Earth Sciences Ph News Today

One in four Durham PhD students leave study without achieving their target doctorate degree. The data, acquired through a Palatinate Freedom of Information request, reveals performance is particularly poor in certain departments, with Computer Science, Education, and History performing amongst the worst in their respective faculties. Palatinate received data from 10 UK universities counting the number of PhD students who left study between the 2015/16 and 2019/20 academic years and how many of...

Trace fossil reveals more about this ancient creature's behavior

The finding, published today in the journal  Scientific Reports, is the result of reconstructing an unusual trace fossil that they identified as a burrow of these ancient worms. According to the study’s lead author, SFU Earth Sciences PhD student, Yu-Yen Pan, the trace fossil was found in a rocky area near coastal Taiwan. Trace fossils are part of a research field known as ichnology. “I was fascinated by this monster burrow at first glance,” she says. “Compared to other trace fossils w...

Credit: Masakazu Nara Simon Fraser University researchers have found evidence that large ambush-predatory worms--some as long as two metres--roamed the ocean floor near Taiwan over 20 million years ago. The finding, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, is the result of reconstructing an unusual trace fossil that they identified as a burrow of these ancient worms. According to the studys lead author, SFU Earth Sciences PhD student, Yu-Yen Pan, the trace fossil was found in a rocky...