What is the first 3D pterosaur embryo found in the world? How is the oldest tree in the world growing 100 million years before a dinosaur? Today, the Chinese Society of Paleontology released the "Ten Progress of Chinese Paleontology in 2017" in Nanjing, opening the mysteries for people for the first time.
These ten major developments cover many scientific fields such as early life, ancient invertebrates, geo-microbes and early terrestrial plants. They cover the discovery of dinosaur embryos, many of the world's leading innovations in the research of Xuchang ape man and early bird evolution.
Among the top ten progresses are the three findings from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Among them, the team led by Prof. Xu Honghe took advantage of the earliest silicified fossils in the Late Devonian strata in the Tacheng area of Xinjiang to uncover the Mystery of the growth pattern of the oldest trees on the earth 370 million years ago.
The study found that, unlike modern trees, which grow thicker with annual rings increasing year after year, ancient trees are intersected by vascular bundles into complex three-dimensional meshes. As the diameter of these vascular bundles increases, trees become taller.
(Source:Jiangsu International Channel)
