Paleo in the News

See some of the winning entries for this year's Oceania Photo Contest, including Miesa Grobbelaar's shot of a whale, which took the top prize

Hunter-gatherers at Poverty Point may have built its massive earthworks not under the command of chiefs, but as part of a vast, temporary gathering of egalitarian communities seeking spiritual harmony in a volatile world. New radiocarbon data and reexamined artifacts suggest far-flung travelers met to trade, worship, and participate in rituals designed to appease the forces of nature.

Takanori Takebe’s strange investigation into whether humans can use the gut for breathing has surprisingly sentimental origins: helping his dad.

The grisly infrared camera footage records a never-before-seen hunting tactic. It may have implications for bat conservation.

In people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers linked minimal to moderate physical activity to a 3-to 7-year delay in cognitive symptoms.

Analysis of the DNA and proteins of a range of animals has revealed that sperm’s molecular toolkit arose in our single-celled ancestors, perhaps more than a billion years ago

A Swedish plano-convex ingot once thought to be from the Bronze Age was revealed through chemical and isotopic testing to belong to the Iron Age. Its composition closely matches Iron Age finds from Poland, leading researchers to uncover new evidence of long-distance connections across the Baltic. The study highlights how collaboration and scientific analysis can transform isolated artifacts into clues about ancient trade and networking.

From woolly mammoths to giant sloths, via some lesser-known ice-age beasts like 'killer koalas', the visuals in this documentary are simply astounding

Nancy Shute, Editor in Chief, discusses big advances across science in 2025 as well as the assault on science by the Trump administration.

Around 115 million years ago, northern Australia’s seas hosted a colossal shark that rewrites what we thought we knew about early ocean predators. New fossil discoveries show that modern-type sharks were experimenting with gigantic sizes far earlier than scientists believed, competing with the marine “monsters” of the dinosaur age.

Around 115 million years ago, northern Australia’s seas hosted a colossal shark that rewrites what we thought we knew about early ocean predators. New fossil discoveries show that modern-type sharks were experimenting with gigantic sizes far earlier than scientists believed, competing with the marine “monsters” of the dinosaur age.

Around 115 million years ago, northern Australia’s seas hosted a colossal shark that rewrites what we thought we knew about early ocean predators. New fossil discoveries show that modern-type sharks were experimenting with gigantic sizes far earlier than scientists believed, competing with the marine “monsters” of the dinosaur age.

These five early- and mid-career researchers are shaking up what we know about the Arctic, black holes and beyond.

Expectations of continued success for American science were shaken this year when the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in funding and fired thousands of scientists.

The American Museum of Natural History’s “Impact: The End of the Age of the Dinosaurs” examines how an asteroid impact shaped life as we know it.

Skin is a barrier meant to keep small invaders out. Products making their way across it should boost that mission.

Around 1000 markings on a slab of rock that was once a seafloor during the Cretaceous period may have been made by sea turtle flippers and swiftly buried by an earthquake

Solve the math puzzle from our December 2025 issue, in which a holiday gift exchange occurs.

Simple chemistry could give the reindeer his famously bright snout. But physics would make it look different colors from the ground.

A machine learning analysis of wild lion audio reveals they have two roar types, not one. This insight might help detect where lions are declining.