fossils
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This tiny glob could be humans' earliest known ancestor
Paleobiologists in search of the earliest records of life on Earth have discovered what they believe is the human race's earliest known ancestor: a 540 million-year-old deuterostome about the size of a grain of rice called Saccorhytus coronarious that may have evolved into everything from sea urchins to land mammals and humans.
A rare fossil makes an appearance at the Natural History Museum
A nine-year-old girl patiently looked on while a technician pulled up a scan of her specimen. A 3D skull with a pointy beak popped up on the computer screen. The child, wearing clear-framed glasses and a light gray tee with a sequined star on the front, walked up to her father, who carefully put away the skull of a duck inside a round plastic container. They had found the tiny head on a beach and had decided to bring it in for Identification Day at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
This 50-million-year-old worm sperm is a scientific treasure
Scientists in Antarctica have come across one of the rarest specimens on record: ancient, fossilized worm sperm. "Because sperm cells are so short-lived and fragile, they are vanishingly rare in the fossil record," explains Benjamin Bomfleur, one of the palaeontologists who discovered the preserved cells. In fact, the find itself was an accident: Bomfleur's college, Thomas Mörs, came across the ancient sperm while examining a fossilized worm cocoon.
More dinosaurs had feathers than we thought
Realistically, we'll probably never successfully clone a dinosaur -- but if we ever do, we may be surprised by how the beast turns out. A fossil found in Siberia threatens to change our perception of what history's giant lizards may have looked like. We already know that not all dinosaurs were scales and teeth -- fossils from the 1990s show that some carnivorous theropods may have worn feathery coats -- but the new fossil suggests that far more dinos were covered in birdlike feathers than previously suspected. The Siberian discovery suggests that plant-eating dinos may have had feathers too.
Alt-week 9.29.12: 3D pictures of the moon, 4D clocks and laser-controlled worms
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Dimensions, they're like buses. You wait for ages, and then three come along at once. And then another one right after that. While that might be about where the analogy ends, this week sees us off to the moon, where we then leap from the third, right into the fourth. Once there, we'll learn how we could eventually be controlled by lasers, before getting up close and personal with a 300 million-year old bug. Sound like some sort of psychedelic dream? Better than that, this is alt-week.
Aion digs through history with an in-game event
Atreia's precious artifacts don't belong in some rich guy's collection -- they belong in a museum! If you're feeling the Indiana Jones vibe and are in the mood for a little treasure hunting, then Aion's got the in-game event for you: Picking Up the Past. The past is a litterbug, we tells ya! Starting today and running through October 5th, Picking Up the Past challenges players on both sides of the faction fence to uncover fossils that are apparently everywhere. Some will be easy to find; others are riding piggyback on dungeon monsters. Once a player find enough fossils, he or she can can turn them in for a variety of rewards including medals, Abyss relics, consumables, crafting mats, and -- why not? -- couples t-shirts. There are no quests associated with the event; simply find and turn in fossils as fast as you can!
Excavating more details on Dinosaur King
We were more interested in Dinosaur King when we thought it was just a paleontology sim. Now that more details have surfaced, though, we're a bit more wary. According to Sega, the fossil digging is only the beginning. In this anime-based game, you also have to use the different dinosaurs that you collect to fight -- think of it as Pokemon, only with extinct creatures rather than cute, fictional animals.Sounds good, right? So far, yes. The dinosaur-loving dorks inside of us were also excited to hear about the game's compendium, which keeps track of the dino bones that you've collected and lists facts about the beasts they came from, too. With seventy different dinosaurs to collect, as well as stylus-utilizing excavation processes and Wi-Fi battles, this seemed like something we could really get into. Then why our hesitation? You'll probably have to check out the screens in our gallery below to fully understand, but it has something to do with the game's clashing styles. Bright colored anime and realistic-looking dinosaurs just don't seem to mesh well. Add that to a cheesy storyline (as members of the D-Team you're trying to stop Dr. Z and the Alpha Gang from destroying the world), and we can't help but lose some of our initial excitement. Still, we'll be keeping our eyes on this title, which is scheduled to release this September.%Gallery-22668%[Via press release]
Digging up fossils in Dinosaur King
Oddly enough, screens for a game called Dinosaur King popped up on Sega's press site, but there's been no official word or press release as to what the game is or when to expect it.Still, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this title involves. The screens are pretty telling; it looks like some sort of paleontology sim, in which you dig up dinosaur bones and restore the extinct creature's skeletons as completely as possible.In fact, it sounds very familiar to what we know of We Are Fossil Diggers, a second-party game that was only released in Japan (and happens to be selling quite well over there). Some of the screens for Dinosaur King also hint that the title has an added drama element, though, so we'll wait until we hear more information.%Gallery-22668%
We are First Impressions
Bokura wa Kaseki Horidaa (English name: We are Fossil Holders) doesn't launch in Japan until next week, but Siliconera got its hands on a copy early, and wrote about the experience of excavating one of the in-game fossils; apparently, it's a little more complex than casually chatting to an owl in a bow-tie.There's a range of tools and techniques required to successfully excavate fossils without damaging them, including an X-ray device (to detect what lies underground), a hammer (to break down rocks and soil), and a drill (to chisel away smaller pieces of earth). Blowing dust away (using the DS's microphone, a la Spectrobes) is also an important part of recovering pieces for your dinosaur army.Beware, however, for if greenish cracks appear on the fossil, that means that it's getting damaged, and could break. We'd recommend reading Siliconera's write-up, as it actually sounds like quite a tense (and delicate) process!
A brief dig unearths Kaseki Horidaa site
An official site has just appeared for Kaseki Horidaa, Red's dinosaur-based title in which players dig up fossils, assemble them to create a dinosaur army, and then send them out to fight with other dino armies. For the winners: ultimate victory! For the losers: uh, we presume they just perish and eventually become fossilized all over again. It's a vicious cycle. But we digress.There's plenty of screens and character art over at the official site, and also (more interestingly) some footage of the game, including a brief slice of action from the battles (here), and also a video showing an actual excavation in process, with the stylus being used to gently chip away at the dirt around a fierce-looking skull (here - scroll down and you'll see it). There's elements of both Spectrobes and Pokemon on display here, and that's no bad thing.[Via Go Nintendo]
Dig up fossils and enslave dinosaurs on your DS
Famitsu has a pretty interesting look at a new game for the DS. Developed by Red and published by Nintendo, Kaseki Horidaa looks like Pokemon on steroids. Instead of deceptively cute creatures that hide dangerous attacks, the game will feature blatantly scary dinos with unspeakable power. Unlike Pokemon, the game will allow players to compose a 3-dino team. Gaining a new dino comrade demands the player dig up fossils, as each ferocious beast is made up of 4 different parts. And digging up fossils isn't as simple as blowing away virtual dirt by blowing into your DS's microphone.There's a real sense of tension here, as players can just as easily destroy a fossil as liberate it from its earthy confines. But, with over 100 different types of dinosaurs in the game, breaking a fossil or two won't be too much cause for concern. And, based on what dinosaurs you make, they'll be adept at attack, defense or support.That's about all we could get from the Famitsu page (machine translation is being a royal pain with this, for some reason), so for some more eye candy, be sure to head on past the break to see screens. And keep an eye on DS Fanboy for more news on the game as it develops.
