Topic: Paleontology

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15 great stories from Hollywood legends

From the book Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers, Hollywood luminaries share some fascinating stories.
10 best books for readers ages 7 to 9

Ten delightful literary adventures for young readers aged 7 to 9.
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Massive craters
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Fireworks
The Flintstones turns 50: The five dumbest moments

The Flintstones is a classic. Fifty years after the show first aired, Fred, Wilma, and the gang are still popular enough to gain a seat atop Google's homepage. But their place in the cartoon pantheon doesn't mean that they're infallible. The Flintstones did some pretty stupid things in their day. Here are five of the dumbest. Click through to read them all.

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For sale: Tyrannosaurus skeleton at NYC auction

A nearly complete Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton, the Asian cousin of the T-Rex dinosaur, is up for sale Sunday. Starting bid: $850,000.
Did gassy dinosaurs cause global warming?

A new study found that giant plant-eating dinosaurs could have produced giant quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Were pliable heads an adaptation to walking upright?

New research relates hominin brain growth to walking on two feet.
Was ancient crocodile world's largest?

Researchers have recently unearthed what they think may have been the biggest crocodile ever to have lived on Earth.
Scientists: Dinosaur flatulence may have warmed Earth (+video)

Like gigantic, long-necked, prehistoric cows, sauropod dinosaurs roamed widely around the Earth 150 million years ago, scientists reported in the journal Current Biology on Monday.
Did dinosaur 'emissions' help warm the prehistoric climate? (+video)

In a new study, scientists theorize that giant, vegetation-munching sauropods emitted nearly as much methane each year into the warm atmosphere as do all natural and industrial sources today.
Were dinosaurs in decline before the asteroid?

A recent study shows that larger herbivorous dinosaurs were becoming less diverse before the mass extinction.
Humongous fleas gorged on dinosaurs, report scientists

Five to 10 times larger than today's bloodusuckers, the flea-like Mesozoic bugs whose fossils were unearthed in China are thought to have dined on feathered dinosaurs and mammals.
Some dinosaurs were declining before asteroid struck, say scientists (+video)

By the time that giant meteor collided with our planet at the end of the Cretaceous, some dinosaur species were already heading toward extinction, new research indicates.
Mysterious 'Godzillus' fossil find stumps scientists

An amateur paleontologist discovered an unusual fossil last year. Now experts are attempting to determine its identity.
Did egg-laying lead to the dinosaurs' demise?

New research suggests that dinosaurs' reproduction through egg-laying may have been a fatal weakness.
Which came last, the dinosaur or the egg?

Scientists unearthed remains of a new kind of dinosaur and its eggs in Patagonia recently. The fossil find provides fresh clues to the past.
Modern Parenthood
Could PBS Kids Barney be an extinct T. rex – in a good mood?

When we saw the photos of the big fuzzy – but extinct – T. rex that scientists in China discovered, we couldn't help wonder about the PBS Kids Barney and what this means for evolution of kids' toys.
Humongous fuzzy dinosaur unearthed in China (+video)

An ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex, Yutyrannus huali weighed 3,000 pounds and was covered in a downy fuzz.
Dressed to kill: A feathered tyrannosaur is discovered in China

A team of paleontologists has dubbed their find Yutyrannus huali – beautiful feathered tyrant. At 1.5 tons, this 'fuzz ball ... with a mouth full of killer teeth' is the largest feathered dinosaur by far.
Was Tyrannosaurus rex actually fuzzy? (+video)

The unearthing of a fuzzy ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex in China casts doubt on the image of the king of dinosaurs as a scaly beast.
Lions and humans likely collaborated in mammoth slaughter (+video)

A recently unearthed, strawberry-blond mammoth specimen from Siberia gives researchers new information about how humans and lions hunted.
How did humans evolve to walk upright? Fossil discovery complicates the picture. (+video)

Foot bones unearthed recently in Ethiopia belonged to a contemporary of 'Lucy,' the 3.2-million-year-old early human discovered in 1974. But these bones seem to belong to a different species, one thought to have split its time between walking upright and climbing trees.
Fossil discovery could unravel mystery of how humans learned to walk (+video)

The discovery of foot bone fossils from an early hominin may help unlock the mystery of how humans learned to walk upright.
Fossil find sheds light on how humans evolved to walk (+video)

A discovery in Ethiopia of 3-million-year old foot bones that once belonged to a human relative suggests that human bipedalism evolved more than once.
Titanoboa: How did a snake ever get so big?

Titanoboa: The new Smithsonian exhibit in Grand Central Station displays a replica of the largest snake in history, the 48-foot titanoboa. Why don't huge snakes exist today?
15 great stories from Hollywood legends

From the book Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers, Hollywood luminaries share some fascinating stories.
First dinosaur fossil discovered in Spain much newer than thought

Unearthed in 1987, Aragosaurus ischiaticus, roamed what is now Spain some 130 million years ago. Using fossilized pollen, paleontologists have calculated that it lived about 15 million years later than previously thought.
The dinosaur that dressed like Anna Wintour

Gliding through trees in what is now China some 130 million years ago, the microraptor sported shimmering black feathers, a new study reveals.
Ocean acidification worst in 300 million years, study finds (+video)

Researchers at Columbia University have found that carbon dioxide emissions have lowered the pH at a rate unparalleled in at least the last 300 million years of our planet's history.