“Attenborough’s Strange Bird” – Scientists Discover Unusual New Species That Defied Dinosaur Extinction
No birds alive today have teeth. But that wasn’t always the case– many early fossil birds had beaks full of sharp, tiny teeth. In a…
Field Museum News
The Field Museum, officially known as the Field Museum of Natural History, is located in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest natural history museums in the world. Established in 1893 to house biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World’s Columbian Exposition, it was originally named the Columbian Museum of Chicago and later renamed in honor of its first major benefactor, Marshall Field. The museum is renowned for its extensive scientific specimen and artifact collections, which total over 24 million items. Among its most famous exhibits are Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil known, and a comprehensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The Field Museum is not only a leader in the scientific research of biological and anthropological fields but also serves as an educational institution, offering various public learning programs and exhibitions to inspire curiosity about life on Earth.
How Did Dinosaurs Take to the Skies? Scientists Uncover Hidden Rule for Flight Feathers
Birds can fly— at least, most of them can. Flightless birds, such as penguins and ostriches, have adapted to life without the need for flight….
Tiny Terror: World’s Smallest “Fanged” Frogs Found in Indonesia
The males of these tiny frogs guard their eggs, which are laid on leaves. Generally, frogs’ teeth aren’t anything special—they appear as tiny, pointed spikes…
The “Turtwig” Revelation: Unveiling a Baby Turtle Disguised as a Plant Fossil
Researchers nicknamed the fossil “Turtwig” after a Pokemon that’s half-turtle, half-plant. From the 1950s to the 1970s, a Colombian priest named Padre Gustavo Huertas collected…
Crystals in Apollo Lunar Rocks Reveal the Moon’s True Age
After an ocean of magma cooled down, the lunar crystals formed at least 4.46 billion years ago. More than 4 billion years ago, when the…
“Margarita Snails” – Scientists Discover New Species of Bright Yellow Snail in Florida
The marine snails’ bright citrus coloring might help ward off predators. The “Margaritaville” in Jimmy Buffett’s famous song isn’t a real place, but it’s long…
Survival Secrets: Surprising Traits of Mammals That Survive Mass Extinctions
Contrary to previous beliefs, mammals that survived past mass extinctions weren’t always generalists; many had unique traits that aided their survival, prompting a…
Bizarre “Mind Controlling” Parasitic Hairworms Are Missing Genes Found in Every Other Animal
Hairworms are missing the tiny “hairs” responsible for cell movement, filtration, and sensing that every other known animal has. In a world teeming with bizarre…
Ancient Saber-Toothed Predator Sheds Light on the “Great Dying” Extinction Event
A recent study reveals intriguing insights into the catastrophic “Great Dying” extinction event 252 million years ago, focusing on the role of a tiger-sized, saber-toothed…
How Ants Took Over the World
Ants took over the world by following flowering plants out of prehistoric forests. Ants are pretty much everywhere. There are more than 14,000 different species,…
Lasers and Chemistry Reveal How How an Ancient Empire Functioned
The Wari Empire, Peru’s earliest major civilization, spanned over a thousand miles across the Andes Mountains and the coastal region from 600-1000 CE. The remnants…
Immense Power of an Empire Revealed in Colors on Ancient Pots
Color plays a huge role in our lives — the hues we wear and decorate with are a way for us to signal who we…
Why Do Some Cities Thrive for Millennia While Others Fade Away?
Cities often have vastly different lifespans, with some lasting just a century or two, while others endure for a thousand years or more. The reasons…
A Peculiar Case of “Virgin Birth” in Aquarium Sharks
Asexual reproduction is prevalent among animals such as starfish, deep-sea worms, and stick insects, but it is a rarity among vertebrates. Parthenogenesis is a process…
Meteorite Hunters Discover Extraordinary 17-Pound Space Rock in Antarctica
Antarctica is a tough place to work, for obvious reasons— it’s bitterly cold, remote, and wild. However, it’s one of the best places in the…
120-Million-Year-Old Fossil Shows Modern Bird Skull Evolved From a Mixture of Dinosaur and Bird Features
A new study from researchers at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Field Museum of Natural…
Prehistoric Superpredator: Weird Whatcheeria Was the “T. rex of Its Time”
Ancient Iowan superpredator got big by front-loading its growth in its youth. Fossils found only at the Field Museum reveal the growth history of Whatcheeria….
Hot-Blooded or Cold-Blooded? Chemical Clues Solve One of the Oldest Mysteries in Paleontology
Paleontologists have been debating for decades whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, like modern mammals and birds, or cold-blooded, like modern reptiles. Knowing whether dinosaurs were warm-…