Paleo in the News

A major breakthrough in Maya archaeology has emerged from Caracol, Belize, where the University of Houston team uncovered the tomb of Te K'ab Chaak—Caracol’s first known ruler. Buried with elaborate jade, ceramics, and symbolic artifacts, the tomb offers unprecedented insight into early Maya royalty and their ties to the powerful Mexican city of Teotihuacan.

A university student on a fossil-hunting field trip in Dorset made a stunning discovery: a 145-million-year-old jawbone belonging to a previously unknown mammal species with razor-like teeth. With the help of CT scanning, 3D printing, and expert analysis, the fossil was revealed to be Novaculadon mirabilis, a multituberculate that lived alongside dinosaurs. This is the first find of its kind from the area in over a century, and the fossil’s preservation and sharp-toothed structure are offering new insights into early mammal evolution — all thanks to a beach walk and a sharp eye.

A university student on a fossil-hunting field trip in Dorset made a stunning discovery: a 145-million-year-old jawbone belonging to a previously unknown mammal species with razor-like teeth. With the help of CT scanning, 3D printing, and expert analysis, the fossil was revealed to be Novaculadon mirabilis, a multituberculate that lived alongside dinosaurs. This is the first find of its kind from the area in over a century, and the fossil’s preservation and sharp-toothed structure are offering new insights into early mammal evolution — all thanks to a beach walk and a sharp eye.

A university student on a fossil-hunting field trip in Dorset made a stunning discovery: a 145-million-year-old jawbone belonging to a previously unknown mammal species with razor-like teeth. With the help of CT scanning, 3D printing, and expert analysis, the fossil was revealed to be Novaculadon mirabilis, a multituberculate that lived alongside dinosaurs. This is the first find of its kind from the area in over a century, and the fossil’s preservation and sharp-toothed structure are offering new insights into early mammal evolution — all thanks to a beach walk and a sharp eye.

3I/ATLAS might be over 7 billion years old, a new study reports, which would make it the oldest comet known. But experts caution we need more data.

Experiments in mice show that some gut bacteria can absorb toxic PFAS chemicals, allowing animals to expel them through feces.

Over the past decade, researchers have been puzzling through Pluto’s mysteries. Meanwhile, the New Horizons probe heads for interstellar space.

Scientists have uncovered DNA from 214 ancient pathogens in prehistoric humans, including the oldest known evidence of plague. The findings show zoonotic diseases began spreading around 6,500 years ago, likely triggered by farming and animal domestication. These ancient infections may still influence us today, and help guide the vaccines of tomorrow.

Scientists have uncovered DNA from 214 ancient pathogens in prehistoric humans, including the oldest known evidence of plague. The findings show zoonotic diseases began spreading around 6,500 years ago, likely triggered by farming and animal domestication. These ancient infections may still influence us today, and help guide the vaccines of tomorrow.

A genomic analysis of Greenland’s Qimmeq dogs suggest they and their human partners arrived on the island centuries earlier than previously thought.

Something strange happens to water as it moves through the stems of horsetail plants – and this unique process provides valuable clues for understanding past and present ecosystems

In fantasy worlds, trees like the Lord of the Rings’ Ents are agile and mobile. In the real world, they’re slow.

Kat Zhou has won the Aquatic Life category in the 2025 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition, while a shot of a death-defying leap by a lemur took the top prize

Strange cone-shaped rocks led scientists to the hidden remains of one of Earth’s oldest asteroid impacts. It could help us find fossil life on Mars.

New versions of the H5N1 virus are increasingly adept at spreading. Suggestions to either let it rip in poultry or vaccinate the birds could backfire.

The oldest protein fragments ever recovered have been extracted from fossilised teeth found in Kenya's Rift Valley, revealing the remains belonged to the ancient ancestors of rhinoceroses and elephants

The U.S. push to mine international waters for metals defies global efforts to control and protect these fragile ecosystems.

After a controversial project claiming to have resurrected the dire wolf, Colossal Biosciences has now announced plans to bring back nine species of the extinct moa bird

U.S. diets should include more of vitamins D and E, fiber, calcium and magnesium — all are essential nutrients that could offer health benefits.

Sneaky chemistry by a real-life “Last of Us” Cordyceps fungus mind controls its zombie insect victims by convincing them they’re starving.