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Articles on Paleobiology

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People have collected fossil horses throughout North America for centuries. Florida Museum/Mary Warrick

Horses lived in the Americas for millions of years – new research helps paleontologists understand the fossils we’ve found and those that are missing from the record

Horse fossils are abundant and widespread across North America. Scientists often use their long history to illustrate how species evolve in response to a changing environment.
Ancient DNA preserved in the tooth tartar of human fossils encodes microbial metabolites that could be the next antibiotic. Werner/Siemens Foundation

Reconstructing ancient bacterial genomes can revive previously unknown molecules – offering a potential source for new antibiotics

Ancient microbes likely produced natural products their descendants today do not. Tapping into this lost chemical diversity could offer a potential source of new drugs.
Fossils of Shuvuuia deserti depict a small predatory creature with exceptional night vision and hearing. Mick Ellison/American Natural History Museum

Nocturnal dinosaurs: Night vision and superb hearing in a small theropod suggest it was a moonlight predator

By looking at the eye bones and ear canals of extinct dinosaurs, researchers show that a small ancient predator likely hunted at night and had senses as good as a modern barn owl.
Dinosaurs had some bad luck, but sooner or later extinction comes for all of us. rawpixel/Unsplash.com

What makes some species more likely to go extinct?

Death is inevitable for individuals and also for species. With help from the fossil record, paleontologists are piecing together what might make one creature more vulnerable than another.

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