https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/fossils/RSS feed for FossilsenFri, 18 Sep 2026 15:59:36 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tyrannosaurus-rex-was-a-warm-blooded-dinosaur-with-a-body-temperature-similar-to-that-of-humans-study-suggests-180989519/A tooth analysis hints that the fearsome predator ran at a toasty 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Maintaining that internal temperature may have allowed it to inhabit a range stretching from modern-day Alaska to Mexico during the Cretaceous periodFri, 18 Sep 2026 15:59:36 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tyrannosaurus-rex-was-a-warm-blooded-dinosaur-with-a-body-temperature-similar-to-that-of-humans-study-suggests-180989519/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-ways-the-world-of-the-dinosaurs-looked-different-from-ours-beyond-the-presence-of-the-terrible-lizards-180989521/Earth has changed dramatically since the Age of Dinosaurs, from its climate to geography and animal lifeFri, 18 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-ways-the-world-of-the-dinosaurs-looked-different-from-ours-beyond-the-presence-of-the-terrible-lizards-180989521/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-66-million-year-old-feather-trapped-in-dinosaur-poop-might-help-explain-why-some-birds-survived-mass-extinction-180989496/Discovered in Montana in 2016, the cherry-size coprolite contains feathers, bones and evidence of the bird's last meal before the creature was eaten by a theropodWed, 16 Sep 2026 18:45:02 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-66-million-year-old-feather-trapped-in-dinosaur-poop-might-help-explain-why-some-birds-survived-mass-extinction-180989496/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-geologist-in-california-found-something-strange-sticking-out-of-a-creek-reverse-image-search-told-her-it-was-an-ancient-mastodon-tooth-180989504/Pacific mastodons roamed parts of North America before disappearing along with other Ice Age megafauna around 11,700 years agoTue, 15 Sep 2026 19:04:02 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-geologist-in-california-found-something-strange-sticking-out-of-a-creek-reverse-image-search-told-her-it-was-an-ancient-mastodon-tooth-180989504/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-four-giant-dinosaur-footprints-discovered-in-north-dakota-might-represent-the-first-trackway-made-by-an-adult-t-rex-ever-found-180989481/A high school teacher first spotted the remarkable trail while volunteering on a paleontological dig. Researchers suspect a hulking, full-grown dinosaur marched through the then-swampy landscape roughly 66.5 million years agoTue, 15 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-four-giant-dinosaur-footprints-discovered-in-north-dakota-might-represent-the-first-trackway-made-by-an-adult-t-rex-ever-found-180989481/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/for-decades-scientists-thought-an-american-cheetah-once-roamed-north-america-ancient-turns-out-the-extinct-cat-wasnt-a-cheetah-180989465/Ancient DNA from fossils found in Wyoming and Canada's Yukon Territory suggests the wild cat more closely resembled modern pumas than modern cheetahsFri, 11 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/for-decades-scientists-thought-an-american-cheetah-once-roamed-north-america-ancient-turns-out-the-extinct-cat-wasnt-a-cheetah-180989465/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/to-researchers-surprise-this-giant-dinosaur-laid-eggs-in-a-cold-climate-180989474/A new study suggests that titanosaurs used rotting vegetation to keep their eggs warm much like crocodiles do todayWed, 09 Sep 2026 20:29:56 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/to-researchers-surprise-this-giant-dinosaur-laid-eggs-in-a-cold-climate-180989474/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-recreated-the-long-lost-chirps-of-jurassic-insects-listen-to-the-simulated-soundscape-of-165-million-years-ago-180989445/With artificial intelligence and careful modeling of fossilized wings, researchers reproduced how some extinct, katydid-like insects might have made noiseThu, 03 Sep 2026 20:08:40 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-recreated-the-long-lost-chirps-of-jurassic-insects-listen-to-the-simulated-soundscape-of-165-million-years-ago-180989445/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/corals-reveal-el-nino-events-have-become-stronger-in-recent-decades-probably-because-humans-have-been-heating-up-the-planet-180989432/Researchers used elements trapped within Galápagos corals to understand natural swings in the climate over the past millennium. They hint that variability has gone up over the past 40 years compared to preindustrial timesWed, 02 