How complex life arose under extreme stress
Scientists discovered molecules that helped the first complex life forms build strong cell membranes to withstand extreme environments.
Category: Paleobiology
Researchers used bottled “lightning” to make ingredients for life
Scientists used spark discharge experiments to test whether lightning converted enough nitrogen to a usable form to support the origins of…
How quickly did life recover from the end-Permian mass extinction?
Paleontologists described exceptionally well-preserved fossils of a complex marine ecosystem that developed within 1 million years of a…
How did nautiloids survive extinction?
Researchers found nautiloids outlived other shelly creatures in the late-Cretaceous extinction because they had slower metabolisms.
A trilobite’s last supper
Paleontologists described a trilobite fossil preserved in 3D with its gut contents intact.
Did lightning provide food for life’s beginning?
Lightning bolts can be deadly or destructive, but some researchers propose they might also have supplied essential elements for the first…
How smart were the dinosaurs?
A researcher from Vanderbilt University inferred dinosaur intelligence from fossilized skulls. She used the skulls to estimate the number of…
Could we find evidence for life in fool’s gold?
Scientists looked for biosignatures in fool's gold from a Mars-like environment . They found small filaments within the rock that may once…
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are way older than penicillin
Remember the classic chases where Wile E. Coyote tries to catch Roadrunner but is often outsmarted? It turns out that bacteria have to…
What the velociraptor’s brain tells us about its diet
The brain of one of popular culture’s most infamous dinosaurs helps to clarify its diet and hearing range.