fossils

Latest in fossils

Spinosaurus bones hint that the spiny dinosaurs enjoyed water sports
Science

Spinosaurus bones hint that the spiny dinosaurs enjoyed water sports

By Kate Baggaley

Prehistoric vampire squid swimming in the Paleozoic ocean in an illustration
Science

Slap another cephalopod on the vampire squid’s family tree

By Lauren J. Young

An orange starfish on a rock.
Science

Classifying invertebrates is hard. Butts can help.

By Philip Kiefer

Tyrannosaurus rex fossil at Field Museum lobby
Science

Is T. rex really three royal species? Paleontologists cast doubt over new claims.

By Shi En Kim

large sauropod dinosaurs illustrated in a swampy lake
Science

Even dinosaurs couldn’t escape the sniffles

By Kate Baggaley

Feathered Caudipteryx dinosaurs drinking from a sandy river among palm trees before the asteroid hit
Science

June was probably a terrible month to be a dinosaur. Here’s how we know.

By Michael J. Benton / The Conversation

A fossil of a sawfly
Environment

Feast your eyes on exquisite fossils from an ancient rainforest (and more)

By Shi En Kim

A crab with huge eyes on the front of its face swimming after a shrimp with a big head.
Science

This 90-million-year-old crab had the eyes of a hunter

By Philip Kiefer

an illustration of a marine reptile
Science

These ancient marine reptiles got very big, very fast

By Kate Baggaley

a large fossil of a segmented bug in gray rock
Environment

How big did ancient millipedes get? Bigger than you’d like.

By Hannah Seo

One of the best-preserved dinosaur embryos ever found.
Science

This fossilized dinosaur embryo is curled up just like a baby bird

By Kate Baggaley

a color illustration of a brown and white bird in a lush forest
Science

This 120-million-year-old bird could stick out its tongue

By Kate Baggaley

A newfound South American dinosaur had a tail like a war club
Science

A newfound South American dinosaur had a tail like a war club

By Kate Baggaley

This four-legged snake fossil was probably a skinny lizard
Environment

This four-legged snake fossil was probably a skinny lizard

By Kate Baggaley

An overlooked fossil turned out to be a new herbivorous dinosaur with an oddly shaped nose
Environment

An overlooked fossil turned out to be a new herbivorous dinosaur with an oddly shaped nose

By Philip Kiefer

ancient penis worm
Environment

Ancient penis worms used protection on the seabed

By Margo Milanowski

an illustration of two human ancestors in africa
Science

Is it time to change the way we talk about human evolution?

By Kate Baggaley

Prosauropod Triassic dinosaur in a digital rendition
Science

After 60 years, a mysterious Australian dinosaur just got downsized

By Margo Milanowski

Dinosaurs who stuck together, survived together
Science

Dinosaurs who stuck together, survived together

By Kate Baggaley

Entombed in amber, this tiny crab hails from the age of dinosaurs
Environment

Entombed in amber, this tiny crab hails from the age of dinosaurs

By Kate Baggaley

fossilized tree fern trunk
Environment

Fossilized plants give us hints about what ice age forests may have looked like

By Kate Baggaley

Scientists discovered an extremely rare tardigrade fossil trapped in Dominican amber
Science

Scientists discovered an extremely rare tardigrade fossil trapped in Dominican amber

By Hannah Seo

Two large dinosaurs roam a dusky background.
Science

The land-dwelling ‘hell heron’ was a 30-foot aquatic assassin

By Elana Spivack

This 120-million-year-old bird may have been one of the first to shake its tail feathers
Environment

This 120-million-year-old bird may have been one of the first to shake its tail feathers

By Kate Baggaley

An illustration of an extinct species of giant penguins. Two penguins stand upright and one huddles down on a rocky island.
Environment

Schoolkids in New Zealand discovered a new species of giant penguin

By Hannah Seo

This ancient ‘mothership’ used probing ‘fingers’ to scrape the ocean floor for prey
Environment

This ancient ‘mothership’ used probing ‘fingers’ to scrape the ocean floor for prey

By Kate Baggaley

Two dinosaur heads in profile, the one below about half the size of the one above.
Science

New fossil reveals a fearsome shark-toothed dinosaur

By Hannah Seo

A bird-like brown dinosaur with a huge red crest on its head, in a jungle.
Environment

Smugglers almost made off with a near-complete fossil of a bizarre flying reptile

By Hannah Seo

tetrapod fossil
Science

Our four-legged ancestors evolved from sea to land astonishingly quickly

By Philip Kiefer

An illustration of a best of hatchling baby turtles.
Science

A fossilized egg laid by an extinct, human-sized turtle holds a rare jackpot

By Hannah Seo

an illustration of a melting planet earth covered in lush trees and leaves
Environment

An ancient era of global warming could hint at our scorching future

By Riley Black

a colorful illustration of long-tailed gray rodents carrying assorted objects such as buttons, bones, bugs, and flowers
Science

What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets.

