Category Archives: Paleontology

But We Don’t Look a Day Over 175,000!

We learned a while back that dogs have been around for quite a bit longer than was originally thought. So it should come as no surprise to learn that we may have also been around longer than was originally estimated. Using argon-argon dating—a technique that compares different isotopes of the element argon—researchers determined that the […]

But We Don't Look a Day Over 175,000!

We learned a while back that dogs have been around for quite a bit longer than was originally thought. So it should come as no surprise to learn that we may have also been around longer than was originally estimated. Using argon-argon dating—a technique that compares different isotopes of the element argon—researchers determined that the […]

When Why Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

What allowed dinosaurs to be the dominant form of life on earth for all those millions of years? Would you believe they just got lucky? The closest competitors to the dinosaurs during the Triassic period (about 251 to 199 million years ago) were the crurotarsans, the ancestors of today’s crocodiles. Both dinosaurs and crurotarsans evolved […]

When Why Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

What allowed dinosaurs to be the dominant form of life on earth for all those millions of years? Would you believe they just got lucky? The closest competitors to the dinosaurs during the Triassic period (about 251 to 199 million years ago) were the crurotarsans, the ancestors of today’s crocodiles. Both dinosaurs and crurotarsans evolved […]

Tasmanian Tiger Lives?

Probably not. But then again… Wildlife scientists have re-opened the cryptic case of a carnivore that resembled a striped coyote and vanished from its Australian haunt nearly 80 years ago. While the scientists think chances are slim that the so-called Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) still roams the island off the coast of Australia, they can’t […]

Your World Frightens Me

I caught The Science Channel’s special “Neanderthal: The Rebirth” last night. With that title I was hoping the show would touch on the possibility of resurrecting Neanderthal – at least virtually – with recovered DNA. They didn’t go there. Instead, the special showcased the heroic efforts to piece together a full Neanderthal skeleton and what […]

Scary Down Under

Sounds like it used to be: SYDNEY, Australia – Before there were cuddly koalas, hoards of flesh-eating kangaroos, “demon ducks,” and marsupial lions roamed Australia’s Outback, according to recent fossil discoveries by paleontologists. A saber-toothed kangaroo and a giant 10-foot-tall, 881-pound bird scientists nicknamed the “demon duck of doom” were among the largely unknown species […]