News
T rex fossil âGusâ sells for $50.1m at New York auction, setting new record | New York
1+ hour, 45+ min ago (604+ words) Skeleton judged to be one of the largest and most complete ever unearthed was excavated on a ranch in South Dakota A vast, fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Gus sold at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday for $50.1m with fees (£37.4m) to…...
Sale of multimillion-dollar T rex skeleton is big headache for scientists
8+ hour, 55+ min ago (971+ words) Palaeontologists warn before auction at Sotheby’s in New York that super-rich collectors are harming research With its dagger-like teeth, bone-crushing bite and behemothic size, the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ruled western North America during the late Cretaceous period. Now its fossilised…...
‘We didn’t develop heads until we’d evolved an arse. I like that’: Chris Packham’s epic ode to evolution
3+ day, 22+ hour ago (374+ words) His superpower has always been speaking his mind – and his majestic new BBC show aims to shatter our ideas about life itself. The presenter talks mass extinction, spiders who dream and why people get sick of him holding up rocks…...
‘Life has always managed to crawl through’: docuseries takes us back to mass extinction events
1+ mon, 3+ day ago (401+ words) Co-creator of Walking with Dinosaurs returns with Surviving Earth, a blockbuster new series that shows ‘how life bounced back’ from deadly events throughout history Almost three decades have passed since producer Tim Haines reimagined natural history with Walking with Dinosaurs,…...
Shark or sea monster? The Canadian marine mystery that still intrigues experts 90 years on
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (1104+ words) Debate continues to rage over whether a strange carcass found in 1937 was a new species or a basking shark. Either way, the case reveals how little is known about what lies beneath the waves Its head resembled a dog’s, its…...
German museum to return rare Irritator dinosaur skull to Brazil
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (899+ words) Spinosaurid fossil bought by Stuttgart institution in 1991 has been the subject of a long restitution campaign It is a 113-million-year-old bone of contention. After Stuttgart’s museum of natural history bought a fossilised dinosaur skull in 1991, researchers found it was the…...
Older than the dinosaurs: scientists finally unlock secret of the mayfly’s dance
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (150+ words) The bizarre vertical flight pattern has long puzzled experts but new research reveals why it may play a crucial role in the insect’s survivalOn a spring evening along the banks of the River Thames, thousands of mayflies can be seen…...
Scientists believe birds’ skulls hold clues to inner lives of long-extinct dinosaurs
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (604+ words) Early birds were like ‘T rex reincarnated’, says scientist who believes avian skulls offer insight into dinosaurs’ behaviour T rex is often depicted as more brawn than brains, but now scientists are hoping to probe just what was going on…...
‘Kraken-like’ giant octopuses 100m years ago crunched bones of prey
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (634+ words) Study of fossilised beaks shows patterns of wear and suggests some ancient species were up to 19 metres long Giant “kraken-like” octopuses that used powerful beaks to crunch through bones of prey were among the most formidable predators of the Cretaceous…...
A new start after 60: I’d had several careers but no degree – then I became a palaeontologist at 62
4+ mon, 5+ day ago (650+ words) In search of a new adventure, Craig Munns went back to school. Now, at 65, he spends his days examining long-vanished life forms Craig Munns has a large model of a T rex on his desk. He got it with a…...