Bats may have first evolved in Europe 65 million years ago
A huge genomic and fossil study suggests bats first evolved in Europe around 65 to 60 million years ago before spreading across the globe. The findings also indicate that flight and echolocation...
View ArticleThis 245-million-year-old fossil still has its stomach and intestines
A 245-million-year-old marine reptile fossil preserves an astonishing amount of detail, including its stomach, liver, and intestines. The discovery reveals that Austronaga minuta was highly adapted for...
View ArticleScientists were wrong about this strange mammal for nearly 40 years
A beautifully preserved fossil from Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has solved a mystery that puzzled paleontologists for nearly 40 years. Tamirkhan balcarceli shows that zhelestids were not early relatives of...
View ArticleA broken rib from the world’s largest T. rex hid a 66-million-year-old secret
A broken rib from Scotty, the largest known T. rex skeleton, contains an extraordinary fossilized network of blood vessels formed while the dinosaur was healing. Scientists used neutron and X-ray...
View ArticleA 66-million-year-old tooth reveals T. rex was nearly as warm as a human
Chemical clues preserved inside fossilized T. rex teeth reveal that the dinosaur maintained a body temperature of about 97 degrees Fahrenheit, almost identical to humans. The finding provides direct...
View ArticleScientists discover the first diplodocus ever found outside North America
A 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil from Spain has been identified as the first confirmed Diplodocus ever found outside North America. The giant sauropod measured about 25 meters long and was...
View ArticleA 240-million-year-old fossil just changed the dinosaur timeline
A newly identified 240-million-year-old animal from Tanzania is forcing scientists to rethink the early dinosaur timeline. Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda belongs to a group previously known only from...
View ArticleUV light reveals possible camouflage on a 125-million-year-old crocodile
A 125-million-year-old crocodile fossil has revealed preserved skin, possible sensory organs, sophisticated respiratory structures, and an unexpected pattern on its tail. Ultraviolet light exposed...
View Article66-million-year-old feather in dinosaur poop may reveal why birds survived...
A feather discovered inside 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur poop may help explain why modern birds survived the asteroid catastrophe. The extinct bird it came from had more primitive insulating...
View ArticleGiant new dinosaur discovered beneath construction site in Brazil
Scientists have identified a giant new dinosaur from Brazil that reached about 20 meters long and lived 120 million years ago. Its surprising evolutionary ties to a Spanish dinosaur suggest its...
View ArticleA coffee-table-size scorpion roamed Earth before forests existed
A meter-long scorpion with massive pincers stalked ancient Britain 415 million years ago, long before forests and the better-known age of giant insects. Its surprising size and possible semi-aquatic...
View Article1.4-million-year-old footprints reveal a surprisingly large human relative
Ancient footprints in Kenya reveal that eight Paranthropus boisei may have traveled together 1.4 million years ago, with some individuals reaching surprisingly large, human-like body sizes. The tracks...
View Article324-million-year-old fossil reveals how insects conquered land
Ancient fossils suggest insects conquered land through a long amphibious phase rather than making an abrupt jump from water to dry ground. A newly identified 324-million-year-old species still carried...
View Article“One-in-a-million” sea creature fossil preserves soft tissue for 450 million...
Scientists have identified exceptionally rare soft tissue preserved in a 450-million-year-old crinoid fossil, more than 200 million years older than the first dinosaurs. Its delicate tube feet offer a...
View ArticleScientists say the human family tree may need a major rewrite
The human family tree may be due for a major rewrite. Researchers argue that Australopithecus and Paranthropus should be folded into the genus Homo because new fossils have blurred many of the traits...
View ArticleA new Ice Age species was hiding in la brea tar pits fossils for decades
Scientists have discovered a new extinct amphibian species hiding in the fossil collections of Los Angeles’ La Brea Tar Pits. Named Spea labreae, the Ice Age spadefoot toad is an exceptionally rare...
View ArticleA 30-year-old fossil was hiding bones from a mysterious ancient sea monster
Fossils collected in Osaka more than 30 years ago have revealed a surprise hiding in plain sight: four previously unrecognized bones from a giant Cretaceous mosasaur. Among them is the first confirmed...
View ArticlePaleontology rocked by organic molecules found in 66-million-year-old...
Researchers have found strong evidence that original collagen can survive inside dinosaur fossils for tens of millions of years, overturning a long-standing assumption about fossilization. The...
View Article240-million-year-old reptile fossil reveals a lost chapter before dinosaurs...
A 240-million-year-old reptile discovered in Brazil is revealing what evolution looked like just before the rise of dinosaurs and crocodiles. The small predator had unusually positioned legs that may...
View ArticleDinosaurs became giants — so why did they never become tiny?
Dinosaurs conquered the land at enormous sizes, but strangely, they almost never evolved into truly tiny animals. New research suggests that physiology alone can’t explain this missing miniature end of...
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