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Ancient Giant Turtle Fossil Revealed

By Guest PostMay 18, 2012Nature, Scienceamazon river delta, ancient, behemoth, carbonemys cofrinii, carlos jaramillo, cerrejon formation, coal mine, coal turtle, Colombia, crocodiles, dan ksepka, edwin cadena, fossil, giant turtle, jonathan bloch, national science foundation, orinoco, paleontologist, pelomedusoides, reptiles, skull, south american giant, Titanoboa cerrejonensis

Picture a turtle the size of a Smart car, with a shell large enough to double as a kiddie pool. Paleontologists from North Carolina State University have found just such a specimen – the fossilized remains of a 60-million-year-old South American giant that lived in what is now Colombia.

The turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means “coal turtle,” and is part of a group of side-necked turtles known as pelomedusoides. The fossil was named Carbonemys because it was discovered in 2005 in a coal mine that was part of northern Colombia’s Cerrejon formation. The specimen’s skull measures 24 centimeters, roughly the size of a regulation NFL football. The shell which was recovered nearby – and is believed to belong to the same species – measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches, long. That’s the same height as Edwin Cadena, the NC State doctoral student who discovered the fossil. (more…)

UCLA Researchers Map Damaged Connections in Phineas Gage’s Brain

By Guest PostMay 18, 2012Science1848 case, alzheimer's disease, andrei irimia, arthur w toga, behavioral change, brain, brain disorder, carinna m torgerson, cerebral cortex, computed tomographic data, emotional function, famous case, frontal temporal dementia, gage skull, history, human connectome project, jack van horn, laboratory, limbic structure, loni, mark wheeler, micah c chambers, microscopic links, model, myelin sheath, nerve fibers, neuro imaging, neurons, neuroscience, phineas gage, railroad, rod, san francisco, skull, south america, trajectory, traumatic brain injury, vermont, white matter

Famous 1848 case of man who survived a terrible accident has modern parallel

Poor Phineas Gage. In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his head. As reported at the time, the rod was later found, “smeared with blood and brains.”

Miraculously, Gage lived, becoming the most famous case in the history of neuroscience — not only because he survived a horrific accident that led to the destruction of much of his left frontal lobe but also because of the injury’s reported effects on his personality and behavior, which were said to be profound. Gage went from being an affable 25-year-old to one that was fitful, irreverent and profane. His friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.” (more…)

Distinct Brain Cells Recognize Novel Sights

By Guest PostApril 16, 2012Sciencebrain area, brain cell, brown university, cell type, david orenstein, david sheinberg, excitatory neuron, inferior temporal cortex, itc, luke woloszyn, novel sight, plasticity, repair circuit, skull, traumatic brain injury

The brain’s ability to learn to recognize objects plays out in the inferior temporal cortex. A new study offers a possible explanation of how two classes of neurons play distinct roles to help that happen.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — No matter what novel objects we come to behold, our brains effortlessly take us from an initial “What’s that?” to “Oh, that old thing” after a few casual encounters. In research that helps shed light on the malleability of this recognition process, Brown University neuroscientists have teased apart the potentially different roles that two distinct cell types may play.

In a study published online in advance in the journal Neuron, the researchers document that this kind of learning is based in the inferior temporal cortex (ITC), a brain area buried deep in the skull. Scientists already knew the area was important for visual recognition of familiar items, but they hadn’t figured out the steps required to move from novelty to familiarity, a process they refer to as “plasticity.” (more…)

Study Finds Significant Skull Differences Between Closely Linked Groups

By Guest PostApril 15, 2012Scienceann ross, ashley humphries, biohistorical context, coimbra, coimbra female, craniofacial characteristic, facial feature, female, female skull, forensic anthropologist, immigrant, intraorbital distance, lisbon, male, male skull, portugal, portuguese women, skeletal remain, skull

In order to accurately identify skulls as male or female, forensic anthropologists need to have a good understanding of how the characteristics of male and female skulls differ between populations. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that these differences can be significant, even between populations that are geographically close to one another.

The researchers looked at the skulls of 27 women and 28 men who died in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1880 and 1975. They also evaluated the skulls of 40 women and 39 men who died between 1895 and 1903 in the rural area of Coimbra, just over 120 miles north of Lisbon. (more…)

Tag Archives: skull

Ancient Giant Turtle Fossil Revealed

UCLA Researchers Map Damaged Connections in Phineas Gage’s Brain

Distinct Brain Cells Recognize Novel Sights

Study Finds Significant Skull Differences Between Closely Linked Groups