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Dinosaur Diversity Before the Asteroid

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Nov 12, 2025

Groundbreaking Method Utilizes Dinosaur Eggshells for Accurate Fossil Dating

Southern Suburbs Tatler
Tests conducted on dinosaur eggs from Utah in the United States and the Gobi Desert in Asia showed that the technique can produce ages accurate to within about five percent of known volcanic-ash dates. The work was supported by collaborators from North Carolina State University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the Colorado School of Mines, the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto.

Nov 6, 2025

This Tiny Tyrannosaur Could Settle a Huge Scientific Debate

Smithsonian Magazine
“Simply put, the Dueling Dinosaur Nanotyrannus is fully grown at half the length and one-tenth the body mass of a mature T. rex,” says Lindsay Zanno, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University and a co-author of the study, to Anirban Mukhopadhyay at Scientific American. “There is no scenario in which this animal morphs into a T. rex.” The researchers classify the fossil as Nanotyrannus lancensis.

Nov 5, 2025

Study Finds Ultrashort-Chain PFAS Built Up in Wilmington Residents’ Blood Before GenX Scandal

WRAL
“Finding these tiny compounds at such high levels changes our understanding of exposure,” said Dr. Jane Hoppin, who leads NC State’s GenX Exposure Study. “They were assumed to pass through the body quickly, but sustained exposure through drinking water appears to have driven accumulation. The question now is what that means for health.”

Nov 4, 2025

Scientists Thought This Fossil Was a Teen T. Rex. Turns Out It’s a New Tyrannousaur

NPR
In a paper in the journal Nature, paleontologists Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli conclude that some of the bones from that specimen belong not to a teenage T. rex, but to a fully grown individual of a different tyrannosaur species — Nanotyrannus lancensis.

A faucet and drinking water.

Nov 3, 2025

High Levels of Short-Chain PFAS Found in Wilmington Residents’ Blood

High levels of ultrashort-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were found in blood samples taken from Wilmington, N.C. residents between 2010-2016.

Nov 3, 2025

Nanotyrannus Confirmed: Dueling Dinosaurs Fossil Rewrites the Story of T. rex

A complete Nanotyrannus skeleton has just ended one of paleontology’s longest-running debates.

Oct 31, 2025

One of Science’s Biggest Dinosaur Debates May Finally Be Settled

The Washington Post
Lindsay Zanno, associate research professor at North Carolina State University and head of paleontology at the museum, began to work with James Napoli, now a paleontologist at Stony Brook University, on the fossils. “We quickly realized it was not at all like a juvenile T. rex, and it started to raise a flag,” said Zanno.

Oct 31, 2025

Young T. Rex or a New Dinosaur? New Bones Add to the Debate

Associated Press
The discovery “rewrites decades of research on Earth’s most famous predator,” said study co-author Lindsay Zanno with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University.

Oct 28, 2025

Short-Chain PFAS Eclipse Their Longer Counterparts in Blood Serum

The Scientist
Recently, researchers led by Jane Hoppin, an environmental epidemiologist at North Carolina State University, found that two ultrashort-chain PFAS persisted in most of the blood serum samples from people who were exposed to PFAS-contaminated drinking water.

Oct 24, 2025

Dinosaur Diversity Before the Asteroid

Science
Lindsay Zanno writes about new evidence challenging the idea that weakened ecosystems played a role in the demise of dinosaurs. Zanno is an associate research professor at NC State and head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.