Latest Geologic time scale Stories
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online First mentioned in two dialogues (Timaeus and Critias) by Plato in 360 BC, the legendary island of Atlantis has long been sought by historians, archaeologists, and explorers alike. Said to have originally existed between South America and Africa, this sunken island has been searched for in no less than dozens of locations worldwide, from Bimini to the Black Sea. In a new twist, a team of scientists from Brazil and Japan say they...
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Ashton B. Carter will address strategic and budgetary challenges facing the Defense Department during a period of unprecedented fiscal uncertainty at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference on Thursday, May 2. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO) Carter was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Defense in October 2011 after serving as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,...
SAN DIEGO, April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BMR) today announced it will report results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2013 after the market closes on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Alan D. Gold, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kent Griffin, President, Matt McDevitt, Executive Vice President, and Greg N. Lubushkin, Chief Financial Officer, will host an investor conference call at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, May 2, 2013 to discuss the company's...
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE), the leader in online real estate, today announced it will issue its earnings release for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013, on Thursday, May 2, 2013, after the market close. Move will host a conference call to discuss the first quarter 2013 financial results at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) on the same day. To access the call, please dial (877) 312-5848, or outside the...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the largest studies on some of the most complete remains of early human ancestors has culminated in a comprehensive look into how an early hominid (Australopithecus sediba) moved and chewed. The study, collaborated on by an international team of scientists and published in six papers in the journal Science, details not only early traits but also describes notable features that set it apart from modern humans. The research...
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Close examination of the lower jawbone, teeth and skeleton of the hominid species Australopithecus sediba proves conclusively that it is uniquely different from a closely related species, Australopithecus africanus, according to a series of papers authored by a scientific team that includes several Texas A&M University researchers. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120502/DC99584LOGO) Darryl de Ruiter,...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Researchers from the University of Colorado claim to have uncovered new evidence supporting the notion that a Manhattan-sized asteroid collided with the Earth some 66 million years ago, triggering a global firestorm that would have led to the extinction of 80 percent of the planet’s species. According to Douglas Robertson of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and colleagues, the firestorm...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the most popular theories on the disappearance of the dinosaurs surrounds the 110 mile-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico. Many scientists believe the extinction was caused by an asteroid that crashed into Earth, leaving only a massive crater behind. However, a group of American scientists is presenting a theory that the culprit was actually a speeding comet, not a relatively slow-moving asteroid as many theories assert....
In the March issue of GSA Today, seven scientists from six countries, led by Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester, propose a realignment of the terms "geochronology" and "chronostratigraphy" in an attempt to resolve the debate of whether units of the Geological Time Scale should have a single (time) or dual (time and time-rock) hierarchy. In their system, which retains both parallel sets of units, with an option to adopt one or other when appropriate, geochronology refers to all...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international group of scientists led by researchers at the University of Cambridge has made an extraordinary find in South China. For the first time, scientists are able to see through the head of the "fuxianhuiid" arthropod, revealing one of the earliest evolutionary examples of limbs used for feeding along with the oldest nervous system to stretch beyond the head in fossil record. Prior to this find, heads covered by a wide...
Latest Geologic time scale Reference Libraries
Image Caption: Head of Tenontosaurus, Institut de paléontologie humaine, Paris, France. Credit: Rémih/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) Tenontosaurus, meaning “sinew lizard”, is a genus of medium to large sized ornithopod dinosaur. The genus is known from the late Aptian to Albian ages of the middle Cretaceious period sediments of western North America, dating roughly between 115 to 108 million years ago. It was formerly thought to be a ‘hypsilophodont’, but since Hypsilophodontia is no...
The Neoproterozoic is the third of three subdivisions of the Proterozoic Eon (occurring from 1 billion years ago to 542 million years ago). This terminal era of the Proterozoic is itself divided into three sub-periods called the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran Periods. The most severe glaciation known in the geologic record occurred during the Cryogenian Period, when ice sheets reached the equator and formed a possible “Snowball Earth.” And the earliest fossils of multi-cellular life...
The Paleoproterozoic is the first of three subdivisions of the Proterozoic Eon (occurring from 2.5 billion to 1.6 billion years ago (Ga). This period is marked by the first stabilization of the continents, and also when cyanobacteria--a type of bacteria that uses biochemical processes of photosynthesis to produce oxygen--evolved. Experts have found paleontological evidence that during at least part of the Paleoproterozoic era, about 1.8 Ga, the earth year was about 450 days long, with days...
The Archean (formerly Archaeozoic) is a geologic eon between the Hadean and Proterozoic eons. The Archean Eon begins at roughly 3.8 billion years ago (Ga) and ends at about 2.5 Ga. But unlike all other geological ages, which are based on stratigraphy, The Archean eon is defined chronometrically. The lower boundary of 3.8 Ga has also not been officially recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The name Archean is derived from the ancient Greek (Arkhe), meaning...
The Hadean is the unofficial geological period of time that lies just before the Archean time period. The Hadean began with the formation of the Earth roughly 4.5 billion years ago (Ga) and ended about 3.8 Ga; the latter date varies according to different sources. Hadean is derived from Hades, Greek for “underworld,” referring to the hellish conditions on the planet at the time. The term was coined in 1972 by geologist Preston Cloud. The period was later classified as the “Priscoan...
