New species of "giant rat" described Indonesia Ricercatori australiani hanno pubblicato l´immagine dei resti di una nuova specie di roditore fossile attribuita al genere Coryphomys , comparabile dalla morfologia con l´odierno genere Rattus, ma notevolmente piú grande con un peso stimato di 6 chilogrammi.
I resti fossili, che comprendono in complessivo 11 nuove specie di roditori, provengono da scavi archeologici in sedimenti di caverne datati dai 1.000 ai 2.000 anni dell´isola di Timor . L´eta molto recente di questi fossili nutre un cauto ottimismo: Secondo i ricercatori é possibile che alcune di queste specie, conosciute al momento solo allo stato fossil fuels, is proving to be still living in the rainforest that covers more than 15% of the island. 
Fig.1. Comparison of the fossil remains of Coryphomys with a skull of the common rat (Rattus rattus ) , ventral view, image AFP / CSIRO / Ken Aplin. Representatives of Murinae (the group that includes mice and rats) are the largest living things are generally attributed to Mallomys , endemic in Indonesia and that in some species can reach a weight of 2 kg.
Adopt a Dimetrodon! 
Secondo un sondaggio condotto dalla rivista “nature” nel 2009 una percentuale di 63% degli giornalisti hanno usato dei blogs as sources or ideas for their science news ( Brumfield 2009). This could be a positive development considering the growing number of excellent scientific blog (mostly British), but of course in the country of persimmons in choosing a scientific way "alternative." 10 days ago I reported a post on a typical Blog crap, already at the limit of tolerable if in paleontological field, but gross errors which I think we should be traced back to the original source, and not surprisingly it 's the ANSA. difficult to think that "quality" of such a source could be "sor (ct) increased, but unfortunately the ever watchful Leonardo A. signals a new pearl of journalism "scientific" produced by the "Corriere della Sera."
Not much to add to the commentary and analysis of Leonardo, I wanted to laugh to keep from crying - this "work" of an official newspaper (!) Is even more in poorer the blog post private (and I assume that 's ANSA) above.
text apart from the scientific and grammatical errors is partly childish disconcerting: r ettili with large wings like an elephant (sorry, I do not have the speed to reach an elephant for comparison) and that "scream and leap into the air ? And if there was still a distant hope that the author has at least one question and that you understand before you go, here follows this sentence, in its contradiction is a paradox of cosmic entity: " The Pelycosaurs, dinosaurs have a huge sail back (like the one dimetrodonte) ... "
What irony of fate (?), to use these terms and for the image (see the introduction from the post) I think we should have done a quick search on Wikipedia , but to coin this phrase, which can not be more wrong, you must deliberately and completely ignore what 'written ... and it's really true, blogs are more scientific journalism (sigh!).
Finally, it is never, ever cite the scientific source of some news ...
And since I'm delighted to guess it, I predict that soon we will read the newspapers of this mold, " The kangaroo and a South American animal. "
Welcome to the land of the Smurfs ... 
Dopo la mozzarella blu ecco i fossili blu - oramai il paese dei cachi fa parlare di se in ambito scientifico solo dalle bufale prodotte in esso...
Ancient Italian artefacts get the blues.
"A mysterious blue sheen that is creeping over precious archaeological artefacts has sparked a political firestorm in Italy. Scientists are battling local authorities to save the damaged collection — and determine who is to blame. "
Fossil casts doubt on the dating of the diversification in the main Old World monkeys I due rami evolutivi che hanno portata da un lato agli ominidi ( Hominoidea ), inclusi noi stessi, e dall’altro verso il gruppo dei moderni cercopitechi ( Cercopithecoidea ) si sono separati più recentemente di quanto finora postulato.
Questa nuova ipotesi di datazione si basa sul ritrovamento di un cranio parziale nell'odierna Arabia Saudita occidentale.
Dai resti frammentari conosciuti precedentemente e considerati intermedi tra i due gruppi, datati tra i 23 - 30 milioni di anni, si era concluso che la diversificazione sia avvenutoa come minimo tra i 30 ai 35 milioni di anni fa.
Ma i nuovi fossili, rinvenuti nel 2009 nella parte mediale della formazione geologica di Shumaysi, sono stati datati a un’età compresa between 28 and 29 million years, and include parts of the skull of an individual male.
characters more distinctive, for its attribution to a common ancestor, have a muzzle protruded, missing side of the nasal cavity and large molars. These characters in the authors' research does not coincide with the fossils of the Old World monkeys (Catarrhini ) so far known, and seem to confirm the attribution of this species in the transition of the two major groups included in catarrhine, which the new research has just separated 28 million years ago. 
Fig.1. The fossil was found ... 
Fig.2. ... Mohammed Ali is the geologist (one of the authors of the research) before the formation Shumaysi where the encounter (source for both images: University of Michigan / Museum of Paleontology / Iyad S. Zalmout).
Bibliography:
ZALMOUT, IS, SANDERS, WJ; MACLATCHY, LM, Gunnell, GF, AL-MUFARREH, YA, ALI, MA; NASSER, AH, Al-Masar, AM, Al-Sobhi, SA; NADHRA, AO, Matara, AH, WILSON, JA & Gingerich, PD (2010): New Oligocene primate from Saudi Arabia and the divergence of apes and Old World monkeys. Nature Vol 466: 360-364 doi: 10.1038/nature09094
Fig.1. Comparison of the fossil remains of Coryphomys with a skull of the common rat (Rattus rattus ) , ventral view, image AFP / CSIRO / Ken Aplin. 
