Paleo in the News

New plankton arrived just a few millennia — maybe even decades — after the Chicxulub asteroid, forcing a rethink of evolution's catastrophe response speed.

In Cape Verde, conservation has boosted the sea turtle population 100-fold — but the male-female balance is way off.

Solve the crossword from our March 2026 issue, in which we work on our code-switching.

Sixty thousand years ago, humans in southern Africa were already mastering nature’s chemistry. Scientists have discovered chemical traces of poison from the deadly gifbol plant on ancient quartz arrowheads found in South Africa — the oldest direct evidence of arrow poison ever identified. The find reveals that these early hunters didn’t just invent the bow and arrow earlier than once believed — they also knew how to enhance their weapons with toxic plant compounds to make hunts more effective.

A rocky exoplanet in the LHS 1903 system defies planet formation models, hinting that gravitational upheaval reshaped the red dwarf’s four worlds.

A lung cancer trial bolsters a long-held idea that treatment timing matters, showing a simple shift could help immunotherapy work better and extend lives.

A student created a low-cost baby carrier that filters sunlight to safely treat jaundice where electricity and equipment are scarce.

Shorter food chains could mean reefs are less able to weather changes in food availability, threatening an already vulnerable ecosystem.

After years of confusion, a new study confirms the proton is tinier than once thought. That enables a test of the standard model of particle physics.

The regurgitated material from before the time of dinosaurs provides a rare window into the feeding habits of a prehistoric hunter.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the first animals to crawl onto land were strict meat-eaters, even as plants had already taken over the landscape. Now scientists have uncovered a 307-million-year-old fossil that rewrites that story: one of the earliest known land vertebrates to start eating plants. The animal, named Tyrannoroter heberti, was a stocky, football-sized creature with a skull packed with specialized teeth designed for crushing and grinding vegetation.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the first animals to crawl onto land were strict meat-eaters, even as plants had already taken over the landscape. Now scientists have uncovered a 307-million-year-old fossil that rewrites that story: one of the earliest known land vertebrates to start eating plants. The animal, named Tyrannoroter heberti, was a stocky, football-sized creature with a skull packed with specialized teeth designed for crushing and grinding vegetation.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the first animals to crawl onto land were strict meat-eaters, even as plants had already taken over the landscape. Now scientists have uncovered a 307-million-year-old fossil that rewrites that story: one of the earliest known land vertebrates to start eating plants. The animal, named Tyrannoroter heberti, was a stocky, football-sized creature with a skull packed with specialized teeth designed for crushing and grinding vegetation.

Scientists have captured remarkable footage of the young of a mouse-sized marsupial, called a fat-tailed dunnart, making their way to their mother’s pouch soon after being born

After 10 years, just over half the people in a trial of antibiotics for appendicitis have not needed an appendectomy.

Hydrogen reserves in Earth’s core large enough to supply at least nine oceans may influence processes on the surface today.

A new book by pain researcher Rachel Zoffness demystifies how pain is made and how it can be treated.

Researchers used AI-driven virtual players to test more than 100 rule sets, matching gameplay to wear patterns on a Roman limestone board.

A long-term observational study found a link between the amount of tea and caffeinated coffee people drank and the risk of dementia.

Two pieces of elk hide connected by a twisted-fiber cord are the earliest evidence of sewing. But what they were used for is still a mystery.