Paleontology

Pithovirus sibericum, TKTK

The World's Largest Virus Was Just Resurrected From 34,000-Year-Old Permafrost

It's not a threat to humans, but does show that ancient viruses can persist for millennia and remain a potential health threat

Fossil whale skeletons, evidence of an ancient mass stranding of the animals, discovered during the building of the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile in 2011.

Scientists Solve the Mystery of a Nine-Million-Year-Old Mass Whale Die-Off

Ancient blooms of toxic algae appear to have killed dozens of whales at once

Some dinosaurs, such as the (Caudipteryx zoui) above, had brightly colored feathers. New research suggests that modern birds inherited their own color varieties from their feathered dinosaur ancestors.

Colorful Plumage Began With Feathered Dinosaurs

The pigment patterns scientists use to predict ancient animal colors started with feathered dinosaurs and led to vibrant color in birds

In addition to its limb-like front fins, Tiktaalik had large, mobile rear fins that it used to push itself around in the water.

Ancient Walking Fish May Have Walked on All Fours

A fossilized pelvis shows the fish had functioning rear “legs”

Dinosaur Poop Is Harder to Find Than It Should Be

Why don't archaeologists find fossilized poop all over the place? In a word: roaches

A time capsule of life in the Eocene: Ailuravus, a three-foot-long, squirrel-like rodent

The Evolutionary Secrets Within the Messel Pit

An amazing abundance of fossils in a bygone lake in Germany hints at the debt humans owe to animals that died out 48 million years ago

One of the ancient human fossils found in Spain's La Sima de los Huesos.

Scientists Just Sequenced the DNA From A 400,000-Year-Old Early Human

The fossil, found in Spain, is mysteriously related to an ancient group of homonins called the Denisovans, previously found only in Siberia

Kirk Johnson — Director of the National Museum of Natural History

"Future Is Here" Featured Speaker

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How Scientists Are Recreating a Mating Call Last Heard in the Jurassic Period

Preserved in stone, a set of ancient insect wings are “chirping” once again thanks to the work of entomologists

A cautious Camptosaurus approaches a resting Allosaurus. Even though the carnivore undoubtedly hunted the herbivore at times, the two weren’t constantly at war with each other.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Dinosaurian Oddities

Matthew Carrano, a paleontologist with the National Museum of Natural History, recommends Dinosaur State Park in Connecticut for those evotourists interested in dinosaurs.

A Smithsonian Paleontologist Suggests His Evotourism Sites

For even more ideas on where to take an evolution vacation, we turned to one of our own dinosaur experts

The badlands north of Worland, Wyoming, shown here, expose sediments deposited during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Wyoming Paleontology Dispatch #9: Why It’s Called “Breaking Camp”

Some trick of the human psyche makes a patch of sagebrush feel like home

The horns of Marsh's Bison alticornis, now recognized as those of a ceratopsian dinosaur.

When Triceratops Was a Giant Bison

The giant with the "three-horned face" was originally mistaken for a very different creature

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The Second Jurassic Dinosaur Rush

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Twenty Years of Tyrannosaurus Sue

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How Dryptosaurus Got Its Name

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Uncovering Seitaad: An Interview With Mark Loewen

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Who Pays for Dino Research?

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"Bird" Wrists Evolved Among Dinosaurs

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Why We Need Another Paleontology Book

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