Latest news with #Paleontology
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fossil hunters discover American mastodon jaw in Yazoo County
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Officials with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) said a portion of a lower jaw of an American mastodon found earlier this month in Yazoo County. According to MDEQ, the fossil was discovered by three amateur fossil hunters J.P. Ketchum, Brayden McCoy, and Leland McCoy from the loess bluffs region of Yazoo County. Scientists identify dinosaur tooth found in Mississippi Officials said the state was home to three Proboscideans during the last ice age which began around 110,000 years ago and ended roughly 11,700 years ago. These colossal giants include the American mastodon, gomphothere (Cuvieronius), and the Columbian mammoth. The fossil was donated earlier this month to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. MDEQ officials said state Survey scientists will be leading a team in the field this week to study the geologic setting of the site where mastodon fossil was found and also try to locate more of the skeleton that might still be preserved. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New research shows even dinosaurs got cancer
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. Researchers may have found a smoking gun for human cancer research and it goes back almost 70 million years. The smoking gun in question is actually the fossilized remains of a small cow-sized dinosaur, which researchers say had a small tumor. Now, they've linked what appears to have been red blood cells to the tumor, showing that dinosaurs may have struggled with cancer millions of years ago, too. This discovery is more than just a sign that dinosaurs got cancer, though. It's also a sign that tissue may exist in other fossils, and that it may have been preserved more often than we previously believed. The methods that made this discovery possible are also relatively underused, the researchers report. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 From here, though, preservation of these samples is important, as understanding how the dinosaurs dealt with cancer could mean major leaps forward in our own human cancer researcher. Considering the strides researchers have made in new cancer treatments over the years, something like this could be a big help to future research. Luckily, proteins found in calcified tissue like bone is much more stable than traditional DNA. Plus, as we dig deeper into the genetics of the dinosaurs preserved in these fossils, we could hopefully uncover more about how cancer in dinosaurs affected the larger population. We know some animals don't get cancer, like elephants and whales. The tumor found on this particular dinosaur is a type still found in humans today, which means this type of tumor has been affecting animals on our planet for millions of years. Understanding how they dealt with it, without any kind of modern medicine, could hopefully unlock some additional opportunities for researchers. Of course, finding more dinosaur tissue to study isn't going to be easy. There's no way to tell when tissue will still be present in a fossil. But continued exploration could result in tissue and DNA that researchers can use in their goal to understand not only the past, but where we currently are in our fight against deadly diseases like cancer. More Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free See the
BBC News
10-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Fossil discovery suggests sauropods didn't chew their food
Scientists say they've made an interesting discovery about one of the largest dinosaurs that ever roamed Earth.A team of experts took a closer look at the fossilised stomach contents of a 95-million-year-old sauropod - nicknamed found that the dino ate leaves from tall conifer trees as well as smaller seed ferns and flowering research also suggests that the sauropod barely chewed its meals due to the size of the pieces of food inside its body. What did scientists discover? The group of scientists, lead by Curtin University in Australia, decided to study the fossilised stomach contents of a sauropod that was originally found in 2017 in the Australian state of dinosaur, a species called Diamantinasaurus matildae, was nicknamed Judy by made this discovery unique, was that Judy's stomach contents had been well preserved, revealing for the first time in detail what it team's research found that the dinos snacked on a variety of plants from various heights above the ground, and that this helped their long-term researcher Dr Stephen Poropat explained: "We also confirmed that sauropods were bulk-feeders – a method still used by herbivorous reptiles and birds today. "This means they would not have chewed their food, instead swallowing it whole and letting their digestive system do the rest of the work," he said. Therefore, sauropods would have relied on fermentation in its guts to process the food it Poropat added that food could have stayed in the dinosaur's digestive system for "up to two weeks" and that discovering what sauropods ate is critical to understanding their "impact on Earth's ecosystems" throughout that time.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
They're not the prettiest, but they survived 2 extinction events
Garbage in, garbage out. High protein, low fat. Cut the carbs and stay hydrated. It turns out it does matter what you eat, especially to crocodylians — crocodiles, alligators and gharials — a species researchers say persisted despite two mass extinction events because they adapted their diet and the places where they found food. 'Lots of groups closely related to crocodylians were more diverse, more abundant, and exhibited different ecologies, yet they all disappeared except these few generalist crocodylians alive today,' said the lead author Keegan Melstrom. 'Extinction and survivorship are two sides of the same coin. Through all mass extinctions, some groups manage to persist and diversify. What can we learn by studying the deeper evolutionary patterns imparted by these events?' Researchers reconstructed their dietary ecololgy by examining the teeth and skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodylian species. The research is the first to reconstruct the dietary ecology of crocodylomorphs to identify characteristics that helped some groups persist and thrive through two mass extinctions — the end-Triassic, about 201.4 million years ago, and the end-Cretaceous, about 66 million years ago. Their study was published in the journal Paleontology on Tuesday. 