July 3, 2018
Down to Earth With: Paleobiologist Rowan Lockwood
In 1608, Captain John Smith noted that oysters “lay as thick as stones” on the floor of the Chesapeake Bay. The shell reefs — built up by …
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Paleo
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252 articles · Page 2 of 11
July 2, 2018
The Paleo-Bell River: North America's vanished Amazon
By middle school, most students have learned that the Amazon River is the mightiest of Earth’s rivers. Its mean discharge to the ocean of about …
July 2, 2018
Saglek Basin sediments suggest a Grand Canyon connection
Pollen makes an ideal fossil. Pollen grains — each only a few tens of microns in diameter — are produced in astronomical quantities by plants and …
July 2, 2018
Diamonds and the Eocene climate of the Bell River Basin
Diamonds mined from the kimberlite pipes of the Lac de Gras diamond field in Northwest Territories, Canada, are among the world’s youngest known …
June 5, 2018
Pterosaurs flew into the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous skies might have been more crowded than previously thought. Until recently, scientists thought the dearth of pterosaur fossils …
June 5, 2018
Down to Earth With: Highway paleontologist Shane Tucker
When roads are built in fossil-rich states, paleontologists sometimes follow the trucks and bulldozers to make sure that the buried treasures …
June 5, 2018
Travels in Geology: Mesozoic masterpiece: England's Jurassic Coast
Just a few hours’ drive from London, along England’s southwestern shore, stretches a stunning expanse of coastline with a geologic story as …
May 23, 2018
Down to Earth With: John Copeland
Movie effects have come a long way since the close-shot model explosions that made “Star Wars” a hit, and science documentaries are no exception, …
May 23, 2018
Down to Earth With: Michael Novacek
When it comes to fossil hunting, Michael Novacek has just about seen it all. As a paleontologist, senior vice president and provost of science at …
May 23, 2018
Down to Earth With: Jack Horner
As one of the world’s most successful dinosaur hunters and a leader in the field of dinosaur growth and development, Jack Horner needs little …
May 1, 2018
Oldest human remains outside Africa found in Israel
The recent discovery of a jawbone belonging to Homo sapiens, and associated stone tools, in Israel may push back the timing of the earliest human …
May 1, 2018
A new look at Cheddar Man
In 1903, a skeleton was found in a limestone cave in Cheddar Gorge, near Somerset, England. Radiocarbon dating in the 1970s revealed the remains …
May 1, 2018
Down to Earth With: Geologist and paleontologist David Wilcots
When David Wilcots was 4 years old, his parents took him to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where he encountered his …
April 10, 2018
Flightless dino had bright, rainbow-colored feathers
In recent years, many dinosaurs have gotten a fabulously feathered makeover, but for the most part, scientists still aren’t sure what colors the …
April 10, 2018
How Borneo got its elephants
Elephants may not seem like islanders, but a small population lives on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. How and when the animals arrived on …
April 10, 2018
Lidar preserves record of destroyed theropod tracks
In 2011, the first theropod dinosaur tracks ever discovered in Arkansas were uncovered at an active gypsum quarry near Nashville in the …
April 10, 2018
Origins of plant photosynthesis illuminated
Photosynthesis, the process by which plants harness sunlight to make their food, is a defining feature of plants and an important evolutionary …
April 10, 2018
Whatever happened to thagomizers and other tail weapons?
Stegosaurus wielded a spiked tail — dubbed a “thagomizer” by cartoonist Gary Larson and informally adopted by paleontologists — which the …
April 10, 2018
Hot tropics drove out ancient reptiles, but they came back
About 252 million years ago, massive volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia rapidly warmed Earth, resulting in the end-Permian mass extinction …
April 10, 2018
Down to Earth With: National Park Service senior paleontologist Vincent Santucci
When Vincent Santucci was hired in 1985 to work as a seasonal ranger in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, he assumed the most formative part …
March 23, 2018
Travels in Geology: Underground awe in France: The caves of the Causses
The Causses du Quercy Natural Regional Park, usually just called “the Causses” (pronounced like “coast” without the “t”), in south-central France …
March 14, 2018
Pesky ticks even plagued dinosaurs
Blood-sucking, disease-spreading ticks are one of the most maligned parasites in the world, and new evidence shows they’ve been doing their dirty …
March 9, 2018
Down to Earth With: Paleontologist and astronomer Tom Kaye
What do paleontology, astronomy and paintball guns have in common? For one, they have all been pursuits of Tom Kaye. Kaye, a research associate …
February 23, 2018
World's longest sauropod trackway exposed
Excavations at a dinosaur trackway found in 2009 in the French village of Plagne, 200 kilometers east of Lyon, revealed 110 sauropod footprints …