Around 250 million years ago, most life on Earth was wiped out in an extinction known as the "Great Dying." Geologists have learned that the end came slowly from thousands of centuries of volcanic activity.

2/3/2012 8:33:33 AM

They are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that "bat flies" have been doing their noxious business with bats for at least 20 million years.

2/3/2012 7:24:24 AM

A new species of prehistoric crocodile has been discovered. The extinct creature, nicknamed "Shieldcroc" due to a thick-skinned shield on its head, is an ancestor of today's crocodiles.

1/31/2012 2:56:56 PM

Thirty-thousand-year-old bison bones discovered in permafrost at a Canadian goldmine are helping scientists unravel the mystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change.

1/31/2012 7:25:25 AM

It took about 10 million generations for terrestrial mammals to hit their maximum mass: that's about the size of a cat evolving into the size of an elephant. Sea mammals, such as whales took about half the number of generations to hit their maximum.

1/30/2012 2:19:19 PM

Scientists have for the first time measured how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals, showing it takes 24 million generations for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant.

1/30/2012 2:19:19 PM

The iconic, winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx was dressed for flight, an international team of researchers has concluded. The group identified the color of the raven-sized creature's fossilized wing feather, determining it was black. The color and the structures that supplied the pigment suggest that Archaeopteryx's feathers were rigid and durable, which would have helped it to fly.

1/24/2012 8:30:30 AM

An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus -- revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behavior in early dinosaurs.

1/23/2012 12:25:25 PM

An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus -- revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behavior in early dinosaurs.

1/23/2012 12:25:25 PM

A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500 million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. Officially named Siphusauctum gregarium, fossils reveal a tulip-shaped creature that is about the length of a dinner knife (approximately 20 centimeters or eight inches) and has a unique filter feeding system.

1/18/2012 2:36:36 PM

More than 500 million years ago, single-celled organisms on the Earth's surface began forming multicellular clusters that ultimately became plants and animals. Just how that happened is a question that has eluded evolutionary biologists.

1/17/2012 11:43:43 AM

Based on a hominid molar, scientists from Germany, Bulgaria and France have documented that great apes survived in Europe in savannah-like landscapes until seven million years ago.

1/13/2012 6:03:03 PM

A new study examines the first extinct North American primate with a toe bone showing features associated with the presence of both nails and a grooming claw, indicating our primate ancestors may have traded their flat nails for raised claws for functional purposes, much like pop icons Adele and Lady Gaga are doing today in the name of fashion.

1/10/2012 4:29:29 PM

Around 250 million years ago there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Although the cause of this event is a mystery, it has been speculated that the eruption of a large swath of volcanic rock in Russia was a trigger for the extinction. New research offers insight into how this volcanism could have contributed to drastic deterioration in the global environment of the period.

1/9/2012 10:27:27 AM

The toothiest prehistoric predators also had beefier arm bones, according to results of a new study. Saber-toothed tigers may come to mind, but these extinct cats weren't the only animals with fearsome fangs. Take the false saber-toothed cats -- also known as nimravids -- and their catlike cousins, a family of carnivores called the barbourofelids.

1/4/2012 12:37:37 PM

A new study of how lizards use their tails when leaping through the trees shows that they swing the tail upward to avoid pitching forward after a stumble. Theropod dinosaurs -- the ancestors of birds -- may have done the same. A robot model confirms the value of an actively controlled tail, demonstrating that adding a tail can stabilize robots on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls -- critical to successful search and rescue operations.

1/4/2012 10:48:48 AM

A small fish crawling on stumpy limbs from a shrinking desert pond is an icon of can-do spirit, emblematic of a leading theory for the evolutionary transition between fish and amphibians. This theorized image of such a drastic adaptation to changing environmental conditions, however, may, itself, be evolving into a new picture.

