Study of new 'bone-head' hints at higher diversity of small dinosaurs

Scientists reveal new species of dog-sized dinosaur

2013-05-07

(Press-News.org) Toronto, Canada – Scientists have named a new species of bone-headed dinosaur (pachycephalosaur) from Alberta, Canada. Acrotholus audeti (Ack-RHO-tho-LUS) was identified from both recently discovered and historically collected fossils. Approximately six feet long and weighing about 40 kgs in life, the newly identified plant-eating dinosaur represents the oldest bone-headed dinosaur in North America, and possibly the world. Research describing the new species is published May 7, 2013 in the journal Nature Communications.

Acrotholus means "high dome", referring to its dome-shaped skull, which is composed of solid bone over 10 centimeters (two inches) thick. The name Acrotholus audeti also honors Alberta rancher Roy Audet, on whose land the best specimen was discovered in 2008. Acrotholus walked on two legs and had a greatly thickened, domed skull above its eyes, which was used for display to other members of its species, and may have also been used in head-butting contests. Acrotholus lived about 85 million years ago.

The new dinosaur discovery is based on two skull 'caps' from the Milk River Formation of southern Alberta. One of these was collected by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) over 50 years ago. However, a better specimen was found in 2008 by University of Toronto graduate student Caleb Brown during a field expedition organized by Dr. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto, and Dr. Michael Ryan of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

"Acrotholus provides a wealth of new information on the evolution of bone-headed dinosaurs. Although it is one of the earliest known members this group, its thickened skull dome is surprisingly well-developed for its geological age," said lead author Dr. David Evans, ROM Curator, Vertebrate Palaeontology. "More importantly, the unique fossil record of these animals suggests that we are only beginning to understand the diversity of small-bodied plant-eating dinosaurs."

Small mammals and reptiles can be very diverse and abundant in modern ecosystems, but small dinosaurs (

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

ASTRO and AUA issue joint guideline for radiation therapy after prostatectomy

2013-05-07

San Diego, May 7, 2013 – The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the American Urological Association (AUA) are pleased to announce the publication of the joint guideline on radiation therapy after prostatectomy for patients with and without evidence of prostate cancer recurrence. The 81-page document represents an intensive collaboration among experts in the radiation oncology and urology fields, led by Richard K. Valicenti, MD, MA, professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center ...

Discovery of new hormone opens doors to new type 2 diabetes treatments

2013-05-07

Boston, MA — Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers have discovered that a particular type of protein (hormone) found in fat cells helps regulate how glucose (blood sugar) is controlled and metabolized (used for energy) in the liver. Using experimental models and state-of-the-art technology, the scientists found that switching off this protein leads to better control of glucose production from the liver, revealing a potential new target that may be used to treat type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. The study appears online in the May 7, 2013 issue ...

The more feathers a male sparrow carries to the nest, the more eggs the female will lay

2013-05-07

An international team lead by the University of Granada has found that female sparrows will invest more energy into laying eggs according to the male's ability to fill the nest with feathers which serve to insulate the chicks from the cold and keep them alive. Scientists from the University of Granada, in collaboration with the South African University of the Witwatersrand and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town, have discovered that the female house sparrow (Passer domesticus) invests more energy into laying eggs when the male brings more feathers ...

Laminopathies: Key components in the disease mechanism identified

2013-05-07

Laminopathies are hereditary diseases that affect mainly the muscle tissue. These diseases include for example Emery-Dreifuss Muscular dystrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome. The underlying defect in these diseases is mutation in the genes encoding lamins or lamin-associated proteins. For example, many mutations in the lamin gene LMNA have been associated with different diseases. Lamins are crucial components of the nuclear lamina that underlies the inner side of nuclear envelope, and provides mechanical ...

High home ownership can seriously damage your labor market, new study suggests

2013-05-07

Government policies that boost the amount of home ownership in a country are likely to inflict severe damage on the labour market, new research from the University of Warwick suggests. Professor Andrew Oswald from the University of Warwick and Professor David Blanchflower from Dartmouth College examine a century of unemployment and home ownership data for the states of the USA from 1900 to 2010. Combining those numbers with modern data on millions of randomly sampled Americans, the researchers show there is a powerful link between the housing market and the later health ...

Chaos proves superior to order

2013-05-07

An international team of physicists, including researchers from the Universities of York and St. Andrews, has demonstrated that chaos can beat order - at least as far as light storage is concerned. In a collaboration led by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, the researchers deformed mirrors in order to disrupt the regular light path in an optical cavity and, surprisingly, the resulting chaotic light paths allowed more light to be stored than with ordered paths. The work has important applications for many branches of physics ...

Magnetic vortex antennas for wireless data transmission

2013-05-07

"So far, magnetic vortex states have been observed only in two dimensions; in other words: Within a plane," explains Sebastian Wintz, physicist at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. These magnetic vortices typically occur in nanometer-scale magnetic disks. Wintz has now investigated three-dimensional magnetic layer systems together with his colleagues from HZDR and the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute: The researchers stacked two magnetic disks at a time, which were separated by a thin non magnetic metal layer, on top of each other. Due to this special design, ...

Parents who suck on their infants' pacifiers may protect their children against developing allergy

2013-05-07

Swedish researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, report that a simple habit may give significant protection against allergy development, namely, the parental sucking on the baby's pacifier. Allergies are very common in industrialized countries. It has been suggested that exposure to harmless bacteria during infancy may be protective against the development of allergy. However, it has been difficult to pinpoint which bacteria a baby should be exposed to, and at what time and by which route this exposure should ideally occur. Swedish researchers ...

Period pain not made worse by copper IUD

2013-05-07

Previous scientific studies have suggested that women who use a copper IUD for contraception suffer from worse period pain, but a study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, that followed 2,100 women over a 30-year period shows that this is not the case. In the study, 19-year-olds born in 1962, 1972 and 1982 were asked questions about their height, weight, pregnancies, children, period pain and contraception. The latest results, published in the leading journal Human Reproduction, reveal that women who use a copper IUD do not suffer from worse period ...

And the beat goes on...: The reliable heartbeat of hibernators

2013-05-07

To date, the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of cardiac function at low body temperatures are poorly understood. Now, scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, together with colleagues at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, have found that certain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids regulate the cardiac function and hence hibernation. These fatty acids control the process of maintaining a regular heartbeat, achieving lower body temperatures during hibernation and thereby ensuring the hibernator's ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Label distribution similarity-based noise correction for crowdsourcing

The Lancet: Without immediate action nearly 260 million people in the USA predicted to have overweight or obesity by 2050

Standardized autism screening during pediatric well visits identified more, younger children with high likelihood for autism diagnosis

Researchers shed light on skin tone bias in breast cancer imaging

Study finds humidity diminishes daytime cooling gains in urban green spaces

Tennessee RiverLine secures $500,000 Appalachian Regional Commission Grant for river experience planning and design standards

New study in Science finds that just four global policies could eliminate more than 90% of plastic waste and 30% of linked carbon emissions by 2050

Breakthrough in capturing 'hot' CO2 from industrial exhaust

New discovery enables gene therapy for muscular dystrophies, other disorders

[Press-News.org] Study of new 'bone-head' hints at higher diversity of small dinosaurs
Scientists reveal new species of dog-sized dinosaur