Paleontology
- Paleontology
A colossal ancient whale could be the heaviest animal ever known
Perucetus colossus may have tipped the scales at up to 340 metric tons, but some scientists are skeptical it could have sustained that mass.
- Paleontology
This ancient, Lovecraftian apex predator chased and pierced soft prey
Half a billion years ago, Anomalocaris canadensis probably used its bizarre headgear to reach out and snag soft prey with its spiky clutches.
- Life
A 407-million-year-old plant’s leaves skipped the usual Fibonacci spirals
Most land plants living today have spiral patterns involving the famous Fibonacci sequence of numbers. But an extinct, ancient plant did not.
- Paleontology
Megalodon sharks may have become megapredators by running hot
O. megalodon sharks were warm-blooded megapredators. But colder-blooded great white sharks may have had an evolutionary edge when food sources dwindled.
- Paleontology
Paleontology has a ‘parachute science’ problem. Here’s how it plays out in 3 nations
When researchers study fossils from lower-income countries, they often engage in dubious or illegal practices that can stifle science.
- Life
New fossils from Patagonia may rewrite the history of duck-billed dinosaurs
New findings are adding a wrinkle to researchers’ understanding of how duck-billed dinosaurs conquered the Cretaceous world.
- Paleontology
‘Thunder beast’ fossils show how some mammals might have gotten big
Rhinolike mammals called brontotheres repeatedly evolved into bigger and smaller species, a fossil analysis shows. The bigger ones won out over time.
- Paleontology
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
The newly identified species Icaronycteris gunnelli lived about 52.5 million years ago in what is now Wyoming and looked a lot like modern bats.
- Life
T. rex may have had lips like a modern lizard’s
Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus have long been portrayed as lipless, but new research suggests this wasn’t so.
- Paleontology
310-million-year-old fossil blobs might not be jellyfish after all
An ancient animal called Essexella may have been a type of burrowing sea anemone, a new study proposes.
- Paleontology
520-million-year-old animal fossils might not be animals after all
Newly described fossils of Protomelission gatehousei suggest that the species, once thought to be the oldest example of bryozoans, is actually a type of colony-forming algae.
- Paleontology
The oldest known pollen-carrying insects lived about 280 million years ago
Pollen stuck to fossils of earwig-like Tillyardembia pushes back the earliest record of potential insect pollinators by about 120 million years.
