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Why humans have smaller faces than Neanderthals

The human face is strikingly distinct from our fossil cousins and ancestors—most notably, it is significantly smaller, and more gracile. However, the reasons behind this change remain largely unknown. A team of researchers ...

From dinosaurs to birds: The origins of feather formation

Feathers are among the most complex cutaneous appendages in the animal kingdom. While their evolutionary origin has been widely debated, paleontological discoveries and developmental biology studies suggest that feathers ...

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Ecology
New Zealand once home to southern elephant seals
Cell & Microbiology
Unusual desert rocks suggest unknown microorganism that uses marble and limestone as a habitat
Paleontology & Fossils
New report calls for return of human remains—but UK museums lack the resources to act
Paleontology & Fossils
Oldest cerapodan ornithischian dinosaur discovered in Morocco
Ecology
Discovery of a new species of fossil tree helps paint picture of ancient African forest
Paleontology & Fossils
Ancient seafloor creature grew like modern marine invertebrates, study suggests
Paleontology & Fossils
Vulture fossil discovery reveals how volcanic deposits can preserve the microscopic details of animal tissues
Paleontology & Fossils
A 15-million-year-old fossilized freshwater fish with preserved stomach contents is a newly discovered species
Evolution
How big brains and flexible skulls led to the evolution of modern birds
Paleontology & Fossils
Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible
Paleontology & Fossils
The first fossil thrips in Africa: this tiny insect pest met its end in a volcanic lake 90 million years ago
Paleontology & Fossils
Western Europe's oldest human face discovered in Spain
Paleontology & Fossils
Melanosome patterns in Mesozoic mammals suggest they had dark, uniformly dull fur coloring
Paleontology & Fossils
Rare aardvark trace fossils discovered in South Africa
Evolution
DNA and 90 million-year-old pollen fossils reveal new insights into evolution of Asian tropics
Paleontology & Fossils
Dinosaur tracks, made 140 million years ago, have been found for the first time in South Africa's Western Cape
Evolution
We modeled how early human ancestors ran—and found they were surprisingly slow
Paleontology & Fossils
Archaeologists uncover the oldest known partial face fossil of a human ancestor in western Europe
Paleontology & Fossils
Unnoticed for decades, dinosaur footprints at Australian school reveal ancient secrets
Paleontology & Fossils
Terrestrial 'life oasis' from end-Permian mass extinction period discovered in China

Other news

Earth Sciences
Oxygen is running low in inland waters—and human activities are to blame
Evolution
Battle of the sex chromosomes: How competition affects X vs. Y sperm fitness
Biotechnology
Drone and camera combo offers affordable drought-tolerance selection for corn
Quantum Physics
Hot Schrödinger cat states created
Cell & Microbiology
Planarian worms can regenerate into a more youthful version of themselves
Mathematics
Mathematicians uncover the hidden patterns behind a $3.5 billion cryptocurrency collapse
Space Exploration
Four space tourists return to Earth after a private flight over the poles
Bio & Medicine
Label-free fluorosensor detects enteroviral RNA with high selectivity and sensitivity
Molecular & Computational biology
Beyond photorespiration: A systematic approach to unlocking enhanced plant productivity
Condensed Matter
Iron nitride's magnetoelastic properties show potential for flexible spintronics
Earth Sciences
Ancient lakes and rivers unearthed in Arabia's vast desert
Plants & Animals
How do diverse plants get sick in the wild? Researchers head outdoors to answer a blue-sky question
Cell & Microbiology
Bacteria's viral defense mechanism linked to antibiotic resistance
Earth Sciences
Southern Ocean warming may affect tropical drought and rainfall more than Arctic warming
Education
Access to reliable internet and digital devices tied to college graduation rates during COVID-19
Optics & Photonics
Combining polarized light methods reveals hidden molecular orientations with precision
Social Sciences
Subreddits study highlights the hidden ways that hate speech spreads
Earth Sciences
Scientists discover deep-sea microplastic hotspots driven by fast-moving underwater avalanches
Polymers
Polymers with flawed fillers boost heat transfer in plastics, study reveals
General Physics
An exception to the laws of thermodynamics: Shape-recovering liquid defies textbooks

Mysterious 50-million-year-old fish to get a new genus

A pair of paleontologists, one with the Museum für Naturkunde, in Germany, the other from the Università degli Studi di Torino, in Italy, has found new evidence that an ancient fish, which has defied categorization for ...

What fur development can tell us about our ancient ancestors

When the hot summer weather kicks in you may find yourself feeling concerned about furry pets and other animals we live close by to. But fur and hair are ancient adaptations that allowed human ancestors to develop more active ...