Topic: Paleontology
Top galleries, list articles, quizzes
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Father's Day: 12 best books for Dad
Check out these 12 books. At least one will be a perfect fit for your dad.
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20 most obscure team nicknames in pro sports
Most pro team nicknames make sense at some level. But there are a fair number of head-scratching nicknames. Here are 20 with explanations on their selection:
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15 great stories from Hollywood legends
From the book Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers, Hollywood luminaries share some fascinating stories.
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10 best books for readers ages 7 to 9
Ten delightful literary adventures for young readers aged 7 to 9.
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In Pictures Space photos of the day: Massive craters
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Father's Day: 12 best books for Dad
Check out these 12 books. At least one will be a perfect fit for your dad.
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How did human 'cousin' look 55 million years ago? Fossil offers clue. (+video)
Scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known primate fossil. The species is not a direct ancestor of humans, but it lived relatively close to the time when the two groups split.
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Extinct reptile named for 'lizard king' Jim Morrison
Named for the Doors baritone, B. Morrisoni was one of the largest lizards that ever walked the Earth.
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Dinosaur chomped like a bird of prey, say scientists
A study of an Allosaurus fossil found that the massive dinosaur dined more like a kestrel than a crocodile, tearing flesh from carcasses by pulling its head straight back.
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Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach milestone
A monitoring station in Hawaii has measured carbon dioxide levels of 400 parts per million, a concentration not seen on Earth since the Pleistocene Era.
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Ancient Arctic was warm, wet, and green. What that says about the future.
A 1,000-foot core sample taken from a lake in Russia's northeast Arctic documents a period when the region was 14 degrees warmer than today, but with similar atmospheric CO2 levels.
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20 most obscure team nicknames in pro sports
Most pro team nicknames make sense at some level. But there are a fair number of head-scratching nicknames. Here are 20 with explanations on their selection:
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My Beloved Brontosaurus
Author Brian Switek explores and explains the enduring appeal of dinosaurs.
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Was Africa the motherland of dinosaur predecessors?
The ancestors of dinosaurs might have established themselves in present-day Tanzania and Zambia, suggest newly discovered fossils.
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Fast-growing dinosaurs kicked inside eggs, say scientists
Researchers used new ancient fossil finds to learn about dinosaurs' early development. The evidence suggests dinosaurs wiggled inside their eggs and grew faster than any birds or mammals living today.
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Primitive fish with 'butt fins' reveals evolution's quirky path
An evolutionarily unique "paired anal fin" suggests that evolution experimented with various wacky body plans, only some of which survived.
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Four-winged birds? Feathery-legged fossils date back to dinosaur days.
Four-winged birds may have flown over Asia about 100 million years ago. New fossils show that four different types of birds had stiff feathers on their legs.
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Global temperature rise is fastest in at least 11,000 years, study says
The study, which also found the magnitude of the global temperature rise to be unmatched in 4,000 years, suggests that the current warming trend cannot be explained by naturally occurring temperature fluctuations.
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Camels evolved in the Arctic, say scientists
The ancestors of modern camels roamed forests in northern Canada, a new fossil discovery suggests.
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Humongous camels once roamed the Arctic, say scientists
Paleontologists in Canada's northernmost province have unearthed the shinbone of what they say was a giant camel.
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Extinct sea predator sliced prey with toothy spiral jaw
Helicoprion, an extinct creature that roamed the seas some 225 million years ago, might have used its toothy spiral jaw to slice and dice prey before swallowing it, suggests a new study of its fossilized jaw.
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How did those dinosaurs get such long necks anyway?
A British study found that the 50-foot necks of sauropods, thought to be the largest land animals ever, were made mostly of air.
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Shark-eating whales? Scientists identify four new whale species
Teeth of a fossilized whale called 'Willy' are severely worn down, suggesting that this previously unknown species of whale may have eaten large animals like sharks.
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Did Tyrannosaurus rex look like Barney? College kids get it wrong.
Tyrannosaurus rex leaned far forward, but despite accurate portrayals in textbooks and "Jurassic Park," college students still envision T. rex in an upright, Barney-like stance.
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You're descended from a fuzzy, bug-eating, scampering critter, say scientists
And so are all other placental mammals, according to a new morphological and genetic analysis that paints a clearer picture of our Cretaceous-period common ancestor.
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What killed the dinosaurs? New evidence strengthens asteroid hypothesis.
Evidence for the idea that non-avian dinosaurs were driven to extinction by an asteroid or comet impact is stronger than ever, thanks to a new radiometric analysis.
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Mary Leakey: Matriarch to three generations of archaeology royalty
Beginning with Louis and Mary Leakey, the Leakey family has made a name for itself in archaeology and anthropology.
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'Extinct' whale found: Odd-looking pygmy whale traced back 2 million years
Extinct whale found? Well, sort of. Scientists have traced the lineage of the pygmy right whale back to an ancient family of whales called cetotheres, who were thought to be extinct.
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World's oldest dinosaur discovered hanging out in London museum
World's oldest dinosaur: The fossil remains of Nyasasaurus parringtoni were first found in the 1930s near Lake Malawi in Africa. It pushes the date that dinosaurs lived back to 245 million years ago.
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Pandas' oldest known ancestor found in surprising place
Now paleontologists reveal two sets of fossil jaws and teeth that they say belong to the earliest member of the giant panda lineage discovered yet. The fossils were recovered from a pair of sites in northeast Spain.
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