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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
In 1859, Darwin imagined evolution as a slow, gradual progress, with species accumulating small changes over time. But even he was surprised to find the fossil record offered no missing links: the intermediate forms which should have told this story step by step were simply not there. His explanation was as uncomfortable as it was unavoidable: basically, the fossil record is an archive where most of the pages have been torn out.
Today, all non-Africans are known to have descended from a small group of people that ventured into Eurasia around 50,000 years ago. However, fossil evidence shows that there were numerous failed dispersals before this time that left no detectable traces in living people.
A massive, extinct salamander with jaws like a vice once roamed ancient Tennessee and its fossil has just rewritten what we thought we knew about Appalachian amphibians. Named Dynamognathus robertsoni, this powerful predator wasn t just a curiosity; it may have sparked an evolutionary chain reaction, shaping the region s remarkably diverse salamander population. Once thought to be isolated to southern Alabama, salamanders like this one were clearly far more widespread and potentially far more influential than previously believed. And it all began with a volunteer sifting through tons of dirt near East Tennessee State University.
The shift from lizard-like sprawl to upright walking in mammals wasn’t a smooth climb up the evolutionary ladder. Instead, it was a messy saga full of unexpected detours. Using new bone-mapping tech, researchers discovered that early mammal ancestors explored wildly different postures before modern upright walking finally emerged—much later than once believed.
In 2015, two members of the Blue Beach Fossil Museum in Nova Scotia found a long, curved fossil jaw, bristling with teeth. Sonja Wood, the museum's owner, and Chris Mansky, the museum's curator, found the fossil in a creek after Wood had a hunch.
A 500-million-year-old fossil from Morocco, discovered by Natural History Museum scientists, is offering extraordinary new insights into one of evolution's most puzzling transformations: how echinoderms, the group that includes starfish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins, evolved from ancestors that showed bilateral symmetry, like humans, to the unique fivefold symmetry we see today.
A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ancient trace fossils, researchers uncovered evidence of complex, mobile organisms thriving 545 million years ago, well before the traditionally accepted timeline. These early creatures likely had segmented bodies, muscle systems, and even directional movement, signaling a surprising level of biological sophistication. Their behavior and mobility, preserved in fossil trails, offer new insight into how complex life evolved, potentially rewriting one of the most important chapters in Earth’s evolutionary history.
Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers report that fossilized entomopathogenic fungi from mid-Cretaceous amber reveal some of the oldest direct evidence of parasitic relationships between fungi and insects, suggesting that Ophiocordyceps fungi originated approximately 133 million years ago and underwent early host shifts that shaped their evolution.
Astronomers have discovered a galaxy that has been "frozen in time" for billions of years. Like a celestial dinosaur fossil, this galaxy could reveal the secrets of cosmic evolution.
Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new way of analyzing fossils, allowing them to see how creatures from millions of years ago were shaped by their environment on a day-to-day basis for the first time.