Karl's Weird News

100-million-year-old amber tomb traps ancient mushroom

A Kentucky nurse has found the oldest known mushroom, entombed in a 100-million-year-old piece of amber from Burma.

A closer examination of the mushroom cap measuring less than a tenth of an inch revealed it had been infected by an ancient parasite, which a second parasite was feeding on.

“I was amazed enough with the mushroom,” said George Poinar, a retired entomology professor in Corvallis, Ore. “But then seeing the parasites was astonishing. No one has ever seen this three-tier association before.”

Genes Show T. Rex Related to Chickens

An adolescent female Tyrannosaurus rex died 68 million years ago, but its bones still contain intact soft tissue, including the oldest preserved proteins ever found, scientists say.

And a comparison of the protein’s chemical structure to a slew of other species showed an evolutionary link between T. rex and chickens, bolstering the idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

The collagen proteins were found hidden inside the leg bone of the T. rex fossil, according to two studies published in the April 13 issue of the journal Science. Collagen is the main ingredient of connective tissue in animals and is found in cartilage, ligaments, tendons, hooves, bones and teeth. It yields gelatin and glue when boiled in water.

Skeleton challenge to Africa theory:

A 40,000-YEAR-OLD skeleton found in China has raised questions about the “out of Africa” hypothesis on how early modern humans populated the planet.

 The fossil bones are the oldest from an adult “modern” human to be found in eastern Asia.

They contain features that call into question the widely held view that all humans alive today are descended from a small group of sub-Saharan Africans who made their way out of the continent about 60,000 years ago. Gradually they colonised other parts of the planet, replacing older human species such as the Neanderthals, which became extinct. The older humans had themselves originated in Africa but moved out more than 1 million years earlier.

Ancient chimps ‘used stone tools’:

Chimpanzees in West Africa used stone tools to crack nuts 4,300 years ago. The discovery represents the oldest evidence of tool use by our closest evolutionary relative. The skill could have been inherited from a common ancestor of chimps and humans, the authors say, or learnt from humans by imitation.

Fossilised dinosaur eggs found in MP : HindustanTimes.com:

In a remarkable feat, three amateur explorers have stumbled upon more than 100 fossilised eggs of dinosaurs in Madhya Pradesh. The eggs, belonging to the Cretaceous Era (approximately 144 to 65 million years ago), have been discovered in Kukshi-Bagh area of Dhar district, some 150 kms south-west of Indore.

Caverns give up huge fossil haul:

An astonishing collection of fossil animals from southern Australia is reported by scientists. The creatures were found in limestone caves under Nullarbor Plain and date from about 400,000-800,000 years ago. The palaeontological “treasure trove” includes 23 kangaroo species, eight of which are entirely new to science.