Natural Science Forum / Biology / Paleontology / October 2006

On the Last Neanderthals
The following points are made by E. Delson and K. Harvati (Nature 2006 443:762):
1) The last Neanderthals were participants in one of the most dramatic events in the story of human evolution. At a time of increasing climatic instability and environmental ...

The amazing fossil of 'Lucy's little sister'
 a.. 20 September 2006
 b.. From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
 c.. Jeff Hecht

Few Clues About African Ancestry To Be Found In Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA may not hold the key to your origins after all.
A study published in the open access journal BMC Biology reveals that fewer than 10% of African American mitochondrial DNA sequences analysed can be ...

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21082
Related stuff:
- http://geoweb.princeton.edu/people/faculty/keller/chicxulub.html
- http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/03/0922/

19 October 2006
Rock on
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Identifying the precise point when a species went extinct is probably impossible. You can never be sure that a fossil is the very last of its kind. The extinction of the ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060927/sc_afp/scienceczechmammoths;_ylt=Au_a1hBNr2
RfPGBWpoMBPckPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

There's an article in the new issue of Paleobiology that has some fun
implications.
Longrich, N. 2006. Structure and function of hindlimb feathers in
Archaeopteryx lithographica. Paleobiology 32:417-431.