Paleontology
30 articles-
How Neanderthals Got to Siberia
They trekked for 2,000 years across formidable terrain -
How Ancient Beasts Spread Sweet Fruits
The native forests of South America were shaped by mastodons—and we’re doing a bad job filling their role -
These Tiny Beautiful Fossils Tell the Future
What bountiful remains of foraminifera reveal about the ocean’s past and future in times of climate chaos -
Famous Sea Monster Gets a Name
Traskasaura sandrae had “very odd” features that made it a crafty hunter -
What Fueled the Ocean’s Largest Terror
Megalodon teeth reveal a secret to their ancient super-predator status -
Conjuring Imaginary Creatures
Dinosaur illustrator Mick Ellison on the evolution of using science and art to visualize the long-extinct animals of the deep past -
Lucy at 50
Donald Johanson reflects on his fossil discovery that shook the human family tree a half century ago. -
What Happened to Ancient Megafauna?
Recent studies show it wasn’t the climate that did them in. -
Unraveling the Evolution of Flight
Bird brain scans and dinosaur fossils hint at when the first creatures grew wings. -
A Day in the Life of a Fossil Preparator
Recreating the past requires as much art and craft as science.
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Digging for Our Origins in the Bone Beds of an African Park
In their search for the last common ancestor of chimps and humans, scientists at Gorongosa National Park are expanding the picture of early primate life.
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What Made Early Humans Smart
Walking upright made our ancestors easy prey. It also made them get smart.
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What Color Really Evolved For
The finding that melanosomes are so common inside animals’ bodies may overhaul our very understanding of the function of melanin, the pigment responsible for color in feathers and other external features.Photograph by Aline Dassel / Pixabay Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . What color were the dinosaurs? If you […]
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Redefining Dinosaurs: Paleontologists are Shaking the Dinosaur Family Tree to its Roots.
A radical reconfiguration of the long-standing dinosaur family tree challenges an orthodoxy built on roughly a century and a half of research.
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Why We Love Dinosaurs
If museums of natural history are temples to science, dinosaurs are their shrines.
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World’s Oldest Fossils Now Appear to Be Squished Rocks
Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . In August 2016, a research team claimed to have unearthed evidence of life in a remote outcrop of 3.7-billion-year-old rocks in Greenland. This bold claim not only pushed back the origin of life by at least 220 million years, it also […] -
Dr. Kirk Johnson
Sant Director, National Museum of Natural History -
How We Learned That Neanderthals Bird-Hunted in Winter
A stocky male figure walks along a beach in what is now Gibraltar, on the southwestern tip of Europe, his pronounced brow shading his eyes. Pigeons watch over him on the cliffs overlooking the plain. Ducks float in the ocean off in the distance, and crows weave in and out of smoke from fires in […] -
Paving Over the Fossil Record
Why isn’t India doing more to protect its rare evolutionary record? -
Strange Worms Are Taking Their Place on Your Family Tree
The Cambrian explosion of animal life now seems more like a whimper.