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Discoveries

Shovel-tusked elephants like Amebelodon were discovered nearly a century ago, and paleontologists have learned more about their anatomy and behavior with time. This 1932 illustration was later found to be inaccurate, as Amebelodon actually had a longer and narrower trunk.

Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth

The animals’ extended lower jaws were seemingly made for scooping, but research over the past few decades has found they could do a lot more than initially expected

Italian officials gather at the site of the basilica in the town of Fano.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Finally Found a Long-Lost Basilica That Matches the Description the Architect Wrote 2,000 Years Ago

The structure is the first known evidence of a building attributed to Vitruvius, the author of an architectural treatise that influenced thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci

Cloud-9, shown in magenta. The circle represents the region where researchers focused their search for stars—the peak of radio emission.

Astronomers Find an Odd Space Cloud, Like a Galaxy Without Stars, That Could Shed Light on the Secrets of Dark Matter

Named “Cloud-9,” the discovery is a new type of celestial object known as a RELHIC, which is unlike anything scientists have ever observed

Newly discovered species filled gaps in dinosaur evolution and shed light on historic migrations, while other studies offered new ways to date remains and made key insights about diets.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2025, From Preserved Blood Vessels to the Return of a Short King

With studies of fossilized bones, gut contents, eggshells and more, paleontologists revealed new and captivating details about the enormous reptiles that once roamed the Earth

Divers explored the wreck site for the first time in August.

Mysterious Shipwreck Discovered in ‘Pristine’ Condition in Lake Ontario—With Its Masts Still Standing

Divers found the well-preserved vessel while searching for a different wreck called the “Rapid City,” which sank near Toronto in 1917

Epiatheracerium itjilik lived in a forested lake habitat on Devon Island 23 million years ago. 

Scientists Discover ‘Frosty’ Polar Rhino That Roamed the Canadian Arctic 23 Million Years Ago

The newly identified species was small, hornless and possibly covered in fur, which would have helped it survive dark, cold winters above the Arctic Circle

Human remains excavated in an ancient well in Croatia were likely those of ancient Roman soldiers, a new study suggests.

Seven Skeletons Found in a Croatian Well Were Likely Ancient Roman Soldiers Who Died During a Troubled Time for the Empire

The tall, adult men probably died during the battle of Mursa in 260 C.E., according to a new analysis of their remains

Nobel Committee Secretary-General Thomas Perlmann addresses journalists during an October 6 press conference announcing the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden.

Trio of Researchers Awarded Nobel Prize for Groundbreaking Discovery of Immune Cells That Prevent Autoimmune Disease

Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi’s research revealed a new class of cells shaking up scientists’ understanding of the human immune system

Deep-sea divers retrieve artifacts from the wreckage of the Britannic, which rests nearly 400 feet below sea level.

The Titanic’s Sister Ship, the Britannic, Sank in 1916. For the First Time, Divers Have Recovered Artifacts From Its Wreck

The luxury liner was requisitioned as a hospital ship during World War I. Thirty people died after the vessel struck a German naval mine and sank off the coast of Greece

An artistic rendering depicting dozens of exoplanets

Exoplanet Discoveries Pass the 6,000 Mark, Shedding Light on How Our Solar System Compares With the Rest of the Universe

The rate of finding these distant worlds has recently increased, with astronomers scrambling to accommodate the data

The researchers connected an inscription on a marble pedestal to the well-preserved marble sculpture.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Solved the Mystery of This Marble Statue. Its Subject Was a Woman Who Might Have Helped an Ancient City Achieve Political Freedom

The marble sculpture, discovered at Chersonesos Taurica in Crimea in 2003, has been identified as a woman named Laodice

An artistic rendering featuring a confrontation between two dome-headed dinosaurs

Cool Finds

Paleontologists Discover Earliest Known Dome-Headed Dinosaur in Excellent Condition, Shedding Light on Its Mysterious Anatomy

Most of what researchers previously knew about the iconic Cretaceous dinosaurs came from their domed heads, which endured better than the rest of their skeletons

Christ on the Cross at the Osenat auction house

Cool Finds

Long-Lost Rubens Painting of Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion Discovered in a Paris Mansion

The Baroque artwork stopped an auctioneer in his tracks during a routine property visit. The newly discovered piece will go to auction in November

The bumpy snailfish (Careproctus colliculi) is one of three new deep-sea species described.

Cool Finds

Biologists Discover Surprisingly Cute Deep-Sea Fish Species Off the Coast of California

Meet the bumpy snailfish—described by scientists as “adorable”—as well as the dark snailfish and sleek snailfish, all of which thrive thousands of feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean

An artist's interpretation of what early penguins in New Zealand might have looked like

Early Penguins Had Long, Dagger-Like Beaks for Skewering Fish, New Zealand Fossils Reveal

Paleontologists describe four new species of extinct ancestral penguins that help shed light on how the iconic birds evolved after dinosaurs went extinct

Yagi (left) and Quinn (right) are searching for evidence of critically endangered Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia's Way Kambas National Park.

Two Sniffer Dogs Might Have Just Found a Lost Population of Critically Endangered Rhinos

Yagi and Quinn identified scat that was likely left by a Sumatran rhinoceros in Indonesia’s Way Kambas National Park, where scientists thought the animals had disappeared

An artist's depiction of the newly discovered "quadruple system" within the Milky Way. In it, two brown dwarfs orbit each other at the right, and together, they orbit a pair of red dwarf stars at the left.

Astronomers Spot a Rare Quadruple Star System in the Milky Way, Shedding Light on Mysterious Brown Dwarfs

The discovery can help astronomers better understand these little-known objects nicknamed “failed stars”

An artist's reconstruction of what Spicomellus afer would have looked like.

Oldest Known Fossil of an Armored Ankylosaur Is ‘Far Weirder’ Than Paleontologists Expected

The 13-foot dinosaur, covered in long spikes fused into its bones, suggests ankylosaurs developed tail weapons 30 million years earlier than thought

The sailback houndshark was first described as a new genus and species in 1973.

Elusive Sailback Houndshark Rediscovered in Papua New Guinea After 50 Years

The creatures are occasionally caught by local fishermen but hadn’t been scientifically recorded since the 1970s

An illustration of SN2021yfj enveloped in a layer of heavy elements during its supernova explosion

A Unique Supernova ‘Dazzled’ Astronomers and Revealed the Inner Layers of Stars

Researchers observed a supernova in progress that showed the onion-like structure of elements in stars, and the explosion may belong to a class of its own

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