8+ hour, 19+ min ago   (295+ words) Crocodiles are the prototypical cold-blooded creature. Both figuratively and literally. According to new research published in Paleobiology and detailed by its authors in The Conversation, crocodiles became literally cold-blooded in an effort to become more figuratively cold-blooded. Scientists had always…...

1+ day, 8+ hour ago   (214+ words) In the wetlands of prehistoric Colombia, there was once a fearsome 4,000-pound, 23-foot-long relative of the crocodile with a bite that could probably chomp through a car. And it needed it, judging by fossil evidence indicating that the animals it…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (1086+ words) Long before dinosaurs ruled the continents and modern crocodiles first appeared, their ancestors were already going through a decisive phase in their evolutionary history. It was in this ancient world, shortly after the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history that…...

2+ week, 1+ hour ago   (383+ words) The creation of life is a beautiful, sacred act; a great power no one should wield irresponsibly. That said, according to new research published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, complex life on Earth may have evolved because one of our…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago   (616+ words) Some 50,000 years ago, modern humans wandered into Ice Age Europe. The continent was new to us Homo sapiens, but not for beings of our general kind. Neanderthals and their ancestors had been living among Eurasia’s glaciers for ages, and in…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago   (541+ words) Researchers in Los Angeles have made a ribbiting new discovery at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum — an extinct amphibian from the ice age. The spadefoot toad, or Spea labreae, is one of only two ice age amphibians to…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (665+ words) Charles Darwin loved a deep dive. The famed evolutionary biologist devoted years to studying barnacles and obsessed over breeding pigeons. But one of his most enduring fascinations was carnivorous plants. He called Venus flytraps “one of the most wonderful plants…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago   (323+ words) Some 245 million years ago, a small marine reptile died. Now, researchers have found its astonishingly well-preserved body, complete with an almost intact stomach, liver, and intestines. According to a new study published in Science Advances, the fossil offers the oldest…...

3+ week, 16+ hour ago   (263+ words) A study published in Current Biology made a couple of fascinating discoveries about the woolly mammoth, the furry, snow-dwelling elephant ancestor that early humans boldly assumed they could kill and eat, and then did. Researchers analyzed DNA from more than 500 mammoth…...

3+ week, 16+ hour ago   (369+ words) Rarely does the fossil record provide us with such startling evidence of extremely cool events that we wish we could’ve seen in person, but you’re lucky that these incredibly awesome moments are somehow frozen in time. That seems like what…...