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Helmet-headed dinosaurs kickboxed like kangaroos, new study suggests
Nov 8, 2022
Helmet-headed dinosaurs kickboxed like kangaroos, new study suggests
It's dinosaur lore that pachycephalosaurs — bipedal, Cretaceous beasts with massively thick, domed skulls — forcefully butted heads like bighorn sheep do today. But a new analysis suggests that this is far from the case; rather, pachycephalosaurs (pack-ee-SEH'-fa-low-sawrs) may have moved more like kangaroos, using their tail as a tripod...
3.5 billion-year-old rock structures are one of the oldest signs of life on Earth
Nov 10, 2022
3.5 billion-year-old rock structures are one of the oldest signs of life on Earth
Layered rocks in Western Australia are some of Earth's earliest known life, according to a new study. The fossils in question are stromatolites, layered rocks that are formed by the excretions of photosynthetic microbes. The oldest stromatolites that scientists agree were made by living organisms date back 3.43 billion years,...
Penis worm's ancient cousin fossilized with its doughnut-shaped brain intact
Nov 10, 2022
Penis worm's ancient cousin fossilized with its doughnut-shaped brain intact
Scientists uncovered something unexpected in the fossilized embryo of a worm-like creature from the Cambrian period: the remains of a tiny, doughnut-shaped brain in the primordial animal's head. The roughly 500 million-year-old fossil is an example of the marine species Markuelia hunanensis, an ancient cousin of penis worms (priapulids) and...
Scientists just found a hidden 6th mass extinction in Earth's ancient past
Nov 15, 2022
Scientists just found a hidden 6th mass extinction in Earth's ancient past
The height of the Ediacaran period, about 550 million years ago, was a boom time for life in Earth's oceans. Petalonamids shaped like feathers sucked nutrients from the water, slug-like Kimberella grazed on microbial mats, and the ancestors of jellyfish were just beginning to make waves. But then 80% of...
Scientists solved a 500 million-year-old mystery about strange Cambrian structures found in China
Nov 17, 2022
Scientists solved a 500 million-year-old mystery about strange Cambrian structures found in China
Over 500 million years ago, sea-dwelling invertebrates pioneered a new evolutionary experiment: skeletons. But while those durable, tubelike structures stood the test of time as fossils, the animals' soft bodies decayed and vanished, erasing all evidence of what these ancient animals may have looked like. Now, a recent reexamination of...
Titanic 12-foot turtle cruised the ocean 80 million years ago, newfound fossils show
Nov 18, 2022
Titanic 12-foot turtle cruised the ocean 80 million years ago, newfound fossils show
Paleontologists have unearthed an extinct, never-before-seen species of giant sea turtle in Spain. The titanic turtle likely had a body length of around 12.3 feet (3.7 meters) — more than double the size of modern marine turtles — and is the largest turtle species ever uncovered in Europe. The new...
Tiny 'bramble snout' fossils found near Wales were 'weird wonders' that predated the dinosaurs
Nov 22, 2022
Tiny 'bramble snout' fossils found near Wales were 'weird wonders' that predated the dinosaurs
About 460 million years ago, bizarre soft-bodied creatures puttered through the depths of an ocean that covered what is now Wales. They propelled themselves with undulating, rounded flaps that waved over pairs of stumpy legs and probed the water with spike-studded snouts. Scientists recently discovered two fossilized specimens of these...
'Frightful' never-before-seen tyrannosaur might be the 'missing link' in T. rex evolution
Nov 28, 2022
'Frightful' never-before-seen tyrannosaur might be the 'missing link' in T. rex evolution
Paleontologists have uncovered the remains of a never-before-seen tyrannosaur that was possibly a direct ancestor of the dinosaur king Tyrannosaurus rex. The newfound species could help settle a big debate about T. rex's evolutionary lineage. The newfound species, Daspletosaurus wilsoni, has a unique arrangement of spiked hornlets around its eyes....
Fossilized brain of 525 million-year-old deep sea worm likely the oldest ever discovered
Nov 30, 2022
Fossilized brain of 525 million-year-old deep sea worm likely the oldest ever discovered
A 525 million-year-old fossilized worm unearthed in China has what is likely the oldest example of a brain ever discovered. The surprising shape of the brain offers clues about the evolution of arthropods — a group that includes insects, arachnids and crustaceans — and could help solve a mystery that's...
Ancient superpredator that lived 328 million years ago was 'the T. rex of its time'
Nov 30, 2022
Ancient superpredator that lived 328 million years ago was 'the T. rex of its time'
A fangy, 6-foot-long (1.8 meters) carnivore that haunted the lakes of what is now the American Midwest would have been a top predator in its freshwater ecosystem — a T. rex of its time, according to scientists who studied the creature. And it grew up fast, new research finds. The...
Monstrous 'gorgons' survived a mass extinction, but they were a 'dead clade walking'
Dec 5, 2022
Monstrous 'gorgons' survived a mass extinction, but they were a 'dead clade walking'
Reports of a gorgon mass extinction at the end of the Permian period were greatly exaggerated, new research finds. These bizarre paleo-beasts were thought to have died out along with most other life on Earth at the time, but scientists recently found that some of these so-called gorgons survived into...
Mangled 'dragon' fossils were cooked by ancient continents colliding to form Pangaea
Dec 9, 2022
Mangled 'dragon' fossils were cooked by ancient continents colliding to form Pangaea
Bizarre, mangled fossils in Ireland were likely deformed by superheated fluids that burst out from below Earth's crust around 300 million years ago. The superhot fluids were released when the planet's ancient continents collided together to form the supercontinent Pangaea, a new study shows. The fossils, which mainly consist of...
Likeness of Cambrian critter finally revealed, and it looks like a taco
Dec 15, 2022
Likeness of Cambrian critter finally revealed, and it looks like a taco
Since its discovery more than 100 years ago, Tuzoia — a weird little arthropod that swam close to the seafloor during the Cambrian period (541 million to 485.4 million years ago) — has befuddled paleontologists. Now, a new look at nearly a dozen remarkable fossils reveals details about this enigmatic...
7-foot-long arthropods commanded the sea 470 million years ago, 'exquisite' fossils show
Dec 23, 2022
7-foot-long arthropods commanded the sea 470 million years ago, 'exquisite' fossils show
Exquisitely preserved fossils in Morocco suggest that some of the earliest arthropods were nearly 7 feet (2 meters) long — gigantic in comparison with the shrimps, insects and spiders that are descendants of these early invertebrates, according to a new study. Researchers made the discovery while exploring the site, known...
10 stunning fossils from 2022 that didn't come from dinosaurs
Dec 28, 2022
10 stunning fossils from 2022 that didn't come from dinosaurs
When it comes to fossils, dinosaurs usually dominate the headlines. But many amazing and scientifically important non-dino fossil discoveries get dug up every year that deserve just as much respect. And 2022 was no different. From the oldest fossilized brain and ancient panda teeth to mangled dragon bones and a...
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