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Paleontology & Fossils news
Discovery of tiny bone sheds light on mysterious 'hobbit' humans
The discovery of a tiny arm bone suggests that an ancient human dubbed "hobbits" only shrank down to their diminutive size after they arrived on an Indonesian island a million years ago, scientists said on Tuesday.
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 10, 2024
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135-million-year-old marine crocodile sheds light on Cretaceous life
An international team of scientists, including researchers from Germany and the UK, have described a new species of ancient marine crocodile, Enalioetes schroederi. Enalioetes lived in the shallow seas that covered much of ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 9, 2024
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When mammoths roamed Vancouver Island: Paleontologists delve into beasts' history in the region
Mammoths, the massive pre-historic ice age cousins of the modern-day elephant, have always been understood to have inhabited parts of British Columbia, but the question of when has always been a bit woolly.
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 8, 2024
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Giant fossil seeds from Borneo record ancient plant migration
Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 8, 2024
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Using dental growth rings scientists reveal differences in growth patterns between ancient and modern mammals
A study published in Science Advances reveals how early mammals grew and developed during their pivotal Jurassic radiation. Using a technique called synchrotron X-ray tomography to image growth rings in fossilized tooth roots, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2024
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Giant prehistoric flying reptile took off using similar method to bats, study finds
Findings of a study, published in PeerJ, provide new insights into how pterosaurs managed to take flight despite reaching sizes far larger than modern animals. The research sheds new light on the flight initiating jumping ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2024
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Smallest arm bone in the human fossil record sheds light on the dawn of Homo floresiensis
A paper appearing today in Nature Communications reports the discovery of extremely rare early human fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores, including an astonishingly small adult limb bone.
Evolution
Aug 6, 2024
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213
Fossil hunter discovers new species of 210-million-year-old lungfish
An extinct species of lungfish discovered in Zimbabwe could mark the beginnings of a sea change in our understanding of the animals.
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 6, 2024
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Researchers uncover 500 million-year-old mollusk ancestor
A team of researchers including scientists from the University of Oxford have made an astonishing discovery of a new species of mollusk that lived 500 million years ago. The new fossil, called Shishania aculeata, reveals ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 1, 2024
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126
Sea level changes shaped early life on Earth, fossils show
A newly developed timeline of early animal fossils reveals a link between sea levels, changes in marine oxygen, and the appearance of the earliest ancestors of present-day animals.
Evolution
Aug 1, 2024
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164
New insights into one of Europe's oldest dinosaurs
A comprehensive new description of Plateosaurus trossingensis provides valuable information on the evolution, lifestyle and family tree of early dinosaurs. During this analysis, bone injuries were discovered, which paleontologists ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 1, 2024
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Penguin wing fossil shows importance of Zealandia in penguin evolution
Three small fossil penguin bones, collected in South Canterbury in 1987, are now shedding new light on how penguin wings have evolved. A new study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, describes a ...
Evolution
Aug 1, 2024
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Mass extinction 66 million years ago triggered rapid evolution of bird genomes, study finds
Shortly after an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, life for non-avian dinosaurs ended, but the evolutionary story for the early ancestors of birds began.
Evolution
Jul 31, 2024
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520-million-year-old worm fossil solves mystery of how modern insects, spiders and crabs evolved
A new study led by researchers at Durham University have uncovered an incredibly rare and detailed fossil, named Youti yuanshi, that gives a peek inside one of the earliest ancestors of modern insects, spiders, crabs and ...
Evolution
Jul 31, 2024
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The first farmers often made landscapes more biodiverse, providing lessons for rewilding today
You don't need to read the news or scroll through Instagram for long to stumble across the latest example of a rare and beautiful species that has gone extinct. Since AD1500, at least 705 vertebrate species and 571 plant ...
Ecology
Jul 29, 2024
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New species of tyrannosaurid dinosaur identified in China
A team of paleontologists at the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in China reports a new species of tyrannosaurid dinosaur. Their find is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Complex life on Earth began around 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought, new study claims
Environmental evidence of the very first experiments in the evolution of complex life on Earth, has been uncovered by an international team of scientists.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 29, 2024
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Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth to rip apart their prey, researchers find
Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons' teeth are tipped with iron. Led by researchers from King's College London, the study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 27, 2024
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3D models show dolphins already used narrow-band sound waves for orientation 5 million years ago
Senckenberg researcher Dr. Rachel Racicot and her former student Joyce Sanks from Vanderbilt University have examined the inner ear of the extinct dolphin genus Parapontoporia. In their study, published in the journal The ...
Evolution
Jul 26, 2024
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138
A soft needle in an oceanic haystack: Scientists discover a new species of chordate
The Cambrian fossil record indicates that most animal phyla had diversified and inhabited the Earth's oceans approximately 518 million years ago. But even though chordates—the group that includes vertebrates like humans—were ...
Evolution
Jul 25, 2024
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More news
AI-assisted analysis suggests elephant-like species extinction rates grew when humans arrived
Scientists assess how large dinosaurs could really get
New fossil snake species provides insight into reptile social behavior and development
Stegosaurus fossil fetches nearly $45M, setting record for dinosaur auctions
Evidence for butchery of giant armadillo-like mammals in Argentina 21,000 years ago
Brazilian researchers discover dinosaur fossil after heavy rains in Rio Grande do Sul
How old are South African fossils like the Taung Child? Study offers an answer
Gnatalie is the only green-boned dinosaur found on the planet. She will be on display in LA
3D genome extracted from 'freeze-dried' woolly mammoth
First ever 3D reconstruction of 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth chromosomes thanks to serendipitously freeze-dried skin
Stegosaurus skeleton to fetch millions at New York auction
A new species of extinct crocodile relative rewrites life on the Triassic coastline
Research reveals the most complete dinosaur discovered in the UK in a century
Other news
NASA tests deployment of Roman Space Telescope's 'visor'
Testing the viability of using horse milk to make ice cream
Exploring the evolution of social norms with a supercomputer
Researchers develop AI model that predicts the accuracy of protein–DNA binding
Hubble spotlights a supernova
A new mechanism for shaping animal tissues
How do butterflies stick to branches during metamorphosis?
3D laser printing with bioinks from microalgae
Study reveals how the Global North drives inequality in international trade
Australian amber has revealed 'living fossils' traced back to Gondwana 42 million years ago
Life underground suited newly discovered dinosaur, study finds
Fossils show huge salamanderlike predator with sharp fangs existed before the dinosaurs
Giant salamander-like creature was a top predator in the ice age before the dinosaurs
Team plans 3D modeling project for France's natural history collections
An Arizona museum tells the stories of ancient animals through their fossilized poop
