Living fossils

Scientists have discovered living fossils -- 23 adult and 16 juvenile historic (how old?) pine plants -- in an inaccessible region of the Wollemi National Park, Blue Mountain region, 200 km west of Sydney. The exact location of the trees has not been disclosed in order to protect them.

New dinosaur species

For creatures that were supposed to have dominated the entire planet, dinosaur fossils have been singularly missing from Africa. But now palaeontologist Paul Sereno from the University of Chicago claims that he has disinterred from Algeria and Niger fossils of several dinosaur species, among them 2 previously unknown -- a carnivore and a herbivore that lived almost 130 million years ago (Science Vol 266, Vol 5183).

Miniature mammoths

THE last of the woolly mammoths -- an ancient elephant look-alike -- disappeared somewhere in Siberia around 10,000 years ago. This widely accepted fact was challenged last year when new fossil finds from Wrangel island in the Arctic Ocean suggested a miniature version of the mammoth was very much around between 7,000 and 4,000 years ago, making it a contemporary of the ancient Egyptians. The evidence suggested that the creatures might also have been roaming the Mediterranean islands at the time.

When the whales took to water

WHAT do whales have in common with pigs, deer and hippos? All of them share the same ancestors, say evolutionary biologists. This belief has been held for a long time, but now, two groups of palaeontologists working in Pakistan have discovered fossils that are up to 52-million-year-old to support the claim.

Where did Homo erectus first appear?

ABOUT 2 million years ago, deep in the tropical jungles of Africa, a humanoid creaked into an upright posture. This was Homo erectus, our most immediate ancestor; it soon learnt to chip stones into useful tools and weapons, such as handaxes. A million years later, armed with these tools, the master hunter left Africa to colonise parts of Asia and Europe.

Biological Big Bang was briefer than believed

SCIENTISTS have recently discovered it took only 5 to 10 million years to create the immense diversity of life in the earth's oceans. Earlier, they had thought this biological explosion lasted some 20 to 40 million years, during the Cambrian period.

A treasure in eggs

SOME 1,000 dinosaur eggs found in China have become a bone of contention between scientists and commercial collectors (Science, Vol 261, No 5122). Scientists covet these beautiful and undamaged eggs because they could provide an insight into the Cretaceous period (140-65 million years ago) when dinosaurs roamed the earth. But they are also in great demand by maverick fossil fanciers to whom they are worth as much as $3,000 each.

Mysterious mammal

THE JUNGLES of Vietnam hide a hitherto undescribed mammal. Basing their claim on remains such as skins, skulls and teeth recovered from local hunters, zoologists reckon an adult specimen of the mysterious mammal -- named Pseudoryx nghetnhensis -- weighs about 100 kg, is 80-90 cm high at the shoulder and has a short tail.

Fact and film

LIFE IMITATES art more than art imitates life, said Oscar Wilde. His statement was borne out recently when US scientists re-enacted in their laboratory the plot of Steven Spielberg's latest film, Jurassic Park, which shows dinosaurs being re-created from their DNA, procured from the blood sucked by mosquitoes and preserved in amber -- fossilised tree resin -- for more than 100 million years.

Breaking the ice on Antarctica

A RECENT find of fossils may help geologists break through the ice obscuring Antarctica's past. David Harwood of the University of Nebraska and his colleagues have collected fossils of marine molluscs, microscopic organisms and leaves and twigs, all from the Eocene period of 35 to 55 million years ago (Science, Vol 259, No 5101).