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1. The Fossil Record: What Is It, and How Is It Used? (https://www.livescience.com/37193-fossil-record.html) 2. Unprecedented Discovery: Scientists Find New Dinosaur Fossil Encased in Amber (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/unprecedented-discovery-scientists-find-new-dinosaur-fossil-encased-amber-180972058/) 3. Ancient Fossils Reveal How New Species Emerge (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180724142646.htm) 4. Fossil Finds Reveal How Ancient Monkeys Adapted to Life in the Trees (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2207986-fossil-finds-reveal-how-ancient-monkeys-adapted-to-life-in-the-trees/) 5. Fossils Reveal How Ancient Marine Reptiles Evolved Over Time (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181114
Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years earlier than expected. These ancient fungi may have partnered with algae, recycling nutrients, breaking down rock, and creating primitive soils. Far from being silent background players, fungi were ecosystem engineers that prepared Earth’s surface for plants, fundamentally altering the course of life’s history.
A strange Jurassic lizard discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye is shaking up what we know about snake evolution. Named Breugnathair elgolensis, the “false snake of Elgol” combined hook-like, python-style teeth and jaws with the short body and limbs of a lizard. Researchers spent nearly a decade studying the 167-million-year-old fossil, revealing that it belonged to a newly defined group of squamates and carried features of both snakes and geckos.
Researchers in Alberta uncovered a fossil fish that rewrites the evolutionary history of otophysans, which today dominate freshwater ecosystems. The new species, Acronichthys maccognoi, shows early adaptations for its unusual hearing system. Evidence suggests otophysans moved from oceans to rivers more than once, leaving scientists puzzled about their ancient global journeys.
An international team of scientists led by the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) has described a new species of fossilized insect from the Australian Jurassic period, estimated to be around 151 million years old. It represents the oldest known member in the Southern Hemisphere of the Chironomidae family—non-biting midges that inhabit freshwater environments. The fossil shows a unique evolutionary adaptation: a mechanism that likely allowed it to firmly anchor to surrounding rocks. Until now, this mechanism was thought to be exclusive to marine species.