2020

Study of Ancient Dog DNA Traces Canine Diversity to the Ice Age

29/10/2020

Study of Ancient Dog DNA Traces Canine Diversity to the Ice Age

A global study of ancient dog DNA presents evidence that there were different types of dogs more than 11,000 years ago in the period immediately following the Ice Age.
Neanderthals inherited the Y chromosome from modern humans.

08/10/2020

Neanderthals inherited the Y chromosome from modern humans.

An international team of researchers has discovered that genetic exchange occurred between early modern humans and Neanderthals more than 100,000 years ago. Interbreeding between these two groups led to the complete replacement of the Neanderthal Y chromosome with that of early modern humans. The Homo sapiens Y chromosome likely offered a selective advantage and, over time, replaced all Neanderthal Y chromosomes. For this study, published in the journal Science, the DNA of a Neanderthal fossil from Spy was analyzed.
18 Million Year Old Sperm Whale With 'Needle-Shaped' Snout

21/09/2020

18 Million Year Old Sperm Whale With 'Needle-Shaped' Snout

Paleontologists have excavated and described one of the oldest fossil sperm whales. The new species from Peru is approximately 18 million years old. Rhaphicetus valenciae was about 5 metres long and had an extremely long snout and slender, pointed teeth. It probably hunted small, fast-swimming prey in shallow waters. Today's sperm whales have a broad snout and 'suction feed' on squid at great depths.
Eternal Sleep: Dinosaurs Died Underground, Fossils Perfectly Preserved

08/09/2020

Eternal Sleep: Dinosaurs Died Underground, Fossils Perfectly Preserved

Palaeontologists have described a new species of burrowing dinosaur from China. Two intact fossils of Changmiania liaoningensis suggest that the animals were trapped by a volcanic eruption while resting at the bottom of their burrows. The newly described species is the most primitive ornithopod dinosaur to date, a group that also include our Bernissart Iguanodons.
Owl Discovered That Hunted Like A Hawk 55 Million Years Ago

28/07/2020

Owl Discovered That Hunted Like A Hawk 55 Million Years Ago

Paleontologists have described a large owl that killed medium-sized mammals with its feet and claws some 55 million years ago. “Today, owls kill with their beak," says paleontologist Thierry Smith (RBINS), who participated to the study of the well-preserved skeleton from Wyoming, USA. Primoptynx poliotauros is a new species and a new genus.
How To Digitalize Natural Sciences Collections?

23/07/2020

How To Digitalize Natural Sciences Collections?

Researchers from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the AfricaMuseum have published a handbook on how to digitalize natural history collections. This can be done in fifty ways, and in fifty shades.
The genome of four skeletons, 8,000 and 3,000 years old, sheds light on the history of Homo sapiens in Africa.

28/01/2020

The genome of four skeletons, 8,000 and 3,000 years old, sheds light on the history of Homo sapiens in Africa.

Researchers at Harvard University have reconstructed the genomes of four skeletons dating back 8,000 and 3,000 years. The study allows researchers to outline, for the first time, different patterns of dispersal and differentiation across sub-Saharan Africa.