Senckenberg-Wissenschaftler Gerald Mayr hat gemeinsam mit US-amerikanischen Kollegen zwei neue fossile Vogelarten aus 50 MiIlionen Jahre alten Fossilfundstellen in Deutschland und Nordamerika beschrieben. Bei den mit finkenartigen Schnäbeln ausgestatteten Tieren handelt es sich um die bislang bekannten ältesten körnerfressenden Vögel. Die Studie erscheint heute im Fachjournal „Current Biology“. (more…)
Pioneering new research has debunked the theory that the asteroid that is thought to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs also caused vast global firestorms that ravaged planet Earth.
A team of researchers from the University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London recreated the immense energy released from an extra-terrestrial collision with Earth that occurred around the time that dinosaurs became extinct. They found that the intense but short-lived heat near the impact site could not have ignited live plants, challenging the idea that the impact led to global firestorms. (more…)
