Paleontology
- Life
Skeletons come in many shapes and sizes
In Skeletons, two paleobiologists recount how and why skeletons evolved, as well as the variety of forms they take and the many purposes they serve.
- Paleontology
How birds may have escaped the dino-killing asteroid impact
A tree-loving lifestyle became a risk for ancient birds in a world-changing catastrophe.
- Paleontology
The Chicxulub asteroid impact might have set off 100,000 years of global warming
About 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid impact set off 100,000 years of global warming, an analysis of oxygen in fish fossils suggests.
- Paleontology
Here’s how hefty dinosaurs sat on their eggs without crushing them
Some heavier dinos had a strategy to keep eggs warm without crushing them: sit in an opening in the middle of the clutch instead of on top of them.
- Animals
This ancient fowl bit like a dinosaur and pecked like a bird
A new fossil of Ichthyornis dispar helped scientists create a 3-D reconstruction of the ancient bird’s skull, shedding light on early bird evolution.
- Animals
These seals haven’t lost their land ancestors’ hunting ways
Clawed pawlike forelimbs help true seals hunt like their land-dwelling ancestors.
- Paleontology
Colorful moth wings date back to the dinosaur era
Microscopic structures that scatter light to give color to the wings of modern butterflies and moths date back almost 200 million years.
- Life
Fossils sparked Charles Darwin’s imagination
Darwin’s Fossils recounts how finding extinct species in South America helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.
- Paleontology
This ancient lizard may have watched the world through four eyes
A lizard that lived 50 million years ago had both a third and a fourth eye.
- Paleontology
Readers debate dinosaur designation and more
Readers had questions about the dino family tree and Venus' habitability.
- Paleontology
New fossils are redefining what makes a dinosaur
While some researchers question what characteristics define the dinosaurs, others are uprooting the dino family tree altogether.
- Paleontology
Fossil footprints may put lizards on two feet 110 million years ago
Fossilized footprints found in South Korea could be the earliest evidence of two-legged running in lizards.
