Sea scorpions, ancient predators that patrolled Earth's marine and freshwater habitats hundreds of millions of years ago, are the focus of a sizable scientific mystery.
Evolution
Aug 13, 2024
1
1468
Fossils found in Chile are from a strange-looking dog-sized dinosaur species that had a unique slashing tail weapon, scientists reported Wednesday.
Plants & Animals
Dec 1, 2021
6
15685
For paleontologists who study animals that lived long ago, fossilized remains tell only part of the story of an animal's life. While a well-preserved skeleton can provide hints at what an ancient animal ate or how it moved, ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 10, 2024
0
1428
For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate ...
Ecology
Dec 14, 2023
4
1424
It all started with a grand claim: scientists had discovered the first known four-legged snake fossil from Brazil. The specimen, named Tetrapodophis amplectus, was small—about the size of a pencil—with tiny limbs. It was ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 5, 2022
0
1418
A new study, published July 6, 2026, in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that two of the best-known trends in human evolution—brain growth and the reduction in the size of the face and jaw—may be far less attributable ...
Evolution
Jul 6, 2026
1
1398
"Jurassic Park" is arguably the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster. Aside from the appeal of human-chomping dinosaurs, tense action sequences and ground-breaking cinematography, its release in 1993 was a movies-meet-science milestone.
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 18, 2023
5
1389
When the Kinks' Ray Davies penned the tune "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains," the vanishing locomotives stood as nostalgic symbols of a simpler English life. But for a paleontologist at the University of Kansas, the replacement ...
Evolution
Mar 28, 2023
2
1387
Many of us know the conventional theory of how the dinosaurs died 66 million years ago: in Earth's fiery collision with a meteorite, and a following global winter as dust and debris choked the atmosphere. But there was a ...
Evolution
Jul 1, 2022
11
1386
Remains of microorganisms at least 3,770 million years old have been discovered by an international team led by UCL scientists, providing direct evidence of one of the oldest life forms on Earth.
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 1, 2017
6
4750
