Paleontology
- Life
Step-by-step Evolution
Hard to find, but very fruitful when found, transitional fossils fill in the gaps in the paleontological record.
- Life
Dinosaur day care dads
A new study shows some male dinosaurs may have been the primary caretakers of their young.
- Life
Extreme preservation gives fly’s eye view
The cell-by-cell detail of a 45 million-year–old retina is preserved in amber
- Paleontology
Bacteria may play big role in forming fossils
Bacteria can build a biofilm that preserves a tissue's structure.
- Life
Mammoth genome approaching completion
Genetic material extracted from the hair of woolly mammoths has revealed new information about the extinct creatures, including how closely related they are to modern elephants.
- Chemistry
Oldest evidence for complex life in doubt
Chemical biomarkers in ancient Australian rocks, once thought to be the oldest known evidence of complex life on Earth, may have infiltrated long after the sediments were laid down, new analyses suggest.
- Paleontology
How pterosaurs took flight
Extinct flying reptiles known as pterosaurs may have taken to the air with a technique akin to leapfrogging, new research suggests.
- Life
Fossil find may document largest snake
Rocks beneath a coal mine in Colombia have yielded fossils of what could be the world's largest snake, a 12.8-meter–long behemoth that's a relative of today's boa constrictors.
- Life
How Tiktaalik got its neck
The oldest fossil with a neck, Tiktaalik roseae, shows how animals developed a head for living on land.
- Paleontology
New arthropod species really stuck together
Recent fossil discovery shows that new species of arthropod formed chains, raising the possibility of communal behavior.
- Earth
Pterodactyls may soar once more
Paleontologists and aeronautical engineers are designing a reconnaissance drone that will mimic the flight of an ancient flying reptile.
- Earth
When trees grew in Antarctica
Fossils of trees that grew in Antarctica millions of years ago suggest a growth pattern much different than modern trees.
