Fossils News
August 3, 2024
Top Headlines
Aug. 2, 2024 — Shifts in the Earth's continental plates that drove long-term changes in sea level set the stage for the evolution of the earliest animals on Earth, a study ...
Aug. 2, 2024 — A tiny fossil penguin plays a huge role in the evolutionary history of the bird, an international study ...
July 29, 2024 — The atmosphere, the ocean and life on Earth interacted over the past 500-plus million years in ways that improved conditions for early organisms to thrive. Now, an interdisciplinary team of ...
July 24, 2024 — A study looks at the maximum possible sizes of dinosaurs, using the carnivore, Tyrannosaurus rex, as an example. Using computer modelling, experts produced estimates that T. Rex might have been 70% heavier than what the fossil evidence ...
Latest Headlines
updated 10:18pm EDT
Aug. 1, 2024 — Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest mollusks were flat, armored slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata, was covered with hollow, organic, ...
July 23, 2024 — Palaeontologists are helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils ...
July 22, 2024 — Research reveals that Earth's largest iron ore deposits -- in the Hamersley Province of Western Australia -- are about one billion years younger than ...
July 23, 2024 — A pilot study shows that nanoscopic 3-D imaging of ancient bone not only provides further insight into the changes soft tissues undergo during ...
July 19, 2024 — A new species of fossil snake unearthed in Wyoming is rewriting our understanding of snake evolution. The discovery, based on four remarkably ...
July 16, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that a single-celled organism, a close relative of animals, harbors the remnants of ancient giant viruses woven into its own genetic code. This finding sheds light on how ...
July 17, 2024 — Cut marks on fossils could be evidence of humans exploiting large mammals in Argentina more than 20,000 years ago, according to a new ...
July 10, 2024 — Ancient DNA from bones and teeth hints at a role of the plague in Stone Age population collapse. Contrary to previous beliefs, the plague may have diminished Europe's populations long before the ...
July 11, 2024 — An international research team has assembled the genome and 3D chromosomal structures of a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth -- the first time such a ...
July 8, 2024 — A study of ancient dingo DNA revealed that the distribution of modern dingoes across Australia, including those on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island), ...
Earlier Headlines
July 10, 2024 — The surprising discovery of a new species of extinct crocodile relative from the Triassic Favret Formation of Nevada, USA, rewrites the story of life along the coasts during the first act of the Age ...
July 10, 2024 — The most complete dinosaur discovered in the UK in the last 100 years, with a pubic hip bone the size of a 'dinner plate', has been described in a new ...
July 9, 2024 — A type of extinct kangaroo that lived during the Pleistocene around two and a half million to ten thousand years ago, known as the 'giant wallaby', was a poor hopper, a study has ...
July 3, 2024 — Meet Gaiasia jennyae, the swamp creature with a toilet seat-shaped head. It lived 40 million years before the first dinosaurs, and it was the top predator in its ...
July 3, 2024 — Bone remains found in a Tibetan cave 3,280 m above sea level indicate an ancient group of humans survived here for many ...
July 1, 2024 — Scientists discovered the oldest fossil grapes in the Western Hemisphere, which help show how after the death of the dinosaurs, grapes spread across the ...
June 27, 2024 — Ammonites were not in decline before their extinction, scientists have ...
June 27, 2024 — Researchers have described some of the best-preserved three-dimensional trilobite fossils ever discovered. The fossils, which are more than 500 million years old, were collected in the High Atlas of ...
June 27, 2024 — Why did multicellularity arise? Solving that mystery may help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the vast diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from sea sponges to redwoods to human ...
June 26, 2024 — Researchers have identified the likeliest timeline of the famous Hellenistic-era Kyrenia shipwreck, discovered and recovered off the north coast of Cyprus in the ...
June 20, 2024 — For centuries, scientists thought they knew where the griffin legend came from. A new study takes a closer look at the data and folklore's influence on ...
June 20, 2024 — A new dinosaur has been identified and named. The dinosaur's name, Lokiceratops rangiformis, translates roughly to 'Loki's horned face that looks like a ...
June 18, 2024 — A white wine over 2,000 years old, of Andalusian origin, is the oldest wine ever ...
June 17, 2024 — An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere -- a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand's South Island. 246 million ...
June 14, 2024 — New research has found that sharks retained high levels of functional diversity for most of the last 66 million years, before steadily declining over the last 10 million years to its lowest value in ...
June 13, 2024 — Paleontologists have identified a new genus of fossil goby, revealing evolutionary secrets of a lineage that stretches back millions of ...
June 13, 2024 — When it comes to the ocean's response to global warming, we're not in entirely uncharted waters. A new study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth's past caused the exchange of ...
June 12, 2024 — New research has identified 100-million-year-old fossilized bones discovered in western Queensland as belonging to a newly identified species of pterosaur, which was a formidable flying reptile that ...
