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Teeth

An artistic rendering of an early vertebrate being attacked by a sea-scorpion in dark waters

Our Teeth May Descend From Sensitive Bumps on Prehistoric Fish Armor, New Research Finds

Hundreds of millions of years ago, fish had sensory features on their exoskeletons that contained dentine, the material that makes our teeth sensitive today

Researchers extracted ancient proteins from the bone and tooth enamel.

Mysterious Jawbone Found at an Antique Shop in Taiwan Belonged to a Male Denisovan, Scientists Say

The fossil, called Penghu 1, is one of the few known pieces of physical evidence from the Denisovans, extinct relatives of modern humans. It suggests the species lived in diverse environments

Glenn Hodak, a corporal in the U.S. Army Air Forces, has been accounted for nearly 80 years after he died in a fire at the Tokyo Military Prison in 1945.

Remains of American Soldier Captured by the Japanese During World War II Identified Nearly 80 Years Later

After his plane was shot down, Glenn H. Hodak was sent to a military prison in Tokyo, where he was killed by U.S. firebombing in May 1945

A new study suggests that the lemon shark, pictured here, is a better analogue for the megalodon's size than a great white.

Megalodon Might Have Been Longer and Skinnier Than Previously Thought, Growing Up to 80 Feet

A new paper suggests the enormous, extinct shark looked less like a bulky great white and more like an elongated lemon shark

Surgeons operated on three patients in Canada.

Surgeons Are Conducting Rare ‘Tooth-in-Eye’ Surgeries to Restore Vision to Blind Patients in Canada

The complex procedure involves extracting a patient’s canine tooth, adding a plastic optical lens to it and surgically embedding it in the eye

Teeth from humans who belonged to the Pavlovian culture show unexpected signs of wear.

New Research

Did These Ice Age Europeans Wear Cheek Piercings?

Wear patterns on the teeth of skeletons found in Central Europe suggest children as young as 6 may have been wearing labrets between 25,000 and 29,000 years ago

Hand-drawn illustration of two of the seven sampled molars from Australopithecus

Ape-Like Human Ancestors Were Largely Vegetarian 3.3 Million Years Ago in South Africa, Fossil Teeth Reveal

Scientists suggest meat consumption was pivotal to humans’ development of larger brains, but the transition probably didn’t start with Australopithecus, according to a new study

A baby rusty-spotted cat, born at a French zoo in 2010. The newly discovered fossil is thought to belong to the same genus as modern rusty-spotted cats, which are among the smallest felines in the world.

Rare Jaw Fossil Found in China Might Belong to the World’s Smallest Cat

Scientists placed the extinct species, which may date back more than 300,000 years, in the same genus as modern leopard cats in Asia

From these upper hip bones, researchers extracted an ancient genome of the bacteria that causes syphilis.

Ancient DNA Offers Crucial Hints to the Origin of Syphilis, a Decades-Long Mystery That Has Divided Scientists

Researchers found evidence that early versions of syphilis-causing bacteria existed in the Americas long before the arrival of Columbus

A recently excavated mastodon tooth found in a backyard, still embedded in the jaw

Cool Finds

A Homeowner Found Huge, Fossil Teeth While Mowing the Lawn. Then, Excavations Revealed a Complete Mastodon Jaw

The new discovery is the first of its kind in New York state for at least 11 years and appeared in a county rich with mastodon remains

A 3D reconstruction of the fossil skull of a youth of an early Homo species from Dmanisi, Georgia. The green, orange and red colors represent the preserved teeth, while the blue represent missing ones and the purple teeth have not been recovered.

New Research

These Fossil Teeth From an 11-Year-Old Reveal Clues to Why Humans Developed an Unusually Long Childhood

Roughly 1.77-million-year-old teeth show that slow development in hominids may have had an earlier start than previously thought, according to a new study

By examining the fossils of ancient creatures, scientists are able to see the origins of features that make mammals different from other animals.

How to Make a Mammal in Nine Evolutionary Steps

From the formation of inner ear bones to the rise of hair to cover our bodies, these developments made us distinct from other animals

The infant's skeleton was excavated in 1998 in a cave in Puglia.

New Research

An Ice Age Infant’s 17,000-Year-Old DNA Reveals He Had Dark Skin and Blue Eyes

The baby boy’s recovered genome suggests he’s related to a famous Ice Age population

An artist imagines what Globidens alabamaensis would have looked like when present-day Texas was still submerged.

Rare Jaw Fossils Discovered in Texas Shed Light on a 20-Foot-Long Mosasaur

Unearthed last year, the remains could reveal new information on the extinct sea reptile, which crushed mollusks and shelled creatures with its large, round teeth

Researchers discovered Thorin's fossilized remains in 2015 in a cave in southern France.

Ancient DNA Reveals Neanderthal Group Was Isolated for 50,000 Years

A new study, based on the remains of a Neanderthal nicknamed Thorin, is shaking up what archaeologists long thought about these early humans in Europe

A model of the Smilodon fatalis skeleton (right) on display as part of a special exhibition in Schöningen, Germany, on April 12, 2017

‘Fearsome’ Saber-Toothed Cats Needed Their Baby Teeth and Mommies, Too

According to new research, two sets of sabers and unusual lower jaw anatomy show that the saber-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis delayed adulting with a long weaning period

At Mata Menge, researchers found a tiny adult upper arm bone that belonged to an individual who lived 700,000 years ago, shedding light on the origins of Homo floresiensis.

Fossils Shed New Light on Small ‘Hobbit-Like’ Humans That Lived on a Remote Island

Two teeth and a small adult arm bone found in Indonesia suggest the ancestors of Homo floresiensis were even shorter than scientists previously thought

A coating of iron on Komodo dragons' teeth could help keep them sharp for tearing into prey, as well as protect them from digestive acids.

Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth, Study Finds

New research provides the first evidence of the adaptation in a carnivorous reptile, and it might hold clues to understanding the teeth of dinosaurs

This illustration shows how the two-inch-long, curved teeth may have protruded from the extinct salmon's face.

These Massive, Extinct Salmon Had Spiky Teeth Like a Warthog’s Tusks

For decades, scientists thought the teeth pointed downward, similar to those of a saber-toothed cat, but now they believe the fish’s chompers jutted out sideways

An anonymous dentist recognized the jawbone, because it looked similar to the CT scans he reviews every day at work.

Dentist Discovers Human-Like Jawbone and Teeth in a Floor Tile at His Parents’ Home

Scientists are planning to study the specimen, embedded in travertine from western Turkey, in hopes of dating and identifying it

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