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There is no single answer to this puzzle. Dinosaurs dominated the planet for around 179 million years and during that time, evolved into an enormous array of different shapes and sizes. Some were tiny, like the diminutive Albinykus, which weighed under a kilogram (2.2lbs) and was probably less than 2ft (60cm) long. Others were among the biggest animals to have ever lived on land, such as the titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum, which may have weighed up to 72 tonnes. They ran on two legs, or plodded on four. And along with these diverse body shapes, they would have produced an equally...

Fossilized bone fragments unearthed in a cave in northern Spain in 2022 have revealed a previously unknown human population that lived more than 1.1 million years ago, according to new research.Found at the Sima del Elefante site in the Atapuerca Mountains, the fossils make up a partial skull comprised of the left side of the face of an adult hominin. The mineralized bones are the earliest human fossil remains found so far in Western Europe.However, it wasn't immediately obvious which species of prehistoric human the team had found, and the study describing the fossils, published Wednesday in the journal Nature,...

Approximately 14,000 years ago, the unprecedented solar event—now judged to be the most powerful known to have occurred—marked Earth’s transition into the Holocene epoch, according to the findings of an international team of scientists. The team traces the event to around 12,350 BC using a new climate-chemistry model specifically designed to reconstruct ancient solar particle activity. This expands the known timeline for ancient solar storms and raises the bar on the upper boundaries of their intensity. Although the event in question was already known from past observations of radiocarbon spikes in ancient wood samples, its scale and magnitude remained unknown....

Papers have been flapping with new headlines about the latest in a long line of alleged dinosaur ancestors of birds. This one is claimed to be a sensational dinosaur with feathers on its hind legs, thus four ‘wings’.1 This was named Microraptor gui—the name is derived from words meaning ‘little plunderer of Gu’ after the paleontologist Gu Zhiwei. Like so many of the alleged feathered dinosaurs, it comes from Liaoning province of northeastern China. It was about 3 feet (1 meter) long from its head to the tip of its long tail, but its body was only about the size...

Recreating the spectacular pose many dinosaurs adopted in death might involve following the simplest of instructions: just add water. When palaeontologists are lucky enough to find a complete dinosaur skeleton – whether it be a tiny Sinosauropteryx or an enormous Apatosaurus – there's a good chance it will be found with its head thrown backwards and its tail arched upwards – technically known as the opisthotonic death pose. No one is entirely sure why this posture is so common, but Alicia Cutler and colleagues from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, think it all comes down to a dip in...

Some of the largest animals to ever walk on Earth were the long-necked, long-tailed dinosaurs known as the sauropods—and the most famous of these giants is probably Brontosaurus, the "thunder lizard." Deeply rooted as this titan is in the popular imagination, however, for more than a century scientists thought it never existed. The first of the Brontosaurus genus was named in 1879 by famed paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. The specimen still stands on display in the Great Hall of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. In 1903, however, paleontologist Elmer Riggs found that Brontosaurus was apparently the same as the...

By Clive Cookson, Science Editor Published: August 31 2005 18:46 | Last updated: August 31 2005 18:46 The first detailed genetic comparison between humans and chimpanzees shows that 96 per cent of the DNA sequence is identical in the two species. But there are significant differences, particularly in genes relating to sexual reproduction, brain development, immunity and the sense of smell. An international scientific consortium publishes the genome of the chimpanzee, the animal most closely related to homo sapiens on Thursday in the journal Nature. It is the fourth mammal to have its full genome sequenced, after the mouse, rat...

Did apes descend from us? Skeleton of Ardi, 1.2-metre, 50-kilogram female may hold the clue Joseph Hall Science writer It may well be the closest we will ever come to the missing link between chimps and humans and the most important anthropological find ever. In a series of studies released today by the journal Science, researchers have revealed a creature that took the first upright steps toward human beings and fundamentally changes the way we look at our earliest evolutionary ancestors. The research brings into question the belief that our most distant ancestors descended from apes. What's closer to the...

Scientists have been wondering for years which dinosaur could run the fastest. Now, new simulation models are offering a fresh look at dinosaur speed. This renewed interest has roots in a major discovery from 1964, when paleontologist John Ostrom and his team uncovered Deinonychus—a dinosaur with a lightweight body, long claws, and strong legs. Its features challenged the long-held image of dinosaurs as sluggish reptiles and instead pointed to an active, fast-moving predator. This discovery helped launch what scientists call the “dinosaur renaissance,” a major shift in how experts understood dinosaur behavior. Instead of slow-moving reptiles, some dinosaurs began to...

A newly discovered fossil of a four-legged whale in Peru sheds new light on the evolution of whales and their journey across the oceans. ***************************************************************** A fascinating new discovery has been made off the coast of Peru, where paleontologists have unearthed the remains of a previously unknown four-legged whale species. This remarkable find, which was made about 42.6 million years ago during the middle Eocene, is shedding new light on the evolutionary transition of whales from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic giants we recognize today. As reported in Current Biology, the whale species, named Peregocetus pacificus, was found in the...

