Guest Author • Mar 15, 2016 •
Stephen Brusatte, University of Edinburgh Tyrannosaurus rex is an icon, a dinosaur known to nearly everyone on the planet. It doesn’t get much more awesome than a 13-metre long, seven-ton superpredator that could bite through the bones of its prey. T. rex may be the undisputed king of the dinosaurs, but how did evolution produce such a … Read More
Brendan Moyle • Sep 09, 2015 •
Image linked to Wits University Wits University will be streaming a major new discovery on Thursday. It is from the “Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site”. Other than that, we’ll all have to wait. The streaming will begin at 10.30, 10 September, South Africa time. Read More
Peter Dearden • Mar 31, 2015 •
Our oceans were filled with amazing animals that tell us about the past and the way evolution works. Read More
Guest Author • Feb 26, 2015 •
2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the first dinosaur bone being discovered in New Zealand. One of the remarkable aspects of this discovery is that it was driven by an amateur fossil hunter, Joan Wiffen. Joan’s story and fossils now mark her as an important figure in New Zealand science, and the 40th anniversary of Joan’s first dinosaur find is a great … Read More
Peter Dearden • Jan 13, 2014 •
Peter K. Dearden I was recently asked why I work on honeybees, especially given my growing intolerance to bee stings. There are lots of easy answers to this questions, including how cool they are, how important they are, how remarkable their biology is etc etc, but when it comes down to it, there is a real answer. So just to … Read More
Hilary Miller • Nov 23, 2009 •
A new take on the evolutionary history of the moa was published in PNAS this week.  Mike Bunce from Murdoch University in Perth and researchers from Alan Cooper’s lab at University of Adelaide have combined genetic data from over 260 moa bones with anatomical, geological and ecological information, to revise species relationships among moa and suggest a timeframe and origin for [...] … Read More
Hilary Miller • Oct 18, 2009 •
Most New Zealanders can name at least a dozen or so species of native bird, but how many can do the same for our native reptiles? If you starting counting and only got as far as 1. tuatara, you’re probably not alone. Although we are missing some of the major groups of reptiles (like snakes and [...] … Read More