Paleo in the News

The Terra Hunting Experiment will track the wobbles of dozens of stars nightly for years in the most focused hunt yet for an Earth twin.

Bragging rights and an adrenaline rush aren’t the only reasons to start the year with a frigid swim. A dip in icy water builds resilience.

3-D microscopy shows that the giant bacterium Thiovulum imperiosus squeezes its DNA into peripheral pouches, not a central mass like typical bacteria.

Over 8,000 years ago, early farming communities in northern Mesopotamia were already thinking mathematically—long before numbers were written down. By closely studying Halafian pottery, researchers uncovered floral and plant designs arranged with precise symmetry and numerical patterns, revealing a surprisingly advanced sense of geometry.

Machine learning techniques that make use of tensor networks could manipulate data more efficiently and help open the black box of AI models.

Cats were domesticated in North Africa, but spread to Europe only about 2,000 years ago. Earlier reports of “house” cats were wild cats.

Scientists have digitally reconstructed the face of a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus fossil from Ethiopia, uncovering an unexpectedly primitive appearance. While its braincase fits with classic Homo erectus, the face and teeth resemble much older human ancestors. This discovery challenges long-held ideas about where and how Homo erectus evolved. It also hints at a complex web of migrations and possible mixing between early human species.

Scientists have digitally reconstructed the face of a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus fossil from Ethiopia, uncovering an unexpectedly primitive appearance. While its braincase fits with classic Homo erectus, the face and teeth resemble much older human ancestors. This discovery challenges long-held ideas about where and how Homo erectus evolved. It also hints at a complex web of migrations and possible mixing between early human species.

Scientists have digitally reconstructed the face of a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus fossil from Ethiopia, uncovering an unexpectedly primitive appearance. While its braincase fits with classic Homo erectus, the face and teeth resemble much older human ancestors. This discovery challenges long-held ideas about where and how Homo erectus evolved. It also hints at a complex web of migrations and possible mixing between early human species.

Around 1,000 years ago, a major climate shift reshaped rainfall across the South Pacific, making western islands like Samoa and Tonga drier while eastern islands such as Tahiti became increasingly wet. New evidence from plant waxes preserved in island sediments shows this change coincided with the final major wave of Polynesian expansion eastward. As freshwater became scarcer in the west and more abundant in the east, people may have been pushed to migrate, effectively “chasing the rain” across vast stretches of ocean.

It’s possible to defy gravity using sound waves, magnets or electricity, but today’s methods can’t hoist heavy items high in the sky.

A mysterious excess of far-ultraviolet light seen across the Milky Way could come from the annihilation of clumpy dark matter.

Giant mosasaurs, once thought to be strictly ocean-dwelling predators, may have spent their final chapter prowling freshwater rivers alongside dinosaurs and crocodiles. A massive tooth found in North Dakota, analyzed using chemical isotope techniques, reveals that some mosasaurs adapted to river systems as seas gradually freshened near the end of the age of dinosaurs. These enormous reptiles, possibly as long as a bus, appear to have hunted near the surface, perhaps even feeding on drowned dinosaurs.

Giant mosasaurs, once thought to be strictly ocean-dwelling predators, may have spent their final chapter prowling freshwater rivers alongside dinosaurs and crocodiles. A massive tooth found in North Dakota, analyzed using chemical isotope techniques, reveals that some mosasaurs adapted to river systems as seas gradually freshened near the end of the age of dinosaurs. These enormous reptiles, possibly as long as a bus, appear to have hunted near the surface, perhaps even feeding on drowned dinosaurs.

Giant mosasaurs, once thought to be strictly ocean-dwelling predators, may have spent their final chapter prowling freshwater rivers alongside dinosaurs and crocodiles. A massive tooth found in North Dakota, analyzed using chemical isotope techniques, reveals that some mosasaurs adapted to river systems as seas gradually freshened near the end of the age of dinosaurs. These enormous reptiles, possibly as long as a bus, appear to have hunted near the surface, perhaps even feeding on drowned dinosaurs.

A mosquito proboscis repurposed as a 3-D printing nozzle can print filaments around 20 micrometers wide, half the width of a fine human hair.

In the aftermath of slavery, white psychiatrists diagnosed Black people with “religious excitement” and claimed they were unfit for freedom.

Fossils from Qatar have revealed a small, newly identified sea cow species that lived in the Arabian Gulf more than 20 million years ago. The site contains the densest known collection of fossil sea cow bones, showing that these animals once thrived in rich seagrass meadows. Their ecological role mirrors that of modern dugongs, which still reshape the Gulf’s seafloor as they graze. The findings may help researchers understand how seagrass ecosystems respond to long-term environmental change.

Fossils from Qatar have revealed a small, newly identified sea cow species that lived in the Arabian Gulf more than 20 million years ago. The site contains the densest known collection of fossil sea cow bones, showing that these animals once thrived in rich seagrass meadows. Their ecological role mirrors that of modern dugongs, which still reshape the Gulf’s seafloor as they graze. The findings may help researchers understand how seagrass ecosystems respond to long-term environmental change.

Fossils from Qatar have revealed a small, newly identified sea cow species that lived in the Arabian Gulf more than 20 million years ago. The site contains the densest known collection of fossil sea cow bones, showing that these animals once thrived in rich seagrass meadows. Their ecological role mirrors that of modern dugongs, which still reshape the Gulf’s seafloor as they graze. The findings may help researchers understand how seagrass ecosystems respond to long-term environmental change.