New research published in Nature reports that world's oldest dinosaur Spicomellus afer had a tail weapon more than 30 million years before any other ankylosaur, as well as a unique bony collar ringed with metre-long spikes sticking out from either side of its neck.

Spicomellus is the world’s oldest ankylosaur, having lived more than 165 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic near what is now the Moroccan town of Boulemane. It was the first ankylosaur to be found on the African continent.

Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms that fossilized marine invertebrates serve as a powerful tool for understanding long-term ecological change and informing modern conservation efforts.

When a research team from Eurac Research entered the warehouses of the National Archaeological Museum in La Paz a couple of years ago, they were stunned to find more than 50 mummified individuals and over 500 pre-Columbian skulls, preserved with good intentions but in conditions that put them at risk of contamination by fungi and bacteria. This is a situation that often occurs in countries that cannot devote large sums of money to the conservation of cultural heritage, but also in countries such as Italy, where the heritage is so vast that it is difficult to take care of everything. The problem of protecting organic cultural heritage also arises when it needs to be transported or studied. Environmental conditions can have a significant impact on the most sensitive items, such as mummified human remains, textiles, paper, and wood. A research team coordinated by Eurac Research has been experimenting with conservation techniques and materials for years and has now developed an innovative, versatile, and inexpensive system called the Conservation Soft Box. It was recently presented in an article in the Journal of Cultural Heritage and at the 11th World Congress of Mummy Studies in Cuzco, Peru.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by an interdisciplinary team of researchers challenges long-held assumptions about the origins of agriculture