paleontology, evolution

Researchers also found seasonal variations in atmospheric methane on the planet that may have a geological or biological origin.  

Divergent human lineages of North America intermingled before setting off to establish populations of Central and South America.  

Three members of a gene family called NOTCH2NL may have been involved in the evolution of humans’ big cortex.

A mass extinction event from an asteroid hitting Earth wiped out forests and, concurrently, tree-dwelling birds.  

Newly discovered fossils shed light on the structure of the feeding apparatus of ancient seabirds.

Ancient monitor lizards had an extra set of “eyes” on top of their heads.

Researchers are looking to proteins to explore the biology of ancient organisms, from medieval humans all the way back to dinosaurs.

Ancient fossils reveal how woodless trees got so big: by continuously ripping apart their xylem and knitting it back together.

High-profile cases of poached fossils shine a light on the black market for paleontological specimens—and how scientists and governments are trying to stop it.

The new fossils push the origin of the human species back by 100,000 years.

Parallel evolution in jaws and teeth helped early mammals diversify their diets.

New research provides evidence that the ancient hominin species might not be so ancient after all.

“Buena vista” hypothesis suggests that changes in the sizes of eyes, rather than a shift from fins to limbs, led fish to transition to land more than 300 million years ago.  

Researchers have described a pregnant Dinochephalosaurus, and the fossilized remains suggest that the massive animal did not lay eggs, as previously suspected.

Overlooked for half a century, a skull in the Smithsonian collection points to a dolphin species that lived 25 million years ago, according to a study.

Meet some of the people featured in the August 2016 issue of The Scientist.

Exceptional neural fossil preservation helps answer questions about ancient arthropod evolution.

Researchers unearth a dog-size, horned dinosaur from eastern North America, whose features suggest evolutionary isolation from western dinos.

Mammals diversified 30 million years later than previously estimated, according to a new analysis of an ancient fossil.