Articles for category: News, Paleontology

Tharsis sp. fossil display in the museum

Fatal Feast: Jurassic Fish Fossils Reveal Death by Squid 

April Joy Jovita

A new study published in Scientific Reports uncovers a tragic feeding mistake preserved in stone: Jurassic fish of the genus Tharsis choked to death while attempting to swallow squid-like cephalopods called belemnites. The fossils, found in Germany’s Solnhofen Limestone, offer rare insight into predator-prey dynamics and ecological conditions 150 million years ago. Fossils from a ...

Jurassic World Rebirth

Jurassic World’s Secret Weapon? A Real Dinosaur Scientist Behind the Scenes

Suhail Ahmed

This summer, the latest installment of the Jurassic World franchise, titled Rebirth, will showcase familiar patterns from the franchise while introducing towering titanosaurs and mutant dinosaurs as well as the beloved T. rex. However, bringing such creatures to life on screen in a tangible manner is Dr. Steve Brusatte’s work. Paleontologist Brusatte fixes the monsters ...

planet HIP 67522 b

‘Death Wish Planet’ Found Whipping Its Star Into Violent Eruptions

Suhail Ahmed

Jupiter-sized exoplanets which emerge as a proxy for accelerating self-sabotage by instigating tremendous outbursts from their parent stars seem as violations to the conventional structure of planetary systems; astronomers have identified such a diabolic planet, HIP 67522 b. Located within its parent star’s magnetic field, HIP 67522 b’s orbital position subjects it to flare beams ...

Black-capped chickadee on a small tree branch

Gaze and Memory: Chickadees Recall Places Without Taking Flight

April Joy Jovita

A new study published in Nature reveals that black-capped chickadees can recall specific locations simply by looking at them, without needing to fly or physically visit the site. This discovery provides compelling evidence that spatial memory in birds can be triggered by visual fixation alone, reshaping how scientists understand navigation, attention, and planning in freely ...

Rock-cut tombs housed the burial of an Egyptian man

Oldest Egyptian Genome Reveals Ancient Ties to Mesopotamia

Suhail Ahmed

A team of scientists has recently sequenced the oldest and most complete genome from the Egypt known as the “Ruler of Nekhen”. The man lived between 4500–4800 years ago which is contemporaneous with the dawn of the Old Kingdom. His groundbreaking findings show he was genotypically linked with North Africa and greatly associated with Mesopotamia, ...

This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5. These are the expanding remains of a star that exploded hundreds of years ago in a double-detonation – the first photographic evidence that stars can die with two blasts. The data were captured with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument at the VLT. MUSE allows astronomers to map the distribution of different chemical elements, displayed here in different colours. Calcium is shown in blue, and it is arranged in two concentric shells. These two layers indicate that the now-dead star exploded with a double-detonation.

Astronomers Capture First-Ever Double Detonation Supernova in Stunning Detail

Suhail Ahmed

The irrefutable visual proof of a star dying in a spectacular “double detonation,” the explosive death of a star which occurs in twinned strokes, has now been recorded. This event marks the first instance of a white dwarf star undergoing two rapid explosions. The unprecedented finding offers new insights into the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5, ...

Killer whale jumping on water surface

A Kiss Beneath the Waves: Wild Orcas Caught in Rare Tongue-Nibbling Display

April Joy Jovita

In a first-of-its-kind observation, researchers have documented wild orcas gently nibbling each other’s tongues—a behavior previously seen only in captivity. Published in Oceans, the study describes a rare underwater interaction captured by citizen scientists snorkeling in Norway’s Kvænangen fjords, offering new insight into the social lives of these enigmatic marine mammals. A Chance Encounter in ...

BMI device

BMI Is Outdated: Body Fat Percentage Emerges as Better Predictor of Health

Suhail Ahmed

For many years, Body Mass Index (BMI) was the primary measurement used to evaluate risk of obesity and associated health conditions. A new study, however, suggests that BMI is a poorly utilized measure of mortality risk, as it overlooks more than half of individuals considered to be at risk, at the same time, incorrectly categorizing ...

neanderthalensis

Neanderthal “Fat Factory” Unearthed: 125,000 Year-Old Grease Extraction Site

Suhail Ahmed

The recent find in Germany rewrites the book on Neanderthal sophistication. Archaeologists have found a “fat factory” site where Neanderthals processed bones to extract grease which dated back to about 125,000 years ago. This discovery indicates that the need to extract calories for survival from animal fats was a full 100,000 years more advanced than ...

Green turbo seashell on the sand

Paleogeography Rewrites the Map: How Ocean History Shaped Mollusk Distribution

April Joy Jovita

A sweeping new study has unveiled a global map of marine mollusks that reflects not just present-day ocean conditions but millions of years of geological transformation. Published in Scientific Reports, the research shows how ancient shifts in land and sea, alongside temperature and ocean currents, continue to shape the biogeography of shallow-water mollusks like bivalves ...