Geology, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 10, 2022

Enormous sea dragon fossil from 180 million years ago discovered in England

The remains of a monstrous, 33-foot-long (10 meters) sea dragon that swam in the seas when dinosaurs were alive some 180 million years ago have been unearthed on a nature reserve in England. The behemoth is the biggest and most complete fossil of its kind ever discovered in the U.K....

Jan 19, 2022

164 million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud

Researchers have uncovered the earliest example of a flower bud in a 164 million-year-old plant fossil in China. The discovery firmly pushes back the emergence of flowering plants into the Jurassic period, between 145 million and 201 million years ago. The fossil, which was uncovered in the Inner Mongolia region...

Jan 26, 2022

500 million-year-old, bug-like fossils have stunningly preserved nervous systems

Two tiny fossils, each smaller than an aspirin pill, contain fossilized nerve tissue from 508 million years ago. The bug-like Cambrian creatures could help scientists piece together the evolutionary history of modern-day spiders and scorpions. Still, it's not clear exactly where these fossils — both specimens of the species Mollisonia...

Feb 9, 2022

240 million-year-old 'crocodile beast' was one of the largest of its kind

About 240 million years ago, a fearsome archosaur with very powerful jaws and large knife-like teeth stalked what is now Tanzania, a new study finds. Measuring more than 16 feet (5 meters) long from snout to tail, this newly described beast — called Mambawakale ruhuhu, which means ancient crocodile from...

Feb 10, 2022

1.5 million-year-old fossil rewrites 'Out of Africa' theory

A 1.5 million-year-old vertebra from an extinct human species unearthed in Israel suggests that ancient humans may have migrated from Africa in multiple waves, a new study finds. Although modern humans, Homo sapiens, are now the only surviving members of the human family tree, other human species once roamed Earth....

Feb 10, 2022

The 'weirdest wonder' of evolution had an even weirder cousin, new study finds

With five eyes, a backward-facing mouth, and a long, claw-tipped trunk where its nose should be, Opabinia regalis is one of the strangest-looking celebrities of the Cambrian period. In fact, this ancient sea-dweller is so unique that scientists have never discovered another species in the fossil record that appears to...

Feb 23, 2022

'Frozen in place' fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring

Spring is a time for budding flowers, tender green leaves and baby animals. But 66 million years ago, that gentle season instead brought mass death and carnage from Earth's catastrophic impact with a massive space rock. Earth was forever changed after an enormous asteroid smashed into our planet at the...

Mar 16, 2022

Meet 'Horridus,' one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever found

A massive Triceratops that died 67 million years ago left behind a near-complete skeleton that is among the most intact ever found. Nicknamed Horridus after the species name (Triceratops horridus), the fossil, which is about 85% complete, made its public debut on March 12 at Melbourne Museum in Australia in...

Mar 30, 2022

Weird ancient snakelike fossil caught in the act of losing its legs

Two 308 million-year-old fossils show creatures caught in evolutionary limbo between two forms: lizard-like and snake-like. The animals' sinuous, serpentine bodies have no front limbs, but sport two teeny lizard legs in the back. Scientists recently identified these unique fossils as a newfound genus and species, which they named Nagini...

Apr 6, 2022

World's oldest known case of cannibalism revealed in trilobite fossils

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. But before there were dogs — or even dinosaurs — there were trilobites brutally biting each other on the Cambrian seafloor. New research has revealed that these armored predators didn't only hunt smaller and weaker animals for food, but would occasionally take bites out...

Apr 7, 2022

Big John, world's largest Triceratops, got mauled by a rival dinosaur, fossils suggest

A violent encounter with a rival dinosaur may explain why Big John, the most massive Triceratops skeleton ever found, has a keyhole-shaped opening on its frill, a new study finds. This fight happened more than 66 million years ago, but scientists think they know the assailant's identity: It was likely...

Apr 13, 2022

100 million-year-old fairy shrimp reproduced without sex, rare fossils reveal

Ancient female fairy shrimp may have gotten along just fine without males. Researchers studying Cretaceous-period freshwater fossils in the Koonwarra fossil bed in southern Australia have described a new species of now-extinct freshwater shrimp (Koonwarrella peterorum) whose females likely reproduced without sex — a phenomenon known as parthenogenesis, which is...

Apr 23, 2022

What has no eyes, walked on stilts and died in 'Paleo Pompeii'? This ancient weirdo.

Paleontologists recently announced the discovery of an exceptionally well preserved ancient animal near the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe in southern Ontario, Canada, in a stone quarry that is such a hotbed for marine fossils that scientists have dubbed the area Paleo Pompeii. Named Tomlinsonus dimitrii, the species represented by...

May 5, 2022

'Giant MRI of Antarctica' reveals 'fossil seawater' under ice sheet

Beneath a fast-flowing ice stream in West Antarctica, scientists have discovered a vast aquifer brimming with seawater that's likely been locked down there for thousands of years. This is the first time scientists have detected groundwater beneath an ice stream in Antarctica, and the discovery could reshape our understanding of...

May 6, 2022

We finally know how trilobites mated, thanks to new fossils

Trilobites may not look like cuddly creatures, but come mating time, one species of these now-extinct arthropods — which looked like giant, swimming potato bugs wearing Darth Vader helmets — would come together for a little hug, a new study finds. A scientist made this discovery after coming across an...