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Paleontology & Fossils news
Strange 500-million-year-old marine fossils reveal a feeding strategy that still shapes oceans today
More than 500 million years ago, during what is known as the Cambrian period, the seas and oceans on Earth were filled with a myriad of marine animals, many of which have now become extinct. This evolutionary burst in new ...
Brazilian microfossils interpreted as animal traces are actually algae and bacteria, research reveals
A reexamination of microfossils found in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul shows that the marks previously interpreted as traces of worms or other small oceanic animals are actually communities of fossilized microscopic ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 11, 2026
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What it would have been like to experience the dinosaur‑killing asteroid armageddon: A blow‑by‑blow account
A great Tyrannosaurus rex strides through the conifer trees of her territory, sniffing the air. She picks up the scent from the carcass of a dead horned dinosaur, Triceratops, that she was feeding on yesterday. She walks ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 11, 2026
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Dinosaur dental fossils reveal bird-like parental care bonds
Baby dinosaurs were likely fed more nutritious food than their adult counterparts, a finding that could offer insights into their social evolution, suggests a new study. Paleontologists uncovered this finding by studying ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 8, 2026
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Ancient sea fossils indicate millipede and centipede ancestors evolved their legs while still underwater
The myriapoda group of arthropods includes the many-legged centipedes and millipedes that most people are familiar with. Although myriapods are all terrestrial creatures, researchers are unclear about when and how they evolved ...
New long-necked dinosaur found in Northeast Brazil was a close relative of a European species
A study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology describes a new species of dinosaur discovered during construction of a road-rail terminal in the city of Davinópolis in the state of Maranhão, in the Northeast ...
Evolution
May 6, 2026
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The lost koala: New fossil species was hiding in plain sight for 100 years
In 2024, the Western Australian Museum received a donation. It was a koala skull collected from Moondyne Cave in Margaret River by Lindsay Hatcher, an avid caver. There was something a bit odd about this skull, and we were ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 6, 2026
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A skull full of surprises: Discovering the evolutionary secrets of fish brains
A new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals the surprising neurological landscape of fish brains. Harvard researchers map the internal structures of ray-finned fishes' brains in 3D detail, discovering brain ...
Evolution
May 5, 2026
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Digitizing microscope slides can uncover billions of fossils for natural history
Approximately 145 million: That's the number of specimens—including plants, animals, minerals, and human artifacts—curators estimate are held in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. However, these estimates ...
Biotechnology
May 5, 2026
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Tiny eggs may explain why ammonites vanished while nautiloids survived asteroid aftermath
Some of the most beautiful creatures to grace the ancient seas, the ammonites, disappeared in the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that finished off the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago. "It's a tragic story, because this incredibly ...
Evolution
May 5, 2026
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Locked in stone for 210 million years, this newly identified crocodile cousin was built to crush larger prey
On a fateful day 210 million years ago, two crocodile cousins about the size of jackals stood side-by-side amid the low ferns of a humid riverbank that would one day become northern New Mexico. One of the crocs, Hesperosuchus ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 2, 2026
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Dinosaurs may have originated 10 million years earlier than fossils show
Dinosaurs are among the most majestic and iconic animals to have ever walked on our planet. While they are now extinct, they are estimated to have inhabited Earth for over 165 million years.
Kangaroos chart 'upside-down' evolution
New research led by Flinders University argues thick tooth enamel helped kangaroos chart an unconventional evolution story, compared to the animals of other continents. A 50-million-year natural "experiment" among Australia's ...
Evolution
Apr 30, 2026
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How mass extinctions helped termites become essential engineers of today's tropical ecosystems
Tropical ecosystems rely on the infrastructure provided by termites. These insects supply plants with vital nutrients by breaking down organic waste, bringing water to the roots by aerating the soil through tunneling, and ...
Ecology
Apr 30, 2026
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How the Ampelomeryx grew: Discovering the life history of a giraffe relative that lived in Catalonia
A research team from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP-CERCA) has led the paleohistological study of Ampelomeryx ginsburgi, a giraffomorph ruminant from the Middle Miocene recovered at the Els Casots ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 29, 2026
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The 'tail' of the shrinking dog brain: Study reveals they began getting smaller 5,000 years ago
Dogs have long been known to have smaller brains than the wolves they descended from. But when they started to shrink has been a matter of some debate. New research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, which ...
How giants that vanished 10,000 years ago triggered ripple effects that are still felt today
Between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, many of the world's largest mammals disappeared. Picture creatures like saber-toothed cats with 7-inch fangs and elephant-sized sloths. Woolly mammoths whose curved tusks grew longer than ...
Ecology
Apr 27, 2026
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Before dinosaurs vanished, a hamster-sized mammal was already shaping what survived next on the Pacific Coast
Mammals and dinosaurs coexisted on Earth until a catastrophic event 66 million years ago killed 75% of life on the planet. Despite the devastation, some animals survived, including rodent-like mammals in the Cimolodon genus. ...
Evolution
Apr 25, 2026
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Could warming seas bring great white sharks back to the North Sea? A 5‑million‑year‑old shark tooth may provide clues
As Earth shifts to climates not seen for several hundred thousand years, we may need to look at ancient environments for clues about what could happen next.
Ecology
Apr 24, 2026
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This battered Jurassic sea giant held on against the odds, and its fossil hints at an unexpected survival strategy
A fossil discovery in Mistelgau, Northern Bavaria, Germany, reveals that the last representatives of the giant ichthyosaurs of the genus Temnodontosaurus survived longer in the Southwest German Basin than previously thought. ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 24, 2026
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More news
Brazil unearths a bizarre beaked reptile with a trans-Atlantic prehistoric link
Why a bizarre Brazil 'pterosaur' fossil is now being reclassified as a fish
Moroccan dinosaur's fearsome tail spikes evolved much earlier than we thought—new discovery
Bird and tortoise fossil tracks on South Africa's coast: Latest findings are world firsts
Toothy snout recasts Australia's famed Muttaburrasaurus as a picky eater
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Museum fossil reveals that extinct giant echidnas once roamed Australia
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Wine's leftovers could help wean chicken farms off antibiotics
Swapping molecular building blocks one by one reveals how receptors tell adrenaline from dopamine
AI surrogate accelerates nonlinear optics simulations by orders of magnitude
