The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), approximately 252 million years ago (Ma), caused a serious marine and terrestrial ecosystem crisis, and about 75% of terrestrial... more
A fossilised seal tooth found on a Victorian beach could hold the key to uncovering the history and geography of earless seals that graced Australia's shores three million years ago. more
Scientists share details of the most ancient fossil of Homo erectus known and discuss how these new findings are forcing us to rewrite a part of our species' evolutionary history. more
An international team of paleontologists and geologists has uncovered well-preserved fossilized roots, pollen and spores of 90-million-year-old (mid-Cretaceous period) rainforest trees in West Antarctica.... more
Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils,... more
Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found a new species of sandgrouse in six to... more
The oldest known animals and plants preserved in amber from Southern Gondwana are reported in Scientific Reports this week. Gondwana, the supercontinent made up of South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Antarctica and... more
Within our extended primate family consisting of lemurs, monkeys, and apes, humans have the largest brains. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, weigh about two-thirds as much as us,... more
Griffith University scientists have led an international team to date the skull of an early human found in Africa, potentially upending human evolution knowledge with their discovery. more
Scientists have long been able to measure and analyze the fossil skulls of our ancient ancestors to estimate brain volume and growth. The question of how these ancient brains compare to modern... more
A study published in Science Advances on April 1 reveals a new hypothesis that may explain why European cave bears went extinct during past climate change... more
Human brains are three times larger, are organized differently, and mature for a longer period of time than those of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees.... more
Genetic information from an 800,000-year-old human fossil has been retrieved for the first time. The results shed light on one of the branching points in the human family... more
Researchers have found evidence of rainforests near the South Pole 90 million years ago, suggesting the climate was exceptionally warm at the time. more
Genetic information from an 800,000-year-old human fossil has been retrieved for the first time. The results from the University of Copenhagen shed light on one of the branching points in... more
Researchers have found evidence of rainforests near the South Pole 90 million years ago, suggesting the climate was exceptionally warm at the time. more
The prehistoric shape is hard to make out as it moves slowly through the gloomy forest, so trackers listen for the rustle of scales against the... more
We all know that habitat loss is pushing many species to the brink of extinction, with the conversion of forests for agricultural use a particular problem. more
Tropical rainforests are emptying out due to the ongoing extinction of animal species caused by overhunting and forest fragmentation. But not only species as such, also the number... more
President Donald Trump is poised to roll back ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards and raise the ceiling on damaging fossil fuel emissions for years to come, gutting one of the... more
Taking the evolutionary plunge into water and abandoning land for good, as some crocodilian ancestors did nearly 200 million years ago, is often framed as choosing freedom: from... more
Charlotte Pearson's eyes scanned a palm-sized chunk of ancient tree. They settled on a ring that looked "unusually light," and she made a note without giving it a second thought.... more
Sometimes referred to as the "the Methuselah of freshwater fish," sturgeons and their close relatives are very old from an evolutionary point of view. Fossils indicate that sturgeons date back 250 million years and have changed very little during this... more
Nearly a millennium and a half ago, red light streaked across the night sky over Japan. Witnesses compared it to the tail of a pheasant—it appeared as a fan of beautiful red... more
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission has become a global problem. Efficient conversion of CO2 into value-added liquid fuels is one method to fix CO2, and it can alleviate the growing shortage... more
Ernestina Badal, professor at the Department of Prehistory, Archeology and Ancient History at the University of Valencia, has participated in research published today in the prestigious journal Science that confirms... more
A new research highlighted the importance of reducing fossil fuel combustion not only to curb the trend of global warming, but also to improve the quality... more
"I can't watch these animals go extinct and sit by," Josh, general manager of Mugie Conservancy said in an interview about the problem of poaching other animals, usually for profit. This after he received... more
A new study highlights the importance of reducing fossil fuel combustion, not only to curb the trend of global warming, but also to improve the quality... more
Growing consumption of energy and fossil fuels over four decades did not play a significant role in increasing life expectancy across 70 countries. New research has quantified the importance of different development... more
Ending global environmental crises such as climate change and slowing the growing number of extinctions of plant and animal species will require radical solutions that could take centuries to implement. Meanwhile, the... more
A new species of dromaeosaurid dinosaur being named Dineobellator notohesperus has been discovered by a team of U.S. paleontologists. Dineobellator notohesperus lived some 67... more
Growing consumption of energy and fossil fuels over four decades did not play a significant role in increasing life expectancy across 70 countries. more
Scientists use data from ancient coral to build a record of temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean over the last millennium. The data question previous links between volcanic eruptions and El Niño... more
