8 March 2023
The Cambrian fossil Protomelission was identified in 2021 as a type of coral-like animal called a bryozoan, but new specimens make it look more like a kind of green algae
20 July 2022
Analysis of inner ear canals from hundreds of modern and fossil animals shows that warm-bloodedness appeared abruptly in the late Triassic
20 July 2022
A fossil from 385 million years ago named Qikiqtania wakei shows that a descendant of early land animals lost its adaptations for land and became a more efficient swimmer
7 July 2022
A dinosaur discovered in Argentina has been identified as a new species. Meraxes gigas lived 20 million years before T. rex, but had a similarly large body, sharp teeth and proportionately small arms
8 November 2021
More than half a billion years ago, tiny penis worms had learned to protect themselves by grabbing and living inside snail-like shells, like hermit crabs do today
28 July 2021
The preserved remains of sponges found in Canada suggest that animals may have originated 350 million years earlier than we thought
9 June 2021
By 340 million years ago, our ancient fish-like ancestors had evolved to walk on land – but within about 10 million years, some of them had adapted to an aquatic life again
24 March 2021
A 50-kilogram kangaroo that lived 40,000 years ago in what is now Australia spent half its time living in trees – an unusual adaptation for a kangaroo of that size
18 March 2021
A Mexican fossil belongs to a shark that lived more than 90 million years ago and had wings like a manta ray, which may have helped it swim in place while feeding on plankton
11 November 2020
The discovery of a new species of extinct monk seal in New Zealand suggests that many seals evolved in the southern hemisphere and repeatedly crossed the equator
