Dinosaurs, as a scientific topic, encompass a diverse clade of archosaurian reptiles (primarily Dinosauria) that dominated terrestrial ecosystems during most of the Mesozoic Era and are central to research in vertebrate evolution, functional morphology, macroecology, and extinction dynamics. Study of dinosaurs integrates skeletal anatomy, phylogenetics, bone histology, biomechanics, ichnology, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction to investigate growth rates, locomotor strategies, trophic networks, and responses to climatic and tectonic changes. Modern research also emphasizes the dinosaur–bird transition, including the evolution of feathers, flight-related adaptations, and metabolic physiology, as well as patterns of diversification and selectivity associated with the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
Scientists have long puzzled over the origins of a mysterious dinosaur excavated in the 1940s: Was it a young T. rex or another type of dinosaur?
Paleontology & Fossils
Nov 2, 2025
0
59
A new specimen of one of the most controversial species of dinosaur has the potential to overturn decades of research on the T rex.
Paleontology & Fossils
Nov 1, 2025
0
203
What if everything we know about T. rex growth is wrong? A complete tyrannosaur skeleton has just ended one of paleontology's longest-running debates—whether Nanotyrannus is a distinct species, or just a teenage version of ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 30, 2025
0
2337
Dinosaur "mummies" couldn't have been further from my mind as I trudged up a grassy knoll on the Zerbst Ranch in east-central Wyoming, followed by University of Chicago undergraduates on a field trip linked to my Dinosaur ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 27, 2025
0
27
Argentinian researchers have described a Carnian theropod with features previously thought to belong only to much later neotheropods, indicating greater early dinosaur diversity than expected as well as a possible climate-related ...
Imaging technology has revolutionized paleontology, allowing scientists to study fossils that are buried deep in the rock or too small to handle. Two recent studies I was involved with show some of the technology's potential, ...
Evolution
Oct 23, 2025
0
64
For decades, many scientists believed dinosaurs were already dwindling in number and variety long before an asteroid strike sealed their fate 66 million years ago.
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 23, 2025
0
176
In a new paper in Science, experts from the University of Chicago describe steps that took place some 66 million years ago to transform the carcasses of a duck-billed dinosaur, Edmontosaurus annectens, into dinosaur "mummies" ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 23, 2025
0
186
Sixty-six million years ago, two genera of long-necked, quadrupedal dinosaurs had an advantage over other sauropods: they could easily stand on their hind legs for extended periods. This allowed them to scare off potential ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 23, 2025
0
134
Argentinian scientists have found fossilized bones of one of the world's oldest dinosaur species in the Andes Mountains, the CONICET research agency announced on Wednesday.
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 16, 2025
0
179
