A newly discovered raccoon-sized armored monstersaurian lizard from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah reveals a surprising diversity of these very big lizards at the pinnacle of the Age of Dinosaurs. Named for the goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the new species Bolg amondol also illuminates the sometimes murky path that life traveled between ancient continents. Published in the open-access journal Royal Society Open Science, the collaborative research led by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s Dinosaur Institute reveals hidden treasures awaiting future paleontologists in the bowels of museum fossil collections, and the vast potential of paleontological heritage preserved in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and other public lands. 

A newly discovered, raccoon-sized armored monstersaurian from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah, United States, reveals a surprising diversity of large lizards at the pinnacle of the age of dinosaurs. Named for the goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” the new species Bolg amondol also illuminates the sometimes-murky path that life traveled between ancient continents.

Researcher from  Fudan University selected a global climate model, FGOALS-f3-L, to reveal the bias characteristics of CDV in this model. 

The planet Mars is home to thick layers of clay that can span hundreds of feet. Since they need water to form, these outcrops have long been of interest to scientists looking for signs of past life on the Red Planet.

In a new study in Nature Astronomy, scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators took a closer at these clay terrains and found that most formed near standing bodies of surface water, which were common on Mars billions of years ago. This environment would help foster the chemical weathering needed to create thick, mineral-rich layers of clay and could have provided the right mix of water, minerals and a calm environment for life to develop.