Tag: Paleontology/Geobiology
January 1, 2021
Lizard Skull Fossil is New and “Perplexing” Extinct Species
In 2017, while browsing the fossil collections of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, University of Texas at Austin graduate student Simon Scarpetta came across…
Read MoreOctober 1, 2020
Ice Age Manatees May Have Called Texas Home
Manatees don’t live year-round in Texas, but these gentle, slow-moving sea cows are known to occasionally visit, swimming in for a “summer vacation” from Florida…
Read MoreMay 27, 2020
World’s Oldest Bug is Fossil Millipede from Scotland
A 425-million-year-old millipede fossil from the Scottish island of Kerrera is the world’s oldest “bug” — older than any known fossil of an insect, arachnid…
Read MoreMay 13, 2020
Microscopic Feather Features Reveal Fossil Birds’ Colors and Explain Why Cassowaries Shine
Cassowaries are big flightless birds with blue heads and dinosaur-looking feet; they look like emus that time forgot, and they’re objectively terrifying. They’re also, along…
Read MoreFebruary 3, 2020
UT Scientists’ Fossil-Finding Board Game is a Success in Classrooms
Becoming a fossil is the ultimate game of chance. From the manner of death, to the place where the corpse is buried, to the transformational…
Read MoreSeptember 12, 2019
Elaborate Komodo Dragon Armor Defends Against Other Dragons
Just beneath their scales, Komodo dragons wear a suit of armor made of tiny bones. These bones cover the dragons from head to tail, creating…
Read MoreJune 20, 2018
T. Rex Couldn’t Stick Out Its Tongue, New Research Shows
Dinosaurs are often depicted as fierce creatures, baring their teeth, with tongues wildly stretching from their mouths like giant, deranged lizards. But new research reveals…
Read MoreDecember 13, 2017
Clarke Among Three UT Austin Scientists Named HHMI Professors for Innovation in Undergraduate Education
Three University of Texas at Austin professors have been chosen by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to join the ranks of a select group of…
Read MoreJuly 17, 2017
Fossil Site Shows Impact of Early Jurassic’s Low Oxygen Oceans
Using a combination of fossils and chemical markers, scientists have tracked how a period of globally low ocean-oxygen turned an Early Jurassic marine ecosystem into…
Read MoreJuly 5, 2017
Ancient Animal Thought to be First Air Breather on Land Loses Claim to Fame
Some good scientific sleuthing by an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin has helped rewrite one of the earliest chapters in the planet’s…
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