December 9, 2014
Neanderthals dined on pigeons
The butchering, cooking and eating of birds has previously been thought to be an enterprise unique to modern humans, who were smart enough to …
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Paleo
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252 articles · Page 10 of 11
December 9, 2014
Dating the demise of the Neanderthals
For a time, _Homo sapiens _and Neanderthals shared space in Europe, likely interacting and possibly interbreeding, but roughly 40,000 years ago …
December 9, 2014
Hallucigenia finally finds a home
A fossil so bizarre that it was formally dubbed Hallucigenia has finally found a place in the evolutionary tree of early life. One of the more …
December 9, 2014
All dinosaurs may have had feathers
Since the first feathered dinosaur was discovered in China in 1996, more and more feathered theropod specimens have been found. Now, a new …
November 4, 2014
Oldest-known skeletal animals found
The Ediacaran Period, which lasted from 635 million to 541 million years ago, is famous for the evolution of soft-bodied organisms that pre-dated …
November 4, 2014
Limited ranges left ammonites vulnerable to extinction
Why spiral-shelled, ocean-faring ammonites went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous while the nautilids — the ammonites’ less abundant and less …
November 3, 2014
Polar dino tracks show full ecosystem
Researchers recently uncovered a new dinosaur tracksite in Alaska’s Denali National Park. The well-preserved Late Cretaceous footprints were left …
October 3, 2014
Down to Earth With: Molecular biologist Sarah L. Anzick
In May 1968, when Sarah L. Anzick was 2 years old, the 12,600-year-old remains of a male toddler were discovered at the base of a bluff on her …
September 11, 2014
July 28, 1996: Kennewick man is discovered
On the evening of July 28, 1996, archaeologist James Chatters received an unexpected call at his home in Richland, Wash., from the local coroner. …
September 2, 2014
Out of Africa, time and again
There is widespread agreement among scientists based on fossil and geochemical evidence that modern humans evolved in Africa between 200,000 and …
August 19, 2014
Ancient shark jaws resemble those of modern fish
Sharks are thought to have one of the most consistent body plans in the animal kingdom; the formidable predators seem to have remained roughly …
August 12, 2014
Geomedia: 'Dinosaur 13' chisels away at the story behind discovery of Sue
As the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, “Sue” is an icon. She even has her own logo and her own Twitter account. Sue made …
July 21, 2014
For toothed whales, ecolocation is an ancient art
Echolocation is a distinctive feature of toothed whales, but little is known about how and when this complex behavior and its underlying anatomy …
July 18, 2014
Pompeii-like eruption fossilized dinosaurs in death poses
The Yixian and Jiufotang formations are famous for preserving fine details such as hair, skin and feathers from a diverse array of animals, …
July 10, 2014
Hell Creek Formation reveals a 'chicken from hell'
Anzu belongs to a mysterious group of theropods called Caenagnathidae, which were only known previously by a handful of fossils found in the …
July 10, 2014
Ancient food web shows modern structure
Located in a former shale quarry near Frankfurt, Germany, the Messel deposit is so fossil-rich it has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. …
July 9, 2014
La Brea climate adaptation as different as cats and dogs
“The most attractive thing about working at the tar pits is the sheer quantity of fossils,” says Robin O’Keefe, an evolutionary biologist at …
June 23, 2014
Message in a bottle gourd
Logan Kistler of Penn State University and colleagues analyzed DNA from bottle gourds collected at pre-Colombian archaeological sites throughout …
June 23, 2014
Dinosaur feathers burst into color
Melanosomes are melanin-producing cells found in the feathers of all modern birds as well as a range of other animals. To study the origins of …
June 23, 2014
Cryptic creatures made for a spectacular hanging garden
The upside-down cryptic assemblage — so known because the creatures inhabited a hollowed-out cavity in the rock — is “exceptionally well …
June 23, 2014
Early Triassic fossil showed live birth in action
Not only does the fossil specimen preserve an example of live birth, or viviparity, in action, but the embryos are about 10 million years older …
June 23, 2014
Did tidal zone trilobites lead the way onto land?
During the Cambrian, when trilobites thrived in Earth’s early oceans, the continents were devoid of animal life. “The Cambrian explosion was an …
June 19, 2014
Spanish cave reveals possible new Neanderthal ancestor
A trove of thousands of hominin fossils unearthed from a prolific cave in northern Spain is proving a boon for paleoanthropologists studying …
May 16, 2014
Ancient skeleton found in underwater cave reveals DNA of earliest Americans
Between 13,000 and 12,000 years ago, a teenage girl entered a cave, likely searching for water, and fell to her death into a pit, which would …