Category: Dinosaurs
From Museum Basement, a ‘New’ Dinosaur
A paleontologist chose a name for an unknown dinosaur genus that has brought him more publicity than any of his other discoveries.
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From Museum Basement, a ‘New’ Dinosaur
Baby Mammoth visits France
Baby Khroma, a baby wooly mammoth, will visit France this month. Khroma is one the oldest mammoths that have been unearthed which is still in excellent condition. The specimen will be displayed from the 16th of July at the Musee Crozatier (Crozatier Museum) which is in Puy-en-Velay in the Southeast region of France. A special Cryogenic chamber will house the mammoth where the temperature will be kept at constant -18 degrees Celsius.Khroma is about 2 feet in height and 5 feet in length and is suspected to be the oldest of all baby mammoths ever found. Carbon dating on the mammal has actually failed, which has led experts to believe that Khroma could be more than 50,000 years old.
However, Russian reports place the age closer to 32,000 years. Khroma was discovered in the Yakutia region of Siberia last year. The discovery followed the unearthing of Lyuba, another well preserved baby mammoth, in 2007 in the same region. Lyuba was estimated to be 42,000 years old and is currently on display in Chicago at the Field Museum.Khroma’s arrival was delayed by 3 weeks as there were fears that lethal bacteria might be present on the animal. According to Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s chief epidemiologist, Khroma died due to Anthrax. Russian scientists conducted tests thereafter and gave it the all clear to go ahead. However, more tests were carried out in Grenoble, France where Khroma was subjected to gamma ray treatment which further ensured that any lethal bacteria present were destroyed.
The Fossil Record of Prehistoric Gnawing
Small mammals have been gnawing on bones for calcium and protein to supplement their diet for 75 million years, according to a report.
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The Fossil Record of Prehistoric Gnawing
Using a Paleothermometer to Determine if Dinosaurs Were Warm or Cold Blooded
US researchers have developed a brand new technology which can be used to determine if dinosaurs were actually warm blooded or cold blooded.
A study, which was released last week revealed the new technology developed by researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) – which is the first of its kind. It directly measures body temperatures of dinosaurs and other large vertebrates that are extinct via the use of isotopes analysis in eggshells, teeth and bones.
The findings of the study were published in the PNAS – the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Caltech’s geo-chemistry professor, John Eiler said that the new technology was not the same as measuring the body temperature of a live animal by inserting a thermometer up its rear end – but, he said, it was quite close.
Knowledge of the animal’s body temperature is absolutely necessary in order to study the change of temperature in their bodies and temperature regulation. Since dinosaurs are extinct, the scientists instead took into consideration two very rare isotopes which are oxygen-18 and carbon-13.
By studying the clumping effects of heavy isotopes which is dependant entirely on the temperature, the scientists first tried out their method on sharks and elephants. Once the method was proven successful, they then moved onto testing it on extinct animals.
The method was first tried out on a 12 million year old fossil which is a member of the rhinoceros family and also on a member of the alligator family. The results were satisfactory, with the team of scientists being able to estimate the possible body temperature of both kinds of animals. Studying the tooth enamel, as per the newly developed technology referred to as a paleothermometer, scientists are able to get a reading of the head temperature of that particular animal during the time the tooth grew.
Scientists are also currently studying egg shells of dinosaurs in order to determine if they were cold blooded or warm blooded.
So Big!
What was going on in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods that allowed the largest known land animals, like the Brontosaurus, to thrive and survive?
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So Big!
At Museum, ‘RoboSue’ Roars to Life
A lifelike animatronic recreation of Sue, the Field Museum’s iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex, will bring the dinosaur to life.
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At Museum, ‘RoboSue’ Roars to Life
Ancient Thick-Shelled Turtle Discovered in Coal Mine
Researchers have discovered a new fossil turtle species in South America. The turtle species seems to have had a fairly thick shell, which researchers say is as thick as a normal high school textbook.
The turtle’s shell, measuring around 3.3 feet in width and 1.4 inches thick, according to researchers, probably protected it from predators such as the Titanoboa.
The newly found species is being called Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki. The fossil was discovered in Columbia in the Cerrejón coal mine. Author of the study, Edwin Cadena, who is also a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University, said the species was ancestor to South American freshwater turtles. Their shell is twice as thick as the shells found on present day freshwater turtles.
The findings not only give scientists a peek into what the turtles looked like millions of years ago. Apart from their size, everything else seems pretty similar according to Cadena.
Cadena said that the modern diversity evident in South American tropics was already in place during the Paleocene, which is the period following the extinction of the dinosaurs, which existed around 56 to 65 million years ago.
The recently discovered fossil indicates that it is related quite closely to a group of turtles found in Brazil. This also could imply that they possibly would have migrated to South America, via the coastal line.
Apart from this, Cadena along with some of his colleagues is working hard to identify three other fossil turtle species found at the same site, which are larger than the thick shelled turtle.
For Extinct Monsters of the Deep, a Little Respect
Marine reptiles long played second fiddle to their more famous cousins, the dinosaurs.
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For Extinct Monsters of the Deep, a Little Respect
Artists Mine Scientific Clues to Paint Intricate Portraits of the Past
Illustrators separated from their subjects by thousands, if not millions, of years have tried to bridge the gap between reality and image.
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Artists Mine Scientific Clues to Paint Intricate Portraits of the Past
Human Teeth Reveal History of Catastrophes
Did you know that teeth are capable of storing records of our history, even to the point of keeping track of the radiation and environmental pollutants we have come across? Based on this, scientists are in the process of developing devices that will use teeth enamel and test the amount of radiation a given person has been exposed to during emergencies such as a dirty bomb explosion.
Barry Pass, Professor, College of Dentistry, Howard University, Washington DC says, “Dental enamel is quite a remarkable material. There is a world of information in the tooth.”
When you are exposed to radiation, that energy creates free radicals in your body which are atoms that contain an extra unpaired electron. This makes it unstable for healthy tissue as radiation could harm regular molecules in your body by nicking electrons and causing damage to DNA. However, free radicals are fairly useful indicators regarding the degree of radiation that an individual has been exposed to. To measure these levels in your teeth, scientists are currently working on a process called Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR).
A technique such as EPR could be quite useful towards estimating the amount of harm done following a huge release of radiation from something like a dirty bomb. It is a very simple process. The scientist, with the use of a dental drill, will carve out a very tiny piece of a tooth, without causing any harm to it. The sample is then subjected to microwave energy to gauge the amount of energy left after passing through this fragment – which in turn tells you the number of free radicals contained in it.
As remarkable as the process sounds, like most others, it does have its disadvantages. One of them being that the sample must be extracted by a trained dentist using specific tools, and the other being that it does take a bit of time. All drawbacks which will not make it easy to carry out a fast assessment after an emergency. The other drawback is that the EPR process is only able to detect fairly high levels of radiation, which works in times of huge emergencies – but not to test other levels of radiation encountered during the course of life.