Earliest Ancestor of Humans Lived With Dinosaurs
Fossils from the earliest primate group, the appropriately named Purgatorius found in Hell Creek, Montana, date to before the mass extinction 65 million years ago
Paleontology
Paleontology is the scientific study of all fossil life forms other than humans, from plants asnd animals to fungi to creatures that bizarre that we don't know what they were (Ediacarans, looking at you). Paleontologists need knowledge of geology, ecology and biology to gain insight into the being whose usually-crushed remains lie before them, and into the evolution of life, based on mineralized bones and tissues, and sometimes just impressions left in sedimentary rocks.
Some interpretations remain disputed, such as that of layering in 4-billion-year-old rocks as bacterial mats as opposed to geological phenomena. Also, interpretations may change with new insights: certain small tyrannosaurs initially classified as new species were apparently just teenage T-rexes. That is the beauty of paleontology:glimpsing life forms we will never personally meet, from the unimaginably weird like Tully's monster to the downright terrifying, like the giant beaver the size of your father, with teeth as long as your forearm.
Humans Exonerated of Killing Off the American Giant Animals
We may however have delivered some megafauna species the coup de grâce, especially after a magnetic pole reversal caused global mayhem 42,000 years ago
Scientists Extract DNA Over a Million Years Old From Frozen Mammoths
First shock from genetic analysis of three ancient mammoths: Siberia had two lineages of steppe mammoth. Second surprise: The North American mammoth was a hybrid
‘A Rare Treat’: Paleontologists Detect 50-million-year-old Fossil Bug Penis
Yes it was very small, but the insect found in Colorado is so extraordinarily preserved that we can still see the stripes on his little legs too
Making Hand Axes of Bone Over a Million Years Ago Also Had Spiritual Motive, Archaeologist Posits
Whispers of cosmological meaning can be discerned in the way early humans interacted with prey, argues Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Ran Barkai
The Brouhaha Over the 'Bald Pterosaur'
Whether or not pterosaurs had feathers has enormous implications for our understanding of dinosaur evolution
Humans Reached Portugal 5,000 Years Earlier Than Thought
We may have overlapped with Neanderthals for thousands of years in the coastal caves of Western Europe, though that isn’t where our Neanderthal genes came from
Forget Everything You Know About Bird Ovaries
Lady birds have one ovary but their dinosaur ancestors had the usual two: Extraordinary fossil bird from 120 million years ago sheds light on the evolutionary change
Microbial Communities Surviving Over 100 Million Years Found Under the Sea
How exactly the sun-loving cyanobacteria among them survived for millions of years in pitch-black sediment is a mystery, even if it is the toughest microbe on Earth
People Reached the Americas at Least 30,000 Years Ago, Archaeologists Say
In an abrupt paradigm shift, people reached the New World at the height of the Ice Age, not only afterward, even establishing a ‘school of rock’ in a big cave in Mexico
Israeli-Chinese Team Identifies Earliest Feather Molt in Dinosaurs
Four-winged Microraptor could fly and fly well, says team, negating the theory that the chicken-sized early Cretaceous creature could only glide
Prehistoric Mega-tsunamis Split Britain From Europe Long Before Brexit
The Storegga Slide that washed away the last of Doggerland and smashed into the North Sea coasts triggered not one but three mega-tsunami, says a vast team
Israel's Desert Was a Lush Bridge Out of Africa 1.8 Million Years Ago, Scientists Prove
It was known the Negev was wetter in the past, but evidence of long-gone lakes hadn’t been dated: Now it’s clear that when hominins exited Africa at least 1.8 million years ago, the conditions were gorgeous
Hand Axe Made 1.4 Million Years Ago Shows Unexpected Sophistication
The 3-D symmetry and sharpened tip of the rare bone-based artifact shows advances only observed in sites half a million years later
Towering Over Triassic Ants, 4-inch-tall Dinosaur Found in Madagascar
The nano-dinosaur Kongonaphon, ‘tiny bug slayer,’ was an ancient member in the lineage that included pterosaurs and T-rex
Iridescent Insects From Cretaceous Found in Amber
Chinese scientists report on wasps and beetles trapped in amber and found in Myanmar still displaying bright colors after 99 million years
How the Consumption and Extinction of Giant Animals Changed Human Evolution
Some think Homo erectus and its ilk dined chiefly on plants like latter-day hunter-gatherers. Israeli archaeologists argue that if they did, it wasn’t by choice
Science Reveals the Origins of Your Pet Guinea Pig
Yet even now we aren’t clear how many guinea pig species there are. Or why we continue to bring them into our homes and love them as pets
45,000-year-old Arrows in Sri Lanka Show How We Conquered the World
Early modern humans adapted to life in the South Asian rainforests where nary another hominin ventured to tread, which may help explain why Neanderthals went extinct
When Giant Bipedal Crocodiles Walked the Earth
Once thought to have been made by giant pterosaurs trotting on two legs, prints in Jinju are revisited and spring a surprise
Did Our Drumming Contribute to Beating the Neanderthals?
Groups that drum together bond and can better perform tasks together even later on, Bar-Ilan musicologists and psychologists demonstrate
Cats Domesticated Humans to Get Our Mice, Archaeologists Prove
The spread of the house mouse from Near East to Europe coincided with the advent of early farming and grain storage. Guess who came along for the ride?
A Tooth Changes Everything We Know About Humans Reaching Europe
Remains of a modern human 45,000 years old found in the Balkans show our ancestors coexisted with Neanderthals in Europe for around 8,000 years
Fossil of Moment Jurassic Squid Attacked Fish Found in England
It’s incredibly rare for the predatory pounce to be preserved for eternity in stone: paleontologists suspect the attacker choked on its herring dinner 200 million years ago
Paleontological Surprise: Monkeys Sailed From Africa to Americas Not Once but Twice
There were two early monkey lineages in South America, not one. One lineage became the adorable platyrrhini and one went extinct
Oldest Human Genetic Data Gleaned From 1.8-million-year-old Tooth
Sequencing from a second tooth ‘only’ 800,000 years old provided researchers with key information on the position of the enigmatic Homo antecessor in our evolutionary tree
Native Americans in Ancient Florida Developed Pre-electricity Fish Storage
Archaeologists deduce purpose of huge walled fish ponds on an artificial island built by the powerful Calusa kingdom over 1,000 years ago
Earliest Animal With Head and Tail Discovered in Australia, Says New Paper
Worm-like Ikaria wariootia from 550 million years ago could be the missing link between the mysterious proto-animals of the Ediacaran era and animal life as we know it
Fossil Fish Fingers Shed New Light on the Evolution of the Human Hand
Paleontological surprise: Almost 400 million years ago, an Elpistostege had both normal fin rays - and bones typical of vertebrate arms and digits in its fins
Homo Erectus Was Sexually Dimorphic, New Evidence Shows
Experts explain to Haaretz how mere fragments of two skulls discovered in Ethiopia can be distinguished as male and female, and did it really use both crude and clever tools at the same time?