#Destroyed ancient temple now open for virtual exploration

“#Destroyed ancient temple now open for virtual exploration” Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria. Credit: University of California – San Diego Five years after its destruction, the ancient Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria has been digitally reconstructed by the UC San Diego Library’s Digital Media Lab using cutting-edge 3-D methods and artificial intelligence applications….

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#Dinosaurs’ unique bone structure key to carrying weight

“#Dinosaurs’ unique bone structure key to carrying weight” Researchers recently learned of the unique weight-saving adaptation to dinosaur bone that enabled 8,000 pound dinosaurs like hadrosaurs to move easily. Credit: Illustration by Karen Carr Weighing up to 8,000 pounds, hadrosaurs, or duck-billed dinosaurs were among the largest dinosaurs to roam the Earth. How did the…

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#Massive, well-preserved reptile found in the belly of a prehistoric marine carnivore

“#Massive, well-preserved reptile found in the belly of a prehistoric marine carnivore” The ichthyosaur specimen with its stomach contents visible as a block that extrudes from its body. Credit: Ryosuke Motani When paleontologists digging in a quarry in southwestern China uncovered the nearly complete skeleton of a giant, dolphin-like marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur,…

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#Animal mummies unwrapped with hi-res 3-D X-rays

“#Animal mummies unwrapped with hi-res 3-D X-rays” Three mummified animals from ancient Egypt have been digitally unwrapped and dissected by researchers, using high-resolution 3D scans that give unprecedented detail about the animals’ lives – and deaths – over 2000 years ago. The three animals – a snake, a bird and a cat – are from…

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#Earliest art in British Isles discovered in Jersey

“#Earliest art in British Isles discovered in Jersey” The engraved fragments represent the first evidence of artistic expression found in the British Isles and Ireland. Credit: University of York Prehistoric people in the British Isles were creating artistic designs on rock as early as 15,000 years ago, a study has discovered. A team of archeologists…

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#Soil data reveals secrets in ancient Israel

“#Soil data reveals secrets in ancient Israel” Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Fresh insight gleaned from rocks and soil mapped across Israel will help reveal more information about ancient humans, animals and evolution in the Middle East region. Strontium is an element found in a range of natural materials in a variety of forms, known as…

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#Fossilised 429-mln-year-old eye mirrors modern insect vision

“#Fossilised 429-mln-year-old eye mirrors modern insect vision” The trilobite Aulacopleura kionickii (Barrande, 1846), size: c 1cm. Credit: Brigitte Schoenemann. An exquisitely well preserved 429-million-year-old eye from a marine creature that went extinct before dinosaurs even existed had vision comparable to modern-day bees and dragonflies, researchers said Thursday. Fossilized trilobites, formidable-looking arthropods with segmented bodies and…

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#Ancient genomes suggest woolly rhinos went extinct due to climate change, not overhunting

“#Ancient genomes suggest woolly rhinos went extinct due to climate change, not overhunting” This image shows the preserved, reconstructed remains of a baby woolly rhinoceros named Sasha that was discovered in Siberia. Credit: Albert Protopopov The extinction of prehistoric megafauna like the woolly mammoth, cave lion, and woolly rhinoceros at the end of the last…

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