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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 ...

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.

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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
Paleontology & Fossils
'Old stump' spotted by deer hunter is actually a mammoth tusk, Texas researchers say

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Planetary Sciences
Perseverance rover witnesses one Martian dust devil eating another
Cell & Microbiology
Marine microbes reveal new gene clusters for hydrogen production
Bio & Medicine
Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for a one-two knockout punch
Plants & Animals
Prey size plays surprising role in competition among wolves, bears and cougars
Mathematics
Quantum statistical approach quiets big, noisy data
Optics & Photonics
Infrared heavy-metal-free quantum dots deliver sensitive and fast sensors for eye-safe LIDAR applications
Molecular & Computational biology
The fungal circadian clock: A potential target for combating plant diseases
Analytical Chemistry
Common catalyst works by cycling between two different forms, upending a long-held supposition
Cell & Microbiology
Firefly light gives rise to sensor that detects cellular alterations
Space Exploration
Rising odds asteroid that briefly threatened Earth will hit moon
Plants & Animals
Bonobos combine calls in similar ways to human language, study finds
Evolution
Molecular clock analysis shows bacteria used oxygen long before widespread photosynthesis
Plants & Animals
Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity
Biotechnology
Fluorescent biosensor tracks plant RNA in real time for better crops and biosecurity
Plants & Animals
Some insects are declining, but what's happening to the other 99%?
Cell & Microbiology
Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time, study shows
Cell & Microbiology
Stem cell barcoding reveals how the brain and inner ear are formed
Cell & Microbiology
Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed, offering new therapeutic options
Archaeology
Climate change and prehistoric human populations: Study finds eastward shift of settlement areas at end of last Ice Age
Condensed Matter
Physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

A 62-million-year-old skeleton sheds light on an enigmatic mammal

For more than 140 years, Mixodectes pungens, a species of small mammal that inhabited western North America in the early Paleocene, was a mystery. What little was known about them had been mostly gleaned from analyzing fossilized ...