Denisovans were strong and agile hunters, fossil elbow and primitive tools suggest
The first arm bone fragment from these mysterious human relatives was found near cutting instruments and animal remains in southwestern China
First Denisovan forearm bone discovered in southwest China
Scientists have discovered various Denisovan remains in Southwest China dating to the late Middle Pleistocene, including the first Denisovan radius—one of two long bones in the forearm.
Mysterious human relatives were strong and agile, fossil elbow and primitive tools suggest
The first arm bone fragment from Denisovans was found near cutting instruments and animal remains in southwestern China
Enigmatic Denisovans lived by cave in what is now China for 100,000 years, rare fossils and handcrafted tools reveal
Anthropologists have discovered the first-ever Denisovan arm bone in a cave in southwest China, which also held thousands of prehistoric animal bones and stone tools.
Oddball fossils suggest that the first insects were a mixed bunch
A 66.5-million-year-old trackway captures adult T. rex at walking pace
Scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Liverpool John Moores University in England have discovered the first adult T. rex trackway, providing insights into how this emblematic preda...
One of the oldest known 3D animal fossils found in Norwegian sheep field
One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades.
The American “cheetah” wasn’t a cheetah at all
The extinct “American cheetah” was not really a cheetah at all, but a puma relative with an unexpectedly flexible lifestyle. Fossils from the Yukon suggest northern populations survived partly by eati...
Giant new dinosaur discovered beneath construction site in Brazil
Scientists have identified a giant new dinosaur from Brazil that reached about 20 meters long and lived 120 million years ago. Its surprising evolutionary ties to a Spanish dinosaur suggest its ancest...
Decades-old museum specimens reveal 10 extraordinary new worms
Scientists have discovered that one of the most unusual creatures in the animal kingdom is far more diverse and evolutionarily complex than previously known. An international team led by the Universit...
Ancient Human Teeth Uncover a Genetic Connection Hidden for 400,000 Years
Enamel proteins from Homo erectus teeth suggest genetic links to Denisovans while offering a less destructive way to study ancient human fossils. A handful of ancient teeth may preserve clues to a rel...
Not a cheetah: Ancient DNA reveals the surprising Arctic life of extinct North American cat
A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has overturned decades of assumptions about Miracinonyx trumani, the extinct predator popularly known as the American cheeta...
Tiny fossils reveal big insights about ant ancestors
Two tiny ant fossils recovered in southern Saskatchewan are helping scientists better understand the evolutionary history of modern ants. Ant fossils dating from 72–56 million years ago are rare. What...
Early mammals weren't all loners—some may have lived in pairs alongside the dinosaurs
About 200 million years ago, furry, little egg-laying creatures evolved the ability to feed their offspring with a secretion from special glands: milk. Their evolutionary journey continued, and by abo...
Neutron bone imaging brings T. rex to life
A broken rib from Scotty, the largest T. rex skeleton discovered, is helping scientists uncover new information about life on Earth 66 million years ago. Scotty's rib preserves something rarely seen i...
Ancient fossil from China reveals animal‑microbe partnerships dating back 550 million years
We often think of microbes as organisms that live around us, like the Salmonella bacteria and flu viruses that cause illness. But some of our most intimate relationships are with the microbes living i...
Iguanodon shinbone growth may be first evidence of an infected skin ulcer in a dinosaur
Fossilized bones can reveal a wealth of details about animals, including their size, appearance, what they ate and any injuries they may have suffered. In a paper published in the journal Royal Societ...
Paleontologists Spent 20 Years Dating Thousands of Fossils – Here’s What They Found
How quickly sediment accumulates on the seafloor appears to be the key factor determining whether fossils from different time periods become mixed together. A single layer of marine fossils can look l...
Q&A: What dinosaur teeth reveal about diet and evolution
What did dinosaurs eat? Teeth provide important clues to understanding the ecology of dinosaurs, which became extinct approximately 66 million years ago. Their shape, structure and patterns of wear ca...
A Permian fossil may reveal the oldest known flowering-plant structure
Despite the importance and dominance of angiosperms ("flowering plants") in the current ecosystem, it is rather surprising that we know so little about their origin and early evolution. Paleobotanists...