A gigantic theropod dinosaur has been discovered in China. According to findings published in Cretaceous Research, the newly named dinosaur species Zhuchengtyrannus magnus probably measured about 11…

This week's Friday Fossil is Arthropleura. "Calm down, dear!!" I'm about to pop off to the isle of Arran, the poster-child of British Geology. Not many countries can boast a handy island that has…

This week's friday fossil is Tribrachidium. Tribrachidium is from that oddest of time periods, the Ediacaran, and because of that we can partly excuse it for its weirdness. It's basically an Isle of…

I think one of the first things that got me interested in evolutionary biology was finding out that whales used to have legs. It's pretty incredible that the sleek, powerful whales of modern day…

Every friday from now on I'm going to pick out a cool fossil and stick it here. It's not necessarily going to be from the recent literature, and I'm an invertebrate paleontologist, so don't expect…

Everyone's heard of the Darwin Awards, right? It's where some poor soul dies in such a monumentally stupid way that it can be considered that they have done the human gene pool a great favour by…

The unyielding siltstone of the Callovian Mysterious Creek Formation. A few hours of collecting yield multiple bivalves, ammonites, including what looks to be two new species. Amongst the best…

Vancouver has a spectacular mix of mountains, lowlands all wrapped lovingly by our deep blue Pacific. When we look to the North Shore, the backdrop is made more spectacular by the Coast Mountains…

A traditional Chinese extract from the bark of the magnolia tree, an ancient genus that goes back some 95-million years, gives you fresh breath by killing off the nasty oral microbes that cause…

A traditional Chinese extract from the bark of the magnolia tree, an ancient genus that goes back some 95-million years, gives you fresh breath by killing off the nasty oral microbes that cause…