EARLY EARTH - INDO DAILY

First detailed map of dinosaur brains suggests complex behaviors

Nov 14, 2013 (UPI)

U.S. scientists say a detailed map of a dinosaur brain suggests faculties for complex behavior, and possibly the ability to make sounds to communicate. Soft tis...

Visualizing the past: Nondestructive imaging of ancient fossils

Nov 13, 2013 (SPX)

By integrating high-resolution X-ray imaging (termed microCT), 3D image segmentation, and computer animation, a new study conducted by Carole Gee at the Univers...

Volcanic rock probe helps unlock mysteries of how Earth formed

Nov 07, 2013 (SPX)

New insights gleaned from volcanic rock are helping scientists better understand how our planet evolved billions of years ago. Studies of basalt, the material t...

Clay may have been birthplace of life

Nov 07, 2013 (SPX)

Clay, a seemingly infertile blend of minerals, might have been the birthplace of life on Earth. Or at least of the complex biochemicals that make life possible,...

RNA controls splicing during gene expression, further evidence of 'RNA world' origin in modern life

Nov 07, 2013 (SPX)

RNA is the key functional component of spliceosomes, molecular machines that control how genes are expressed, report scientists from the University of Chicago o...

Newly discovered predatory dinosaur 'king of gore' reveals the origins of T. rex

Nov 07, 2013 (SPX)

A remarkable new species of tyrannosaur has been unearthed in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM), southern Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited L...

X-rays reveal inner structure of the Earth's ancient magma ocean

Nov 07, 2013 (SPX)

Using the world's most brilliant X-ray source, scientists have for the first time peered into molten magma at conditions of the deep Earth mantle. The analysis ...

The biggest mass extinction and Pangea integration

Nov 06, 2013 (SPX)

The mysterious relationship between Pangea integration and the biggest mass extinction happened 250 million years ago was tackled by Professor YIN Hongfu and Dr...

Global warming led to dwarfism in mammals twice

Nov 06, 2013 (SPX)

Mammal body size decreased significantly during at least two ancient global warming events, a new finding that suggests a similar outcome is possible in respons...

Scientists digitally reconstruct giant steps taken by dinosaurs for the first time

Nov 05, 2013 (SPX)

One of the world's largest dinosaurs has been digitally reconstructed by experts from The University of Manchester allowing it to take its first steps in over 9...

Tell-tale toes point to oldest-known fossil bird tracks from Australia

Nov 05, 2013 (SPX)

Two fossilized footprints found at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia, were likely made by birds during the Early Cretaceous, making them the oldest known bir...

Chewing their way to success

Nov 05, 2013 (SPX)

The subfamily of rodents known as Murinae (mice, rats, etc.), which first appeared in Asia 12 million years ago, spread across the entire Old World (Eurasia, Af...

Researchers quantify toxic ocean conditions during major extinction 93.9 million years ago

Nov 05, 2013 (SPX)

Oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean rose dramatically about 600 million years ago, coinciding with the first proliferation of animal life. Since then, numerous s...

Ancient mini-sharks lived longer than thought: study

Oct 29, 2013 (AFP)

A line of mini-sharks thought to have perished in Earth's "Great Dying" event some 250 million years ago, in fact lived another 120 million years, said research...

Lots of oxygen does not necessarily lead to the evolution of advanced life

Oct 28, 2013 (SPX)

Any textbook will tell you that oxygen is essential for advanced life to evolve. But why did life not explode when oxygen levels rose dramatically 2.1 billion y...

Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks

Oct 28, 2013 (SPX)

Cosmochemists have solved a long standing mystery in the formation of the solar system: Oxygen, the most abundant element in Earth's crust, follows a strange, a...

Evolution is not a one-way road towards complexity

Oct 22, 2013 (SPX)

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about mollusks, e.g. snails, slugs and mussels. The research group of Andreas Wanninger, Head of the Department of...

Iron melt network helped grow Earth's core

Oct 10, 2013 (SPX)

Stanford scientists recreated the intense pressures and temperatures found deep within the Earth, resulting in a discovery that complicates theories of how the ...

Climate puzzle over origins of life on Earth

Oct 08, 2013 (SPX)

The mystery of why life on Earth evolved when it did has deepened with the publication of a new study in the latest edition of the journal Science. Scientists a...

Fossil bird from 125 million years ago shows some dinosaur traits

Oct 08, 2013 (UPI)

A bird 125 million years ago had two distinct kinds of feathers, resembling those of non-flying feathered reptiles and modern birds, Chinese researchers say. A ...