Tag: Paleontology/Geobiology
November 12, 2012
Eavesdropping on the Secret Lives of Fish
Marine scientists are using “earthstones” from Southern flounder to determine the age, growth history and migration patterns of fish. Nate Miller’s geochemical analyses are a…
Read MoreSeptember 19, 2012
CT Scan and 3-D Print Help Scientists Reconstruct an Ancient Mollusk
Using a combination of traditional and innovative model-building techniques, scientists in the U.S. and a specialist in Denmark have created a lifelike reconstruction of an…
Read MoreSeptember 18, 2012
Prehistoric “Movie Monster” Mollusk Re-created With 3-D Printer
A spiky, well-armored mollusk that lived in the ocean 390 million years ago has been brought back to life with the help of 3-D printers….
Read MoreMay 27, 2012
Changes in Developmental Timing Were Crucial in Evolutionary Shift from Dinosaurs to Birds
Researchers from Harvard University, The University of Texas at Austin and elsewhere have found evidence that the evolution of birds is the result of a…
Read MoreMarch 8, 2012
Iridescent, Feathered Dinosaur Offers Fresh Evidence That Feathers Evolved to Attract Mates
A team of American and Chinese researchers has revealed the detailed feather pattern and color of Microraptor, a pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur that lived about 120…
Read MoreJanuary 25, 2012
Archaeopteryx had (some) black feathers
A team of scientists announced the first evidence of feather color in Archaeopteryx, a feathered dinosaur that has also long been considered one of the…
Read MoreMay 19, 2011
Mammals First Evolved Big Brains for Better Sense of Smell
Mammals first evolved their characteristic large brains to enable a stronger sense of smell, according to a new study published this week in the journal Science…
Read MoreApril 28, 2011
Traces in Time
When Peter Flaig returned home from Antarctica, he found it pretty amusing that the city of Austin was shut down by an inch of snow,…
Read MoreMarch 24, 2011
Highlights of Paleontology at UT Austin
2008: Early hominid Lucy CT-scanned 2001: Fossil fetus of an Elephant bird CT-scanned and reconstructed without breaking egg shell 1999: Non-vertebrate Paleontology Lab established 1997:…
Read MoreMarch 24, 2011
Why Do We Need Paleontology?
Paleontology has been a central part of geology since British scientist William Smith first showed that geological strata could be identified based on the fossils…
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