The lost fossil meteorites carrying the secrets of Earth’s past
18 August 2021
Fossil meteorites are one of the hardest geological treasures to discover – but now a spate of finds is revealing surprises about Earth’s ancient atmosphere
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Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs gave birth to the Amazon rainforest
1 April 2021
The asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago eliminated plant-trampling dinosaurs and rained fertilising ash on South America's rainforests, letting flowering plants take over what used to be mostly coniferous forests
Ammonite review: Here's the true story of palaeontologist Mary Anning
30 October 2020
Mary Anning's later life is explored in Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. The film does a good job of showing the hard work involved in paleontology, but the portrayal of Anning isn't entirely based on fact
Fossilised microbes from 3.5 billion years ago are oldest yet found
25 September 2019
Preserved microorganisms have been found encased in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks, confirming that single-celled life was thriving early in Earth’s history
Military now controls Myanmar’s scientifically important amber mines
30 August 2019
Hundreds of scientifically priceless fossils are extracted in horrendous conditions in Myanmar’s amber mines and smuggled over the border for sale in China
Fossils of the earliest animals seen outside China for the first time
14 August 2019
How did animal life begin? A must-see exhibition in Oxford brings together the world's best fossils from the Cambrian explosion to tell the story
Ancient Earth reveals terrifying consequences of future global warming
3 July 2019
Lessons from the deep past reveal that human-induced warming could create more extreme conditions than Earth has ever experienced
Dark matter secrets could lie buried in ancient rocks on Earth
26 February 2019
Fossil traces hidden deep underground may solve the mystery of dark matter, the elusive substance that makes up 80 per cent of the universe
Earliest known animal was a half-billion-year-old underwater blob
20 September 2018
The weird ‘Ediacaran’ fossils have stumped scientists for decades - now fatty molecules found inside some of them confirm they are the most ancient animals we know
Oxygen may have helped complex life arise a billion years early
23 April 2018
Earth’s air suddenly got a lot more oxygen around 1.6 billion years ago and that could have triggered the evolution of large multicellular organisms
