New research on mass extinction periodicity

Paleontologists are now taking a closer look at Lisa Randall's suggestion that the periodicity of mass extinctions can be explained by the solar system's bobbing up and down through the galactic plane, where a disc of dark matter dislodges objects from the Oort cloud. Here is an earlier discussion of Randall's idea. 

Evidence that some ancient marine reptiles gave live birth.

Here is a report on the finding. And here is the original paper. 

The Lost World of Appalachia

Here is a fun piece of prehistory writing by Asher Elbein. In North America, much attention has focused on the Cretaceous ecosystems of Larimidia. But what about the territory east of the seaway that divided what is now North America? What about the prehistory of Appalachia?

"Wrinkly bags": early deuterostomes from Cambrian rocks in China

A paper just out in Nature argues that fossils from the Cambrian represent early deuterostomes, The tiny organisms have mouths, and they seem to have pores on their sides--possible precursors of gill slits?--for excreting waste. Here is one popular report on the find.

A Canadian Lagerstaette that's not the Burgess Shale

Scientists writing in the latest issue of Geology report on a newly identified Lagerstaette in Alberta, Canada, not far from Banff. The Ya Ha Tinda site records a marine ecosystem from the early Jurassic, around 183 million years ago. Here is a short description of the findings. But check out the original paper (the first link above) for nice images of the fossils.

Giant prehistoric otter from southern China

The original paper appeared here in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology. And here is an accessible report on the finding.

New funding for Canada's Royal Tyrrell Museum

The Canadian government and the government of Alberta are providing new funds for the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology.

Cambrian hyoliths

A new paper argues that hyoliths--"tentacled ice cream cones with lids"--are lophophorates. Here is a report on the work in The New York Times.

Early tetrapod fossil from Scotland--remarkable for how it was "removed" from the rock

Scientists have found that it's possible to stick a rock in a CT scanner, scan & digitize a fossil that's inside the rock, and then 3D print the fossil. This is enabling them to make some headway toward figuring out what was going on during "Romer's gap," a gap in the fossil record (or at least, everyone thought it was a gap) coinciding with the early evolution of tetrapods. 

Fossilized Tomatoes, 52 million years old

Researchers have found fossils of ancestral tomatoes in Patagonia.

The Bears Ears, and what it means for paleontology

At the end of December, 2016, President Obama established the new Bears Ears National Monument, in Utah. Much of the discussion of the new national monument has focused on environmental protection and the preservation of archeological sites, But the region also has paleontological importance. Here is one interesting discussion by a researcher who works in the region.

An Unusual Developmental Trajectory

It seems that one type of dinosaur actually lost its teeth as it matured, a finding which may support the more general suggestion that dinosaurs played different ecological roles at different developmental stages. Here's the news item. And here is the original paper from Current Biology.

Philosopher of Biology Kim Sterelny on the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis

David Sloan Wilson interviews Kim Sterelny on the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES)

Prehistoric Soundscapes

Alex Riley writes here about efforts to reconstruct the sounds made by prehistoric insects, hadrosaurs, and even Neanderthals.

Dinosaur tail in amber

An amazing fossil.