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Paleontology & Fossils news
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
19 hours ago
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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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Spectacular fossil treasure trove pushes back origins of complex animals
A newly discovered fossil site in southwest China has transformed our understanding of how complex animal life emerged on Earth, revealing that many key animal groups had already evolved before the start of the Cambrian Period. ...
Evolution
Apr 2, 2026
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Researchers present first fossilized 'emperor' butterfly
Butterfly fossils are rare, and finds that preserve fine anatomical details and wing patterns are an absolute exception. An international research team from Sweden, the U.S., and Germany, led by Dr. Hossein Rajaei, lepidopterist ...
Evolution
Apr 1, 2026
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A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs
It had been a long day of teaching for Rudy Lerosey-Aubril. As a reward, he returned to cleaning an intriguing Cambrian arthropod fossil he had recently received for review. At first, the specimen showed all the expected ...
Evolution
Apr 1, 2026
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Ancient predator species discovered in South Africa challenges what we know about gorgonopsians
In a study published in The Anatomical Record, researchers have identified a new species of large-bodied gorgonopsian from the middle Permian. The discovery pushed back the known origins of when these apex predators began ...
Ancient Neanderthal genome reveals isolated, distinct populations
Neanderthals split into distinct regional groups that developed genetic differences far sooner than modern human populations typically did, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...
Embryo-like fossils from Southern China offer new clues about ancient life
Some of the most ancient fossils collected to date were traced back to the Ediacaran period. This is the time interval ranging from around 635 to 541 million years ago, shortly before the time when scientists predict that ...
Ancient DNA reveals earliest known dogs lived alongside Ice Age humans
The bond between humans and dogs is one of nature's most enduring partnerships, but exactly when it began has long been a mystery. Now, a new study has turned back the clock. The study, titled "Dogs were widely distributed ...
Evolution
Mar 28, 2026
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Exotic harvestmen once lived in Europe
A German-Bulgarian research team led by SNSB paleontologist Christian Bartel has discovered a new species of harvestman in 35-million-year-old Ukrainian and Baltic amber. The animal is related to harvestmen that are now extinct ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 27, 2026
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Masripithecus: A new Miocene ape from Egypt sheds light on the origins of modern apes
In a study published in Science, an international research team from the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (Egypt) and the University of Southern California (U.S.) describe Masripithecus moghraensis, a newly ...
Evolution
Mar 26, 2026
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Scientists uncover the secret behind perfectly 3D preserved 'sea reptile' fossils
Scientists at Curtin University have solved a long-standing mystery about how some of the world's best-preserved fossils formed in ancient oxygen-free ocean floor settings. The research, published in Communications Earth ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 26, 2026
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Ancient fish used their lungs to hear underwater, scientists reveal
How did ancient fish perceive their environment in the deep sea? An international team led by scientists from the Natural History Museum of Geneva (MHNG) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE) reveals that some coelacanths—fish ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 26, 2026
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Ice Age animals and slice of Earth history found in central Texas water cave
A paleontologist from The University of Texas at Austin has discovered the fossilized remains of Ice Age animals that have never been found in Central Texas before—and he came across the bones while snorkeling for fossils ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 25, 2026
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Shell-cracking turtles defied mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period
The mass extinction at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods was catastrophic, wiping out much of life on Earth. Vertebrate groups that dominated at the time, such as dinosaurs and many large marine reptiles, ...
Evolution
Mar 25, 2026
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More news
Tiny fossil eggs provide first physical evidence of Cretaceous bird-like dinosaurs in Korea
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
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
New species of ancient mollusk found in South Korean waters
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Houston, we have a problem ... with the toilet
What if dark matter came in two states?
The lengths male octopuses go to protect the arm they need to mate
AI uncovers hidden immune defenses inside bacteria
A 'stemness checkpoint' helps control stem cell identity
Uncharted island will soon appear on nautical charts
Mathematical model predicts fish freshness in real time
Paleontologists challenge use of bone growth rings to age crocodiles, dinosaurs
Brazilian fossil site yields smallest rhynchosaur fossil ever recorded
Pollinator-friendly gardens don't have to sacrifice style
