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Machine learning used to classify fossils of extinct pollen

February 16, 2024

In the quest to decipher the evolutionary relationships of extinct organisms from fossils, researchers often face challenges in discerning key features from weathered fossils, or with prioritizing characteristics of organisms for the most accurate placement within a phylogenetic tree. Enter neural networks, sophisticated algorithms that underlie today’s image recognition technology.


February 16, 2024


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Evaluation of Microscopy Techniques May Help Scientists to Better Understand Ancient Plants

June 27, 2012

In a paper published in PLoS ONE, scientists at the University of Illinois released their findings on what microscopy techniques are needed to identify the shape and texture of pollen grains. Understanding pollen morphology is important to classifying ancient vegetation.

Because pollen morphologies often align quite closely to taxonomic groupings, understanding the appearance of ancient pollen allows scientists to better understand prehistoric flora in the context of modern-day ancestors.


June 27, 2012


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