'Despite being stereotyped as 'living fossils', the characteristics that facilitated their survival remain largely unknown, but trends in other clades, such as mammals, suggest that dietary ecology may play a key role in persisting during and after mass extinctions,' an abstract of the study said. Earth has gone through five mass extinctions in its history — and experts would argue we are undergoing a sixth — so the gritty survival of these toothy animals may provide tools on how to better protect vulnerable species today. Take the gharial, with its long, thin jaws it uses to feed on fish. Populations were once distributed across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. It currently survives in several severely fragmented populations in India and Nepal and is down to less than 250 in numbers. It thrives in big rivers and with its elongated snout and interlocking teeth, adults can quickly snatch a fish. Juveniles munch on insects, crustaceans and frogs. Males can reach up to 20 feet in length, but you don't have to worry about this gigantic creature chasing after you on land because of its weak leg muscles. When it does move across land, think of belly slides. The species is critically endangered, with India granting full protection in the 1970s. Habitat fragmentation, the damming of rivers and hunting are all factors that have this animal on collision course for extinction. Melstrom, an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, teamed up with Randy Irmis, curator of paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and a professor in the University of Utah's Department of Geology & Geophysics, to conduct the research probing the dietary ecology of the species that for now have withstood all the tribulations of time. 'We propose that one reason for the success and longevity of the crocodylomorph clade is their remarkable dietary flexibility, a characteristic that is still observed in living crocodylians,' the study says. A clade is a grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendants (living and extinct) of that ancestor. The team studied a fossil dataset that spans six continents and 200 million years of evolutionary history. 'Crocodylomorphs have survived two major mass extinctions and may be on the cusp of a third,' the research said, underscoring the need for better conservation practices and using science to help stave off extinction. As an example, the gharials are a keystone species indicating the health of an entire river-based ecosystem. Wildlife SOS says to save the species, you need to save their home. Controlled repopulation efforts have been successful to a degree. In 2024, 160 gharial eggs hatched across the Gandak River in Nepal after intense monitoring by federal officials, scientists and volunteers. The Gandak is a major left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. But ultimately, the key to ensuring the long-term survival of this ancient species lies in restoring balance to the affected ecosystem and, of course, ensuring they stay on the right diet and adapt.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Found a 444-Million-Year-Old Inside-Out Fossil With Its Guts Perfectly Intact
Discovered 25 years ago, a 444-million-year-old marine arthropod fossil stumped paleontologists, as they couldn't identify its exact species. Sarah Gabbot, who originally discovered the specimen, realized that the fossil had been preserved inside-out, meaning its muscles, tendons, and guts were exquisitely preserved while its limbs, carapace, and even head had dissolved away. Gabbot named the specimen Keurbos susanae—nickname 'Sue'—in honor of her mother, whom she said always supported her love of paleontology. Arthropods are the most successful animal group on the planet. These varying invertebrates make up roughly 85 percent of all animal life on the planet, and they have one of the most extensive and well-preserved fossil records of any animal group, with examples dating back some 518 million years ago to the Cambrian era—a.k.a. when complex life really boomed for the first time. Fast forward some 73 million years to the end of the next geologic period (the Ordovician), and life meets its first bust. The first of five (or possibly six) mass extinctions in Earth history, the Late Ordovician mass extinction wiped out roughly 85 percent of all life on Earth, making it the second most deadly (after the Permian extinction—you don't get the nickname 'The Great Dying' for nothing). It was during this tumultuous biological period, that a certain arthropod met its end, eventually becoming entombed and fossilized in Soom Shale—a band of silts and clays located 250 miles north of Cape Town, South Africa. Although intense glaciation laid waste to the planet, this small pocket of the world continued to thrive even under icy threat. Some 444 million years later, paleontologists unearthed this particular specimen, but it's appearance didn't match anything in the fossil record. That is, until Sarah Gabbott, a lead author on a study published in the journal Paleontology detailing this new species (named Keurbos susanae after the lead author's mother, Sue), made the surprising discovery—the fossil was actually preserved inside-out. ''Sue' is an inside-out, legless, headless wonder,' Gabbott said in a press statement. 'Remarkably her insides are a mineralised time-capsule: muscles, sinews, tendons and even guts all preserved in unimaginable detail. And yet her durable carapace, legs and head are missing—lost to decay over 440 million years ago.' Although this fossil's resting place included an anoxic environment (a necessary ingredient for fossilization to occur), it also contained hydrogen sulphide dissolved in the water. The researchers believe this chemistry likely dissolved away the carapace. Yet the mineral that perfectly preserved the marine arthropods insides—calcium phosphate—is the same mineral found in our bones and teeth. Gabbott told IFLScience that she's still trying to work out the exact details of how this strange inside-out preservation took place. Although 'Sue'—not to be confused with another famous fossil of the T. Rex persuasion—provides an incredible glimpse at the organs and guts of an ancient arthropod, it's difficult to know where to place the specimen on the tree of life—even 25 years after Gabbott first discovered it. 'This has been an ultramarathon of a research effort,' Gabbott said in a press statement. 'In a large part because this fossil is just so beautifully preserved there's so much anatomy there that needs interpreting. Layer upon on layer of exquisite detail and complexity.' While the mystery remains, the naming of the species at least checks off one to-do on Gabbott's list: 'Recently my mum said to me 'Sarah if you are going to name this fossil after me, you'd better get on and do it before I am in the ground and fossilized myself.'' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
