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The Palaeontology thread |
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#1076 |
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Interesting article on early mammalian brain evolution.
It's not the overall size that counts but which bits are expanding (i.e. the neocortex). http://phys.org/news/2016-01-ancient...cessarily.html There's a link to the full article but you'll have to pay for it unless you are a Fellow of the Royal Society. |
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#1077 |
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Quote:
Interesting article on early mammalian brain evolution.
It's not the overall size that counts but which bits are expanding (i.e. the neocortex). http://phys.org/news/2016-01-ancient...cessarily.html There's a link to the full article but you'll have to pay for it unless you are a Fellow of the Royal Society. ![]() Some recent palaeo articles. http://nerdist.com/favorite-dinosaur...e-baby-eaters/ http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...tomp-the-earth http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....easts-old-age/ http://triblive.com/aande/museums/98...s-says-history |
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#1078 |
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Recent articles on the age of the Placoderms, Dollocaris and it's enormous eyes, Terror birds and Australian avian baddasses.
But my favourite discovery being the poor little bugger who has been trapped in amber for 99 million years - with a raging hard on. Now that is what I call frustration! ![]() http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...imals-science/ http://www.eartharchives.org/article...age-of-fishes/ http://www.eartharchives.org/article...-was-all-eyes/ http://www.eartharchives.org/article...-terror-birds/ http://theconversation.com/a-case-of...big-bird-52856 |
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#1079 |
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How do you weigh a Dodo?
By calculating the convex hull volume that's how! https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com...-weigh-a-dodo/ Beautifully preserved Kalligrammatid lacewings and the Ice Age mammal that hooted like a hadrosaur. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....e-butterflies/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...-age-dinosaur/ |
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#1080 |
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An article on the recently extinct Australian Megafauna (with a couple of small mistakes - Diprotodon weighed nearly 3 tons and Thylacoleo was about the same size as a jaguar - and far more powerfully built).
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...ian-wilderness |
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#1081 |
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Plenty of interesting recent palaeo stories.
The new site 'Pteros' should be an an enjoyable read when it opens. ![]() http://www.eartharchives.org/article...he-pterosaurs/ 'Walking through Time' was a superb documentary - highly recommended. https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com...d-mega-floods/ http://www.channel4.com/programmes/w.../episode-guide Other articles. http://phys.org/news/2016-02-fossils-rich-source.html http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....-turtle-shell/ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-dr...-idUSKCN0VH12L http://www.livescience.com/53673-pri...ers-video.html |
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#1082 |
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Sad news that Micheal Hanlon has died from a heart attack - only 51
![]() Jurassica founder sudden death In recent years he was the founder of the Jurassica project though I always liked his science writing - probably the only reporter on MailOnline that I would trust to have any idea of what they were on about. RIP. |
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#1083 |
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Quote:
Sad news that Micheal Hanlon has died from a heart attack - only 51
![]() Jurassica founder sudden death In recent years he was the founder of the Jurassica project though I always liked his science writing - probably the only reporter on MailOnline that I would trust to have any idea of what they were on about. RIP. Jurassica - when it is completed - will be a wonderful tribute to him.
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#1084 |
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Possibility multi-celled life( fauna and flora) all evolved from an eye. Or rather a single celled organism with light detecting capability.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35502310 |
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#1085 |
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Quote:
Possibility multi-celled life( fauna and flora) all evolved from an eye. Or rather a single celled organism with light detecting capability.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35502310 Thanks.
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#1086 |
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The rather sinister evolutionary origins of love and other interesting recent Palaeo articles.
![]() http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...origin-of-love http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk...hinges-on.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-35524230 http://microcapmagazine.com/2016-02-...istoric-arctic http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...r-of-evolution |
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#1087 |
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Not palaeontology - but Lions are evolving novel new ways of predating on Giraffes.
![]() http://static.proporta.com/media/cat...i/big_cat.jpeg |
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#1088 |
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Ants locked in mortal combat for 99 million years (now that's what I call a grudge).
http://www.livescience.com/53746-ant...-in-amber.html http://www.livescience.com/53745-pho...ved-amber.html |
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#1089 |
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On a lighter note....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-35579159
You don't find a dinosaur in the middle of the road every day
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#1090 |
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Quote:
On a lighter note....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-35579159
You don't find a dinosaur in the middle of the road every day ![]() |
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#1091 |
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Quote:
On a lighter note....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-35579159
You don't find a dinosaur in the middle of the road every day ![]()
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#1092 |
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Quote:
The rather sinister evolutionary origins of love and other interesting recent Palaeo articles.
