news 2023

1st-ever prey found inside fossilized juvenile tyrannosaur leads to deeper understanding about feeding habits of these iconic predators The difference between a juvenile and adult tyrannosaur is massive - both figuratively and literally. While adults weighed around 3,000 kilograms, the weight of a pick-up truck, juveniles were much leaner.

McGill researchers challenge current understanding of dinosaur extinction by unearthing link between volcanic eruptions and climate change What wiped out the dinosaurs? A meteorite plummeting to Earth is only part of the story, a new study suggests. Climate change triggered by massive volcanic eruptions may have ultimately set the stage for the dinosaur extinction, challenging the traditional narrative that a meteorite alone delivered the final blow to the ancient giants.

Contemporary DNA evidence suggests that humans emerged from the interaction of multiple populations living across the continent There is broad agreement that Homo sapiens originated in Africa. But there remain many uncertainties and competing theories about where, when, and how.

New research led by SFU paleobotanist Rolf Mathewes provides clues about what plants existed in the Burnaby Mountain area 40 million years ago during the late Eocene, when the climate was much warmer than it is today. The results of their plant fossil analysis were recently published in the International Journal of Plant Sciences.

Simon Fraser scientists say their research on the latest fossil find near Princeton, B.C. is raising questions about how the dispersal of animals and plants occurred across the Northern Hemisphere some 50 million years ago, including whether brief intervals of global warming were at play.

About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers - including scientists from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal.