Paleo in the News

Researchers are keeping an eye on the building-sized asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a 4 percent chance of hitting the moon seven years from now.

An NIH scientist’s maverick approach reveals legal, ethical, moral, scientific and social challenges to developing potentially life-saving vaccines.

Long before whales and sharks, enormous marine reptiles dominated the oceans with unmatched power. Scientists have reconstructed a 130-million-year-old marine ecosystem from Colombia and found predators operating at a food-chain level higher than any seen today. The ancient seas were bursting with life, from giant reptiles to rich invertebrate communities. This extreme complexity reveals how intense competition helped drive the evolution of modern marine ecosystems.

Long before whales and sharks, enormous marine reptiles dominated the oceans with unmatched power. Scientists have reconstructed a 130-million-year-old marine ecosystem from Colombia and found predators operating at a food-chain level higher than any seen today. The ancient seas were bursting with life, from giant reptiles to rich invertebrate communities. This extreme complexity reveals how intense competition helped drive the evolution of modern marine ecosystems.

Solve the crossword from our January 2026 issue, in which we take a crack at geological principles

Gut problems like irritable bowel syndrome are often worse in women. A mouse study reveals a pain pathway involving estrogen, gut cells and bacteria.

A massive collision between two asteroid-sized bodies around a nearby star offers a rare look at the violent process of planetary construction.

Psychiatrist Robert Custer spent his life convincing doctors that compulsive gambling was not an impulse control problem. Today, his research is foundational for diagnosis and treatment.

Traces of opium found inside an ancient alabaster vase suggest drug use was common in ancient Egypt, not rare or accidental. The discovery raises the possibility that King Tut’s famous jars once held opiates valued enough to be buried with pharaohs—and stolen by tomb raiders.

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.