An evolutionary supertree featuring 440 of the 600 known species of dinosaurs, shows how dinosaur evolution, which surged during their first 50 million years, virtually came to a stand still during the Cretaceous period. It remained at that low level throughout the following Cretaceous period, a time of plenty in Earth's terrestrial history in which flowering plants, lizards, snakes, birds and mammals all became much more numerous. Dinosaurs ... Read full entry

Top 100 weirdest amphibians list launched. The title of this list is enough to make anyone who loathes creepy-crawlies cringe. Top 100? You mean there are more of these creatures who didn't make the top 100? They have tentacles coming out of their heads, live underground for months on end, do not need to feed for up to 10 years, and survived whatever killed the dinosaurs. The Zoological Society of London ... Read full entry

Did Insects Kill the Dinosaurs? Is it possible that creepy crawlies and insects, rather than an ice age, or a meteor hitting the planet, were in fact responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs? The authors aren't arguing that the dinos all died in a massive epidemic; rather, the constant wear and tear of illness weakened the dinosaurs so that other catastrophes, like comets and volcanoes, could have finished them off. ... Read full entry

Dino Conspiracy Theory. Here's an article opener, or hook, budding journalists should take note of: The extinction of the dinosaurs has long been considered a crime committed by a lone gunman: an incoming asteroid that struck the earth 65 million years ago, filling the air with sun-blocking dust. But was there a grassy knoll? Not quite... Now, however, controversy is being stirred anew as evidence ... Read full entry