Tag Archives: found

An international team of paleontologists has discovered in Quebec, Canada, the oldest physical evidence of life on Earth — fossils that date back 3.77 billion years. The discovery was reported online today in the journal Nature. Hematite tubes from the NSB hydrothermal vent deposits that represent the oldest microfossils and …

A new dwarf lemur species has been discovered in the dry and transitional forests of northern Madagascar, according to a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Primate Conservation. The Sheth’s dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus shethi) at Ankarana Special Reserve, Madagascar. Image credit: Richard Randriamampionona. Dwarf lemurs (genus Cheirogaleus) …

Researchers have uncovered a 38,000-year-old engraved image at Abri Blanchard, an Upper Paleolithic site of the Aurignacian culture — a finding that marks some of the earliest known graphic imagery found in Western Eurasia. Limestone block engraved with an aurochs. Image credit: P. Jugie, Musée National de Préhistoire Collections. The …

Artemisinin, a natural compound from the sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), has been found to potentially aid in the treatment of tuberculosis. The study was led by Michigan State University researcher Robert Abramovitch and was published recently in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. Artemisinin is derived from the sweet wormwood (Artemisia …

An international team of archaeologists has discovered the earliest evidence of humans processing plants for food found anywhere in the world. The findings are reported in the journal Nature Plants. Exceptionally preserved archaeobotanical remains from the Takarkori rock shelter, Tadrart Acacus, Libya, dating from 7500 to 4200 BC: a – …

Bitumen — a rare, tar-like material — from the Middle East is present in the 7th century Anglo-Saxon ship-burial at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, UK, according to a study led by Dr. Pauline Burger of the British Museum, London. Model of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial. The placement of the burial chamber …

A fossilized biting midge found in India preserved in amber dates back some 54 million years, says an international team of paleontologists. Camptopterohelea odora in amber from Gujarat State, western India. Scale bar – 0.2?mm. Image credit: Frauke Stebner / University of Bonn. From studying the amber from Gujarat State …

An enigmatic wingless parasitic wasp has been found preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, a new study says. Aptenoperissus burmanicus lived at the base of trees while dinosaurs wondered around above it, and is the only known specimen in a newly-created family, Aptenoperissidae. Scale bar – 1.0 mm. Image credit: George …

Fossilized forewings (elytra) from two individuals, discovered at the Oliver Bluffs on the Beardmore Glacier, revealed the first ground beetle species known from Antarctica. Research describing the new species is published online in the journal ZooKeys. Fossils of the left and right elytra of the Ball’s Antarctic tundra beetle (Antarctotrechus …

An international team of paleontologists has found evidence of beta-keratin and melanosome preservation in a 130-million-year-old specimen of the Early Cretaceous bird Eoconfuciusornis. Eoconfuciusornis zhengi. Image credit: Nobu Tamura / CC BY 3.0. Eoconfuciusornis, a genus of crow-sized primitive birds from the Early Cretaceous Dabeigou and Huajiying Formations of China, …