News
Scientists thought they knew everything strange about the platypus, until they switched on an ultraviolet light and watched it do something no one saw coming
6+ hour, 56+ min ago (730+ words) Some animals are a little strange. The platypus is in a league entirely of its own. It is a mammal that lays eggs. It has a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver, webbed feet, and, in the…...
A 550-million-year-old fossil found along the Yangtze River may explain why Earth's earliest animals left almost no trace
1+ day, 1+ hour ago (634+ words) If Earth's history is an epic book, we have to get by without the first few chapters. The very beginning of life as we know it is a mystery. We know that ancient organisms were evolving. And we even have…...
Scientists cracked open 300, 000 ancient stones from Illinois and found three lost worlds hiding inside
3+ day, 7+ hour ago (523+ words) Locked inside hundreds of thousands of iron-carbonate nodules pulled from the Illinois soil are creatures that lived more than 300 million years ago " animals from tropical swamps, river deltas, and shallow inland seas, all frozen in stone during the Carboniferous Period....
Crabs have walked sideways for 200 million years " and it may have started with a single evolutionary moment
1+ week, 2+ day ago (590+ words) Most of us are so used to seeing how crabs move that they instantly bring to mind their signature sideways crawl. And as soon as we see them crawling sideways, we know that is simply how they operate. It looks…...
Inside a 250-million-year-old rock, a curled-up skeleton reveals that our ancestors laid eggs
1+ week, 3+ day ago (600+ words) Imagine peering into a 252-million-year-old stone. Inside a rock, you see a small, tightly wrapped skeleton. Older than the dinosaurs, this incredible fossil freezes a pivotal moment in time. It offers a breathtaking glimpse into the harsh Triassic world. It…...
Scientists uncovered a bizarre crocodile cousin that started life crawling close to the ground and grew up walking upright like something from another world
1+ week, 6+ day ago (551+ words) For most people, crocodiles belong on the ground. Slow movements beside rivers and swamps. But experts studying ancient fossils found evidence of something that behaved differently. It began life low to the ground, much like modern crocodilians. Then its body…...
A scientist found the first fossil decades ago, and now he's finally brought a 31-foot dinosaur-eating monster back from the dead
2+ week, 4+ day ago (527+ words) A scientist working in South America uncovered several massive fossil bones during the 1980s. Researchers quickly realized the remains belonged to a predator. The animal had heavy limbs and a powerful skull built for hunting and feeding. But there was an…...
A "mummified reptile" found in Oklahoma is giving scientists a rare clue to how humans breathe and a mystery that has lasted for centuries
1+ mon, 2+ day ago (634+ words) A 289-million-year-old reptile found in Oklahoma is revealing the secrets behind breathing. The fossil preserved soft tissue, including a ribcage similar to our own. Its remains are not just bones, they are evidence of how early lungs functioned. Including skin,…...
A geoscience student returned to the crater where the dinosaur-killing meteorite struck and uncovered a terrifying new species no one had ever seen
1+ mon, 6+ day ago (596+ words) Ground zero of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs just yielded a ghost from the past. Among the debris of a global catastrophe, a student found evidence of a predator that shouldn't exist. It didn't come from a fossil bed…...
A diver entered a hidden cave in Texas expecting darkness until he stumbled into an Ice Age world where creatures from thousands of years ago still lingered
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (232+ words) A diver entered a hidden water cave in Texas expecting emptiness. Instead, he found evidence of a hidden Ice Age World that was preserved almost perfectly....