BBC: In a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Peter Falkingham of the University of Manchester and his collaborators explain why fossilized dinosaur footprints are so rare. According to the group’s computer simulations, the massive prehistoric animals left enduring prints only in thick, shallow mud. Lighter dinosaurs would not leave prints in the same kind of mud, which means that the absence of small prints next to large fossilized prints should not be taken as evidence for the absence of small dinosaurs.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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