Paleontology

More Stories in Paleontology

  1. a fossil of an ancient horseshoe crab in brownish rock, with white marks showing the fossilized brain
    Paleontology

    How fossilization preserved a 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab’s brain

    A 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab’s brain was preserved in clay, thanks to an uncommon fossilization process that protected the fragile neural tissues.

    By Rebecca Dzombak
  2. image of Mt. Rushmore
    Earth

    A new book reveals stories of ancient life written in North America’s rocks

    In ‘How the Mountains Grew,’ John Dvorak probes the interlinked geology and biology buried within the rocks of North America.

    By Alka Tripathy-Lang
  3. image of the mesh skeleton on a modern bath sponge
    Life

    If confirmed, tubes in 890-million-year-old rock may be the oldest animal fossils

    Newly described wormlike fossils may be ancient sea sponges. If confirmed, the fossils would reveal a remarkably early start to animal life.

    By Jake Buehler
  4. microscope image of archaea
    Paleontology

    3.42-billion-year-old fossil threads may be the oldest known archaea microbes

    The structure and chemistry of these ancient cell-like fossils may hint where Earth’s early inhabitants evolved and how they got their energy.

    By Carolyn Wilke
  5. illustration of flamingo-like flying dinosaurs, with two in the foreground and several in the background
    Paleontology

    Pterosaurs may have been able to fly as soon as they hatched

    A fossil analysis shows the flying reptile hatchlings had a stronger bone crucial for lift-off that adults and shorter, broader wings for agility.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  6. close-up of wings of large banded grasshopper
    Paleontology

    Insects had flashy, noise-making wings as early as 310 million years ago

    The structure of a grasshopper-like insect’s fossilized wing suggests it crackled and reflected light, perhaps to attract mates or warn off predators.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  7. illustration of the head of an ancient insect-eating reptile
    Paleontology

    Fossilized dung from a dinosaur ancestor yields a new beetle species

    Whole beetles preserved in fossilized poo suggest that ancient droppings may deserve a closer look.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  8. family of tyrannosaurs
    Paleontology

    For some dinosaurs, the Arctic may have been a great place to raise a family

    Fossils of baby dinosaur remains found in northern Alaska challenge the idea that some dinosaurs spent only summers in the Arctic.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  9. illustration of a lizard sitting on a branch. shown is its head and neck with sap dripping down around it
    Paleontology

    An ancient creature thought to be a teeny dinosaur turns out to be a lizard

    CT scans of hummingbird-sized specimens trapped in amber reveal that the 99-million-year-old fossils have a number of lizardlike features.

    By Carolyn Gramling