12/27/2011 11:26:26 AM

Climate changes profoundly influenced the rise and fall of six distinct, successive waves of mammal species diversity in North America over the last 65 million years, shows a novel statistical analysis by evolutionary biologists. Warming and cooling periods, in two cases confounded by species migrations, marked the transition from one dominant grouping to the next.

12/27/2011 6:30:30 AM

A new analysis indicates the shift of soil bacteria Azospirillum may have occurred only 400 million years ago, rather than approximately two billion years earlier as originally thought.

12/22/2011 4:50:50 PM

Evidence of the single-celled ancestors of animals, dating from the interval in the Earth's history just before multicellular animals appeared, has been discovered in 570 million-year-old rocks from South China.

12/22/2011 11:24:24 AM

A new analysis of two adaptive radiations in the fossil record found that these diversifications proceeded "head first." Head features diversified before body shapes and types. This suggests that feeding-related evolutionary pressures are the initial drivers of diversification.

12/21/2011 6:20:20 AM

For the first time, the presence of large bodied herbivorous dinosaurs in Antarctica has been recorded. Until now, remains of sauropoda had been recovered from all continental landmasses, except Antarctica. The identification of the remains of the sauropod dinosaur suggests that advanced titanosaurs achieved a global distribution at least by the Late Cretaceous.

12/19/2011 7:20:20 AM

In pursuit of riches and energy over the last 5,000 years, humans have released into the environment 385,000 tons of mercury, the source of numerous health concerns, according to a new study that challenges the idea that releases of the metal are on the decline.

12/14/2011 7:28:28 AM

High-tech medical imaging techniques were recently used to access internal structures of fossil human skulls. Researchers used sophisticated 3-D methods to quantify the shape of the basal brain as reflected in the morphology of the skeletal cranial base. Their findings reveal that the human temporal lobes, involved in language, memory and social functions as well as the olfactory bulbs are relatively larger in Homo sapiens than in Neanderthals.

12/14/2011 7:18:18 AM

The eel-like body and scrawny "limbs" of the African lungfish would appear to make it an unlikely innovator for locomotion. But its improbable walking behavior, newly described, redraws the evolutionary route of life on Earth from water to land.

12/12/2011 12:31:31 PM

Rare finds such as early ornaments, cave drawings and Middle Stone Age engravings are the subjects of a good deal of anthropological study and they provide clues. But in a new study, an international team of researchers report another find that could give additional insight. What's more, it could place the use of herbal medicines much earlier than previously known.

12/12/2011 9:47:47 AM

New research into the Earth's paleoclimate history suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple meters of sea level rise, if global warming is not abated.

12/8/2011 2:36:36 PM

New research has unveiled enormous bones from North America's biggest dinosaur. Researchers collected two gigantic vertebrae and a femur in New Mexico. The bones belong to the sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus sanjuanensis: a long-necked plant eater related to Diplodocus. The Alamosaurus roamed what is now the southwestern United States and Mexico about 69 million years ago.

12/7/2011 10:29:29 AM

Scientists working on fossils from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, have found eyes belonging to a giant 500 million-year-old marine predator that sat at the top of the earth's first food chain.

12/7/2011 10:29:29 AM

A new species of horned dinosaur was just announced by an international team of scientists, nearly 100 years after the initial discovery of the fossil. The animal, named Spinops sternbergorum, lived approximately 76 million years ago in southern Alberta, Canada. Spinops was a plant-eater that weighed around two tons when alive, a smaller cousin of Triceratops.

12/6/2011 8:50:50 AM

A species of ancient predator with saw-like teeth, sleek bodies and a voracious appetite for meat survived a major extinction at a time when the distant relatives of mammals ruled the earth.

12/6/2011 7:14:14 AM

Scientists have developed important new insight into the sensitivity of global temperature to changes in Earth's radiation balance over the last half million years.

12/6/2011 5:27:27 AM

A new article shows that the two hemispheres attained their maximum ice sheet size at nearly the same time and started melting 19,000 years ago. This simultaneous melting was presumably caused by changes in the global sea level and deepwater circulation in the Atlantic Ocean.

