The Palaeo Pad

A study of fossil corals has provided fresh optimism that reef ecosystems may be better equipped to deal with present day environmental stresses than previously thought. The research, published in the latest issue of Ecology, looked at a time when sea levels had fallen to their lowest known height.

Analysis of fossilised DNA from Norway has shown that polar bears evolved rapidly during the late Pleistocene epoch. The study, which represents the oldest mitochondrial genome to be sequenced so far, was compared with modern brown and polar bear specimens.