February 23, 2018
Oldest blood cells found in Early Jurassic ichthyosaur
Since 2005, a steady trickle of reports detailing proteins and other soft tissues preserved in fossils of dinosaurs and other ancient animals has …
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Paleo
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252 articles · Page 3 of 11
February 23, 2018
Drought drove early humans from Africa
Genetics studies have dated the largest migrations of early Homo sapiens out of Africa to between 70,000 and 55,000 years ago, although smaller …
February 15, 2018
Growing up saber-toothed: Strong from the start
During the Pleistocene, saber-toothed cats were formidable predators, with their massive canines and powerful front legs sporting razor-sharp …
February 6, 2018
Did mud volcanoes set the stage for Burgess Shale fossils?
Canada’s Burgess Shale is famous for a wide array of exquisitely preserved 500-million-year-old fossils, which are found in a dozen localities in …
January 12, 2018
Fossil sea turtle hatchling reveals its Eocene proteins
A study of a 54-million-year-old sea turtle hatchling found in Denmark is adding to a growing body of evidence that certain proteins can remain …
January 10, 2018
Denali's Asian dinosaurs
“Paleontologists have long hypothesized that a land bridge between present-day Siberia and Alaska served as a gateway for fauna to migrate …
January 5, 2018
Nothing is clear about who left marks on ancient bones
An ongoing debate regarding the origin of scrape marks on ancient animal bones has taken a new turn. The marks were first thought to have been …
December 14, 2017
Predators may have spurred evolution of ancient brittle stars
Threats to species can encourage evolution, leading to animals with harder shells or other defensive adaptations. In a recent study in the …
December 14, 2017
Fossilized dinosaur feces reveal flexitarian diet
Fossilized feces tell paleontologists a lot about what dinosaurs ate. Some unusual coprolites discovered in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante …
December 14, 2017
Science meets art: Tiny trilobite gets huge makeover
At less than a centimeter in size, Agnostus pisiformis might not look like much, but a new series of larger-than-life sculptures is giving the …
December 14, 2017
19th-century discovery now reveals modern human arrival in Sumatra
Modern humans began journeying out of Africa by at least 75,000 years ago, eventually expanding across the planet. Evidence of these early human …
December 11, 2017
Mysterious Miocene bipedal footprints found in Crete
A curious set of 5.7-million-year-old bipedal footprints found in western Crete — far from the cradle of humanity in Africa and dating to the …
December 11, 2017
Down to Earth With: Paleontologist Ali Nabavizadeh
A perfect day in the life of paleontologist Ali Nabavizadeh wouldn’t be complete without a fresh corpse. The subjects of his work at the …
November 15, 2017
Transitional Chilesaurus fills gap between major dinosaur groups
In 2015, a new dinosaur was discovered in southern Chile, but its odd set of characteristics left paleontologists scratching their heads: Was it …
November 15, 2017
Dino deaths cleared the way for frogs
Frogs make up almost 90 percent of amphibians, and with 6,775 described species, frogs are considered one of the most diverse groups of …
November 15, 2017
Can fossil footprints reveal the weight of a dinosaur?
Body mass is a fundamental factor in determining how much food an animal requires, how it moves and grows, and what role it plays in its …
November 14, 2017
Down to Earth With Richard Prum
Prum, a professor of ornithology at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., was an avid birdwatcher as a kid and thought he might grow up to be a …
November 9, 2017
Marine megafaunal extinction discovered
Extinctions of large land animals during the Pleistocene are well documented. In a new study, scientists report that marine megafauna also …
October 18, 2017
Humans arrived Down Under earlier than thought
Analysis of sediments surrounding a trove of artifacts discovered in northern Australia suggests the first humans arrived on the continent about …
October 18, 2017
When agriculture went to our heads
The dawn of agriculture left an indelible mark on early human societies, and a new study finds that eating softer, cultivated foods subtly …
October 13, 2017
Another whiptail dinosaur added to sauropod family tree
With their massive size, long necks and whip-like tails, the sauropods are one of the most recognizable dinosaur groups. They grew as large as …
October 13, 2017
Chemical clues illuminate fossil plant relationships
To reconstruct relationships among extinct plants and animals, paleontologists often compare genetic sequences from distinct organisms or analyze …
October 12, 2017
Can preserved proteins reveal paint-by-numbers plumage?
Some of the most compelling dinosaur fossils are those found with clearly defined feathers. Feathers may seem fragile and unlikely to be …
October 12, 2017
Cretaceous collagen: Can molecular paleontology glean soft tissue from dinosaurs?
In the early 1990s, “Jurassic Park” hatched a wild idea: that dinosaurs could be reincarnated using tiny amounts of preserved DNA. In the …