Fossils
A new dino may be the culprit in an ancient murder mystery
The new microraptor, Jian changmaensis, may have snacked on birds when not gliding through northwestern China some 120 million years ago.
Fossils
More Stories in Fossils
- Life
Looking for LUCA, everyone’s shared ancestor
You and all other living things descended from a single organism — our great-grand-germ. Scientists are studying modern genes to learn more about this very distant ancestor.
- Life
After the dino-killer asteroid, life bounced back quickly
New ocean dwellers arrived millennia — maybe decades — after the Chicxulub impact. That forces a rethink of evolution's response to wipeout events.
- Fossils
Fossil vomit shows what one 290-million-year-old predator dined on
Bones in the barfed-up material, which dates to a time before the dinosaurs, offer a rare peek into the diet of a prehistoric hunter.
- Fossils
Prehistoric ‘sea’ monster also lurked in rivers, data show
A 66-million-year-old fossil tooth turned up alongside remains of a T. rex and ancient crocodile. This shows some mosasaurs roamed into rivers.
- Fossils
Let’s learn about Tyrannosaurus rex
These fearsome predators truly were enormous — with the bone-crushing bite power to match.
- Animals
Chicago’s Rat Hole? Science concludes it’s likely not from a rat
Researchers employed tools of paleontology to analyze the iconic landmark — a sidewalk critter crater made when a mystery rodent fell into wet concrete.
- Fossils
Here’s why ammolite gems have a rainbow shimmer
The fossils’ fabulous colors arise from delicate assemblies of crystal plates.
- Fossils
Newfound fossil is not a teen T. rex but a whole new species
Now known as Nanotyrannus, this mini dino could have roamed the late Cretaceous alongside T. rex.
- Fossils
Baby pterosaurs likely died in violent Jurassic storms
Two hatchlings with broken arm bones point to ancient storms as the cause of mass casualties now preserved in Germany’s Solnhofen Limestone.