12/2/2011 12:55:55 PM

The appearance of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere probably did not occur as a single event, but as a long series of starts and stops, according to an international team of researchers who investigated rock cores from the FAR DEEP project.

12/1/2011 11:27:27 AM

What more can we learn about long-necked dinosaurs that we don't already know? Researchers have found that Madagascar dinosaurs carried giant, hollow bones in their skin that may have helped them survive the harsh environments they inhabited. This discovery has shed new light on the anatomy and function of these bones in the biggest animals to ever walk on land.

11/29/2011 9:50:50 AM

Bones contained entirely within the skin of some of the largest dinosaurs on Earth might have stored vital minerals to help the massive creatures survive and bear their young in tough times, according to new research.

11/29/2011 9:33:33 AM

Much of our knowledge about past life has come from the fossil record -- but how accurately does that reflect the true history and drivers of biodiversity on Earth?

11/24/2011 12:08:08 PM

The rate of global warming from doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be less than the most dire estimates of some previous studies -- and, in fact, may be less severe than projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 2007. Researchers say that global warming is real and that increases in atmospheric CO₂ will have multiple serious impacts. However, the most Draconian projections of temperature increases from the doubling of CO₂ are unlikely, according to new research.

11/24/2011 12:08:08 PM

Traditionally, fossil-hunters often could only make educated guesses as to where fossils lie. The rest lay with chance. But thanks to a new software model, fossil-hunters' reliance on luck when finding fossils may be diminishing. Using artificial neural networks, researchers developed a computer model that can pinpoint productive fossil sites.

11/21/2011 12:15:15 PM

A nest containing the fossilized remains of 15 juvenile Protoceratops andrewsi dinosaurs from Mongolia has been described by a paleontologist, revealing new information about postnatal development and parental care. It is the first nest of this genus ever found and the first indication that Protoceratops juveniles remained in the nest for an extended period.

11/21/2011 7:41:41 AM

Through the analysis of various types of dating techniques on well-preserved sedimentary sections from South China to Tibet, researchers determined that the mass extinction peaked about 252.28 million years ago and lasted less than 200,000 years, with most of the extinction lasting about 20,000 years. The conclusion of this study says extinctions of most marine and terrestrial life took place at the same time.

11/17/2011 11:39:39 AM

A cosmic one-two punch of colossal volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes likely caused the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period that is famous for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, according to two reports that reject the prevailing theory that the extinction was caused by a single large meteorite.

11/17/2011 11:12:12 AM

Extinct animals hide their secrets well, but an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of an aquatic reptile, with traces of soft tissue present, is providing scientists a new window into the behavior of these ancient swimmers.

11/16/2011 2:47:47 PM

The brightest hues in nature are produced by tiny patterns in, say, feathers or scales rather than pigments. These so-called "structural colors" are widespread, giving opals their fire, people their blue eyes, and peacocks their brilliant feathers. Now, a new study brings us closer to the origins of structural colors by reconstructing them in fossil moths that are 47 million years old.

11/15/2011 2:56:56 PM

A catastrophic landslide 22,500 years ago dammed the upper reaches of northern California's Eel River, forming a 30-mile-long lake, which has since disappeared, and leaving a living legacy found today in the genes of the region's steelhead trout, scientists report.

11/14/2011 12:24:24 PM

The release of massive amounts of carbon from methane hydrate frozen under the seafloor 56 million years ago has been linked to the greatest change in global climate since a dinosaur-killing asteroid presumably hit Earth nine million years earlier. New calculations by researchers show that this long-controversial scenario is quite possible.

11/9/2011 8:15:15 AM

Researchers in Canada have followed fossilized footprints to a multi-legged predator that ruled the seas of the Cambrian period about half a billion years ago.

