Paleontology
Despite new clues, this ancient fish has stumped scientists for centuries
The 50-million-year-old Pegasus volans isn't closely related to seamoths or oarfish, like some researchers have suggested. But what is it?
Paleontology
More Stories in Paleontology
- Animals
Komodo dragon teeth get their strength from an iron coat
Studying the reptile’s ironclad teeth in more detail could help solve a dinosaur dental mystery.
- Genetics
Freeze-drying turned a woolly mammoth’s DNA into 3-D ‘chromoglass’
A new technique for probing the 3-D structure of ancient DNA may help scientists learn how extinct animals functioned, not just what they looked like.
- Paleontology
Stunning trilobite fossils include soft tissues never seen before
Well-preserved fossils from Morocco help paleontologists understand the weird way trilobites ate and perhaps why these iconic animals went extinct.
- Paleontology
The last woolly mammoths offer new clues to why the species went extinct
The last population of woolly mammoths did not go extinct 4,000 years ago from inbreeding, a new analysis shows.
- Paleontology
Meet Lokiceratops, a newly discovered species of horned dinosaur
Found in Montana’s badlands, Lokiceratops had two large, bladelike horns jutting forward and out from between its eyes.
- Paleontology
Early ants may have had complex social lives, fossil data suggests
The earliest ants may have been primed for a highly social life — 100 million years ago, the insects had antennae tuned to key communication functions.
- Paleontology
‘Echidnapus’ hints at a lost age of egg-laying mammals
The fossil discoveries double the number of known monotreme species during the Cretaceous Period.
- Neuroscience
How smart was T. rex?
A debate over how to count neurons in dinosaurs is raising questions about how to understand extinct animals’ behavior.
- Paleontology
How did an ancient shark parasite end up fossilized in tree resin?
A worm preserved in 99-million-year-old amber resembles modern flatworms in shark intestines. The rare finding has scientists stumped.
