Geology, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 28, 2013

'Dino Idol': Vote For Fossil to Be Unveiled

Canada's next rock star may be between 71 million and 75 million years old — and it won't be music that propels him or her to fame. The Canadian Museum of Nature has launched a contest called Dino Idol, in which the public can vote on which of five dinosaur...

Feb 28, 2013

New Type of Bacteria Reportedly Found in Buried Antarctic Lake

A new type of microbe has been found at a lake buried under Antarctica's thick ice, according to news reports. The find may unveil clues of the surrounding environment in the lake, according to scientists. The bacteria, said to be only 86 percent similar to other types known to exist...

Feb 28, 2013

Hundreds of Dinosaur Egg Fossils Found

Researchers in northeastern Spain say they've uncovered hundreds of dinosaur egg fossils, including four kinds that had never been found before in the region. The eggs likely were left behind by sauropods millions of years ago. Eggs, eggshell fragments and dozens of clutches were nestled in the stratigraphic layers of...

Feb 28, 2013

Microbes Thrive in Deepest Spot on Earth

The deepest oceanic trench on Earth is home to a surprisingly active community of bacteria, suggesting other trenches may be hotspots of microbial life, researchers say. Life in the deep ocean often relies on organic matter snowing down from above. As these particles waft down, their nutrients get degraded by...

Feb 28, 2013

'Lost' Tectonic Plate Found Beneath California

A tectonic plate that disappeared under North America millions of years ago still peeks out in central California and Mexico, new research finds. The Farallon oceanic plate was once nestled between the Pacific and North American plates, which were converging around 200 million years ago at what would become the...

Sep 30, 2014

A New Way to Form Continents

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. From the 1950s until recently, we thought we had a clear idea of how continents form. Most people will have heard of plate tectonics: moving pieces on the surface...

Apr 30, 2014

Belly-Flopping Icebergs Could Help Track Glaciers

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Icebergs that tumble into the ocean are the source of unusual earthquakes recorded at Alaskan glaciers, researchers said yesterday (May 1) here at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America. Though no one regularly follows these funky seismic signals, analyzing them could give researchers a...

Nov 30, 2015

The 10 Strangest Animal Discoveries of 2015

Every year, scientists wade into jungles, deserts and museum collections to examine animals and, if they're lucky, discover a new species. For instance, in 2015 researchers identified a ruby-red sea dragon off the coast of Australia, a new species of giant tortoise in the Galápagos Islands and an ancient spikey...

Oct 31, 2015

Ancient 'Mud Dragon' Worm Had Spiky Coat of Armor

Like the fictional, fearsome sandworms from the Dune sci-fi novels, a recently discovered worm that lived 535 million years ago had an armored body, a mouth ringed with teeth and rows of thornlike spines on its flanks. But while the Dune sandworms were big enough to carry people on their...

Sep 30, 2015

Everything's Bigger in Texas: Ancient Supersize Shark Fossils Unearthed

This story was updated Oct. 19 at 11:45 a.m. EDT. DALLAS — A mega shark that lived 300 million years ago would have made today's great whites look like shrimps, according to fossils of the beast unearthed in Jacksboro, Texas. Scientists have dubbed the newfound fossils the Texas supershark, and...

Sep 30, 2015

Underwater Fossil Graveyard Reveals Toll of Human-Caused Extinction

If humans had never set foot in the Bahamas, the islands today might be teeming with Cuban crocodiles, Albury's tortoises and rock iguanas. These creatures survived the thawing of the last ice age, but not the arrival of people, a new study finds. On Abaco Island, a graveyard of fossils...

Jun 30, 2015

Oldest Animal Sperm Lasted 50 Million Years in Antarctica

It's time to call Guinness World Records: Researchers on an Antarctic expedition have uncovered sperm cells dating to a whopping 50 million years ago, making these the oldest known animal sperm cells, a new study finds. The researchers found the sperm fragments embedded within the walls of a fossilized cocoon....

Jan 31, 2015

New Land Off Louisiana Seen from Space

New land is blossoming at the mouths of the Atchafalaya River and the Wax Lake Outlet in Louisiana, bucking the trend of lost ground in this Gulf state. Recent satellite imagery shows two new deltas protruding into the Gulf of Mexico, one fed by the Atchafalaya and one from the...

Dec 31, 2014

Understanding Earth by Eavesdropping on Urban Noise

Researchers are tuning in to urban seismic noise, the man-made signals from human activity, to view geologic structures and track the rhythms of cities. Until now, scientists often tossed away data containing the pesky vibrations created as humans scurry from one place to another. Urban seismic noise often plagues scientists...

Dec 31, 2014

Aww! Primordial Reptile Fossils Show Mother Caring for Babies

The fossilized remains of a small aquatic reptile surrounded by six babies suggest that the extinct animal was caring for the little ones when they died, a new study finds. The reptile is an extinct species called the philydrosaurus, and likely lived during the Early Cretaceous, a time period that...