3,500 Years of Climate History Show Arid Periods Linked to Periods of Turmoil and Depopulation
A recent study analyzing tree ring data has produced a 3,500-year-long record of precipitation rates on the Tibetan Plateau,…
Category: Earth Sciences
As Long as a Whale, New Extinct Snake Found in India May Be Largest to Have Ever Slithered the Earth
A giant snake, now thought to have been almost the largest to ever slither the Earth, has been identified…
Was This Primitive Whale the Largest Animal Ever to Live? Scientists Think So
Peru isn’t typically associated with ocean habitat, containing as it does the Andes and the Amazon. However, a beast…
Newly Discovered Giant Carnivore Shows Dinosaurs Like T-Rex Paid for Huge Skulls with Tiny Arms
PICTURED: An artists recreation of Meraxes gigas. PC: Universidad Nacional di Rio Negro. Released. What do we know about…
Tiny Collections of Lichen and Microbes May Keep Half the World’s Dust From Blowing Away
If you go to a national park in one of America’s deserts, you may see signs on the hiking…
Teenage Elephants Act Like Delinquents If There Are No Bull Males Around
PICTURED: Adolescent elephants bothering some hippos. PC: Connie Allen, Univ. of Exeter. Released. New research has found that the…
Fossilized Footprints Show Cretaceous Hunting Dinosaurs Were Fast and Surprisingly Agile
PICTURED: One of the La Torre 6A trackway footprints from La Rioja, Spain. PC: Pablo Navarro-Lorbés. Spanish paleontologists studying…
The ‘Father of Lizards’—Key Missing Descendant of All Modern Lizards Found in Argentina
PICTURED: The most primitive member of lepidosaurs, Taytalura alcoberi. PC: from scientific illustrator Jorge Blanco. The title “Father of…
The Sonar-Blocking Secret Beneath Beautiful Moths — A Sophisticated Defense System Revealed
PICTURED: The Luna moth, or Actias luna, uses its twisted forewings like a radar jammer. A horseshoe bat, a…
438-Year Old “Massive” Coral Discovered in the Great Barrier Reef in “Excellent Condition”
PICTURED: Nathan Cook, one of the members of a citizen science project that uncovered an enormous coral in the…
Here’s Where to See 17-Year Cicadas Begin Emerging in one of the Most Incredible Wildlife Displays in North America
PICTURED: Two of the 17-year “Brood X” cicadas, which are due to emerge this year. Photo credit: Tracy Lee…
Rarest-of-the-Rarest Dinosaur Fossil is a Cretaceous Era Still Life of Oviraptor and 24 Eggs
An international team of paleontologists has unearthed the latest fossil in what could be described as a 4-decade-long conveyor…
Fulgurites: Fossilized Lighting Bolts Shed Light on Previous Ancient Weather Patterns
PICTURED: Japan’s first and largest fulgurite, or fossilized lighting strike exhibited at the Iwamizawa Folk Science Museum. Photo credit:…