A Treasure Trove of Dinosaur Bones in Italy Rewrites the Local Prehistoric Record

Emily Schwing: This is Scientific American’s 60 Second Science. I’m Emily Schwing. When he was little, Alessandro Chiarenza’s grandmother used to read him bedtime stories about dinosaurs and she would always tell him the same thing.  Alessandro Chiarenza: Oh you know, but these things were not living here. They were living in like America and in … Read more

Dinosaur that broke its wrist may have fallen while mating

A dinosaur bone unearthed in eastern Russia shows evidence of an injury the plant-eater sustained when it fell awkwardly Life 2 March 2022 By Carissa Wong An artist’s reconstruction of Amurosaurus Andrey Atuchin A four-legged duck-billed dinosaur that lived 68 million years ago – in what is now eastern Russia – probably broke its wrist … Read more

Newly Discovered Dinosaur From Argentina Belongs to a Rather ‘Armless’ Family

Paleontologists in Argentina have identified a new species of dinosaur which likely had such feeble forearms, it would make Tyrannosaurus rex look like Popeye in comparison. The dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai and identified from a single skull, is thought to belong to a clade of tiny-armed carnivores known as abelisaurids, which once tramped across Europe, Africa, South … Read more

New dinosaur: Species had teeth that were constantly replaced

Iberospinus natarioi, a new species of spinosaur dinosaur found in Portugal, constantly grew new teeth to replace those it broke while hunting fish and other aquatic animals Life 16 February 2022 By Christa Lesté-Lasserre Life reconstruction of Iberospinus natarioi, showing detail of muscles, and a fossil of part of the lower jaw Mateus, Estraviz-Lopez et … Read more

Massive ‘Killer’ Croc Discovered With The Remains of a Dinosaur in Its Stomach

About 95 million years ago in what is now Australia, a massive crocodile relative clamped down with its powerful jaws on the small body of a dinosaur and gulped nearly all of it down in one mighty swallow.   The crocodilian died soon after, and as it fossilized, so did the partly-digested and near-complete dinosaur … Read more

Dinosaurs: First evidence giant animals caught potentially fatal coughs

The first evidence of a respiratory infection in a dinosaur suggests that a 15-year-old diplodocid suffered from coughing, sneezing and fever before dying Earth 10 February 2022 By Matthew Sparkes An artist’s impression of Dolly the dinosaur Woodruff et al. (2022) and Corbin Rainbolt The fossil record has revealed dinosaurs with broken bones, osteoarthritis and … Read more

A Sneezing Dinosaur? Fossil Reveals Deadly Flu-Like Illness in a Sauropod

Hacking coughs, uncontrollable sneezing, high fevers and pounding headaches can make anyone miserable – even a dinosaur.  Recently, researchers identified the first evidence of respiratory illness in a long-necked, herbivorous type of dinosaur known as a sauropod, which lived about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago) in what is now … Read more

News at a glance: Mysterious space filaments, damaged dinosaur tracks, and edible worms | Science

ASTRONOMY Telescope reveals plethora of mysterious Milky Way filaments One of the most detailed pictures yet of the center of the Milky Way has revealed nearly 1000 mysterious strands that slash across the plane of the galaxy, 10 times more than previously known. The image, released last week by South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array, … Read more

Botched construction project damaged important dinosaur track site in Utah, paleontologists say | Science

Paleontologists were dismayed this week to learn that early Cretaceous dinosaur prints at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite near Moab, Utah, were damaged during efforts by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to repair a boardwalk there. A backhoe ran over some of the more than 200 tracks at the site, one of the richest … Read more

Dinosaurs: Ancestor of long-necked Diplodocus ran swiftly on two legs

The gigantic and slow sauropod dinosaurs like Diplodocus had small two-legged ancestors – and one, Thecodontosaurus, was quick and nimble 19 January 2022 By Christa Lesté-Lasserre Thecodontosaurus antiquus Stocktrek Images, Inc. / Alamy An early ancestor of large, long-necked, four-legged dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus was a quick, nimble biped that probably used its forelimbs … Read more