Paleontology
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PaleontologyThe last ice age wasn’t totally icy
Radiocarbon dating of fossils taken from caves on islands along Alaska's southeastern coast suggest that at least a portion of the area remained ice-free during the last ice age.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyAllosaurus as a Jurassic headbanger
The skull of the carnivorous dinosaur Allosaurus fragilis can resist levels of stress much higher than those expected from chewing, which may provide insight into the animal's method of attacking its prey.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyCalling all orthodontists. . .
Researchers have unearthed fossils of a theropod dinosaur whose front teeth grew almost directly forward, which sets it apart from all other related species.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyA Makeover for an Old Friend
Time and technology revamp a dinosaur classic.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyEarly Biped Fossil Pops Up in Europe
A newly described, nearly complete 290-million-year-old fossil of an ancient reptile pushes back the evidence for terrestrial bipedalism by 60 million years.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyListening to fish for extinction clues
Tiny fossils from fish that survived worldwide extinctions about 34 million years ago may reveal that cooler winters caused the die-off.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyTeeth tell tale of warm-blooded dinosaurs
Evidence locked within the fossil teeth of some dinosaurs may help bolster the view that some of the animals were, at least to some degree, warm-blooded.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyFeathered fossil still stirs debate
More than 2 years after scientists first described 120-million-year-old fossils of a feathered animal, a new analysis seems to bolster the view that the turkey-size species was a bird has-been and not a bird wanna-be.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyWas it sudden death for the Permian period?
The massive extinctions that came at the end of the Permian period could have occurred within a mere 8,000 years, which suggests a catastrophic cause for the die-offs.
By Sid Perkins -
PaleontologyOverlooked fossil spread first feathers
A new look at a fossil that had been lying in a drawer in Moscow for nearly 30 years has uncovered the oldest known feathered animal.
By Susan Milius -
PaleontologyFossils Hint at Who Left Africa First
Fossil skulls found in central Asia date to 1.7 million years ago and may represent the first ancestral human species to have left Africa.
By Bruce Bower -
PaleontologyAfrica’s east coast netted ancient humans
Excavations of an exposed reef on Africa's Red Sea coast indicate that humans lived there 125,000 years ago, pushing back the date for the earliest seaside settlement by at least 10,000 years.
By Bruce Bower