Back to the RadioSpace™ home page
NewsDirect story topics:
Consumer, Business & General Interest
Current Events & Public Affairs
Entertainment & Sports
Health & Medicine
"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Ear-volution"
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
48 kbps |
96 kbps
(90 seconds)
-- How Will You Use This Story? --
READER SCRIPT
(DOES NOT FULLY MATCH AUDIO)
HEARING--FROM A DISTANT RELATIVE... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. THE RECENT EXCAVATION IN CHINA OF A 125-MILLION-YEAR-OLD FOSSIL BY AMERICAN AND CHINESE SCIENTISTS MAY PROVIDE US WITH AN ANSWER TO AN IMPORTANT EVOLUTIONARY "FILL IN THE BLANK". THE FOSSIL IS NEW TO US: A NEW SPECIES OF MAMMAL THAT LIVED DURING THE MESOZOIC ERA, CALLED THE "YANOCONODON". ACCORDING TO ONE OF THE PALEONTOLOGISTS WHO AUTHORED THE STUDY, WHAT'S SO REMARKABLE ABOUT THIS UNREMARKABLE-LOOKING, FLAT "ROAD-KILL" IS THAT ITS JAW AND THE EAR-STRUCTURE ARE PRESERVED IN A VERY GOOD CONDITION. YOU'RE ABLE TO TELL WHAT THE TRANSITIONAL STATE IN THE EVOLUTION TOWARD THE MODERN MAMMAL EAR WOULD BE LIKE, ABOUT 125-MILLION YEARS AGO. SCIENTISTS HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT THE SOPHISTICATED MAMMALIAN HEARING STRUCTURE EVOLVED FROM THE JAW-HINGE OF EARLIER REPTILIAN RELATIVES. THIS DISCOVERY SHOWS THAT INTERMEDIATE STEP. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
