Paleo in the News

Dinosaurs weren’t dying out before the asteroid hit—they were thriving in vibrant, diverse habitats across North America. Fossil evidence from New Mexico shows that distinct “bioprovinces” of dinosaurs existed until the very end. Their extinction was sudden, not gradual, and the recovery of life afterward mirrored climate-driven patterns. It’s a powerful reminder of life’s adaptability and fragility.

New research shows that hippos lived in central Europe tens of thousands of years longer than previously thought. Ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating confirm they survived in Germany’s Upper Rhine Graben during a milder Ice Age phase. Closely related to modern African hippos, they shared the landscape with cold-adapted giants like mammoths. The finding rewrites Ice Age history and suggests regional climates were far more diverse.

New research shows that hippos lived in central Europe tens of thousands of years longer than previously thought. Ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating confirm they survived in Germany’s Upper Rhine Graben during a milder Ice Age phase. Closely related to modern African hippos, they shared the landscape with cold-adapted giants like mammoths. The finding rewrites Ice Age history and suggests regional climates were far more diverse.

AI promises to speed up scientific analysis and writing. However, AI agents struggled with accuracy and judgment.

DNA from Napoleonic soldiers’ teeth uncovered two fever-causing bacteria that may have worsened the army’s fatal retreat from Russia.

Scientists have unveiled Khankhuuluu, a new Mongolian dinosaur species that predates and closely resembles early Tyrannosaurs. With its long snout, small horns, and lean build, it represents a transitional form between swift mid-sized predators and giant apex hunters like T. rex. The find also suggests that large Tyrannosaurs first evolved in North America following an ancient migration from Asia.

Scientists have unveiled Khankhuuluu, a new Mongolian dinosaur species that predates and closely resembles early Tyrannosaurs. With its long snout, small horns, and lean build, it represents a transitional form between swift mid-sized predators and giant apex hunters like T. rex. The find also suggests that large Tyrannosaurs first evolved in North America following an ancient migration from Asia.

Scientists have unveiled Khankhuuluu, a new Mongolian dinosaur species that predates and closely resembles early Tyrannosaurs. With its long snout, small horns, and lean build, it represents a transitional form between swift mid-sized predators and giant apex hunters like T. rex. The find also suggests that large Tyrannosaurs first evolved in North America following an ancient migration from Asia.

Glioblastoma doesn't just affect the brain. It also erodes bones in the skull and changes the composition of immune cells in skull marrow.

Birds all over the world break into a dawn chorus every morning – now experiments in zebra finches suggest both a mechanistic and a functional explanation for this phenomenon

New dating of New Mexico rocks suggest diverse dinosaurs thrived there just before the impact, countering the idea dinos were already on their way out.

A variety of subway-dwelling mosquito seems like a modern artifact. But genomic analysis reveals the insect got its evolutionary start millennia ago.

Pricey civet coffee gets its cred from its journey through the mammal’s gut, which changes the content of fat, protein, fatty acids — and even caffeine.

Vipers have the fastest strikes, but snakes from other families can give some slower vipers stiff competition.

Microbes high in Earth’s stratosphere produce pigments to protect them from UV light – so similar molecules could be biosignatures of life elsewhere in the galaxy

Google says its quantum computer achieved a verifiable calculation that classic computers cannot. The work could point to future applications.

Thousands of at-risk manta and devil rays become accidental bycatch in tuna fishing nets every year. A simple sorting grid could help save them.

Naturalist Chris Packham speaks at New Scientist Live about the six species that changed his life

Biomedical engineer Erika Moore investigates diseases that disproportionately affect women of color.

A new look at cuts on a giant kangaroo bone reveal First Peoples as fossil collectors, not hunters who helped drive species extinct, some scientists argue.