Fossils
- Fossils
Dino double whammy
Most scientists think an asteroid helped kill off the dinosaurs. But new calculations suggest that asteroid might have gotten some help from a long series of volcanic eruptions in what is now India.
- Fossils
Dinos: Some were ‘marathoners’
The arrangement of major muscles in a duck-billed dinosaur’s legs would have helped them outrun predators such as T. rex, a new analysis suggests.
- Fossils
Tar pit clues provide ice age news
New analyses of insects and mammals trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits point to climate surprises during the last ice age.
- Earth
When life exploded
Life exploded in diversity during the Cambrian Period. Experts are exploring what could account for this sudden change 540 million years ago.
- Fossils
Spiked tail to the rescue!
A stegosaur’s bony ‘armor’ didn’t just fend off a predator’s teeth. The tail spikes could gore attackers, ultimately killing them, fossils now show.
- Fossils
Early dino-era start for modern mammals
Fossils of an extinct group of rodent-sized mammals suggest they were related to modern mammals. These ancient remains push back the origin of mammals by many millions of years.
- Fossils
Biggest dino ever?
This plant-eater would have towered over even a T. rex. A truly huge brute, Dreadnoughtus means ‘fear nothing.’
- Fossils
Feathers: What every dino wore?
A dino discovery in Siberia suggests feathers were common among the ancient ‘lizards.’
- Fossils
Dinos ‘quickly’ shrunk into birds
Scientists had long known birds descended from dinosaurs. A study now shows that the morphing from dinos into birds went along with a quick and steady shrinking of their body sizes.
- Fossils
Some Arctic dinos lived in herds
Fossil footprints retrieved from Alaska indicate that plant-eating duckbill dinos not only traveled as extended families but also spent their entire lives in the Arctic.
- Fossils
Newly dated footprints: Oldest human tracks?
These footprints, found nearly a half-century ago, may be almost four times older than first thought, scientists now report.
- Fossils
Mega-bird!
What may have been the bird world’s biggest flier ever had wings so long, they would have had trouble flapping fast enough to keep it aloft in tough winds. But this behemoth would have been able to soar both far and fast.
