Palaeo After Dark

The gang discusses two papers about the functional morphology of ancient groups of animals. The first paper is a review of how the life position of rangeomorph ediacaran taxa have been reconstructed, and the second paper conducts an actualistic experiment of Oviraptor nesting strategies. Meanwhile, Curt gets activated, James doesn't die, and Amanda relishes in details.
 
Up-Goer Five (James Edition):
The group look at two papers that focus of understanding how things are long dead lived. The first paper talks about strange things that might have either lived standing up or lying down at the bottom of the water which is big and you can not drink. It is hard to tell how these things lived because there are not any around today and so instead we need to look at their form and how they are found in the rock. Most of the things seem to have lived how we thought but one actually was lying down rather than standing up.
The second paper looks at how big angry animals without hair kept their round babies and helped them grow by making a form in the ground like they used and putting round babies in it. They looked at how the round babies did by themselves and how they did with a warm bag on top like their final big form. They decide that they probably had the final big form covering the round babies when they were growing but that they did not do it the same was a things that fly and do not have hair today.
 
References:
McIlroy, Duncan. "Determining the mode of life of Ediacaran rangeomorphs in deep marine settings of Peri-Gondwanan Avalonia." Assemblage 550.538Ma (2022).
Su, Chun-Yu, et al. "Heat transfer in a realistic clutch reveals a lower efficiency in incubation of oviraptorid dinosaurs than of modern birds." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 14 (2026): 1351288.

The gang discusses two papers that use quantitative methods to investigate the biomechanical limitations of extinct organisms. The first paper models the range of jumping potential for a non-avian theropod dinosaur, and the other paper tests if an extinct bird could have skimmed the ocean for food. Meanwhile, James imagines a better future, Amanda is to blame, and Curt is heating up.
 
Up-Goer Five (Amanda Edition):
Today our friends look at two papers that talk about how things do stuff. The first paper looks at how a small one of large animals with thick skin and no hair would jump. It would jump very different than living animals with not thick skin with pieces that come off and have many parts. This is because they have long back parts that would get in the way and so they have to jump different. They could probably jump well, but just very different. The paper has very funny pictures that show this. The paper also has a computer do a pretend living animal with not thick skin with pieces that come off and have many parts, but they do not look at any living animals, just what the computer does.
The second paper looks at very big not living animal with not thick skin with pieces that come off and have many parts, that has not real teeth in its mouth and shows that it could not live like some living animals with not thick skin with pieces that come off and have many parts that have very long faces and the bottom part of their mouth is much longer than the top part. They go over water and use their mouth to eat things that live in water. But the not living animal with not thick skin with pieces that come off and have many parts was too big and too bad at flying to do this kind of living.
 
References:
Hellyer-Price, Olivia, Chris Venditti, and Stuart Humphries. "The largest extinct volant bird Pelagornis could not meet the energetic demands of skimming." Royal Society Open Science 13.2 (2026).
Charles, James P., Delyle T. Polet, and John R. Hutchinson. "Form–function relationships determining optimal jumping performance in an early bipedal dinosaur." Journal of The Royal Society Interface 23.235 (2026).

The gang discusses two papers that are united by a fin. The first paper uses a computer algorithms to infer the shape of mosasaur tail fins, and the second paper looks at a new species of Spinosaurus with a crest. Meanwhile, James tastes flavor, Amanda tastes drink, and Curt tastes indifference.
 
Up-Goer Five - SERVER NOT FOUND! HELP!
 
References:
Song, Yang, and Johan Lindgren. "Convergence in aquatic locomotion: reconstructing mosasaurian (Squamata: Mosasauria) tail fins from osteological correlates and covariation with extant sharks." Paleobiology 52.1 (2026): 121-130.
Sereno, Paul C., et al. "Scimitar-crested Spinosaurus species from the Sahara caps stepwise spinosaurid radiation." Science 391.6787 (2026): eadx5486.

The gang talk about two papers about extraordinary dinosaur fossils and the unique information that can be gleaned from them. The first paper looks at fossil skin data on a Cretaceous iguandodontian, and the second paper uses an exceptionally complete specimen to demonstrate the reality of Nanotyrannus. Meanwhile, James classifies, Amanda imagines T-rex, and Curt brings a unique energy.
 
Up-Goer Five (Curt Edition):
The friends look at two papers about big angry animals that everyone loves to talk about. The first paper is about the skin of one of these big angry animals. This skin has weird bits on it that are not like the weird bits we see in a lot of other animals that are close to these big angry animals. These bits do not look like the bits that would be used to stay warm or to move into the air. These bits look like they might hurt.
The second paper looks at a lot of stuff from one big angry animal that has been said by people in the past is just a young one of another big angry animal. The paper looks at the parts of this animal, how this animal grew, and a lot of other things to show that, no, this animal is not this other animal. This animal is its own type of animal.
 
References:
Huang, Jiandong, et al. "Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur." Nature Ecology & Evolution (2026): 1-8.
Zanno, Lindsay E., and James G. Napoli. "Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous." Nature (2025): 1-3.

The gang discuss two papers of odd fossils with exceptional preservation. The first paper looks at some Cambrian vertebrates and shows that soft tissue evidence suggests the presence of two sets of camera eyes (four eyes total), and they interpret the additional set of camera eyes as being a homolog to the modern parietal eye in vertebrates. The second paper uses exceptional preservation of the Rhynie Chert to test hypotheses for the taxonomic placement of the enigmatic Prototaxites and finds evidence that suggests it is not, as previously suggested, a fungus. Meanwhile, James is marooned by weather, Amanda accidentally traumatizes her cat, and Curt imagines the flesh trees.
 
Up-Goer Five (Curt Edition):
The friends talk about things that are weird. The first paper looks at a thing that is part of the big group that we are all a part of but is from a long long time ago and lived in the big blue wet thing. This thing has four eyes. Two of those eyes might be the things that become a part of the brain that is not the eyes today. But this shows that, early on, some of these animals could have had four eyes. This also means some animals we see later could have had parts of these other eyes that we have thought were other things.
The second paper looks at a thing that is weird that people thought was from a group that is not an animal but has some animal like things like eating other things but has walls in the cells. These weird things are from a long time ago and come from a place where the parts were saved from breaking down by glass getting inside the cells. This means you can see lots of cell stuff, and you can also break down the glass to get at some of the cell bits. This paper looks at a lot of this weird thing and they say that it is not part of the group people thought it was from. In fact, it is so weird that it is not like any group we have today. It is maybe something that is not around today that we did not know about.
 
References:
Loron, Corentin C., et al. "Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi." Science advances 12.4 (2026): eaec6277.
Lei, Xiangtong, et al. "Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period." Nature (2026): 1-6.