of the Early Jurassic Moyeni tracksite in Lesotho, southern Africa has yielded new insights into the behavior and locomotor dynamics of early dinosaurs....
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Posted by Greg Laden at 3:19 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Paleontology
The evolutionary history of mammals can be reviewed as the evolutionary history of tooth loss. The early mammals had many teeth, and every now and then in evolutionary time, a tooth is lost wiht subsequent species arriving from that n-1 toothed form having that smaller...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 4:10 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: dinosaurs
Just reported in PLoS ONE is a new dinosaur. Spinophorosaurus nigerensis Here are the salient facts:...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 8:00 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Books
Children's book review
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Posted by Greg Laden at 8:06 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anthropology
You probably know that there is a new primate fossil, nicknamed "Ida," and that there is quite a buzz about it. Darwinius masillae, aka Ida Ida comes from fossil deposits in Germany, and was originally excavated in two different parts by private collectors, and only...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 8:09 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Paleontology
Many years ago, a sudden event occurred that changed everything. Or at least, that is what we think now. But in truth, the event took longer than many today believe, and many of the specific details, the exact order of events, the actual meaning of...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 1:15 PM • 50 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Extinction
Keller has been one of the leading voices opposing the impact KT boundary extinction hypothesis. According to a press release from her university, she has more on this matter....
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Posted by Greg Laden at 3:12 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Paleontology
... has been found. Inside the fish's skull, in fact. This is from a chimaeroid fish, which today are fairly rare but during the Carboniferoius were quite common and diverse. There are really two aspects of this find that are especially interesting. One is...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 1:12 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Earth Science
Dino spoor, that is. A recently reported finding in PLoS ONE clarifies a number of questions about how certain dinosaurs held their front limbs (zombie/Frankenstein-position palm-down vs. huggie-wuggie palms-facing-each-other). This research confirms ... that early theropods, like later birds, held their palms facing medially, in...
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Posted by Greg Laden at 10:18 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks