Articles with the keyword: 


Gene expression in alligators suggests birds have "thumbs"
sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 2 weeks (esciencenews.com)
Scientists have long known that the bones in modern bird wings extend from cartilage that is homologous to fingers two, three, and four (pointer, middle, and ring) in humans. However, new information shows that early ancestors of birds, such as archaeopteryx, had wings based on one, two, and three (thumb, pointer, and middle) instead. Scientists now believe that modern birds are the result of a homeotic frame shift mutation. 


Duck-billed dinosaurs outgrew predators to survive
sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 14 hours (esciencenews.com)
With long limbs and a soft body, the duck-billed hadrosaur had few defenses against predators such as tyrannosaurs. But new research on the bones of this plant-eating dinosaur suggests that... 


T. rex "tissue" may just be bacterial scum
sea-maid submitted, created time 4 months 1 day (www.newscientist.com)
When palaeontologists reported that they had recovered soft tissue from a 65-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, the excitement was palpable.
Without going all Jurassic Park, the discovery seemed to open the door to studying biomolecules from dinosaurs and other long-extinct creatures.
It seems, however, that no one will be cooking up a new zoo exhibit from this one. The "tissue" appears to have been layers of biofilms laid down by bacteria and not the skin and flesh of the ancient beastie 


Dinosaurs are shown to be related to birds, not reptiles
Darkfrog submitted, created time 7 months 3 days (www.nytimes.com)
Genetic testing reveals a connection between the Tyrannosaurus rex and living birds such as ostriches and chickens and NOT other reptiles, such as alligators, something that has long been suspected from skeletal data.
It doesn't come as a shocker at this point, but it's nice to know. 
Did Insects Kill the Dinosaurs?
sumsung submitted, created time 10 months 2 weeks (www.time.com)
By now, scientists have a pretty good idea of what conditions were like in the Cretaceous period, which started about 135 million years ago, and came to a sudden end 70 million years later, with the death of the dinosaurs. Or rather, they think they do — but two new sets of research results suggest there's a lot more to learn. 


Mummified dinosaur reveals surprises: scientists
Eric wu submitted, created time 11 months 3 weeks (www.reuters.com)
A partially mummified hadrosaur discovered by a teenager in North Dakota may be the most complete dinosaur ever found, with intact skin that shows evidence of stripes and perhaps soft tissue, researchers said on Monday. 


Canadian Scientists Discover New Genus of Dinosaur
Eric wu submitted, created time 1 year 1 week (english.cri.cn)
Scientists unearthed a new genus of horned dinosaur that lived in western Canada 68 million years ago, local media reported Thursday. 
Dinosaur discovered in London museumafter 113 years on the shelf
jane2007 submitted, created time 1 year 2 weeks (www.nature.com)
Taylor, a part-time paleontologist who programs computers as a day job has uncovered a new dinosaur species — not buried in the ground but hidden in the bowels of the Natural History Museum in London, UK 113 years. This dinosaur is different to its known relatives; it is a new genus. 


Dinosaur deaths outsourced to India?
george submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (www.geosociety.org)
A series of monumental volcanic eruptions in India may have killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, not a meteor impact in the Gulf of Mexico. The eruptions, which created the gigantic Deccan Traps lava beds of India, are now the prime suspect in the most famous and persistent paleontological murder mystery, say scientists who have conducted a slew of new investigations honing down eruption timing. 


Ancient amphibians left full-body imprints
herry submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (www.geosociety.org)
Unprecedented fossilized body imprints of amphibians have been discovered in 330 million-year-old rocks from Pennsylvania. The imprints show the unmistakably webbed feet and bodies of three previously unknown, foot-long salamander-like critters that lived 100 million years before the first dinosaurs. 


Big Bird was never like this! Huge birdlike dinosaur found.
Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.nature.com)
The creature, a young adult, is estimated to have weighed 1400 kg, over thirty-five times as much as its next-biggest relative. We don't know for sure whether it had feathers, but it did have birdlike bone structure and no teeth -- so probably a beak. 
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