Have you ever wondered why you don't have thick hair covering your whole body like a dog, cat or gorilla does? Humans aren't the only mammals with sparse hair. Elephants, rhinos and naked mole rats also have very little hair. It's true for some marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, too. Scientists think the earliest mammals, which lived at the time of the dinosaurs, were quite hairy. But over hundreds of millions of years, a small handful of mammals, including humans, evolved to have less hair. What's the advantage of not growing your own fur coat? I'm a biologist...

Humans are the only mammals with long hair on their heads. Scientists look into what drives this unique feature. Humans evolved long hair on their head to prevent overheating and excess water loss when walking under the hot sun in Africa. iStock, Delmaine Donson In 2004, a Chinese woman named Xie Qiuping won the Guinness World Record for the longest human scalp hair at 5.627 meters—the length of an adult male giraffe! While this is an anomaly, humans are the only mammals that have negligible body hair, but extremely long hair on their heads. “It's such an important part of...

Earth's Northern Lights typically dance near the poles, but 41,000 years ago, they lit up skies over North Africa and Australia. New research reveals how dramatically Earth's magnetic field weakened and shifted during an event called the Laschamps geomagnetic excursion, potentially influencing human evolution at a pivotal moment in our history...During the Laschamps excursion, Earth's magnetic field weakened to just 10% of its current strength, while the magnetic poles shifted dramatically away from the geographic poles...Using advanced computer modeling, the research team reconstructed Earth's magnetosphere during five key periods of the excursion. At its peak around 40,977 years ago, Earth's...

Researchers analyzed the ancient DNA of two mummies from what is now Libya to learn about people who lived in the "Green Sahara" 7,000 years ago. Naturally mummified human remains found in the Takarkori rock shelter in the Sahara desert point to a previously unknown human population. (Image credit: © Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome) Two 7,000-year-old mummies belong to a previously unknown human lineage that remained isolated in North Africa for thousands of years, a new study finds. The mummies are the remains of women who once lived in the "Green Sahara," also known as...

Recent research by a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists and geologists has revealed that the Eridu region of southern Mesopotamia, inhabited from the sixth to the first millennium BCE, boasts one of the oldest and most well-preserved irrigation networks.Led by geoarchaeologist Jaafar Jotheri from Durham University, the research team uncovered an extensive water management system that predates the first millennium BC, offering valuable insights into the irrigation practices of ancient farmers.The Eridu region of southern Mesopotamia, located in present-day Iraq, is one of the best-preserved ancient archaeological sites, having been occupied from the sixth until the early first millennium BC. While...

The entrance to the Maszycka Cave in southern Poland (Credit: Darek Bobak) In a nutshell * Scientists found evidence of cannibalism in an 18,000-year-old Polish cave, where at least ten people — including children — were systematically butchered and eaten, likely due to territorial conflicts rather than survival needs * The Magdalenian people who created famous cave art like Lascaux were capable of both sophisticated cultural achievements and extreme violence, challenging our understanding of prehistoric societies * As populations grew after the last Ice Age, competition for resources likely led to violent conflicts between groups, with evidence of similar cannibalism...

· Scientists used a 5,564-qubit quantum computer to simulate and observe "false vacuum decay" — a process that could determine our Universe's ultimate fate by transitioning it to a more stable state· The research team created and tracked quantum bubbles containing up to 306 qubits, revealing how smaller bubbles bounce around among larger ones in a complex quantum dance that persisted for over 1,000 qubit time units· This breakthrough demonstrates how table-top quantum experiments can help us understand fundamental cosmic processes without requiring massive facilities like the Large Hadron ColliderNearly 50 years ago, physicist Sidney Coleman proposed an intriguing idea:...

Scientists recently reported an unexpected deep-sea development in the Pacific: certain metallic rocks seem to be making oxygen in the dark, without light or sunshine, at the bottom of the ocean. This idea runs counter to the usual belief that oxygen only forms in sunlight through photosynthesis. Although these findings have stirred debate, the central claim is that potato-sized nodules found thousands of feet below the surface appear to split seawater molecules and release oxygen. Oxygen and photosynthesis – the basics Since the late 1700s, we’ve been taught that light creates oxygen through photosynthesis, a crucial natural process that keeps...

A piece of fossilised vomit dating back to the time of the dinosaurs has been discovered in Denmark. Local fossil hunter Peter Bennicke found the fossil at Stevns Klint - a Unesco-listed coastal cliff in the east of the country. The self-declared "fossil geek" said he came across some unusual-looking fragments which turned out to be pieces of sea lily - an underwater species related to starfish and sea urchins - in a piece of chalk. Mr Bennicke took the fragments to be examined at the Museum of East Zealand, which confirmed the vomit could be dated to the end...

LONDON — The mystery of dinosaur origins has taken an unexpected turn toward the equator. While paleontologists have long searched southern regions for clues about where these magnificent creatures first evolved, new research suggests we may have been looking in the wrong latitude altogether. A new study indicates that the first dinosaurs may have emerged in Earth’s ancient tropics, forcing scientists to reconsider long-held theories about their origins. For years, paleontologists believed dinosaurs originated in what is now southern South America and southern Africa, since the oldest unequivocal dinosaur fossils come from late Carnian rock formations (around 230 million years...