Burnt Toast and Dinosaur Bones Have a Common Trait
Burnt toast and dinosaur bones have a common trait, according to a new, Yale-led study. They both contain chemicals that, under the right conditions, transform…
Fossils
Finding the ‘Breath of Life’ in a Silurian Ostracod
A new animal species related to crabs and shrimp, preserved in 430-million-year-old rocks in Herefordshire, England, presents a rare look at the respiratory organs of…
Evidence Shows Dinosaur Extinction Drove Pulses of Fish Diversification
A research team has found new evidence that fish rapidly evolved in two phases following the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction that occurred 66 million years…
New Identity for the World’s Largest Bird – Vorombe Titan
After decades of conflicting evidence and numerous publications, scientists at international conservation charity ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, have finally put the ‘world’s largest bird’ debate…
Scientists Discover New Species of Giant Dinosaur – Ledumahadi Mafube
A new species of a giant dinosaur has been found in South Africa’s Free State Province. The plant-eating dinosaur, named Ledumahadi mafube, weighed 12 tonnes…
Fossils Reveal New Insight on Mesozoic Pollinating Insects
Insect pollination played an important role in the evolution of angiosperms. Little is known, however, about ancient pollination insects and their niche diversity during the…
Researchers Discover Two New Chinese Dinosaurs: Bannykus and Xiyunykus
Digit reduction occurs many times in tetrapod evolution, and the most famous example is the ‘horse series’ of North America. An international research team announced…
Paleontologists Discover First North American Co-occurrence of Hadrosaur and Therizinosaur Tracks
An international team of paleontologists and other geoscientists has discovered the first North American co-occurrence of hadrosaur and therizinosaur tracks in the lower Cantwell Formation…
New Discovery Suggests Humans Left Africa Earlier Than Previously Thought
Ancient tools and bones discovered in China by archaeologists suggest early humans left Africa and arrived in Asia earlier than previously thought. The artefacts show…
Researchers Identify Two New Ancient Mammals in Bolivia
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and two other universities have discovered the 13-million-year-old fossils of a pair of new species of extinct hoofed mammals…
Amber Fossils Provide Earliest Direct Evidence of Frogs
About 99 million years ago, a tiny juvenile frog in present-day Myanmar was suddenly trapped in sap with a beetle, perhaps its intended next meal….
When Did Animals Leave Their First Footprint on Earth?
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong put the first footprint on the moon. But when did animals leave the first footprint on Earth? Recently, an…
Earth’s First Diverse Marine Predators Produced Killer Babies
Some of the earliest predators that patrolled the oceans over 500 million years ago are also some of the largest animals to have lived at…
Jurassic Fossil Links Ancient Crocodiles With Dolphin-Like Animals
A 180 million-year-old fossil has shed light on how some ancient crocodiles evolved into dolphin-like animals. The specimen – featuring a large portion of backbone…
Scientists Reveal the First Bird Beak, 3D Skull of Ichthyornis Dispar
Researchers have pieced together the three-dimensional skull of an iconic, toothed bird that represents a pivotal moment in the transition from dinosaurs to modern-day birds….
Scientists Discover Oldest Directly Dated Homo Sapiens Fossil Outside of Africa
The first Homo sapiens fossil discovery from Saudi Arabia dates to 90,000 years ago during a time when the region’s deserts were replaced by grasslands….
Paleontologists Identify a New Species of Ancient Whale
University of Otago paleontologists are rewriting the history of New Zealand’s ancient whales by describing a previously unknown genus of baleen whale, alive more than…
Scientists Link Dinosaur Expansion to the Carnian Pluvial Episode
It is commonly understood that the dinosaurs disappeared with a bang – wiped out by a great meteorite impact on the Earth 66 million years…