11/8/2011 5:14:14 PM

Scientists have produced amazing three-dimensional images of a prehistoric mite as it hitched a ride on the back of a 50-million-year-old spider. At just 176 micrometres long and barely visible to the naked eye, the mite -- trapped inside Baltic amber (fossil tree resin) -- is believed to be the smallest arthropod fossil ever to be scanned using X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning techniques.

11/8/2011 4:51:51 PM

Did climate change or humans cause the extinctions of the large-bodied Ice Age mammals such as the woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth? Scientists have for years debated the reasons behind the Ice Age mass extinctions, which caused the loss of a third of the large mammals in Eurasia and two thirds of the large mammals in North America.

11/2/2011 1:12:12 PM

The timing, process and archeology of the peopling of Europe by early modern humans have been actively debated for more than a century. Reassessment of the anatomy and dating of a fragmentary upper jaw with three teeth from Kent's Cavern in southern England has shed new light on these issues.

11/2/2011 1:11:11 PM

Was it humans or climate change that caused the extinctions of the iconic Ice Age mammals (megafauna) such as the woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth? For decades, scientists have been debating the reasons behind these enigmatic Ice Age mass extinctions, which caused the loss of a third of the large mammal species in Eurasia and two thirds of the species in North America. Now an interdisciplinary research team has tried to tackle the contentious question in the biggest study of its kind. And the answers are far more complicated than ever imagined.

11/2/2011 1:10:10 PM

Paleontologists have discovered two skulls from the first known mammal of the early Late Cretaceous period of South America. The fossils break a roughly 60 million-year gap in the currently known mammalian record of the continent and provide new clues on the early evolution of mammals.

11/2/2011 1:10:10 PM

Both climate change and humans were responsible for the extinction of some large mammals, according to research that is the first of its kind to use genetic, archeological, and climatic data together to infer the population history of large Ice Age mammals. The large international team's research is expected to shed light on the possible fates of living species of mammals as our planet continues its current warming cycle.

11/2/2011 1:10:10 PM

Traces of bizarre, bone-eating 'zombie' worms have been found on a 3-million-year-old fossil whale bone from Tuscany in Italy. It is the first time the genus Osedax has been found in the Mediterranean, and suggests Osedax were widespread throughout the world's oceans 6 million years ago.

11/1/2011 5:43:43 PM

New research indicates that Atlantic Ocean temperatures during the greenhouse climate of the Late Cretaceous Epoch were influenced by circulation in the deep ocean. These changes in circulation patterns 70 million years ago could help scientists understand the consequences of modern increases in greenhouse gases.

10/27/2011 12:02:02 PM

Researchers have compiled the most comprehensive evolutionary tree for mollusks to date. Their analysis surprisingly places two enigmatic groups, cephalopods and monoplacophorans, as sister clades. The team has also shown that there was a single origin for shelled mollusks.

10/26/2011 11:37:37 AM

Researchers have concluded the mass extinction that ended the Permian Period was disastrous for land-based animals. In a specimen-by-specimen analysis, the scientists say species were reduced to a handful of forms, called disaster taxa. The low diversity of vertebrates meant that terrestrial ecosystems endured boom-and-bust cycles for up to eight million years before finally stabilizing.

10/25/2011 6:09:09 PM

The tip of a bone point fragment found embedded in a mastodon rib from an archaeological site in Washington state shows that hunters were present in North America at least 800 years before Clovis, confirming that the first inhabitants arrived earlier to North America than previously thought, says a team of researchers.

10/20/2011 11:51:51 AM

A new and astonishing chapter has been added to North American prehistory in regards to the first hunters and their hunt for the now extinct giant mammoth-like creatures -- the mastodons. New research has shown that the hunt for large mammals occurred at least 1,000 years before previously assumed.

10/20/2011 11:50:50 AM

Osteoporosis is blamed for backbone fractures. The real culprit could well be our own vertebrae, which evolved to absorb the pounding of upright walking, researchers say.

10/19/2011 3:58:58 PM