Paleontology
Fossils reveal many complex animals existed before the Cambrian explosion
Hundreds of Chinese fossils from the dawn of animal evolution may change how scientists think of this critical period of prehistory.
Paleontology
More Stories in Paleontology
- Paleontology
A large fossil leg bone hints at T. rex’s origins, but scientists disagree
A new analysis of a large fossil shinbone suggests T. rex ancestors came from North America instead of Asia. Not everyone agrees.
- Anthropology
The ancient human ancestor ‘Little Foot’ gets a new face
A new digital reconstruction of the face of an early Australopithecus specimen helps add details about the origins of our own species.
- Paleontology
A mouth built for efficiency may have helped the earliest bird fly
A flexible tongue, sensitive beak and teethlike cones in the mouth may have helped Archaeopteryx generate enough energy to fly.
- Oceans
Evolution didn’t wait long after the dinosaurs died
New plankton arrived just a few millennia — maybe even decades — after the Chicxulub asteroid, forcing a rethink of evolution's catastrophe response speed.
- Paleontology
Fossilized vomit reveals 290-million-year-old predator’s diet
The regurgitated material from before the time of dinosaurs provides a rare window into the feeding habits of a prehistoric hunter.
- Paleontology
This dino’s fossil claw suggests it snatched eggs, not insects
A 67-million-year-old claw fossil reveals a new dinosaur species that may have used its hand spikes to snatch and pierce eggs.
- Paleontology
These fossil finds shed new light on the past in 2025
The year's top paleontological wonders ranged from a 540-million-year-old penis worm to a decades-old rodent impression.
- Anthropology
Big Neandertal noses weren’t made for cold
Tiny cameras threaded inside a Neandertal skull provide evidence that their big noses were not an adaptation to cold climates.
- Paleontology
Nanotyrannus is still not a teenage T. rex
Nanotyrannus wasn’t a juvenile T. rex but a petite adult of a separate species, a new study of fossil hyoid bones finds, bolstering a recent report.