![]() http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...origin-of-love And infanticide has been the norm rather than the exception, Even today there are millions of missing females in Asian countries (estimates indicate that 30.5 million females are "missing" from China, 22.8 million in India, 3.1 million in Pakistan, 1.6 million in Bangladesh, 1.7 million in West Asia, 600,000 in Egypt, and 200,000 in Nepal).** It was widespread in Victorian Britain (not with such a sexual bias) until methods of contraception became available. *The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Edited by Robin Dunbar and Louise Barret, 2007, Chapter 30 Ecological and socio-cultural impacts on mating and marriage systems by Bobbi S. Low **Hardness of Heart/Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide, by Larry S. Milner, 2000 |
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#1093 |
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A wild assumption that humans are monogamous (most societies are not: 83% are polygynous, 0.05% are polyandrous, and the rest are probably monogamous).*
And infanticide has been the norm rather than the exception, Even today there are millions of missing females in Asian countries (estimates indicate that 30.5 million females are "missing" from China, 22.8 million in India, 3.1 million in Pakistan, 1.6 million in Bangladesh, 1.7 million in West Asia, 600,000 in Egypt, and 200,000 in Nepal).** It was widespread in Victorian Britain (not with such a sexual bias) until methods of contraception became available. *The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Edited by Robin Dunbar and Louise Barret, 2007, Chapter 30 Ecological and socio-cultural impacts on mating and marriage systems by Bobbi S. Low **Hardness of Heart/Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide, by Larry S. Milner, 2000 Humans can be heartless bastards (especially in extreme poverty) that is nothing new. ![]() A few recent articles that may be of interest. I fail to see the 'controversy 'over the Hobbit (Homo floresiensis) - the fossil remains are obviously not humans suffering from Dwarfism and Microcephaly or Down's Syndrome. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...-was-not-human http://www.nature.com/news/what-spar...losion-1.19379 http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2016...-tyrannosaurs/ |
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#1094 |
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I fail to see the 'controversy 'over the Hobbit (Homo floresiensis) - the fossil remains are obviously not humans suffering from Dwarfism and Microcephaly or Down's Syndrome.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...-was-not-human http://www.nature.com/news/what-spar...losion-1.19379 http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2016...-tyrannosaurs/ |
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#1095 |
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I'm still hoping that remains of relatively recent surviving Neanderthals will turn up.
The vast sauropod skeletons that are seen in museums are nowhere near fully grown (I think eventually that we will find that the largest sauropods topped out at around 150 tons or so). http://svpow.com/2016/02/18/dinosaur...e-plicomcated/ And I just love this sentence. ![]() "The skeleton of an adult tyrannosaur is that of a 500 kg cursor pressed into service hauling around 10 tons of murder." Were some swimming or walking from these fossilised tracks? http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk...sauropods.html Raptor tracks and and some astonishing new Scottish fossils that help to fill in 'Romer's Gap'. http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk...-colorado.html https://www.theguardian.com/science/...walked-on-land http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-35606480 http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk...tery-1-4033734 |
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#1096 |
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Palaeontology articles that may be of interest to some.
My favourite being story of the discovery of Tiktaalik - the famous 'Fishapod' and one of the many beautiful transitional fossils that will give the bloody Creationists nightmares for decades to come. ![]() http://nautil.us/issue/33/attraction/its-a-fishapod http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...al-reality-360 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfh-64s5va4 http://phys.org/news/2016-02-ancestor-biggest-bird.html http://phys.org/news/2016-02-extinct...s-ancient.html |
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#1097 |
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And a South American giant armadillo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/35630712 You have no idea what a struggle I've just had with autocorrect. And I have no idea what use an armoured one of those would be
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#1098 |
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Quote:
And a South American giant armadillo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/35630712 You have no idea what a struggle I've just had with autocorrect. And I have no idea what use an armoured one of those would be ![]() ![]() Yet another wonderful member of the Megafauna wiped off the face of the earth by you know who. Another couple of links on the topic. http://www.science20.com/news_articl...eir_dna-166322 http://www.livescience.com/53794-anc...-relative.html |
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#1099 |
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The rise and fall of the fearsome 'Terminator pigs' (Entelodonts).
http://www.eartharchives.org/article...e-entelodonts/ Tumours found on a Titanosaur specimen's fossil vertebra. http://www.natureworldnews.com/artic...s-vertebra.htm http://www.livescience.com/53777-tit...ad-tumors.html Research suggests that Sea sponges may well have been be the world's first complex animals - at the grand old age of 640 million years. http://phys.org/news/2016-02-title-e...a-sponges.html |
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#1100 |
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Ouch!
Dinosaurs were tough buggers, far, far more durable to injury than any mammal. ![]() http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2016...opod-dinosaur/ http://www.livescience.com/53832-jur...-injuries.html http://news.discovery.com/animals/di...ain-160224.htm Some more recent articles. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....saurus-a-hand/ http://phys.org/news/2016-02-human-e...eth-story.html http://phys.org/news/2016-02-big-din...ootprints.html |
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