There is no longer a need to guess what ocean temperatures were like in the remote tropical Pacific hundreds of years ago. The ancient coral that lived there know all. more
The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) shapes global climate patterns yet its sensitivity to external climate forcing remains uncertain. Modeling studies suggest that ENSO is sensitive to... more
A new feathered dinosaur that lived in New Mexico 67 million years ago is one of the last known surviving raptor species, according to a new publication in... more
Two researchers, one with the Planetary Science Institute, the other Imperial College, have created a simulation that they believe shows how dust could have... more
Disease has afflicted humans ever since there have been human. Malaria and tuberculosis are thought to have ravaged Ancient Egypt more than 5,000 years ago. From AD 541 to 542 the global pandemic known... more
Paleontologists have uncovered the remains of three species of fish-eating toothed pterosaurs in the Cretaceous-period Kem Kem beds of Morocco. Pterosaurs were Earth’s first... more
The mass extinction at the end of the Permian Period 252 million years ago—one of the great turnovers of life on Earth—appears to have played out... more
In this post-industrialization age, electricity has become the backbone of our society. However, using fossil fuels to generate it is not the best option because of... more
The former coalfield of Geiseltal in Saxony-Anhalt has yielded large numbers of exceptionally preserved fossil animals, giving palaeontologists a unique window into the evolution... more
Just outside the majestic walls of Croatia’s medieval citadel city of Dubrovnik lies a cluster of small stone houses known as the Lazarettos of Dubrovnik, today an art and clubbing hub and a tourist... more
Ikaria wariootia, a wormlike creature that lived more than 555 million years ago (Ediacaran period) in what is now Australia, is the earliest bilaterian,... more
The former coalfield of Geiseltal in eastern Germany has yielded large numbers of exceptionally preserved fossil animals, giving palaeontologists a unique window into the... more
Geologists have discovered the first ancestor on the family tree that contains most animals today, including humans. The wormlike creature, Ikaria wariootia, is the earliest bilaterian, or organism with a front and... more
When cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was shot dead in 1993, the four hippos he brought to his private zoo in Colombia were left behind in a pond on... more
A team led by UC Riverside geologists has discovered the first ancestor on the family tree that contains most familiar animals today, including humans. more
NASA's new 3-dimensional portrait of methane concentrations shows the world's second largest contributor to greenhouse warming, the diversity of sources on the ground, and the behavior of the gas as it moves through the... more
Fuel cells and water electrolyzers that are cheap and efficient will form the cornerstone of a hydrogen fuel based economy, which is one of the most promising clean and sustainable alternatives to... more
Egyptian blue is one of the oldest humanmade colour pigments. It adorns the crown of the world famous bust of Nefertiti: but the pigment can do even more. An international research team... more
Despite considerable effort, and some wonderful success stories, it is widely acknowledged that global conservation targets to reverse declines in biodiversity and halt species... more
The Yulong Snow Mountain (YSM) is a region of temperate glaciers in the southeast Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. As one of the most famous tourist attractions... more
The yearly count of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico, released today, shows a decrease of 53% from last year's count and is well below the threshold at which government scientists predict the... more
New research finds soot from global fires ignited by an asteroid impact could have blocked sunlight long enough to drive the mass extinction that killed most life on Earth, including the dinosaurs,... more
Sifting through diamond exploration samples from Baffin Island, Canadian scientists have identified a new remnant of the North Atlantic craton—an ancient part of Earth's continental crust. more
A new paper points out the need for an important new refinement to radiocarbon dating. The research has relevance for understanding key dates in Mediterranean history and prehistory, including the tomb of Tutankhamen and... more
On this week’s show, host Joel Goldberg talks with science journalist Andrew Curry about archaeological finds from thousands of years ago along... more
Together with his Argentinian colleague Agustín Scanferla, Senckenberg scientist Krister Smith studied the early evolution of snakes in the Messel... more
Radiocarbon dating, invented in the late 1940s and improved ever since to provide more precise measurements, is the standard method for determining the dates of artifacts in archaeology and other disciplines. more
A topic of considerable interest to paleontologists is how dinosaur-dominated ecosystems were structured, how dinosaurs and co-occurring animals were distributed across the landscape, how they interacted with one another, and how these systems compared to ecosystems today. more
Like a snapshot, amber preserves bygone worlds. Paleontologists have now described four new beetle species in fossilized tree resin from Myanmar, which belong to the Kateretidae family. As well as the about... more
A topic of considerable interest to paleontologists is how dinosaur-dominated ecosystems were structured, how dinosaurs and co-occurring animals were distributed across the landscape, how they interacted with one another, and how these systems compared to ecosystems today. In the Late... more
National monuments in the United States are protected lands that contain historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, or other objects of historic or scientific interest. Their designations are often contentious.... more
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Paleontology