Oldest fossil scorpions show transition to land, claim scientists in reports in Science (AAAS) News and ScienceDaily 16 January 2020 and Scientific Reports, 16 January 2020 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56010-z. Palaeontologists have studied two “exceptionally preserved” scorpion fossils from the Waukesha Biota, a fossil deposit in Wisconsin, USA. Scorpions are arachnids, the class of invertebrates that also […]
Trilobite processions found, according to CNRS Press Release, National Geographic Science (AAAS) News, National Geographic 17 October 2019, and Scientific Reports 17 October 2019 doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51012-3. Scientists from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) along with other French and Swiss colleagues have studied fossils containing multiple specimens of trilobites named Ampyx priscus dated […]
“Good coral parenting” for reef recovery found, according to reports in ScienceDaily 16 September 2019 and Scientific Reports 16 September 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-50045-y. Corals live in a symbiotic relationship with algae – single celled plants that provide the coral with a lot of nutrients, as well as giving the corals their colour. When the corals […]
Reef in no trouble at all, says expert in an interview recorded by the Institute of Public Affairs. Dismissed university Professor Peter Ridd, a marine geophysicist at James Cook University, made the following comments about the Great Barrier Reef: “When you bury down to the data about that bleaching event in 2016, at the extreme […]
Coral movements disperse oxygen, according to a report in Inside JEB 9 August 2019 and Journal of Experimental Biology 9 August 2019 doi:10.1242/jeb.192518. Scientists in Israel have studied soft corals named Heteroxenia, which grow in the red sea. These corals have crown of feathery tentacles, arranged like a flower, that constantly fold and unfold in […]
Tree amber contains sea shells, according to reports in Science (AAAS) News and Science Alert 13 May 2019, and PNAS 13 May doi: 10.1073/pnas.1821292116. An international team of scientists has used CT scanning to identify a large number of fossilised creatures trapped in a piece of Burmese amber. Amber is fossilised tree resin and often […]
Chinese treasure trove of exquisite fossils found, according to reports in National Geographic 21 March 2019, BBC News 24 March 2019 and Science 22 March 2019 doi: 10.1126/science.aau8800. Scientists in China have collected over 20,000 fossils including worms, jellyfish, sea anemones, small segmented invertebrates, and algae, preserved in rock near the Danshui river in Hubei […]
Lobster skin could make car tyres, according to Science (AAAS) News 19 February 2019 and Acta Biomaterialia 31 January 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.067. Lobsters have a hard exoskeleton over their backs, legs and sides, but they have a soft flexible membrane covering the undersides of their tails and around their joints that enables them to move […]
Weevil larvae at sea according articles in Journal of Experimental Biology, 13 December 2018, doi: 10.1242/jeb.195792. Flightless insects and small invertebrates are found all over the world, including remote islands. In order to get to such places they must cross long stretches of ocean. Even if they are carried on rafts of vegetation they will […]
Oldest sponges found, according to ScienceDaily 15 October 2018 and Nature Ecology & Evolution 15 October 2018; doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0676-2. Researchers at the University of California have found evidence of sponges in rock and oils from Oman, Siberia, and India, dated as 660-635 million years ago. This is classified the Neoproterozoic Era, and is claimed to […]