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Frogs Found Trapped in Amber After 99 Million Years

posted by mrpg on Saturday June 16 2018, @11:30PM   
from the valuable-for-science dept.

takyon writes:

Prehistoric frogs in amber surface after 99 million years

Frogs trapped in amber for 99 million years are giving a glimpse of a lost world. The tiny creatures have been preserved in sticky tree resin since the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs.

The four fossils give a window into a world when frogs and toads were evolving in the rainforests. Amber from Myanmar, containing skin, scales, fur, feathers or even whole creatures, is regarded as a treasure trove by palaeontologists.

Dr Lida Xing of China University of Geosciences in Beijing said it was a "miracle" find. "In China, frogs, lizards and scorpions are called three treasures of amber," he told BBC News. "These amber fossils provide direct evidence that frogs inhabited wet tropical forests before the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous."

The fossil record of the earliest amphibians is sparse, which makes the discovery particularly valuable for science.

The earliest direct evidence of frogs in wet tropical forests from Cretaceous Burmese amber (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26848-w) (DX)

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Original Submission

• Chinese science Chinese science (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 17 2018, @02:23AM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 17 2018, @02:23AM (#694111)

  Something about those 2 words together makes me cringe.

  In my field of study, we are flooded with Chinese articles that basically repeat prior work, but shoddier and without citing it. In fact, only citing other Chinese authors. Citation counts and publication counts strongly affect employment and promotion outcomes in science... and we wonder why there are so many Chinese people working in US science labs. It must be because they're good at math, right?

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• Re:Chinese science (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 17 2018, @03:52AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 17 2018, @03:52AM (#694134)

  To get the job in science labs you have to spend 10 years studying. That costs a lot of money. Then you may apply for a position. If you get it, your salary will eventually cover your prior expenses - sometimes even before you die from old age. But you can be also kicked out after two decades and replaced with new generation. Science is never about money. Now look at the US society - it is all about money. Why then anyone is surprised that americans study finances, law, medicine - getting degrees that are profitable and immune from outsourcing. The vacuum is filled with Chinese, willing to work for less (and produce accordingly.)

  Parent