Possible Dinosaur DNA Has Been Found

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April 17, 2020

Dear Reader, Paleontologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences claim to have discovered a fossil that contains degraded remnants of dinosaur DNA. Also in today's news, a "megadrought" gripping the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico could be the worst in 500 years. Scientists say it's the first to be influenced by human-caused climate change. And lastly, paintings in a prehistoric cave in Indonesia might show modern thought at work.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Evolution Possible Dinosaur DNA Has Been Found New discoveries have raised the possibility of exploring dino genetics, but controversy surrounds the results By Riley Black

Climate COVID-19 Could Help Solve Climate Riddles Pollution declines from pandemic shutdowns may aid in answering long-standing questions about how aerosols influence climate By Adam Levy

Cognition Signs of Modern Human Cognition Were Found in an Indonesian Cave Painted images of intriguing human-animal hybrids are signs of modern thought By Robert Martone

Environment Climate Change Has Helped Fuel a Megadrought in the Southwest Data from tree rings suggest this drought is the worst in the region in 500 years By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Public Health Are Crowded Cities the Reason for the COVID-19 Pandemic? Placing too much blame on urban density is a mistake By Jason Barr,Troy Tassier

Biology Travel Down a Borehole into Antarctica's Lake Mercer [Video] Beautiful new footage ventures into a lake that is among the most remote on earth By Jennifer Frazer

Math Not Just Fun and Games Best known for inventing the game of Life, John H. Conway is adept at finding the theorems hidden in simple puzzles By Mark Alpert

Space Seven Years to Mercury A final flyby on the way to the inner world By Caleb A. Scharf

Behavior & Society What Neuroimaging Can Tell Us about Our Unconscious Biases It reveals that they involve the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate and the anterior temporal cortex

Cognition What Humans Could Be As psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote, "Perhaps human nature has been sold short" By Scott Barry Kaufman

Public Health Coronavirus Roundup for April 11-17 Pandemic news highlights of the week By Robin Lloyd

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Jurassic World: Can We Really Resurrect a Dinosaur? The Jurassic Park franchise has sparked an interest in dinosaur DNA, but the movies are just fiction By Darren Griffin,Rebecca O'Connor,The Conversation US | June 2018

QUOTE OF THE DAY "I think exceptional preservation is really more common than what we think, because, as researchers, we have not looked at enough fossils yet. We must keep looking." Alida Bailleul, Paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences

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