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/corals-reveal-el-nino-events-have-become-stronger-in-recent-decades-probably-because-humans-have-been-heating-up-the-planet-180989432/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ancient-insect-had-24-legs-and-could-help-explain-how-the-ancestors-of-modern-day-bugs-took-over-the-land-180989420/A previously undescribed critter that lived 324 million years ago appears to have been a transitional species that lived between land and sea. It could help researchers fill an 80-million-year gap in the fossil record of how crustaceans evolved into insectsTue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ancient-insect-had-24-legs-and-could-help-explain-how-the-ancestors-of-modern-day-bugs-took-over-the-land-180989420/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/forests-didnt-fare-well-during-an-ancient-global-warming-event-offering-a-cautionary-tale-about-todays-climate-change-180989353/An intense global warming event 56 million years ago caused a forest in modern-day Wyoming to lose around 60 percent of its canopy cover, and it took more than 100,000 years to bounce back, a study suggestsFri, 28 Aug 2026 18:43:58 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/forests-didnt-fare-well-during-an-ancient-global-warming-event-offering-a-cautionary-tale-about-todays-climate-change-180989353/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/paleontologists-discover-a-new-species-of-ice-age-toad-at-the-la-brea-tar-pits-offering-clues-about-the-areas-ancient-climate-180989390/The fossilized remains, recovered in 1929, were part of La Brea's relatively understudied amphibian collection. Since toads are cold-blooded and sensitive to environmental changes, the discovery can help researchers piece together past climate conditionsThu, 27 Aug 2026 15:37:27 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/paleontologists-discover-a-new-species-of-ice-age-toad-at-the-la-brea-tar-pits-offering-clues-about-the-areas-ancient-climate-180989390/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/closed-to-public-since-wwii-hidden-gallery-at-london-natural-history-museum-opens-doors-once-again-180989380/Animal skeletons, Neolithic tools and pop culture memorabilia are among the dozens of objects to be displayed in the reopened “Nature and Us” exhibitionMon, 24 Aug 2026 17:18:09 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/closed-to-public-since-wwii-hidden-gallery-at-london-natural-history-museum-opens-doors-once-again-180989380/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-did-animals-start-giving-birth-to-live-young-this-236-million-year-old-fossil-might-rewrite-mammals-evolutionary-history-180989343/A bone feature found in a mammal ancestor hints that the creature was relatively large as a newborn, more in line with the size of a creature birthed live than hatched from an egg. Still, it provides only indirect evidenceMon, 17 Aug 2026 16:23:49 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-did-animals-start-giving-birth-to-live-young-this-236-million-year-old-fossil-might-rewrite-mammals-evolutionary-history-180989343/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/an-11-year-old-boy-in-an-illinois-small-town-just-became-the-guinness-world-record-holder-for-being-the-youngest-museum-curator-180989313/Four years after Anderson Taylor began collecting specimens, he opened the Cambridge Natural History Museum in Cambridge, Illinois, offering school tours and attracting visitors from across the regionTue, 11 Aug 2026 17:53:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/an-11-year-old-boy-in-an-illinois-small-town-just-became-the-guinness-world-record-holder-for-being-the-youngest-museum-curator-180989313/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/spinal-deformities-in-saber-toothed-cat-fossils-reveal-how-the-now-extinct-felines-may-have-spent-their-final-days-180989237/Researchers studied saber-toothed cat vertebrae found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. They identified a surprisingly high number of deformations, including signs of spinal nerve tumors, hinting at a dwindling population suffering the consequences of inbreedingMon, 10 Aug 2026 15:36:44 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/spinal-deformities-in-saber-toothed-cat-fossils-reveal-how-the-now-extinct-felines-may-have-spent-their-final-days-180989237/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-danube-river-has-fallen-to-record-low-water-levels-revealing-nazi-warships-bombs-and-woolly-mammoth-bones-in-its-channel-180989255/Residents and researchers are finding historic and prehistoric relics as Europe's second-longest river driesTue, 04 Aug 2026 18:20:27 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-danube-river-has-fallen-to-record-low-water-levels-revealing-nazi-warships-bombs-and-woolly-mammoth-bones-in-its-channel-180989255/