By Jason Bittel

How bird brains thrived during a mass extinction
Science

How bird brains thrived during a mass extinction

By Kate Baggaley

These fossils could represent the oldest animals ever found
Environment

These fossils could represent the oldest animals ever found

By Kate Baggaley

This fossil isn’t a hummingbird-sized dinosaur, but an unusual lizard
Science

This fossil isn’t a hummingbird-sized dinosaur, but an unusual lizard

By Hannah Seo

Dinosaur bones in museum.
Science

The T. rex ‘dynasty’ reigned for more than 125,000 generations

By Hannah Seo

The fossilized skull of the newly discovered L. aliocranianus dinosaur.
Science

This newly discovered dinosaur is called ‘the one who causes fear’ for a reason

By Emily Cerf

illustration of hatchling lamprey
Science

These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory

By Philip Kiefer

A reimagined prehistoric bird chasing a dragonfly over plants
Science

Were rocks on the menu for these ancient birds?

By Erin Fennessy

Tiktaalik
Science

This ancient fish-crocodile mashup snared its prey using a key adaptation

By Kate Baggaley

Psittacosaurus reconstruction
Science

This fossilized butthole gives us a rare window into dinosaur sex

By Ellie Shechet

assasin bug preserved fossil
Environment

Feast your eyes on this 50-million-year-old assassin bug and its exquisite genitalia

By Kate Baggaley

Fossilized lizard
Science

How fossil preservation and public health are intertwined

By Colella & McLean/The Conversation

Artist reconstruction of Wilamaya Patjxa vicuña hunt.
Science

A female hunter’s remains hint at more fluid gender roles in the early Americas

By Kate Baggaley

An artist's rendering of Filikomys primaevus
Science

These prehistoric rodents were social butterflies 

By Kat Eschner

A reconstruction of Ambopteryx in a glide.
Science

Dinosaurs may have evolved into birds, but early flights didn’t go so well

By Kate Baggaley

Paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor birding with her mother in China
Science

Birds are dinosaurs, and this fossil detective has rooms full of bones to prove it

By Science Friday

megalodon
Environment

Could an ancient megashark still lurk in the deep seas?

By Riley Black

south island new zealand
Environment

Mummified leaves offer a glimpse of Earth’s ancient climate—and our future

By Kate Baggaley

artist representation of Tanystropheus
Environment

This ancient reptile had a super long neck to sneak up on unsuspecting fish

By Kate Baggaley

Kongonaphon kely
Science

This pocket-sized shaggy reptile hopped around a pre-dino world

By Kate Baggaley

Insects from the mid-Cretaceous period preserved in amber were found in present-day northern Myanmar.
Environment

These insects preserved in amber are still glowing 99 million years later

By Kat Eschner

ancient ancestor of the modern crocodile, which walked on two feet.
Environment

Crocodiles’ ancient ancestors may have walked on two legs

By Kate Baggaley

artistic rendition of a dinosaur
Science

Mummified ankylosaur offers a rare glimpse of a dinosaur’s last meal

By Kate Baggaley

dinosaur illustration
Science

Dinosaur cannibalism was real, and Colorado paleontologists have the bones to prove it

By Kate Baggaley

Reconstruction of Spinosaurus in life
Science

Most dinosaurs didn’t swim—but this ‘dino equivalent of Jaws’ sure did

By Sara Kiley Watson

ancient human tools
Science

Anthropologists have identified the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe

By Kate Baggaley

a homemade fossil footprint
DIY

Stay-at-home science project: Leave some “fossil” footprints

By John Kennedy

An abelisaur, a short-snouted predatory dinosaur, rests while several pterosaurs fight over leftovers from a carcass.
Science

The Sahara Desert was once flooded with history’s most vicious dinosaurs

By Kate Baggaley

dinosaurs
Science

How do we know what dinosaurs looked like?

By Sara Chodosh

the newly discovered dinosaur: Dineobellator notohesperus
Science

These newly discovered raptors were like feather-covered cheetahs

By Kate Baggaley

Mossy forest
Environment

Ancient forests that power the modern world

By Hope Jahren

Photograph of Parasaurolophus fossil mount at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, 2017
Health

Duck-billed dinosaurs had the same bone tumors as people

By Kate Baggaley

Mongolian woman milking an animal
Health

The answer to lactose intolerance might be in Mongolia

By Andrew Curry