Earth & Climate

Oldest python fossils discovered

The newly described species Messelopython freyi is the oldest record of a python worldwide. (Image: Senckenberg) The realm of the giant snakes is now...

Europe’s rivers are highly fragmented

The European river network. (Image: EEA, Copenhagen, 2012) Rivers are important habitats, connecting routes and transport routes. But in Europe, more than 1.2...

Featured picture: Iguanas brave the cold

This Central American striped basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) stretches its head towards the sun and warms up on the heated stones. But the cold-blooded...

Bizarrely decorated “show dinosaur”

Artist's impression of the Cretaceous "show star" with his stiff shoulder straps. (Image: Artwork © Bob Nicholls / Paleocreations.com 2020) From peacocks to birds...

Settlement of America thanks to warm oceans

Plankton density in today's North Pacific. (Image: NASA / GSFC, SeaWiFS Project and GeoEye) The world's oceans have a significant impact on the climate...

Featured picture: Galactic gargoyle

Galaxy contact in a class of its own: In this spectacular image from the Hubble Space Telescope, the galaxy on the right appears to...

Pterosaurs: mysterious origins illuminated

The pterosaurs were pioneers of animal aviation and, among other things, produced the greatest aviators in evolutionary history. (Image: Elenarts / Adobe Stock) From...

April sets the course for drought in summer

Forest in drought stress (Image: André Künzelmann / UFZ) In the last 20 years, Germany and Central Europe have experienced more summer heat and drought...

What will the continental drift lead to?

Today the earth's land masses are fairly evenly distributed - but that has not always been the case and will probably change again in...

Deep biosphere: hot limit explored

The deep-sea drilling ship Chikyu has extracted drill cores from the subsurface of the Nankai Trench off Japan. (Image: JAMSTEC) When does life get...

Bavaria’s groundwater has warmed up

One of the 35 measuring points at which the researchers recorded the temperatures of the groundwater. (Image: AG Applied Geology / University of...

“Toucan” of the dinosaur era discovered

Artist's impression of the primeval bird with the unusual beak. (Image: Mark Witton) A study shows that even between the dinosaurs, many different species...

Featured picture: A shining mineral

At first glance, this blue-purple glowing mineral seems almost unnatural. But it is not illuminated in blue by artificial light. It is...

Similar to the atmosphere of Venus

Artist's impression of the hot, dense and CO2-rich primordial atmosphere (left) and today's gas envelope on earth (right). (Image: Tobias Stierli / NCCR...

From fins to legs

How stable were the legs of the first shore leave? (Image: Davide Bonadonna) Around 390 million years ago, vertebrates first moved out of...

Typical Tyrannosaurus: growth spurts

Paleontologist Tom Cullen takes a sample from the thigh bone of T. rex "SUE". (Image: David Evans) How did the snarling robbers of the...

Microplastics on Mount Everest

The researchers' tents at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters on Mount Everest. (Image: Baker Perry / National Geographic, www.NatGeo.com/Everest) Human plastic waste...

Long-necked Dinosaurs: Careers in the Heat

Artist's impression of the early sauropod Bagualia alba. (Image: Jorge Gonzales) Brachiosaurus, Argentinosaurus and Co: The success story of the family of the largest...

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