June 11, 2024 — An international scientific team has redefined our understanding of archaea, a microbial ancestor to humans from two billion years ago, by showing how they use hydrogen gas. The findings explain how ...
June 7, 2024 — Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a new ...
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
- A New Species of Extinct Crocodile Relative Rewrites Life on the Triassic Coastline
- Research Reveals the Most Complete Dinosaur Discovered in the UK in a Century
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
- Giant Salamander-Like Creature Was a Top Predator in the Ice Age Before the Dinosaurs
- Extinct Humans Survived on the Tibetan Plateau for 160,000 Years
Monday, July 1, 2024
Thursday, June 27, 2024
- Ammonites' Fate Sealed by Meteor Strike That Wiped out Dinosaurs
- Prehistoric 'Pompeii' Discovered: Most Pristine Trilobite Fossils Ever Found Shake Up Scientific Understanding of the Long Extinct Group
- Why the Harsh Snowball Earth Kick-Started Our Earliest Multicellular Ancestors
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Thursday, June 20, 2024
- New Study Finds Dinosaur Fossils Did Not Inspire the Mythological Griffin
- Newly Discovered Dinosaur Boasts Big, Blade-Like Horns
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Monday, June 17, 2024
Friday, June 14, 2024
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Friday, June 7, 2024
Thursday, June 6, 2024
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Thursday, May 30, 2024
- 'Ugly' Fossil Places Extinct Saber-Toothed Cat on Texas Coast
- Origins of 'Welsh Dragons' Finally Exposed by Experts
- Musankwa Sanyatiensis, a New Dinosaur from Zimbabwe
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
- Bringing Back an Ancient Bird
- Florida Fossil Porcupine Solves a Prickly Dilemma 10-Million Years in the Making
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
- Ancient People Hunted Extinct Elephants at Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile 12,000 Years Ago
- 3,500-Year-Old Mycenaean Armor Was Suitable for Extended Battle
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Monday, May 20, 2024
- Diverse Headgear in Hoofed Mammals Evolved from Common Ancestor
- Evolutionary History of Extinct Duck Revealed
Friday, May 17, 2024
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
- Rock Solid Evidence: Angola Geology Reveals Prehistoric Split Between South America and Africa
- Revised Dating of the Liujiang Skeleton Renews Understanding of Human Occupation of China
Monday, April 29, 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
- These Giant, Prehistoric Salmon Had Tusk-Like Teeth
- Researchers Find Oldest Undisputed Evidence of Earth's Magnetic Field
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
- Bioluminescence First Evolved in Animals at Least 540 Million Years Ago
- Fossil Frogs Share Their Skincare Secrets
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
- First Evidence of Human Occupation in Lava Tube Cave in Saudi Arabia
- Paleontologists Unearth What May Be the Largest Known Marine Reptile
Monday, April 15, 2024
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Friday, April 5, 2024
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Monday, March 25, 2024
Friday, March 22, 2024
Thursday, March 21, 2024
- Rays Were More Diverse 150 Million Years Ago Than Previously Thought
- Researchers Name Prehistoric Amphibian Ancestor Discovered in Smithsonian Collection After Kermit the Frog
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Monday, March 18, 2024
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Thursday, March 7, 2024
- New Study Reveals Insight Into Which Animals Are Most Vulnerable to Extinction Due to Climate Change
- Earth's Earliest Forest Revealed in Somerset Fossils
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Thursday, February 29, 2024
- Scientists ID Burned Bodies Using Technique Used for Extracting DNA from Woolly Mammoths, Neanderthals
- Slimming Down a Colossal Fossil Whale
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
- Panama Canal Expansion Rewrites History of World's Most Ecologically Diverse Bats
- Ancient DNA Reveals Down Syndrome in Past Human Societies
Monday, February 19, 2024
Friday, February 16, 2024
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Monday, February 12, 2024
Friday, February 9, 2024
- Surprisingly Vibrant Color of 12-Million-Year-Old Snail Shells
- New Fossil Site of Worldwide Importance Uncovered in Southern France
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Friday, February 2, 2024
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Monday, January 29, 2024
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- DNA from Preserved Feces Reveals Ancient Japanese Gut Environment
- Ancient Brown Bear Genomes Sheds Light on Ice Age Losses and Survival
- New Pieces in the Puzzle of First Life on Earth
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Monday, January 22, 2024
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Monday, January 15, 2024
Thursday, January 11, 2024
- Even the Oldest Eukaryote Fossils Show Dazzling Diversity and Complexity
- Oldest Known Fossilized Skin Is 21 Million Years Older Than Previous Examples
- Prehistoric Person With Turner Syndrome Identified from Ancient DNA
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
- The Extinction of the Giant Ape: Long-Standing Mystery Solved
- New Research Sheds Light on an Old Fossil Solving an Evolutionary Mystery