fossil

Stories 61 - 80 | << Prev   Next >>

Did a Sri Lanka Meteorite Have Fossils Inside?

Scientists fuel controversy with big claim

(Newser) - A group of scientists says a December meteorite over Sri Lanka held "fossilized biological structures"—but many of their colleagues aren't convinced. According to the pro-fossil team, electronic microscope images show tiny pieces of algae known as diatoms, supporting the idea of "panspermia." The theory—...

'Dinosaur Smuggler' Pleads Guilty

Tyrannosaurus fossil sold for $1M

(Newser) - A man from Florida has admitted to smuggling some prehistoric cargo. Eric Prokopi yesterday told a Manhattan federal court that he'd "forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the US that were mislabeled." Among the shipments in question: a Tyrannosaurus bataar...

Scientists Say They Found Earth's Oldest Dinosaur

Nyasasaurus parringtoni lived in the Middle Triassic period

(Newser) - Scientists studying fossilized bones originally discovered in Tanzania in the 1930s may have revealed Earth's oldest known dinosaur, LiveScience reports. Nyasasaurus parringtoni lived between 240 million and 245 million years ago, some 10 million to 15 million years earlier than any other dinosaurs previously discovered. Researchers stopped short of...

Man Digs Up Mammoth Skeleton in Back Yard

He keeps the bones in his living room

(Newser) - Have you ever checked—really checked—your back yard for the remains of ancient prehistoric beasts? Because that's what an Iowa man found on his property two years ago, ABC 5 reports. "I got down on my hands and knees on the bank and I could see a...

'Illegal' Dinosaur Skeleton Sells for Over $1M

Heritage Auctions ignores Mongolia's restraining order

(Newser) - A New York auction house sold off a dinosaur skeleton for $1 million yesterday despite a restraining order from the Mongolian government, which said the find had been illegally exported, New Scientist reports. Heritage Auctions kept mum about the seller and winning bidder, and said it had "legal assurances"...

Whale Graveyard Puzzles Experts

Paleontologists ponder: Why are the fossils found together?

(Newser) - A newly discovered graveyard of ancient whales in Chile has scientists wondering how on Earth the bus-sized mammals all ended up dying in the same place. "That's the top question," says the director of a nearby museum. Their current location—the middle of a highway under construction...

Apeman Fossil Could Be Missing Link

Swinging between species

(Newser) - Have scientists finally found the "missing link" connecting human-like apes to the first human? A South African researcher is convinced he may have tracked down the creature after an exhaustive examination of the partial skeletons of a young female adult and a male child of a hominin that lived...

Fossil Shows Meteor Wiped Out Dinosaurs

How a single horn could cement a theory

(Newser) - It’s just one horn, not quite a foot and a half long, but scientists say a newly discovered fossil could clinch the theory that a falling asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. Skeptics of the scenario have always pointed out that we’ve found no dinosaur fossils dated within the...

‘Monstrously Big’ Ants Once Roamed America

Biggest-ever US ant fossil unearthed in ancient lake sediments in Wyoming

(Newser) - The fossil of an ant queen the size of a hummingbird has been found in lake sediments in Wyoming. The 2-inch-long ant is the biggest ever found in the US, and the newly identified species is one of the largest to have ever lived, reports LiveScience . Researchers say the "...

Shark Jaw Found in Kentucky Mine

It's from a shark comparable to a great white, experts say

(Newser) - A large 300-million-year-old shark jawbone was discovered in February in a place you might not expect: a Kentucky mine. Jay Wright was 700 feet underground, adding supports to a roof in the Dotiki Mine, when a rock fell and he saw "a bunch of teeth" above him. He pulled...

Giant Bunny Fossils Discovered Off Spain

'King of rabbits' was 6 times the size of modern bunnies

(Newser) - On the Spanish island of Minorca up to 5 million years ago, the rabbit was king. Researchers there have discovered fossils belonging to the biggest-ever member of the bunny family, LiveScience reports. Nuralagus rex, weighing in at some 26 pounds—about six times the size of modern rabbits—had largely...

Scientists Find Fossil of World's Largest Bear

Figure about 11 feet tall and nearly 2 tons

(Newser) - Scientists have uncovered the fossilized remains of the largest bear known to walk the Earth, LiveScience reports. Unearthed in Argentina, the giant short-faced bear was at least 11 feet tall when standing on its hind legs and weighed between 3,500 and 3,855 pounds—almost twice as big as...

High Tech Paints 3D Image of Ancient Beast of the Deep

Aquatic dinosaur had 8-foot skull

(Newser) - The 50-foot monster was the terror of the Earth's oceans some 150 million years ago, with its giant head packing a crocodile-esque jaw and razor sharp teeth that savaged anything in its way. Or at least that's the picture that's emerging of the pliosaur, as imaging scientists and paleontologists use...

Ancient Crocodile Species Discovered

It roamed the planet 100 million years ago

(Newser) - A fossil that had been sitting in a museum has been identified by scientists as that of a previously unknown species of crocodile—which is believed to have lived 100 million years ago, the AP reports. Analysis of the six-inch-long skull fossil, which a scientist stumbled upon in 2006, led...

Neanderthals More Promiscuous Than Us

Finger length points to Stone Age promiscuity

(Newser) - Stone-Age men were Neanderthals in more ways than one. Finger length among Stone-Age humans indicates they were far more promiscuous than humans today, say scientists. Researchers had already determined that a smaller ratio between the length of an individual's ring and index finger is an indication of greater promiscuity among...

Fossil of 5-Foot-Tall Penguin Found in Peru

Creature, dubbed 'Water King,' lacked tuxedo coloring

(Newser) - It sounds both adorable and fearsome: A red penguin that stands nearly five feet tall. Researchers in Peru have unearthed the fossil of just such a creature, a giant penguin that waddled its way around the world some 36 million years ago. The creature may have lacked the modern bird...

Utility Crew Stumbles on 1.4M-Year-Old Fossils

Sabre-tooth tiger, more unearthed

(Newser) - It didn’t take an archaeological expedition to unearth California’s oldest saber-toothed cat skeleton—it took a crew of construction workers, who were trying to break ground on a new substation for Riverside County. And that’s not all they found. The workers had stumbled upon a “treasure...

Hump-Backed Feathered Dino Discovered

Mystery dinosaur offers link to first birds

(Newser) - It had a mysterious hump over its pelvis and feather-attachment bumps on its forearms: Meet the newly discovered Concavenator corcovatus, a dinosaur scientists hope will offer clues about the emergence of the first birds. Paleontologists unearthed the dino, a member of the theropod family, in central Spain. And while its...

Ape With a Knife Changes Human History

Carved bones found in Africa show Stone Age began a million years earlier

(Newser) - It turns out that human ape Australopithecus afarensis Lucy likely used some kind of stone knife to eat meat 800,000 years earlier than previously thought, which has suddenly cast human history in a new light. The discovery of fossil animal bones showing evidence of being butchered 3.4 million...

Scientists Find Fossil of 'Sea Monster'

Ancient 56-foot whale had huge teeth, carnivorous appetite

(Newser) - Scientists have found a fossil of a giant whale of lore—a "Leviathan" as the researchers named it. The creature was similar in size to today's sperm whale but nowhere near as passive, with massive teeth and jaws, the BBC reports. The 12-million-year-old, 56-foot-long beast likely hunted other sea...

Stories 61 - 80 | << Prev   Next >>