In December 2021, a group of paleontologists led by Robert DePalma published data linking the fall of the asteroid that ended the age of dinosaurs to a specific time of year. Then scientists said it happened in the spring or early summer. We described this work in one of the materials, and it may turn out to be fake.

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Now another group of researchers accuses the former of falsifying data. The journal Nature, which published the article, has added a new note to the article that the data is under review, meanwhile, as it launches the investigation.

• Melanie Dühring, a paleontologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, submitted her paper to the journal Nature in June 2021. Released on February 23, 2022.
• But two months ago, on December 8, 2021, another report came out, based on a separate dataset, but with the same results.

The whole story seems strange as can be. Both studies draw conclusions based on analysis of fossilized fish remains found in North Dakota. Both analyzed the same fossils—the jawbones of shovelfish and the fin spines of sturgeons. Just like tree rings, they contain isotope traces and evidence of how animal growth corresponds to the season. The remains made it possible to determine the season when the fish ended their life, and therefore the exact time of the asteroid’s devastating fall on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Melanie Doering says the data in DePalma’s article may be fabricated. She suspects that a former colleague who is trying to claim responsibility for the discovery is fabricating the research results. His study has apparently abnormalities in isotopic analysis, lacks primary data, poorly described methods, and the laboratory where the analysis was performed is not specified.. Science magazine, with the commentary of an Uppsala University scientist, explains that the isotopic data in DePalma’s article were collected by archaeologist Curtis McKinney, who died in 2017. It is unclear where McKinney made these analyzes, and the original data was not included in the published article.

It’s like a “dog ate my homework” situation, and I don’t think Curtis McKinney’s relatives deserve it.
says Dühring.

DePalma did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment, but told Science: We have never matched and never reproduced data and/or samples with results from this team or any other team.”

The investigation is still ongoing.