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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 ...

New Zealand once home to southern elephant seals

Southern elephant seals are the "canary in the coal mine" for the Southern Ocean, offering insight into how the ecosystem may react to future climate change and human impact, new research shows.

Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible

Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long-gone civilizations that few people ever see—museum collections are filled with all this and more.

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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
Paleontology & Fossils
'Old stump' spotted by deer hunter is actually a mammoth tusk, Texas researchers say
Paleontology & Fossils
Wind turbine remains may be among 'most surprising' fossils for far future generations, paleontologists say
Evolution
Triassic Life: An overview of ancient amphibians, crocodile relatives, early dinosaurs and mammalian ancestors
Paleontology & Fossils
A 62-million-year-old skeleton sheds light on an enigmatic mammal
Paleontology & Fossils
Fossil evidence found of humans domesticating avocados 7,500 years ago
Paleontology & Fossils
A longer, sleeker super predator: Study paints more accurate picture of megalodon's true form
Plants & Animals
Megalodon's body size and form uncover why certain aquatic vertebrates can achieve gigantism
Ecology
Tooth size in South American sea lions reflects historical shifts in population abundance
Plants & Animals
Plants struggled for millions of years after the world's worst climate catastrophe, scientists reveal
Evolution
New fossil discovery of an early human relative reveals that it walked upright, just like humans
Ecology
Ancient DNA reveals 6,000 years of the lives of Antarctic penguins
Ecology
Ancient amphibians bounced back from Earth's greatest mass extinction by exploiting freshwater prey, study suggests
Evolution
Fossil study reveals oldest larval eyes with high-resolution vision
Paleontology & Fossils
Eocene mudflat fossils reveal ancient waterbird foraging behaviors and four new species
Paleontology & Fossils
When did our ancestors start to eat meat regularly? Fossilized teeth get us closer to the answer
Paleontology & Fossils
Digitization as the key to processing colonial natural history collections
Evolution
When birds lose the ability to fly, their bodies change faster than their feathers, scientists discover

Other news

Condensed Matter
Looking for elusive quantum particles? Try a bad metal, researchers suggest
Cell & Microbiology
Breaking antibiotic-resistant bacteria's protective capsules: Study offers insights into combating S. pneumoniae
Nanophysics
Moiré than meets the eye: Phasons enable interlayer excitons to move at low temperatures for quantum stability
Evolution
How dramatic daily swings in oxygen shaped early animal life
Earth Sciences
Updated physical model helps reconstruct sudden, dramatic sea level rise after last ice age
Nanophysics
Study reveals controlled proton tunneling in water trimers
Condensed Matter
Engineers redefine how heat transfers on advanced surfaces
Earth Sciences
Modeling the past and future of Antarctica's Aurora Subglacial Basin water flow
Condensed Matter
High-precision quantum gates with diamond spin qubits achieve error rate below 0.1%
Analytical Chemistry
Electrochemical process that uses carbon dioxide to produce oxygen could be used in space
General Physics
Might the proton decay in other places or at other times?
Astronomy
Event Horizon Telescope allows close study of accelerating jets from black holes
Cell & Microbiology
Analytical model predicts how bacteria navigate obstacles to spread
Cell & Microbiology
How chromosomes shape up for cell division: Scientists reveal DNA loop formation mechanisms
Astronomy
Astronomers discover new giant molecular cloud in the Milky Way
Biochemistry
New drug delivery method promises months-long effects with fewer injections
General Physics
Breathing-soliton laser study unveils new complexities in synchronization phenomena
Earth Sciences
Climate warming and heat waves are accelerating global lake deoxygenation, study finds
Biochemistry
Researchers achieve de novo biosynthesis of plant lignans using synthetic yeast consortia
Bio & Medicine
Magnetic nanoparticles transport drugs deep into tumors to slow cancer growth

How paleontologists are uncovering dinosaur behavior

How do scientists study the behavior of dinosaurs, who died 65 million years ago? After all, dinosaur fossils are rare enough as it is, and most are fragments and difficult to work with.

Earliest evidence for humans in rainforests discovered

Rainforests are a major world biome which humans are not thought to have inhabited until relatively recently. New evidence now shows that humans lived in rainforests at least 150 thousand years ago in Africa, the home of ...