Hacker News with Generative AI: Paleontology

Were our blue oceans once green? (nagoya-u.ac.jp)
Scientists find evidence that our oceans used to be green, suggesting that this may be a sign of primitive life, including that on alien worlds.
Oceanography, Paleontology, Astrobiology, Scientific Discovery
4 points by geox 4 days ago | 0 comments
A cretaceous fly trap? Remarkable abdominal modification in a fossil wasp (biomedcentral.com)
Here, we describe †Sirenobethylus charybdis n. gen. & sp., based on sixteen adult female wasps in Kachin amber from the mid-Cretaceous, 99 Mya (million years ago), and place it in Chrysidoidea: †Sirenobethylidae n. fam.
Paleontology, Entomology, Fossils, Cretaceous Period, Insects
38 points by gnabgib 5 days ago | 6 comments
Fragment of a human face aged over one million years discovered (sciencedaily.com)
The discovery of a human facial fragment aged over one million years represents the oldest known face in western Europe and confirms the region was inhabited by two species of human during the early Pleistocene, finds a new study involving a UCL researcher.
Paleontology, Archaeology, Human Evolution, Europe
66 points by docmechanic 10 days ago | 48 comments
Even the worst mass extinction had its oases (arstechnica.com)
About 252 million years ago, volcanic eruptions triggered the End-Permian Mass Extinction, also known as the Great Dying. About 96 percent of marine species were wiped out—but were things just as grim on land?
Paleontology, Extinction Events, Earth Science, Climate Change
99 points by Hooke 15 days ago | 48 comments
Imagining the Dinosaurs: How art, science combined to bring a lost world to life (worldhistory.substack.com)
How art and science combined to bring a lost world to life
Dinosaurs, Art, History, Paleontology, Science
16 points by crescit_eundo 18 days ago | 2 comments
A 62M-year-old skeleton sheds light on an enigmatic mammal (sciencedaily.com)
For more than 140 years, Mixodectes pungens, a species of small mammal that inhabited western North America in the early Paleocene, was a mystery.
Paleontology, Mammals, Science, Extinct Animals, Evolution
29 points by docmechanic 21 days ago | 9 comments
1.4M-year-old skull found in Spain earliest human face of Western Europe (msn.com)
Archaeology, Paleontology, Europe, Human Evolution, Spain
5 points by pseudolus 21 days ago | 1 comments
A longer, sleeker super predator: Megalodon's true form (news.ucr.edu)
The megalodon has long been imagined as an enormous great white shark, but new research suggests that perception is all wrong.
Paleontology, Sharks, Science, Evolution
4 points by gnabgib 22 days ago | 0 comments
Plants struggled for millions of years after the worst climate catastrophe (phys.org)
A team of scientists from University College Cork (UCC), the University of Connecticut, and the Natural History Museum of Vienna have uncovered how plants responded to catastrophic climate changes 250 million years ago.
Climate Change, Paleontology, Science, Plants
4 points by wglb 25 days ago | 0 comments
Los Chocoyos eruption dated to 79,500ya show Earth bounced back within decades (phys.org)
An international team of Earth and life scientists, hydrologists, chemists, and physicists, has found evidence showing that the Los Chocoyos supereruption occurred approximately 79,500 years ago and that the planet bounced back from its chilling effects within decades.
Volcanoes, Earth Science, Climate Change, Geology, Paleontology
3 points by gmays 27 days ago | 2 comments
1.5M-Year-Old Bone Tool 'Factory' Discovered in Tanzania (sci.news)
Paleoanthropologists have documented a bone tool assemblage from a single horizon dated to 1.5 million years ago at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. These bone tools precede other evidence of systematic bone tool production by more than 1 million years and sheds new light on the almost unknown world of early hominin bone technology.
Archaeology, Tanzania, Paleontology, Tools, Hominins
4 points by isaacfrond 28 days ago | 0 comments
New Specimen of Archaeopteryx Unearthed in Germany (sci.news)
Paleontologists have described a new specimen of the genus Archaeopteryx from the Mörnsheim Formation in the Franconian Alb of Bavaria, Germany.
Paleontology, Fossils, Germany, Science
4 points by bookofjoe 46 days ago | 0 comments
Fossils Preserve Both Skin and Scales from an Ancient Sea Monster (nytimes.com)
With serpentine necks, flippers and a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth, plesiosaurs have captured imaginations since paleontologists uncovered the first specimen more than two centuries ago. Their skeletal anatomy is well documented, but their external appearance has largely remained a mystery.
Paleontology, Fossils, Ancient Life, Sea Creatures
31 points by Brajeshwar 55 days ago | 7 comments
Fossilised fish vomit found in Denmark from sixty-six million years ago (bbc.com)
A piece of fossilised vomit dating back to the time of the dinosaurs has been discovered in Denmark.
Paleontology, Fossils, Denmark, Dinosaurs
63 points by namanyayg 64 days ago | 19 comments
Puzzling fossils unearthed in China may rewrite the human story (rnz.co.nz)
A cache of human-like fossils from China has perplexed scientists for decades, defying explanation or categorization.
