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Discoveries

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

Floods caused devastation across central Texas in July. In one area, volunteers responding to the disaster found newly uncovered dinosaur tracks.

Volunteers Discover 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tracks Revealed in the Wake of Devastating Texas Floods

Fifteen large prints were probably left behind by meat-eating dinosaurs, and they were revealed as floodwaters washed away dirt in early July

Novaculadon mirabilis is characterized by its razor-sharp teeth.

A Student Spotted a Jawbone at a Beach. It Turned Out to Be a New, Mouse-Sized Mammal That Lived Among Dinosaurs

The species was named for its pointy teeth and could shed light on early mammal adaptations

An illustration of a mother and calf Janjucetus dullardi, a newly discovered tiny whale species with a sharp bite

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Prehistoric Whale Is ‘Deceptively Cute’—It’s Tiny but Has a Mouth Full of Razor-Sharp Teeth

Found on the southern coast of Australia, the species could fill gaps in scientists’ understanding of baleen whale evolution

Ecology Glacier on Antarctica’s King George Island in winter, where the body of Dennis “Tink” Bell was recovered

Remains of a Lost Antarctic Researcher Are Finally Recovered, 66 Years After He Fell Into a Crevasse

A team of Polish scientists found bone fragments and items belonging to Dennis “Tink” Bell near Ecology Glacier on Antarctica’s King George Island

After seeing a picture of the stick insect on social media, the researchers spent days trying to find and collect it for further research.

Gigantic ‘Walking Stick’ Discovered in Australia Might Be the Continent’s Heaviest Insect

Scientists identified the elusive new species from a female found in a high-altitude rainforest’s canopy

The new species lives in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, from the eastern United States down to Brazil.

Scientists Identify a New Manta Ray Species, Just the Third Known in the World

Meet Mobula yarae, a large marine creature that lives along the coast in the Atlantic Ocean

The leaf-toed gecko has been rediscovered on Rábida Island in the Galápagos.

Small, Secretive Gecko Rediscovered in the Galápagos After Scientists Eliminate Invasive Rats

Researchers thought leaf-toed geckos were locally extinct on Rábida Island, so they were thrilled to find several of the lizards alive and well during 2019 and 2021 expeditions

Researchers found fragments of fossils representing prehistoric mollusks, crustaceans and worms among rocks at the Grand Canyon.

Trove of Fossils Uncovered in the Grand Canyon Offers a Rare Glimpse Into Cambrian Life, With Toothy Worms and Slug-Like Mollusks

Rocks found along the Colorado River in Arizona turned out to contain fossilized fragments of soft-bodied creatures, suggesting the site may have been an “evolutionary hotbed”

The Earl of Chatham, previously a Royal Navy vessel called the HMS Hind, was discovered in February 2024 on the shores of Sanday.

America's 250th Anniversary

A Boy Found a Shipwreck on a Scottish Beach. It Turned Out to Be a 250-Year-Old Warship From the American Revolution

The HMS “Hind,” later renamed the “Earl of Chatham,” was a frigate in the British Royal Navy before it was repurposed as a whaling vessel

Researchers used a laser to superheat a sample of gold past its theoretical limit and directly measured its temperature.

Physicists Superheated Gold to Hotter Than the Sun’s Surface and Disproved a 40-Year-Old Idea

A thin piece of gold reached 33,740 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than 14 times higher than its melting point, by being rapidly heated—and it didn’t melt

The Barbados threadsnake is just three to four inches long and about the same width as a strand of spaghetti. Pictured here in 2006, the species was officially described in 2008.

Scientists Feared the World’s Smallest Snake Had Gone Extinct. They Just Found It Again

When fully grown, the Barbados threadsnake is only three to four inches long—shorter than many earthworms

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