Paleontology

Life

Megalodon, the largest shark ever, may have been a long, slender giant

The ancient shark is typically imagined with the scaled-up stout frame of a modern great white. But in life, the giant may have been more elongated.

Paleontology

The oldest known fossilized skin shows how life adapted to land

The nearly 290 million-year-old cast belonged to a species of amniotes, four-legged vertebrates that today comprises all reptiles, birds and mammals.

Paleontology

Earth’s largest ape went extinct 100,000 years earlier than once thought

Habitat changes drove the demise of Gigantopithecus blacki, a new study reports. The find could hold clues for similarly imperiled orangutans.

Paleontology

The real culprit in a 19th century dinosaur whodunit is finally revealed

Contrary to the stories handed down among paleontologists, creationism wasn’t to blame for the destruction of Central Park’s dinosaurs.

Anthropology

Ancient primates’ unchipped teeth hint that they ate mostly fruit

Of more than 400 teeth collected, just 21 were chipped, suggesting that early primate diets were soft on their choppers.

Physics

How neutron imaging uncovers hidden secrets of fossils and artifacts

The technique can complement X-ray scanning and other tools to uncover details of dinosaur fossils, mummies and more.

Paleontology

Newfound fossil species of lamprey were flesh eaters

In China, paleontologists have unearthed fossils of two surprisingly large lamprey species from the Jurassic Period.

Paleontology

Dinosaur feathers may have been more birdlike than previously thought

Feather proteins can change during fossilization, raising questions about what dinosaur feathers really can tell us about feather evolution.

Paleontology

New computer analysis hints volcanism killed the dinosaurs, not an asteroid

Scientists take a creative approach to investigating what caused the mass extinction 66 million years ago, but the debate is far from settled.

Paleontology

A one-of-a-kind trilobite fossil hints at what and how these creatures ate

The preserved contents suggest the trilobite fed almost continuously and had a gut environment with an alkaline or neutral pH, researchers say.

Paleontology

This newfound birdlike dinosaur had surprisingly long legs

Early birdlike dinosaurs are mostly short-limbed and thought to have lived in trees, but Fujianvenator prodigiosus may have run or waded in swamps.

Life

Around 13,000 years ago, humans and fire changed LA’s ecosystem forever

Rapid drying combined with human-made fires changed Southern California forever, killing off ancient bison, dire wolves and five other megafauna species there.