Reconstructions of human evolution are prone to simple, overly-tidy scenarios. Our ancestors, for example, stood on two legs to look over tall grass, or began to speak because, well, they finally had something…
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Paleontology
Displaying 101 - 120 of 144 articles
The feeding habits of an unusual 200-million-year-old fish have been tested in a ground-breaking study published in Palaeontology. This research is particularly notable as it wasn’t carried out by a leading…
Almost all natural history museums and recognised public collections of fossils have in the past relied on finds purchased from private collectors, and many still do. But the role of amateur fossil collectors…
Everywhere scientists look it seems like they are finding dinosaurs. A new species is emerging at the astounding pace of one per week. And this continues with the announcement of perhaps the strangest…
Many people believe that what was found in Liang Bua Cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia in 2003-2004 was some variety of hobbit-like human or prehuman. Our research published today argues that it…
By examining a swallow-sized fossil from China, researchers have concluded that rather than descending from dinosaurs, the…
The evolution of diet is intimately linked to human evolution: from the use of tools to break nuts, collect insects or hunt game, to the use of fire allowing more calories to be extracted from the food…
A teenage girl, discovered underwater after thousands of years, was an ancestor of modern Native Americans. A multi-institutional…
Birds may owe their success to the shrinking bodies of their dinosaur ancestors. An international team, led by paleontologist…
Fossils can tell us lots about animals – their size, age or sex, which is mostly physical characteristics. Evidence about how they may have behaved is rare. But the 240m-year-old fossil dung that I found…
The discovery of soft-tissue comb remnants on a fossil could change the way we visualise dinosaurs. The findings, published today in Current Biology, concern the fossilised remains of an Edmontosaurus…
The fossil record of early humans is punctuated by gaps, voids in our understanding of all the transitions from the common ancestor of humans and other apes to modern day Homo sapiens. While working in…
It should not be a surprise that East Africa was a hotbed of evolution, because over the last five million years everything about the landscape has changed. The extraordinary forces of plate tectonics…
Alongside Tyrannosaurus rex, the basic sauropod dinosaur is one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable of prehistoric animals. Not only is their elegant shape with four columnar limbs, a long muscular…
Dinosaurs were the largest animals to ever walk Earth, and they ruled the planet for more than 160 million years. The long-necked Argentinosaurus, with back vertebrae almost two metres high, possibly grew…
Fossilised soft tissues, such as skin and muscle, are exceptionally hard to come by. When you think the chances of an animal being fossilised is less than one in a million - and these usually have only…
Cornell University’s Paleontological Research Institution in conjunction with University of Cincinnati researchers have discovered…
Australia is famous for its natural beauty: the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Kakadu, the Kimberley. But what about the places almost no one goes? We asked ecologists, biologists and wildlife researchers…
We should forget about ever finding something as small and delicate as a dinosaur embryo, right? A few months ago I would have agreed – but now, well, things have changed. When my colleague, palaeontologist…
Jurassic era global warming may provide a warning for marine life over the next century. Findings along the north Yorkshire…
Top contributors
-
Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Bristol
-
Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
-
Chancellor's Fellow in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Edinburgh
-
Adjunct professor, UNSW Sydney
-
Palaeontologist, University of Southampton
-
Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Postdoctoral researcher, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
-
Chercheur à l’Institut de systématique, évolution, biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
-
Senior Lecturer in Ancient DNA, University of Otago
-
Honorary Research Associate, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Project Officer – Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist
-
Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University
-
John Curtin Distinguished Professor, Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University
-
Palaeontologist, Earth Science Faculty, University of New England
-
Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