Paleontology, Archaeology, Anthropology, Human Evolution
6 points by LopRabbit 64 days ago | 0 comments
Giant, Mysterious Spires Ruled the Earth Long Before Trees Did (smithsonianmag.com)
When land plants were still the relatively new kids on the evolutionary block and the world’s tallest trees reached only a few feet in height, giant spires of life poked from the Earth.
Paleontology, Earth Science, Ancient Life, Evolution
20 points by Brajeshwar 71 days ago | 4 comments
New Zealand tree reveals turning point in Earth history 42,000 years ago (2021) (uow.edu.au)
Weakened magnetic field linked to climate change, extinction of Australian megafauna, and rise of cave art
Climate Change, Paleontology, Australia, Earth History, Ancient Art
6 points by walterbell 72 days ago | 0 comments
Million year-old bubbles could solve Ice Age mystery (bbc.com)
What is probably the world's oldest ice, dating back 1.2m years ago, has been dug out from deep within Antarctica.
Science, Climate Change, Antarctica, Paleontology
6 points by whoisstan 83 days ago | 0 comments
UK's biggest dinosaur footprint site unearthed (bbc.com)
The UK's biggest ever dinosaur trackway site has been discovered in a quarry in Oxfordshire.
Paleontology, Archaeology, United Kingdom, Dinosaurs
87 points by peutetre 91 days ago | 14 comments
Gondwanaland: The search for a land before (human) time (australiangeographic.com.au)
The Gondwana supercontinent broke up millions of years ago. Now, researchers are piecing it back together again.
Geology, Paleontology, Supercontinents, Australia
63 points by bryanrasmussen 97 days ago | 46 comments
Scientists unveil 50k-year-old baby mammoth remains (bbc.co.uk)
Russian scientists have unveiled the remains of a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in thawing permafrost in the remote Yakutia region of Siberia during the summer.
Paleontology, Siberia, Mammoths, Climate Change
3 points by ljf 100 days ago | 0 comments
Young mammoth remains found nearly intact in Siberian permafrost (rte.ie)
Researchers in Siberia are conducting tests on a juvenile mammoth whose remarkably well-preserved remains were discovered in thawing permafrost after more than 50,000 years.
Paleontology, Siberia, Mammoths, Permafrost, Climate Change
3 points by Anthony-G 100 days ago | 0 comments
Neanderthals cold-adapted? Ribcage reconstruction may hold the answer (phys.org)
Researchers at the Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid report that analysis of a Neanderthal ribcage from a cave in Iraq exhibits a "bell-shaped" thorax configuration typical of Neanderthals elsewhere, differing from that of modern humans.
Neanderthals, Paleontology, Anthropology, Human Evolution, Archaeology
54 points by wglb 101 days ago | 49 comments
Giant sloths and mastodons lived with humans for millennia in the Americas (phys.org)
For a long time, scientists believed the first humans to arrive in the Americas soon killed off these giant ground sloths through hunting, along with many other massive animals like mastodons, saber-toothed cats and dire wolves that once roamed North and South America.
Paleontology, Archaeology, Extinction, History, North America
75 points by wglb 101 days ago | 22 comments
New York man finds Mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard (apnews.com)
Scholars are hailing the discovery of a fossilized mastodon jaw discovered by a man who spotted two giant teeth while gardening at his upstate New York home this year.
Paleontology, New York, Archaeology, Fossils
29 points by geox 105 days ago | 13 comments
World's oldest mammalian ancestor discovered in Mallorca (phys.org)
An international research team led by the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) and the Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals (MUCBO | MBCN) have described a fossil animal that lived between 270 and 280 million years ago in present-day Mallorca.
Paleontology, Evolutionary Biology, Spain
9 points by pseudolus 107 days ago | 0 comments
The Bering Land Bridge was more like a swamp (gizmodo.com)
During the last Ice Age, modern-day Siberia and Alaska were connected by a landmass that allowed animals—and ancient humans—to migrate across what is now the Bering Sea.
Paleontology, Geology, History, Archaeology
60 points by bikenaga 108 days ago | 29 comments
Study reveals mammoth as key food source for ancient Americans (uaf.edu)
Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food.
Archaeology, Food, Ancient History, North America, Paleontology
108 points by stevenwoo 111 days ago | 75 comments
What fossilized dino feces can tell us about their rise to dominance (arstechnica.com)
Paleontologists have long puzzled over how the dinosaurs—originally relatively small and of minor importance to the broader ecosystem—evolved to become the dominant species some 30 million years later. Fossilized feces and vomit from dinosaurs might hold important clues to how and why this evolutionary milestone came about, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature.
Paleontology, Dinosaurs, Evolution, Science
21 points by Brajeshwar 126 days ago | 3 comments
Mummy of juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from Upper Pleistocene (nature.com)
The frozen mummy of the large felid cub was found in the Upper Pleistocene permafrost on the Badyarikha River (Indigirka River basin) in the northeast of Yakutia, Russia.
Paleontology, Pleistocene, Siberia, Extinction, Ancient Animals
55 points by bryanrasmussen 130 days ago | 23 comments