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Paleontology & Fossils news
Bird and tortoise fossil tracks on South Africa's coast: Latest findings are world firsts
The south coast of South Africa's Western Cape province is a rich source of fossil tracks and traces—clues suggesting what this environment may have been like many thousands of years ago.
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 16, 2026
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Baby Neanderthals may have had a rapid growth spurt compared to modern babies
Baby Neanderthals may have been much larger and grown much more quickly than their modern Homo sapiens counterparts, according to a new study of the most intact Neanderthal infant skeleton. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) ...
Patagonia yields 155-million-year-old long-necked dinosaur with links to two famous lineages
A German–Argentine team of paleontologists led by SNSB dinosaur expert Oliver Rauhut has discovered a new long-necked dinosaur, Bicharracosaurus dionidei, from the Upper Jurassic period in Argentina, dating back approximately ...
Evolution
Apr 16, 2026
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Museum drawer fossil reveals 200-million-year-old crocodile relative with a powerful bite
The fossil record has given us another new prehistoric species, named Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa (from the Greek personification of the morning star—the planet Venus), a member of the group called Crocodylomorpha, which includes ...
One battered skull exposes a lost killer from dinosaur dawn and a vanished bloodline
"You want to stick your finger in a dinosaur brain?" asked Simba Srivastava. Surrounded by cabinets full of ancient bones in the paleobiology lab, the Virginia Tech undergraduate student held out a lumpy, pockmarked fossil.
Evolution
Apr 15, 2026
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Toothy snout recasts Australia's famed Muttaburrasaurus as a picky eater
In a surprising new study, Australia's most famous plant-eating dinosaur has been described as a "picky eater with a nose for good food" when it roamed across the continent around 96 million years ago. After examining different ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 14, 2026
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A tiny predator from ancient Spain just doubled the weasel family's evolutionary timeline
Weasels are small carnivores with a long body and short legs. They also have a stout skull and sharp teeth. These creatures, along with ferrets and minks, make up the Mustelinae subfamily. Until now, researchers believed ...
Evolution
Apr 14, 2026
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Museum fossil reveals that extinct giant echidnas once roamed Australia
Paleontologists have used an Ice Age fossil found 120 years ago in an underground cave to reveal that extinct giant echidnas roamed southeastern Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch, filling a major knowledge gap in the ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 13, 2026
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Powerful imaging pulls lost ocean life from 445-million-year-old stone and exposes a hidden extinction record
New technology has helped a team of scientists uncover more than 20 microscopic fossils, including a species previously unknown to science. The discovery may provide us with fresh insights into the Late Ordovician, one of ...
Embryo fossil found in South Africa is world's oldest proof that mammal ancestors laid eggs
Between 280 and 200 million years ago, a group of animals evolved which would eventually give rise to mammals, including humans: the therapsids. They were first described more than 150 years ago, based on fossils from South ...
Evolution
Apr 12, 2026
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Extinct ice age giants in Bender's Cave challenge existing climate records for the Edwards Plateau
A recent study by Dr. John Moretti of the University of Texas and local caver John Young uncovered the remains of Ice Age megafauna, revealing an entirely new ecosystem that once thrived on the Edwards Plateau. Among the ...
'First contact' that may have led to complex life on Earth finally witnessed by scientists
On the shores of the west coast of Australia lies a window to our past: the stromatolites and microbial mats of Gathaagudu (Shark Bay).
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 10, 2026
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Mammal ancestors laid eggs—and this 250-million-year-old fossil proves it
A remarkable new discovery is shedding light on one of the greatest survival stories in Earth's history, and answering a decades-old scientific mystery. Lystrosaurus, a hardy, plant-eating mammal ancestor, rose to prominence ...
Evolution
Apr 9, 2026
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The oldest breath: A 300-million-year-old mummy reveals the origins of how amniotes breathe
Every breath you take is an ancient inheritance. The rise and fall of your chest, the intercostal muscles pulling your ribs outward, the rush of air into your lungs—this mechanism is so familiar it barely registers as remarkable. ...
Evolution
Apr 8, 2026
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'Oldest octopus' fossil is no octopus at all, scans reveal
A famous 300-million-year-old fossil that was thought to be the world's oldest octopus—even featuring in the Guinness Book of Records—has turned out to be something else altogether. In what amounts to a case of mistaken identity, ...
Evolution
Apr 7, 2026
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'Lliving fossils' nautilus and allonautilus shaped by depths and diets over 500 million years
Nautilus and Allonautilus cephalopods and their extinct ancestors have been drifting through the mesophotic zone of the ocean for more than 500 million years. Researchers have spent the last 40 years trying to understand ...
Evolution
Apr 5, 2026
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The revolution in dinosaur science started 50 years ago—here's what we have learned
The study of dinosaurs has been through a revolution in recent decades. The story began half a century ago, when Robert McNeill Alexander, a professor of zoology at the University of Leeds, showed how the speed of an animal ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 5, 2026
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Humans' closest invertebrate ancestors date back much further than thought
Animal life is extraordinarily diverse and complex, having colonized almost all environments on Earth—from hostile hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to the skies across our continents. But the planet was not always teeming ...
Evolution
Apr 4, 2026
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How we came to be: Scientists get first look at the evolution of early complex animals
Newly discovered fossils have given scientists their first real glimpse of when Earth made a crucial transition from plants and unrecognizably simple animals to the complex creatures that took over the world and would eventually ...
Evolution
Apr 4, 2026
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Engineering the bite of ancient marine predators
An international team of researchers, led by paleontologists of the University of Liège, has investigated the biting capabilities of extinct predatory marine reptiles, revealing how these formidable predators could coexist ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 3, 2026
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More news
Embryo-like fossils from Southern China offer new clues about ancient life
Exotic harvestmen once lived in Europe
Ancient fish used their lungs to hear underwater, scientists reveal
Tiny fossil eggs provide first physical evidence of Cretaceous bird-like dinosaurs in Korea
Ice Age animals and slice of Earth history found in central Texas water cave
Fossil X-ray reveals new species of baby dino named for iconic Korean cartoon
Fossilized whale skulls reveal feeding secrets of sharks 5 million years ago
Past intensive whaling threatens the future of bowhead whales
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Q&A: Will agentic AI replace human scientists?
Meet Crocodylus lucivenator, a 12- to 15-foot predator that hunted iconic Lucy's species
Bromacker deposit is 4 million years older than previously thought, new dating reveals
Scientists document Europe's first Jurassic lizard trackways in Asturias
New fossil reveals the weird 'tooth cushions' of an apex predator from 425 million years ago
As modern crops turn 'lazy' underground, old sorghum may hold key to future food security
Iron plus UV light turns alcohol into hydrogen with catalyst-like efficiency
If birds are fancy dancers, are they smarter, too?
Catching a scramblase in the act could pave the way to improved blood disorder and cancer treatments
