Collaborate Disseminate
A surprise discovery in a remote Australian desert region has given us new clues into the evolution of complex animal life, dating back more than 500 million years. The numerous fossils of the animal now known as Quaestio simpsonorum also show clear le… Continue reading Ancient ‘sea Roomba’ tells a 555-million-year-old story of our evolution
Scientists have discovered evidence that an isolated pocket of complex life may have evolved on Earth more than 2 billion years ago – only to go extinct and take another 1.5 billion years to evolve to that level again. The controversial find could rewr… Continue reading Isolated community of complex life may have existed 2 billion years ago
No creature in the history of planet Earth sparks the imagination quite like Tyrannosaurus rex. But how do we separate the movie-monster myth from the actual animal? Victoria the T-rex, a traveling exhibition currently visiting Melbourne Museum in Aust… Continue reading The life of Victoria the T-Rex, and what Jurassic Park got wrong
An amphibian has lived up to its name, swapping out its usual green coloring for bright blue, in the first-ever record of a magnificent tree frog with this appearance. It’s stunned scientists, who know they’re unlikely to see this again.Continue Readin… Continue reading In a world first, blue frog defies nature with “once-in-a-lifetime” look
Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, another giant predator claimed the top spot in its environment. Meet Gaiasia, a huge salamander-like creature that stalked the Permian swamps.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Fossils, Amphibious, L… Continue reading Giant swamp monster was a top predator before the dinosaurs
In the 1800s, a conflict between the founding fathers of evolution divided the community. Charles Darwin believed sexual selection drove the variation in butterfly colors and patterns of males, while contemporary rival Alfred Russel Wallace disagreed, … Continue reading 150-year-old conflict between Darwin and Wallace is resolved – by a machine
In a world first, scientists have discovered that painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) have used favorable winds and a strategy of active flying and autopilot to fly across the world without stops, covering at least 4,200 km (2,600 miles). They be… Continue reading Butterfly takes epic 2,600-mile transatlantic flight, stuns scientists
The Earth’s magnetic field is vital for life – without it, the Sun’s radiation would sterilize the planet. But a new study suggests we wouldn’t be here at all if that magnetic field hadn’t almost completely collapsed half a billion years ago.Continue R… Continue reading Would we exist if Earth’s magnetic field hadn’t collapsed 500m years ago?
The first land plants burst forth from ancient algae onto the Earth about 550 million years ago. This one-off evolutionary event, known as plant terrestrialization, fundamentally changed the planet’s surface and atmosphere and made possible the develop… Continue reading ‘Genetic programs’ allowed the ancestor of all plants to conquer dry land
Scientists have caught a once-in-a-billion-years evolutionary event in progress, as two lifeforms have merged into one organism that boasts abilities its peers would envy. Last time this happened, Earth got plants.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, Sci… Continue reading Two lifeforms merge in once-in-a-billion-years evolutionary event