1+ week, 3+ day ago  (181+ words) The evolutionary origin of red algae'derived complex plastids remains obscure. Cryptophyta, one of four eukaryotic lineages harboring these plastids, still contains nucleomorphs, which are highly reduced remnants of red algal nuclei. The genes present on nucleomorph genomes can be used…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago  (440+ words) Scientists have shown conclusively for the first time that tiny marine organisms in polar oceans survived the mass extinction event that wiped out prehistoric dinosaurs because they needed less energy and were more tolerant to darkness. The study, led by…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago  (494+ words) New research helps to fill in questions about the so-called "Furongian gap" from about 497 million to 485 million years ago, when palaeontologists previously thought there were far fewer fossils than periods before or after it. "Palaeontologists have wondered whether this time…...

1+ mon, 1+ day ago  (732+ words) A reexamination of microfossils found in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul shows that the marks previously interpreted as traces of worms or other small oceanic animals are actually communities of fossilized microscopic bacteria and algae. These findings…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago  (14+ words) From the first botanical characterization of cyanobacteria about two centuries ago to contemporary studies...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago  (150+ words) astrobiology. com Biosignatures: Evidence for Endogenous Collagen in Edmontosaurus Fossil Bone Analytical Chemistry via Pub Med Reports of proteins in fossilized bones have been a subject of controversy in the scientific literature because it is assumed that fossilization results in…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago  (266+ words) Extinctions 400 million years in the making New geochemical tool detects ancient ocean chemistry The team applied an innovative technique called carbonate-associated phosphate (CAP), sampling rocks from seven globally distributed sites, including Anticosti Island in Quebec, to directly measure fluctuations in…...

2+ mon, 2+ week ago  (293+ words) Reconstruction of Jiangchuan biota (~554-539 million years ago). Credit: Xiaodong Wang. Credit Xiaodong Wang Other ancestral groups among the fossils included worm-like bilaterian animals (having bilateral symmetry), some with complex feeding adaptations, alongside rare fossils interpreted as early comb jellies. Many…...

2+ mon, 2+ week ago  (188+ words) Ichnofossils in Volcanic Glass From Palaeoproterozoic Hydrothermal Vents Were Burrowed By Microorganisms Probably Sseeking Phosphate'astrobiology. com Ichnofossils in Volcanic Glass From Palaeoproterozoic Hydrothermal Vents Were Burrowed By Microorganisms Probably Seeking Phosphate Ichnofossils in basaltic glass are putative microscopic trace fossils…...

3+ mon, 2+ week ago  (583+ words) Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor release carbon dioxide that is many million years old. This old carbon originates from the Earth's interior, and it escapes either directly from the Earth's mantle or is produced when rocks that contain limestone…...