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
31 March 2022
After the extinction of the dinosaurs, mammals took over and had room to evolve larger bodies, but their brains remained small to begin with
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
14 August 2021
A 500-million-year-old comb jelly is so well-preserved that it’s possible to see it had a nervous system more complex than that of modern comb jellies
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
28 April 2021
Multicellular organisms were developing bodies with different kinds of cell much earlier than thought – a key step towards animals with complex bodies and multiple organs
