Researchers have sequenced the oldest known DNA in the world. Using material from the Early and Middle Pleistocene sub-epochs, the ancient DNA analysis shatters the record for the world’s oldest...
American history is peppered with famous duels. On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton, the former secretary of the treasury and leading federalist, squared up with Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson´s vice...
Once much of Eurasia was dominated by Neanderthals, our archaic human ancestors. And the extinction of Neanderthals is one of the great mysteries in science. An evolutionary biologist and...
When people first arrived in what is now Queensland, they would have found the land inhabited by massive animals including goannas six meters long and kangaroos twice as tall as a human. We have...
The fossilized remains of 22 Ice Age, elephant sized sloths have been found preserved in 20,000-year-old asphalt in Ecuador. The discovery of this giant sloth death pit is revealing a virtual Bible...
By Lars Schmitz & Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor / The Conversation In 2016, our colleague Xing Lida held up a small piece of polished, deeply yellow amber. As sunlight shone through the ancient resin...
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago. The new species, Gunakadeit joseeae , is...
In 1924, a 3-year-old child’s skull found in South Africa forever changed how people think about human origins. The Taung Child, our first encounter with an ancient group of proto-humans or hominins...
Nick Longrich / The Conversation 300,000 years ago, nine human species walked the Earth. Now there’s just one. The Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis , were stocky hunters adapted to Europe’s cold...
An exceptionally-preserved fossil from Herefordshire in the UK has given new insights into the early evolution of sea cucumbers, the group that includes the sea pig and its relatives, according to a...
Whenever a person thinks of fossils today, lively images of dinosaurs or other primordial beasts emerge within one's mind. Indeed, most people nowadays would connect fossils with museums, excavation...
Which came first in pre-human species’ communication and teamwork—larger brains or the folds and ridges of the brain that fostered language and empathy? Some scientists studying a possible human...
You can find numerous images of fearsome shark-like creatures in many major Maya cities throughout the regions of modern Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. This betrays the fascination the ancient Maya...
The fossilized skeletons of strange creatures—odd, beaked fish with teeth and ‘feet’—were uncovered by quarry workers in southwestern England in the early 1800’s. Dubbed “fish lizards” (or...
A single tooth from a rare and important shipment of fossil finds – forgotten for decades in an unopened box in museum storage – has been rediscovered, and it is giving experts new knowledge about...