In the News
![Maria is pictured with Prof. John O'Halloran, President of UCC and Prof. Caitriona O'Driscoll, Chair of Pharmaceutics at UCC.](/en/media/research/mariamcnamara/Maria_RIA_election.jpg)
24 May 2024
Maria elected to the Royal Irish Academy!
This is the highest honour awarded to academics in Ireland and recognises exceptional contributions to the sciences and humanities.
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![Dr Zixiao Yang of University College Cork, Ireland, who led the research team that discovered zoned skin development in the feathered dinosaur Psittacosaurus. Photo: Ruben Tapia/UCC TV](/en/media/research/mariamcnamara/Zixiao_Nat_Comms_1.jpg)
21 May 2024
Zixiao’s discovery on dinosaur skin published in Nature Communications!
This paper presents the first fossil evidence that the feathered dinosaur Psittacosaurus, and probably other early feathered animals, had scaly reptile-type skin in naked regions and bird-like skin in feathered regions.
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13 May 2024
Children's Fossil Art on Display in Glucksman Gallery
The winners of the 2024 National Fossil Art Contest are now on display at the Glucksman art gallery in Cork until the 24th of May 2024. The contest was run by the UCC programme Ireland’s Fossil Heritage and was open to children from 4 – 18 years old. The theme of the contest was “Irish Fossils ALIVE”. The winning entries were submitted by children from all over Ireland from County Donegal to Cork.
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![Daniel Falk examines the fossil skin samples of a Geiseltal frog with an electron microscope. Photo: D. Falk](/en/media/research/mariamcnamara/Falk_et_al_2024_SEM.jpg)
23 Apr 2024
Daniel's new paper in Scientific Reports! Fossil frogs share skin care secrets!
UCC palaeontologists have solved a hundred-year-old mystery of how some fossil frogs preserve their fleshy parts – it’s all down to their skin.
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