News by Subject Earth Science

University of Alberta paleontologists have just reported the world's biggest Tyrannosaurus rex and the largest dinosaur skeleton ever found in Canada. The 13-metre-long T. rex, nicknamed 'Scotty,' lived in prehistoric Saskatchewan 66 million years ago.

'According to the textbooks, amphibians swallow their prey whole, but we have been able to refute this,' says Dr. Egon Heiss of the University of Jena. Together with colleagues he has succeeded in proving that the crested newts do actually chew their prey, but in a way that is different from that of most other land-based vertebrates.

Related individuals of a soil bacterial species live in cooperative groups and exhibit astonishing genetic and behavioral diversity. ETH researchers recently published these findings in Science.

Continental rift valleys are huge fractures on the surface of the Earth that break continental plates with the eventual development of new oceans. Although instrumental in driving climate and biosphere in certain regions, this process is poorly documented and understood. In a new study, an international group of scientists has shed new light into the recent evolution of the African rift valley by conducting fieldwork, and integrating the results with laboratory analysis of volcanic rocks, analysis of the seismicity, morphology and numerical modelling.

Using their own laser imaging technology, Dr Michael Pittman from the Department of Earth Sciences at The University of Hong Kong and Thomas G Kaye from the Foundation for Scientific Advancement in the USA determined the lifestyle of a special hatchling bird by revealing the previously unknown feathering preserved in the fossil specimen found in the ~125 million-year-old Early Cretaceous fossil beds of Los Hoyas, Spain.

Seychelles warblers live and breed in family groups on the tiny island of Cousin. In each group, a dominant female and male reproduce. When helpers assist the with incubation and feeding of chicks, the dominant female breeders age more slowly and live longer, a study by biologists from the University of Groningen and colleagues shows. The results indicate how cooperative breeding -- which also occurs in other species, including humans -- can increase life span.