DNA analysis suggests that a newly discovered species of bison roamed Europe some 17,000 years ago - as prehistoric cave artists were trying to tell us all along.
An old technique to explore the inside of fossils unfortunately ended up destroying some unique specimens. New technology has been used to reconstruct one such fossil.
This skull belongs to the carnivorous gorgonopsian therapsid Smilesaurus ferox which lived 255 million years ago.
Cradle of Humankind/Flickr/Wikimedia
Modern sabre-tooth mammals have their canines constantly on display. This allows them to seduce mates. But was sexual selection also an important phenomenon among our pre-mammalian ancestors?
The earliest hominin cancer.
Patrick Randolph-Quinney (University of Central Lancashire/University of the Witwatersrand)
Cancer is not the modern disease many believe it to be. New fossil evidence from two South African caves suggests that its origins lie deep in prehistory.
If life survived on Earth 3.7 billion years ago, why not elsewhere in the solar system?
Shutterstock/Filip Fuxa
Scientists say they’ve found fossils showing life existed on Earth 3.7 billion years ago. How good is the evidence? And what does it mean for the search for life elsewhere in our solar system?
The Nullarbor is an arid, treeless expanse today. But several hundred thousand years ago it was home to a menagerie of species, including two newly discovered giant cuckoo-like birds.
To understand how some creatures evolved, you need to see how their brain developed over millions of years. That’s now possible thanks to some clever use of scanning technology.
Two giant Arambourgiania pterosaurs sharing a small theropod for dinner.
Mark Witton
Despite its insidious influence on the climate and our health, coal has a lesser-known positive side to its otherwise dark soul. It has provided us with some stunning fossils.
A Permo-Triassic boundary site near Bethulie in South Africa’s Free State province.
Supplied
How did survivors of the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction adapt to their new, harsh environment? And why is that knowledge so important for modern species?
This 119 million year old fish, Rhacolepis, is the first fossil to show a 3D preserved heart which gives us a rare window into the early evolution of one of our body’s most important organs.
Dr John Maisey, American Museum of Natural History in New York
For centuries, the fossil remains of back-boned animals were studied primarily from their hardened bones. Now palaeontologists can study the softer side of these ancient creatures.