Deinonychus Changed Our Understanding of Dinosaurs
Academics used to tease paleontologists, saying that while dinosaurs appeal to children, they won’t answer the important evolutionary questions. Yale’s John Ostrom (1928-2005) proved them…
Paleontology
Harvard Scientist Connects the Dots in Fin-to-Limb Evolution
About 400 million years ago, vertebrates first began to crawl from the primordial seas onto land. Last week, thanks to a cutting-edge mathematical-analysis technique, a…
Scientists Discover 3-Foot-Tall Relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex
A new relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex – much smaller than the huge, ferocious dinosaur made famous in countless books and films, including, yes, “Jurassic…
95 Million-Year-Old Species Has Scientists Rethinking The Definition Of A Crab
The crab family just got a bunch of new cousins, including a 95-million-year-old species that will force scientists to rethink the definition of a crab…
First Detailed Snapshot of Moments Following ‘Dinosaur-Killer’ Impact
A study to be published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers a scientific first: a detailed snapshot of the terrible…
New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Mongolia, Gobiraptor Minutus
A new oviraptorosaur species from the Late Cretaceous was discovered in Mongolia, according to a study published in February 6, 2019 in the open-access journal…
Paleontologists Discover A New Giant Dinosaur, The Volgatitan
Paleontologists from Russia have described a new dinosaur, the Volgatitan. Seven of its vertebrae, which had remained in the ground for about 130 million years,…
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…
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…
Dinosaur Egg Color Had a Single Evolutionary Origin
A new study says the colors found in modern birds’ eggs did not evolve independently, as previously thought, but evolved instead from dinosaurs. According to…
Mass Extinction Happened in a Geological ‘Instant’
It took less than 30,000 years and maybe only thousands, to kill more than 90% of sea creatures and most land species, according to the…
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…
Paleontologists Discover a New Species of Lobopodian
Yale paleontologist Derek Briggs was part of a research team that identified Thanahita distos, a new species of lobopodian, an ancient relative of modern-day onychophorans,…
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…
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…
Ancient Crocodile Reveals the Humble Beginnings of the Apex Predator
The mouth of today’s crocodilians inspires fear and awe, with their wide gape and the greatest known bite force in the vertebrate animal kingdom. However,…
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…
All Modern Birds Evolved From The Same Common Ancestor
A new study says all modern birds evolved from the same ground-dwelling, common ancestor, after an asteroid slammed into Earth millions of years ago and…