Masses of amber, ranging in size "from sand grains to several centimeters"¹ in diameter, have been excavated from coal mines in western India. While scientists are excited by the many insect and other species preserved in the amber, the find contains three features that are very difficult to reconcile with evolutionary history.

School children have been told that it takes long ages for a fossil to form and that fossils have been buried under deep rock layers for millions of years. However, increasing discoveries of fossils with soft tissue show clear evidence that refutes both claims.

Paleontologists at the University of Texas at Austin and other institutions have investigated the fossil of a giant penguin found in Peru. At five feet tall, it would have dwarfed today's largest living penguins. A UT press release stated, "The fossil shows [that] the flipper and feather shapes that make penguins such powerful swimmers evolved early."¹

A "stunning" fossil was discovered by 15-year-old James Dickinson while he was fossil hunting at a beach in southern England. The area where he found it, Lyme Regis, is well known as a "treasure trove" for fossils. But the tiny lobster James discovered contained a very rare feature--parts of its original shell.

Some dinosaurs had a "sickle-claw," made famous by the man-hunting Velociraptors in the movie Jurassic Park. Now, paleontologists have described a new dinosaur from Transylvania, Romania, that was quite similar to the Velociraptor in size and general shape.