Category :: History



Impact Of Geology On The U.S. Civil War: War From The Ground Up

Date October 7, 2008

The connection between geology and the history of the Civil War has fascinated Robert Whisonant since his undergraduate days, and now Whisonant has teamed up with geomorphologist Judy Ehlen, both of Radford University, to take history, military history in particular, a step deeper — into the geology beneath the soldiers’ feet.

Whisonant and Ehlen examined the […]

New Dinosaur Species, Pachyrhinosaur Lakustai, Had Bony Frill And Horns

Date October 2, 2008

The fossils revealed a herd of dinosaurs that perished in a catastrophic event 72.5 million years ago. The animals are characterized by a bony frill on the back of the skull ornamented with smaller horns. They also had large bony structures above their nose and eyes which lends them their name: Pachyrhinosaurus (thick-nosed lizard). These […]

Canada’s Shores Saved Animals From Devastating Climate Change 252 Million Years Ago

Date October 2, 2008

The shorelines of ancient Alberta, British Columbia and the Canadian Arctic were an important refuge for some of the world’s earliest animals, most of which were wiped out by a mysterious global extinction event some 252 million years ago.

U of C scientists have solved part of the mystery of where marine organisms that recovered from […]

Mass Extinctions And The Evolution Of Dinosaurs

Date October 1, 2008

Dinosaurs survived two mass extinctions and 50 million years before taking over the world and dominating ecosystems, according to new research published this week.

Illustration of a Tarbosaurus, a cousin of Tyrannosaurus Rex, chasing two Parasaurolophuses.
(Credit: iStockphoto/Allan Tooley)
 
Reporting in Biology Letters, Steve Brusatte, Professor Michael Benton, and colleagues at the University of Bristol show that […]

Ancient Arctic Ice Could Tell Us About Future Of Permafrost

Date September 29, 2008

Researchers have discovered the oldest known ice in North America, and that permafrost may be a significant touchstone when looking at global warming.

"Previously it had been thought that permafrost completely melted out of the interior of Yukon and Alaska about 120,000 years ago, when climate was warmer than today," said Duane Froese, an assistant professor […]

Mother Of A Goose! Giant Ocean-going Geese With Bony-teeth Once Roamed Across SE England

Date September 29, 2008

A 50 million year old skull reveals that huge birds with a 5 metre wingspan once skimmed across the waters that covered what is now London, Essex and Kent. These giant ocean-going relatives of ducks and geese also had a rather bizarre attribute for a bird: their beaks were lined with bony-teeth.

It may be a […]

Uncovering Namibia’s sunken treasure

Date September 26, 2008

A team of international archaeologists is working round the clock to rescue the wreck of what is thought to be a 16th Century Portuguese trading ship that lay undisturbed for hundreds of years off Namibia’s Atlantic coast.

The shipwreck, uncovered in an area drained for diamond mining, has revealed a cargo of metal cannonballs, chunks of […]

Oldest Rocks on Earth Discovered?

Date September 26, 2008

An expanse of bedrock along Hudson Bay, Canada, may be a chunk of crust that formed not long after the solar system was born nearly five billion years ago, according to a new study. The finding could push back the age of the most ancient remnant of stable crust on Earth by about […]

Iberian Peninsula’s Earliest Agricultural Systems Were Unsustainable

Date September 24, 2008

Archaeological site of Los Castillejos, Granada. (Credit: SINC / A. Rovira)

A team of Catalan and Andalusian researchers has proved that the first agricultural systems on the Iberian Peninsula became ever more unsustainable with the passage of time. The study involved the analysis of fossilised grains of wheat and barley from Los Castillejos (Granada), an area […]

Neanderthals ‘enjoyed broad menu’

Date September 23, 2008

It seems Neanderthals enjoyed a wide range of foods - a much broader menu than had previously been supposed.

Excavations in caves in Gibraltar once occupied by the ancient humans show they ate seal and dolphin when they could get hold of the animals.
There are even indications that mussels were warmed to open their shells.
The findings, […]

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