Fossil

The ban on internal combustion engines is a critical part of EU's push to be climate-neutral by 2050. The 27 EU member states gave final approval Tuesday to a ban on sales of new fossil fuel cars by 2035, after Germany dropped a last-minute blocking effort. The vote was a formality after…

The EU plans to effectively impose electric vehicles by the middle of the next decade. The European Union and Germany on Saturday said they had struck a deal after a dispute over the planned phaseout by 2035 of the sale of cars using fossil fuels. A landmark deal to prohibit new sales of fossil…

Attitudes towards a tax on CO2 and removal of fossil fuel subsidies worldwide. Estimated average treatment effects. Points indicate the estimated effect; lines indicate 95% confidence intervals. Credit: Nature Climate Change (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01597-5 People might be more positive to the removal of fuel subsidies if told where the money would be spent instead. This has been shown in a study from the University of…

Despite mounting pressure from Canadians who want their money to stop supporting oil and gas, the majority of the country's largest pension fund managers continue to invest in that sector — and are led by individuals with close ties to fossil fuel companies.CBC News reviewed publicly available bios and resumes of leaders overseeing Canada's 10 largest pension fund managers and found that eight organizations have at least one high-ranking member, either a board member or an executive, who is actively directing a company in…

A rendering of the sauropod known as Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, which had a 15-meter-long neck. Credit: © Júlia d’OliveiraWith their long necks and formidable bodies, sauropod dinosaurs have captured people’s imagination since the first relatively complete fossils were discovered in the United States in the late 1800s. The original specimen that the Natural History Museum’s Dippy was cast from was among these discoveries.Now an international team led by Stony Brook University paleontologist Dr. Andrew J. Moore, and…

Fossil of the Late Jurassic shark Protospinax annectans from Solnhofen and Eichstätt, Germany. Credit: Sebastian StumpfThe evolutionary history of sharks and rays has been illuminated by a recently constructed phylogenetic tree.A recent study by an international team of researchers, led by palaeobiologist Patrick L. Jambura from the University of Vienna’s Department of Palaeontology, has revealed that cartilaginous fish have undergone more evolutionary changes than previously thought. The evidence for this conclusion was…

We know them in death. We know how they died, some of what they ate, how they grew, where they may have roamed, and even if they suffered from disease or injury. Preserved bones can tell us a lot, but perhaps just as interesting are the stories they left in traces, where their behavior, even for one moment, is captured in stone. Trace fossils—things like preserved footprints, scat, and nests—offer an intimate view to creatures that no longer inhabit this planet, demonstrating that ancient life may have been majestic,…

Germany upset partners in the European Union last week by blocking a milestone agreement to ban new sales of fossil fuel cars from 2035. The CEO of German auto giant Volkswagen and its luxury subsidiary Porsche on Monday backed moves by Berlin to block a European ban on new combustion engines from 2035.…

Ice is melting at an alarming pace all over the world. Whether it’s on mountain peaks, at the poles, in the seas, or on the tundra, no place is immune. The melting ice is revealing fresh terrain, as well as exciting opportunities and hazards, such as valuable mineral deposits, ancient artifacts, and even unknown viruses. This situation calls for immediate attention, as we navigate the uncharted territory that lies beneath the melting ice.Across the planet, ice is rapidly disappearing. From mountain tops, the poles, the…

The fossil extinct giant ant Titanomyrma from Wyoming that was discovered over a decade ago by SFU paleontologist Bruce Archibald and collaborators at the Denver Museum. The fossil queen ant is next to a hummingbird, showing the huge size of this titanic insect. Credit: Bruce ArchibaldSimon Fraser University 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,…