ScienceDaily: Fossils & Ruins News

An analysis of sediment cores from the Bering Sea has revealed a recurring relationship between warmer climates and abrupt episodes of low-oxygen 'dead zones' in the subarctic North Pacific Ocean over the past 1.2 million years. The findings provide crucial information for understanding the causes of low oxygen or 'hypoxia' in the North Pacific and for predicting the occurrence of hypoxic conditions in the future.

Researchers have used a new optical dating technique to directly constrain the age of prehistoric stone artefacts from an archaeological site in southern Tibet. The findings are more than 5,000 years old and thus the oldest evidence of human presence in this part of the Tibetan Plateau.

Scientists have experimentally measured the bite force of adult T. rexes but not of younger tyrannosaurs. Fossils with juvenile bite marks have now allowed experts to experimentally test how hard juveniles could chomp. Though their bite force is one-sixth that of an adult, it is still stronger than that of living hyenas. The measurement is higher than previous estimates, suggesting a different ecological niche for these youngsters.