Giving a Voice to Long-Lost—New ‘Terror Bird’ Species Reveals a Knack for Being on the Hunt

Medicine & Technology Apr 11, 2015

Think that we’ve found just about every prehistoric species that there is to find? You’d be terrifyingly wrong if you said yes. In fact, adding a new view on the diversity of some unlikely large predators that predate humans, a new fossil this week revealed another species of South American “terror birds” known as Llallawavis scagliai.

Yawunik Arthropod Revealed—The Toothsome Creature that Gave Rise to Lobsters, Spiders and Butterflies

Mar 29, 2015

When you watch butterflies flutter through the sky and lobsters waddle in the sea, you may not readily believe that the two far off species have anything in common. But along with spiders, butterflies and lobsters share quite an interesting collective history-one where an ancient ancestor may have emerged from the sea. Cover the ocean, the land and the skies above the radiation of species into many forms are believed to have originated with a common ancestor as long as 508 million years ago. And in a new study published this week in the journal Paleontology researchers are finally giving a face to ancestor known as Yawunik kootenayi.

How a Beaked Whale Fossil May Reveal Origins of Humanities First Steps

Mar 17, 2015

In a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers with the University of Potsdam in Germany say that they may have found the origin of man’s first steps on land with the rediscovery of a 17 million year old fossil of a beaked whale once native to East Africa. The fossil, which was original unearthed in 1964, but lost for nearly half a century after the skull was misplaced, is the oldest known fossil of a beaked whale and strongly suggests an exact time for when the East African plateau was once turned into a savannah.

Ancient Human Jaw Bone Evidence of Earlier Evolution

Mar 05, 2015

A fragment of a jawbone dating back 2.8 million years is evidence that humans evolved more than 400,000 years earlier than previously thought.

"Living Fossil" Frilled Shark Comes Up From Ocean Depths

Jan 23, 2015

A rare frilled shark was caught off the coast of Australia in a fishing trawler. This rarely spotted living fossil dates back 80 million years with a face that won't win it any beauty contests and looks like something that might come out of a Hollywood horror movie.

Researchers in Scottland Find Remnants of Nessy’s Relatives—Or So It Seems

Jan 20, 2015

While tales of the cryptid, the Loch Ness monster more colloquially known as Nessy, have gone largely unsubstantiated in the past, archaeologists in Scotland believe that they may now have found creature that fits the bill. The only problem is, that the dolphin-like marine reptile which grew to lengths of up to 14 feet went extinct nearly 170 million years ago.

Cones & Rods Fossilized in Ancient Fish Eyes, What they Tell Us About the View from the Past

Dec 25, 2014

The newest discovery of fossilized fish, whose eyes have remained largely intact, has provided the proof that the human eye's ability to see in color developed hundreds of millions of years ago.

A Fisherman’s Tale—5,000 Year Old Footprints Found in Denmark “Fjord”

Nov 15, 2014

Those who have fishermen in the family know that the tales of fishing trips are often folkloric at their best. But would you be surprised to hear that ancient tales of a fishing trip, and perhaps some footprints to document the trip, may be one of the most important archaeological finds of the decade? Well it turns out neither did the pair of fishermen whose ever move was recorded below them in a shifting seabed, 5,000 years ago in the frigid waters of the southern Baltic Sea.

Mammoth Fossil Trapped In Reservoir—Archaeologists Try to Unearth Rare Skeleton

Oct 28, 2014

Researchers from Idaho State University pray that a new discovery uncovered near American Falls Reservoir in their home state of Idaho may only be part of a whole, yet to be seen. Earlier this month, in the course of surveying an excavation site while working for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the university alongside avid fossil hunters uncovered a portion of a Columbian era mammoth skull complete with tusks. And the team believes the entire rare skeleton may also be buried in the reservoir.

What Is It? Spinosaurus Supergiant On the Hunt for Mesozoic Fish

Sep 17, 2014

In the common eye, the king of the world of dinosaurs is undoubtedly the Tyrannosaurus rex. But the common misperception is simply not true… there was a dinosaur bigger and far more terrifying than the T. rex. One that conquered land an sea—the Spinosaurus.